Great Attempts.

Today's Marketing Cookie discusses the glory of failure.

I have often written about my failures in marketing in the daily Marketing Cookies, but I have never shared the story of my most glorious failure until today. I must warn you, today's story is not about marketing, and I hope you will forgive me.

When we bought this house, it came with a giant above-ground swimming pool. The kids were thrilled! We bought the house in the summer, so the pool was already open for the season. Every spring thereafter, I struggled to remove the pool cover without letting zillions of dead leaves fall into the water. Despite my efforts, I would fail, and the leaves would slip into the water, coating the bottom with a thick layer of muck. This would be followed by weeks of vacuuming, unclogging the filter, and much aggravation.

After three seasons of struggle, I thought of a solution. I decided to build a temporary roof over the pool so that the leaves and muck could roll right off the pool onto the ground. No more leaves in the pool. No more weeks of cleaning muck. I felt like a genius, sure to be hailed by aggravated pool owners everywhere.

I used a plastic 50-gallon barrel tied to a couple of giant inner tubes. When fully assembled, the barrel floated about six feet above the water and served as a center column for my new pool-roof invention. I bought dozens of sixteen-foot PVC pipes that would connect to a "center hub" tied to the top of my barrel. As I connected each pipe to the center hub, it looked exactly as I had imagined, and I felt certain of victory over the muck.

Once all the pipes were connected at the center, it was time to tie them down. The above-ground pool had metal supports that stabilize the walls. I tied a pipe to every single wall support, completing my new anti-muck structure. Next, I pulled the pool cover tight over the structure, creating a peak at the center that would prevent any leaves from entering the pool.

In February, I was looking out the window, proudly admiring my fantastic invention. Not a single leaf could collect on the top of the pool cover. It really worked! The week before, I had filed for a patent and was daydreaming about the millions of dollars I would make selling my incredible invention to every above-ground pool owner in America. I imagined being on the cover of "Pool Owners Magazine" and making guest appearances at the annual "Family Pool Convention."

While completing my future acceptance speech for the "National Pool Genius Awards," my daydream was suddenly interrupted by a loud cracking sound, followed by a sonic boom! The ropes I had used to tie the barrel to the inner tubes had dangled down into the water. As the water began to freeze, it pulled the inner tubes and barrel down with it. The barrel, securely tied to dozens of pipes, which were tied to every support along the outside walls of the pool, caused immense pressure as the ice pulled down. Eventually, the walls of the pool gave way, and 30,000 gallons of water rushed directly into my neighbor's basement.

Needless to say, my incredible invention completely destroyed the family pool. It was the last time I would ever have the privilege of dealing with muck. I hope this story serves as a valuable lesson on how NOT to avoid getting leaves in your pool. I think my pool roof idea was my greatest attempt at innovation and by far, my most glorious failure!