Google Alert for Women Inventors

I'm always interested in anything that has to do with women inventors. In fact, I have a Google Alert set for anything connected to inventors in general and women inventors in particular. (check out Google Alerts to stay on top of news in your field)

That's how I learned about WOMENTORZ a website scheduled to launch in six weeks. Their site is designed to build a network of women inventors. In fact, they are advertising for help with beta testing.

I don't know these gals, but I sure like their idea. Check out the site and decide for yourself if it is something you want to pursue.

High Tech vs Low Tech Inventions

We live in the technology age, and I’m right up there with everyone else enjoying the benefits of high tech inventions, such as Skype and my Iphone. I’m well aware that technology can change lives. That’s why I eagerly read an article by Jennifer Lawinski entitled “Five Inventions That Will Change Your Life.”

The funny thing is that when I read this article, I suddenly wanted to shout about the value of low tech inventions, particularly mine: the two-sided dry erase paddle.

The article described something called the cognitive radio—a communication device which is a cross between a walkie-talkie and a palm pilot. This high tech handset would allow communication during a disaster when the power is out and phones, including cell phones, and the Internet are not working.

As I read about the cognitive radio, my head starting screaming, “It’s paddle time!” I imagined folks sitting on roofs in a flooded out town. They held paddles pointed skyward with critical messages: “5 people here!” or “baby & disabled grandma.” Helicopters hovering overhead radioed this information to the rescue boats. KleenSlate paddles save the day!

I love technology, but let’s not forget that low-tech devices can be life savers too! How do you see KleenSlate saving the day? Or what about your low-tech invention? How will it change people's lives?

Proactive Business Relationships

I’m so grateful for the solid business relationships I’ve established since first inventing the eraser for dry erase markers. Among the first of these important relationships was meeting and working with Michelle Payne.

I met Michelle at a NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) California Chapter meeting. Michelle was smart and engaging, and when I learned that she did business coaching, I signed on.

Because Michelle lived more than 90 miles from me, we did most of our work via the telephone and email which saved time and money because we didn't have to travel. She helped me write my first business plan and taught me about things like pricing and the cost of goods. One of the best things we did was role playing exercises. She would play the buyer and I would be the seller. Practicing my pitch with Michelle on the phone was invaluable.

Michelle has moved on from business coaching to using her substantial skills to develop a non-profit organization called Parent Driven Schools. Last week, I was able to support Michelle’s new enterprise when KleenSlate was one of several sponsors at the premier of a documentary film about revolutionizing education by empowering parents. Check out the Parent Driven Schools website to see how you can involved.

Michelle embraces the idea of taking a proactive role no matter what your endeavor, be it building a prototype, writing a business plan, or securing the best education for your child. She’s part of my network of business relationships. I’m grateful to her and delighted to support her.

Fun Facts from Everyday Edisons

Everyday, human beings deal with problems. Inventors see problems and their minds click into action to seek a solution.

For example, Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals because he hated wearing two pairs of glasses.

Everyday Edisons, the award winning PBS series, documents this problem solving process by closely following inventors as they develop an invention. For the past couple of years, I've had the privilege of participating in the casting calls for Everyday Edisons. What a privilege it is to hear from people across the country who have inventive minds.

The program developers know that inventors find inspiration in hearing about other inventors. Not only have they created an awesome television program, they also have a newsletter that includes inventor updates and casting calls.

Here are a few fun facts I gleaned from the most recent newsletter:

Melting ice cream inspired the invention of the outboard motor. It was a lovely August day and Ole Evinrude was rowing his boat to his favorite island picnic spot. As he rowed, he watched his ice cream melt and wished he had a faster way to get to the island. At that moment, the idea for the outboard motor was born!

The Band-Aid was invented by a Johnson & Johnson employee whose wife had cut herself. Earl Dickson's wife was rather accident prone, so he set out to develop a bandage that she could apply without help. He placed a small piece of gauze in the center of a small piece of surgical tape, and what we know today as the Band-Aid band-aid was born!

My favorite invention story is one that I think epitomizes the thinking of so many inventors, that is the desire to make the world a better place:

British-born Tim Berners-Lee is the inventor of the World Wide Web, but he never made a cent on this invention which revolutionized the computer world. In 1989, he envisioned a way to link documents on the Internet using "hypertext" so "surfers" could jump from one document to another through highlighted words. Berners-Lee decided not to patent his technology because he feared that if he did, use of the Web would be too expensive and would therefore not become used worldwide. He passed up a fortune so the world could learn and communicate.

To learn more about inventors, tune into Everyday Edisons AND go to their website and subscribe to the newsletter.

Networking Leads to Match-Making

I can’t emphasize enough the value of networking. In my opinion, networking is the most powerful activity you can engage in if you are an inventor or entrepreneur.

That’s why I recently attended a Match-Makers Meeting hosted by the National Association of Women Business Owners. I went with express intention of meeting people who might influence me and my company, and I was NOT disappointed. One of the women at my table was Imelda Alejandrino, the CEO of FirstStep Marketing. Imelda and I hit it off immediately. She was engaging, smart, and absolutely full of wonderful ideas about developing my business. She was just the person I was looking for, someone who could breathe new life in KleenSlate.



I took her card. FirstStepMarketing focuses on assisting the marketing efforts of small start-up companies. Last Friday, I met with Imelda and her staff for a three-hour brainstorming session. The work was vigorous and inclusive, fascinating and energizing. Together we took an in depth look at KleenSlate from a variety of vantage points. We made lists and diagrams on the white board, using KleenSlate markers and erasers, and I took pages of notes. One specific activity that all small start ups need to do is a SWOT exercise, listing:

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

I identified the companies/brands I liked and shopped. They asked me to explain what I liked about these companies. Then they flipped that information around and made me look at how what I valued in other companies was emerging in my own company. We worked like this all afternoon until I my brain was spilling with new insights and awareness about KleenSlate and how I wanted to position myself in the market. The team at FirstStep will use information from our brainstorming session to draft a proposal regarding how to REFRESH the look of KleenSlate.

By putting myself in a place where I could meet people, being open to new experiences, and following up, I met Imelda Alejandrino and her partners. Now KleenSlate is getting a new branding/marketing strategy with a clear direction and an eye for the future.

Nothing beats networking!!

Name Three Inventors

“Name three inventors,” I asked of my 8th grade language arts class more than 10 years ago when I was still teaching.

Hands went up and I called on students, who named Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and the Wright Brothers—well known inventors. I wanted the students to dig deepr, so I said “Name a woman inventor.” Not a single hand went up despite the fact that they all knew that I had invented the attachable erasers I was using on the whiteboard. After a moment, one student raised his hand. “Yes, Steven,” I said.

“I don’t think there are any women inventors,” he said.

My mouth dropped open; I was speechless. Though I’d often told the kids about my adventures while inventing the eraser, Steven did not view me as an inventor. When I regained my voice and questioned the class further, it was clear that that none of them could name a female inventor. This simple question opened a much bigger one for me. I realized that I couldn’t really give a satisfying answer to my own question. I had met several women in the course of working to get my eraser patented, but I didn’t know of any women inventors beyond these few.

I decided that it was imperative that I be able to promptly answer this question myself, especially if I wanted my students to be able answer without hesitation. Research, however, offered a bleak picture. There were no books on the library shelves about women inventors. Further investigation revealed that few had been written. Then I stumbled upon a used copy of Mothers of Invention: From the Bra to the Bomb, Forgotten Women and Their Unforgettable Ideas written in 1988 by Ethlie Ann Vare and Greg Ptacek.



The authors say in their Preface that they wrote the book as “attempt to resurrect from the cracks of history the names and stories of remarkable women who changed the world –and were promptly ignored by it.” From this fascinating and thoroughly researched book, I learned about Sybilla Masters who invented a corn refining machine in 1793. The patent was issued to her husband because women were not allowed file in their names back then. I learned that Margaret Knight invented the flat bottomed brown paper bag in 1870, a product still in use today. The book is filled with stories about women whose inventions range from practical to scientific, from frivolous to serious. The stories also describe the obstacles that women inventors have faced since the dawn of human history. Reading these stories was a true eye-opener. When Vare and Ptacek followed with a sequel in 2002 called Patently Female: for AZT to TV Dinners, Stories of Women Inventors and Their Breakthrough Ideas, I bought it immediately.


These books have motivated me to write my own book about women inventors: The Right Sisters. In future posts, I will tell you about the women inventors I’ve met on the pages of these books as well as in real life. I hope you’ll pass their stories along. My wish is that to expand reader's awareness so that if you are asked to name a woman inventor, you have names bursting forth: Marie Curie, Claire McCardell, Amanda Theodosia Jones, Kate Gleason, Wendy Steele, Julia Rhodes.

Saving the World One Invention at a Time

Inventing is as old as human kind. When we were kids, we learned about the impact of the wheel on the growth and development of human life. While the wheel had dramatic effects for humans, smaller inventions were similarly significant.

Dr Michael Petraglia, an archaeologist from the University of Oxford, recently published a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that describes how one early invention enable humans to adapt to environmental change. He discovered tiny stone blades, less than 4cm long, in South Asia. The blades were probably inserted at the top of wooden shafts and used as spear-heads or arrow tips.They were light and portable and could be produced in large quantities.



Climate was changing rather drastically at this time, turning colder at the onset of the Ice Age, causing much of the landscape of South Asia to become quite inhospitable. Despite the challenging environment, the genetic findings of Dr. Petraglia’s study reveal that Asian populations actually increased during this period. He speculates that the tiny blade contributed to the survival of the hunter-gatherers because they allowed humans to hunt at a greater distance from their prey and thus with less risk.

While your invention may not enable the survival of the human race, don’t underestimate its usefulness in society. For instance, I know my paddles can save thousands of dollars in paper for individual schools. Multiply that by many, many schools and my invention has the potential to make a HUGE impact on the world.

Tell us how your invention will impact the world.