Billy Mays has been described throughout the blogosphere by any number of adjectives. It seems though he is one person we love to hate. Despite many a degrading review, old Billy boy remains as powerful as ever – pontiff of all product hawkers, king of the infomercial court.

Billy started out as an Atlantic City, NJ-based boardwalk vendor. His time spent here enabled skill set development to the point he was able to take the show of the road. For twelve years he paid these dues traveling the United States pandering to hesitant crowds and honing his craft.

In 1993, Billy had his big break. He met the man behind Orange-Glo  at a trade show and after a conversation,  wound up becoming their pitchman. The rest was sweet history for May as he racked up endorsements for OxiClean, Orange Glo, Kaboom, Engrave It, tMighty Putty, Hercules Hook, and Steam Buddy. Most recently, May is promoting ICan Benefit Group, LLC.

Today, Bill runs his own promotions business called Mays Promotions, Inc and is based in Florida.

So Billy Mays has made it from big to small. There isn’t too much to the story after all. Just a guy who kept doing what he enjoyed until it paid off – dividends. Guy has a mullion dollar estate in Florida that Wikipedia had to include in his bio.

And for all those who continue to hate on Billy, there are at least 500 couch potatoes that will continue to snatch up whatever he is selling. Believe that.