One of the women inventors in the The Right Sisters, talks about the importance of staying upbeat during trying circumstances. Beth Butler, who gives motivational talks at teacher conferences, tells teachers, "If you're not refreshed and rejuvenated to start your day, how can you deal with twelve or seventeen preschoolers?" Beth practices what she preaches by taking time for herself at the start of each day to pray or read inspirational material.
I've found a great way to insert a little pocket of inspiration into the start my day. Each morning, I get my cup of tea and head to the computer to check my email. Since I subscribe to "Inspire Me Today," I always find an inspiring message tucked in among the business messages.
Gail Lynne Goodwin's website and blog is a fountain of inspiration for she broadcasts words of wisdom and encouragement. At the website, you can subscribe to a steady flow of inspiration that arrives daily in your email inbox. If you are like me, you will often click into her website from the message to read more. For me, this little pocket of inspiration launches my day, filling me with determination and enthusiasm.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
ADVERTISE
What do you think of when you see the word ADVERTISE?
Do you see a print ad in a newspaper, magazine or phone book? Or maybe you think of those magnetic business signs that folks put on cars. Business cards are another way to get your company name out there. Advertising is an essential business practice.
In the 21st century, you also have to advertise on the web. Early on, one of my mentors told me that I need a cyber-presence and he urged me to get my business website up and running as quickly as possible. Writing a blog like "Inventor Mentor" is another way to have a cyber-presence.
Recently I found my business advertised repeatedly by others on the World Wide Web.
In July I was the featured inventor in the "Flash of Genius" column in the July 2010 issue of the USPTO online newsletter InventorsEye. I wrote about this honor in a previous blog, "Protect Your Ideas."
Then Dane Carlson ran a fabulous vidcast on his blog in a segment called "That's My Business #102." In this 3-minute production, Rich Whittle interviews me about starting my business while pictures of my products appear on the screen as I answered his questions.
And this week, an article about KleenSlate Concepts was featured on the Marquette segment of Examiner.com. This site writes web-based articles related to specific geographic locations, in this case the upper peninsula of Michigan, where my erasers on now being manufactured. The article is called "Back-to-school COOL with KleenSlate (R) Concepts." In this article, my business name and the value of my product is promoted in a region I might not otherwise have been visible.
Advertisement like this is priceless and free. Each piece is unique in tone, emphasis and format thus providing a fresh look at KleenSlate. Best of all, the KleenSlate name is locked into these sites virtually forever and has the potential to come up in web searches for a long time to come.
Do you see a print ad in a newspaper, magazine or phone book? Or maybe you think of those magnetic business signs that folks put on cars. Business cards are another way to get your company name out there. Advertising is an essential business practice.
In the 21st century, you also have to advertise on the web. Early on, one of my mentors told me that I need a cyber-presence and he urged me to get my business website up and running as quickly as possible. Writing a blog like "Inventor Mentor" is another way to have a cyber-presence.
Recently I found my business advertised repeatedly by others on the World Wide Web.
In July I was the featured inventor in the "Flash of Genius" column in the July 2010 issue of the USPTO online newsletter InventorsEye. I wrote about this honor in a previous blog, "Protect Your Ideas."
Then Dane Carlson ran a fabulous vidcast on his blog in a segment called "That's My Business #102." In this 3-minute production, Rich Whittle interviews me about starting my business while pictures of my products appear on the screen as I answered his questions.
And this week, an article about KleenSlate Concepts was featured on the Marquette segment of Examiner.com. This site writes web-based articles related to specific geographic locations, in this case the upper peninsula of Michigan, where my erasers on now being manufactured. The article is called "Back-to-school COOL with KleenSlate (R) Concepts." In this article, my business name and the value of my product is promoted in a region I might not otherwise have been visible.
Advertisement like this is priceless and free. Each piece is unique in tone, emphasis and format thus providing a fresh look at KleenSlate. Best of all, the KleenSlate name is locked into these sites virtually forever and has the potential to come up in web searches for a long time to come.
Monday, August 23, 2010
What do your customers want?
I find it incredibly important to listen to what my customers want. This tactic has served me well in the past to improve my products, packaging, and the specials that I offer.
For example, when I first invented the eraser for dry erase marker, I was listening to potential customers who didn't want to take the time to reach for the block eraser and wanted something on the end of the marker. Later, when I was selling the eraser, teachers started asking about hand-held whiteboards, and that's when I invented the KleenSlate Paddle. When I heard teachers say that they disliked the scent of dry erase markers, I developed a marker without an odor.
I've learned that it is essential to listen to my customers if I want to grow my products and my business. Since my business caters to educators, I plan to take some teachers to lunch in the next few weeks. I've created a list of questions to ask them:
What about you? Who do you need to take to lunch to grow your business? What questions will you ask? How can you hone in on what your customers needs?
For example, when I first invented the eraser for dry erase marker, I was listening to potential customers who didn't want to take the time to reach for the block eraser and wanted something on the end of the marker. Later, when I was selling the eraser, teachers started asking about hand-held whiteboards, and that's when I invented the KleenSlate Paddle. When I heard teachers say that they disliked the scent of dry erase markers, I developed a marker without an odor.
I've learned that it is essential to listen to my customers if I want to grow my products and my business. Since my business caters to educators, I plan to take some teachers to lunch in the next few weeks. I've created a list of questions to ask them:
- What are the biggest challenges you have in your classroom?
- What tools do you use that you frequently tell others about?
- What's one thing that's not working in your classroom right now?
- When buying a "widget" tool for your classroom, what features are important to you?
- What annoys you when dealing with suppliers of educational products?
- What's on your wish list?
- If you could invent a product that would make teaching easier, what problem would it solve?
What about you? Who do you need to take to lunch to grow your business? What questions will you ask? How can you hone in on what your customers needs?
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Book Signing
Last Saturday, we held a book signing to promote The Right Sisters in our local community. We invited family, friends, and business associates and sent a press release to the local newspaper about the event which was held in a coffee house on the main street.We were delighted with the steady stream of guests who came to wish us well, buy books, and get them signed. Most gratifying, however, was the number of inventors who showed up.
The target audience for The Right Sisters is people who are interested in the inventor's journey, so when these folks arrived in response to the announcement in the newspaper, we knew that we were reaching our intended audience. Some of these inventors had a fledgling idea while others were farther along in the journey. One women told about her mother who had invented a product and applied for the patent but had died unexpectedly. Now the daughter wanted to continue the journey for her mother.
The Right Sisters has the answers these inventors are seeking. They were eager to begin reading the 10 stories told by modern women inventors. For us, talking to other inventors was energizing, so meeting these guests was a reciprocal experience.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Paying for Patent Protection
August is National Inventors Month. In 1998, the United Inventors Association of the USA (UIA-USA), the Academy of Applied Science, and Inventors' Digest magazine initiated a month long event to celebrate invention and creativity.
I found it interesting that during the month that honors inventors, I got a Google alert about a backlog at the US Patent Office that is thwarting inventors' ability to protect their ideas. According to an article on CBS News "the current wait for a patent is, on average, three years, or 36 months."
The consequence of this backlog is that many inventors find their ideas "knocked off" by large prosperous companies. When we interviewed women for The Right Sisters, nine of the ten women had dealt with knock-offs or copies of their products.
The CBS News article goes on to report that the patent office is self-funding, meaning that it operates on the fees charged for patents. The charge for a patent application is around $1000 with a discount for small enterprises. One theory suggests that if fees were higher, thereby increasing the operating budget of USPO, the process would speed up and protection would come more quickly.
This is a crucial IF for independent inventors who operate on a shoestring budget. While we are anxious for protection, we are often dealing with tenuous financial constraints. It's important to recognize that the increase in patent application fees would be added to patent attorney fees that are often necessary to write a strong patent application.
The dilemma this creates for inventors is confusing and difficult to sort out. If you are an inventor, would you be willing to pay higher fees for quicker protection? Why or why not?
I found it interesting that during the month that honors inventors, I got a Google alert about a backlog at the US Patent Office that is thwarting inventors' ability to protect their ideas. According to an article on CBS News "the current wait for a patent is, on average, three years, or 36 months."
The consequence of this backlog is that many inventors find their ideas "knocked off" by large prosperous companies. When we interviewed women for The Right Sisters, nine of the ten women had dealt with knock-offs or copies of their products.
The CBS News article goes on to report that the patent office is self-funding, meaning that it operates on the fees charged for patents. The charge for a patent application is around $1000 with a discount for small enterprises. One theory suggests that if fees were higher, thereby increasing the operating budget of USPO, the process would speed up and protection would come more quickly.
This is a crucial IF for independent inventors who operate on a shoestring budget. While we are anxious for protection, we are often dealing with tenuous financial constraints. It's important to recognize that the increase in patent application fees would be added to patent attorney fees that are often necessary to write a strong patent application.
The dilemma this creates for inventors is confusing and difficult to sort out. If you are an inventor, would you be willing to pay higher fees for quicker protection? Why or why not?
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
US vs. Overseas Manufacturing
When I initiated the production phase of my inventor journey, I was well aware of the debate related to overseas manufacturing. Determined to manufacture my erasers locally, I was delighted when I found a tool and die company a mere 60 miles from my rural Northern California location. I worked with them to create the molds necessary to manufacture the erasers. Not long after the first batch of erasers was produced, the company went belly up financially, leaving me with molds but no way to manufacture the eraser.
I had just left my teaching job and had pumped every bit of money I had into KleenSlate Concepts. About that time, another inventor connected me with a manufacturer based in China. The price was right, and I decided that I'd have to let go of my intention to manufacture locally if I wanted to keep my dream alive. But I was not totally happy with this option.
When we were interviewing women inventors for The Right Sisters, I found that others struggled with this same dilemma: i.e., wanting to manufacture in the US but not being able to afford to on a shoe-string budget. The cost factor loomed large and so we headed out of the country.
However, there is an administrative burden incurred in managing a supplier thousands of miles away. We ended up dealing with quality and delivery problems at great distance and sometimes under the burden of a language or cultural handicaps as well as time differences. Not only did I discover it was more expedient to manufacture here, I also felt it was more politically correct. Certainly, this was a personal bias, but I wanted to say my product was made in the USA.
Well, I'm going to be saying that soon. My friend Wendy Steele, President of TapeWrangler-www.tapewrangler.com- and featured in The Right Sisters, manufactures her own line of products at her manufacturing plant in Traverse City, MI. Wendy's company has our molds now and we will soon be in production. Later this month, I'll be saying, "KleenSlate dry erase paddles are made in the the USA."
I had just left my teaching job and had pumped every bit of money I had into KleenSlate Concepts. About that time, another inventor connected me with a manufacturer based in China. The price was right, and I decided that I'd have to let go of my intention to manufacture locally if I wanted to keep my dream alive. But I was not totally happy with this option.
When we were interviewing women inventors for The Right Sisters, I found that others struggled with this same dilemma: i.e., wanting to manufacture in the US but not being able to afford to on a shoe-string budget. The cost factor loomed large and so we headed out of the country.
However, there is an administrative burden incurred in managing a supplier thousands of miles away. We ended up dealing with quality and delivery problems at great distance and sometimes under the burden of a language or cultural handicaps as well as time differences. Not only did I discover it was more expedient to manufacture here, I also felt it was more politically correct. Certainly, this was a personal bias, but I wanted to say my product was made in the USA.
Well, I'm going to be saying that soon. My friend Wendy Steele, President of TapeWrangler-www.tapewrangler.com- and featured in The Right Sisters, manufactures her own line of products at her manufacturing plant in Traverse City, MI. Wendy's company has our molds now and we will soon be in production. Later this month, I'll be saying, "KleenSlate dry erase paddles are made in the the USA."
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Product Promotion: 2 Thoughts
Promoting one's product is a never-ending job for those of us who decide to manufacture and market our own inventions. I'm constantly thinking about promotion, and I thought I'd share two thoughts I had this week.
- Unexpected Promotional Opportunities. I'm always on the look out for ways to promote my products. Last week, I got a notice from Google Alerts about a blogger who was writing about whiteboards: Jason Berke's wrote a blog entitled "A Brief History of the Dry Erase Marker." I was delighted that Jason chose this topic. I was also pleased to have this unexpected opportunity to promote my Whiteboard Paddles. I added a comment to Jason's post with a link to KleenSlate Concepts. I don't know how many readers Jason has, but a few adds up to many, and I've just let a few more people know about the paddles and KleenSlate. Plus by mentioning him here, I create a link back to my blog that some of his readers might follow. Like I said, "I take every opportunity to promote my product."
- Give Something When Promoting Your Product. Everyone likes to get a gift, so when I'm promoting, I pass out markers, erasers, discount opportunities and sometimes just a suggestion. For example, when I commented on Jason's post, I let him and his readers know that soap and water is the best way to clean dry erase boards. This little piece of advice was my gift to him. You see in working with customers, they've told me that clean up is always an concern, so I've made a point to respond to that concern. Remember last week, when I wrote about listening your customers at trade shows? You can turn their needs and concerns into a practical piece of advice or a gift.
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