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Wednesday, September 22, 2010 – Daily News – 5B Apitchman's life: Bare-bones, fast-paced, just right COSTA MESA (MCT) — Inside the Carnival of Products at the Orange County Fair, as guests start trickling in, Jonathan Rutz begins his smooth patter, speaking through a Britney Spears-like head microphone. "Hi there," he says. "Y'all like to see how it works?" Two people stop to watch. Rutz splashes water on a counter to start his 7- minute demonstration of The Smart Sponge ("It Does the Thinking for You"). The crowd quickly swells to more than a dozen. In a sales pitch he fig- ures he's made more than 200,000 times over 25 years, Rutz slips in jokes between rapid-fire expla- nations of the sponge's amazing absorption quali- ties ("It can hold 10 times its weight!"). For a guy who grew up introverted, the 46-year- old Rutz has made quite a turnaround. And for a guy who sells sponges that look like bricks of Monterey Jack cheese, Rutz is quite the happy camper. He lives with his wife and nine children four months out of the year in a 27-foot, 200-square- foot RV and just, well, absorbs it all. That's right. Rutz — a "pitchman" or "demonstrator" — can support his family selling $21 sponges, even during a recession ("Amazing but true!" he might be tempted to say). He doesn't make a lot of money _ he just doesn't spend much. Learned that the hard way. The son of Christian missionary parents, Rutz spent his first 13 years in Tehran, Iran. After the 1978 revolution, the fami- ly relocated to Point Loma in San Diego. Rutz kept to himself in high school. "American culture freaked me out," he says. He worked fast-food and other minimum-wage MCT photo Pitchman Jonathan Rutz rings-out a Smart Sponge during a product demonstration at the Orange County Fair in Orange County, July 29. jobs until he started mak- ing good money strolling Pacific Beach, handing out fliers promoting time shares. Rutz started coming out of his shell. In 1984, while working at a time-share booth at the Los Angeles County Fair, he spent 18 days watching a man sell knives in the booth across from him. He memorized his sales pitch. "I can do that," Rutz thought. When the man took a bathroom break, Rutz hopped into his booth and started parroting the man's spiel. His hands shook as he demonstrated the knives. He almost cut a finger. A pitchman was born. Since 1985, Rutz has been hawking chamois and sponges at fairs and, since 1997, he's been sell- ing The Smart Sponge for Ventura, Calif.-based Multinational Enterprises. Rutz started off with a 2-minute pitch but it has evolved into 7 minutes of cordial bantering, gentle prodding and always _ always _ a good attitude. "You have to just stay upbeat," he says, sipping water from a Mason jar between presentations, which pretty much are continuous. "You have to just stay up. It shows in the face. People can tell." If people walk away during a demonstration, Rutz will crack: "Hey, I didn't leave when you got here." Multinational Enter- prises owner Juan Clau- son calls him "the best." Says Clauson: "He works hard and is reliable. That's a tough thing to find in this business _ someone who's reliable. He also has values." Rutz met his future wife, Ashley, when she was working as a stage manager in San Diego. She's from Arkansas. "I'll marry you, but I'll never move there," Rutz told her. Yeah, right. The Rutzes married in 1990. Then, during an economic downturn in 1996, they lost their San Diego home. That experience shift- ed his priorities from toil- ing at fairs and swap meets at the expense of family time to living fru- gally and spending more time with his wife and kids. Using $28,000 in sav- ings, Lutz and his wife bought 100 acres of land in Arkansas at a bargain price. Slowly but steadily, when they had the money, they built a four-bedroom home on the property in a remote northwestern sec- tion just south of Mis- souri. They lived with rel- atives until the home was finished. Then, they started adding horses and don- keys and mules and dogs. And kids. After eldest son David (now 18, and more or less on his own), there is Tirzah Ruth (16), Sara- beth (14), Keilah Rose (12), Nathan (10), Grace Established 1984 Pizza • Calzone • Spaghetti • Ravioli • Lasagna • Salads • Beer • Wine Jonathan Rutz's family. Keilah Rose, 12, left, Nathan, 10,Tirzah Ruth, 16, Jeremiah, 18-months, Charity Ann, 3, Sarabeth, 14, Grace Lynn, 8, and Benjamin, 5, study bible with their mother, Ashley, center, in the family's RV behind the Orange County Fairgrounds. Pizza & Pasta Pitchers of Beer Domestic $475 Import $575 ALL DAY, EVERY DAY 527-9226 • 75 Belle Mill Rd., Red Bluff Lynn (8), Benjamin (5), Charity Ann (3) and Jere- miah (16 months). Rutz says he's able to support such a large fami- ly because he has no mortgage payment and is debt free, using only cash for everything. They do not own a TV or comput- er. Not counting an annual property tax bill of about $400, they get only two bills a month in the mail: electricity ($50 to $70) and phone ($20). "If you look at my income, technically, I'm at the poverty level," says Rutz. "But we live sim- ply." Every summer, the Rutz family escapes the dreaded ticks and chig- gers in the hot and humid Ozarks by hopping into their 15-passenger van and hitting county fairs in San Diego, Orange and Sacramento counties, plus one near Seattle. Awning and a tent expand the living quar- ters. The kids have all they need: bicycles, books, playing cards, a small trampoline. Each other. They visit close friends they've met over the years for swim dates, trips to the beach, and for meals at favorite places they don't have back home — Rubio's, El Pollo Loco, Jamba Juice. "It's fun, but I miss our animals at the farm (back home)," Keilah Rose says. The tight living condi- tions aren't always fun. But Ashley Rutz sees life lessons in the family's annual pilgrimage. "I call it our 'Sanctifi- cation Summer,' " she says. "It kind of smoothes over the rough edges we all have. We have to learn to be gentle, patient and kind with each other. I think this experience is even more important than academics." Exceedingly polite to visitors and very well- behaved, the Rutz chil- dren are home-schooled by their mother. Every day begins with a Bible lesson. And, sometimes, the kids will venture over to the Carnival of Products to watch their daddy's demonstrations. Darlen Lee, of Buena Park, Calif., didn't go to the Orange County Fair expecting to buy a mop. But she did, from Rutz, who is addition to The Smart Sponge sells mops and chamois. "He's personal and kind and comical," Lee says. Rutz says he never tires of giving his demon- strations. "It's like telling a joke," he says. "When you tell it to someone new, it's still fun. When I have a fresh crowd, I get excited. The adrenaline gets going." He sometimes has to suck on a throat lozenge popular with opera singers to keep his voice fresh. Son David takes half a shift on weekdays, and they each do a full shift on the weekends. The recession has cut into business this year, but Rutz is getting by. It costs him $3,000 a month to be on the road _ $800 alone to park his RV for the duration of the Orange County Fair, which runs through Aug. 15. "People sometimes look at me funny when I tell them what I do," Rutz says. "They feel sorry for me, that I have to come to the fair to make a living. "I don't mind people having that perception, because I don't want any more competition. "It's a great way of life." 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