Pink: A Business Story

As I prepare to attend the Women's Conference 2010, the color pink comes to mind. Pink has long been associated with girls and women, but I'm not a traditional kind of woman so pink was never my color.

When I first invented the Kleen Slate Paddles, I wanted them to be in bold colors-- red, yellow, blue, and green. Pink was simply too pale for my product and the powerful image I wanted to convey. But then an interesting thing happened. First, my son hooked up with a gal who loves pink. Then, my granddaughter turned out to be a lover of pink. Both of them cajoled me in their own way: "Why isn't there a pink paddle?"

Which gave me pause. Why was I resisting this color when there were clearly those who adored it? My son's girlfriend and my granddaughter represented potential customers, and I wasn't giving them what they wanted.

I started thinking differently about pink. This was the color that represented princesses, royalty in the world if you will. And then I remembered that pink ribbons are the symbol for breast cancer awareness. Suddenly I realized that by making a pink paddle, I could develop my customer base AND support an important cause: Breast Cancer Awareness.


Today, KleenSlate Concepts sells pink paddles, and we donate 5% of the sales of these paddles to the National Breast Cancer Awareness fund. This weekend, I'm going to the Women's Conference, where I will promote my pink paddles in acknowledgment of Breast Cancer Awareness Month: October!

This story about PINK is a business story because it illustrates four essential business principles that I hold dear:

• listen to your customers;
• think outside of the box (especially outside of your personal preferences);
• look for connections between your product and larger more global issues;
• give, donate, contribute.

Next week, I'll tell you what the Women's Conference 2010 power house speakers--Michelle Obama, Maria Shriver, Erin Brocokvich, and others--had to tell us.

Finding the Right Fit: Who Needs Your Product

I recently stumbled onto the blog Departing the Text written by Meryl Jaffe, a mom and a school psychologist who is exploring the edges between a child's learning profile and school demands. It doesn't take rocket science to get that one size does not fit all, but it does take a discerning mind like Jaffe's to understand the frequent ways in which children do not fit neatly into educational practices which are expected to work in the classroom. There are always exceptions, and it's disconcerting to teacher, parent AND student when the fit is not right.

Since I'm always looking for a fit for KleenSlate Paddles I was particularly interested in Jaffe's blog post: No Brainer: Handwriting Trains the Brain by Creating Multiple Paths. After discussing how handwriting engages the brain, Jaffe goes on to list non-traditional ways to get kids writing, such as making greeting cards, having a message center in the home, and writing notes to the tooth fairy. Next, she lists some products that teachers can use in the classroom to get students writing.

That's where I leaped to action. I left Meryl a comment describing the Kleen Slate Paddle as an ideal product for getting students writing frequently in the classroom. When students have a Paddle with dry erase marker with an attachable eraser at their desks, everyone can respond in writing to questions thereby building pathways in the brain all day long.

Meryl is no slacker. Not only did she shoot me an email message thanking me for the comment, she also included my comment in a post a few days later entitled: Ways Around Exceptions: Handwriting and Dysgraphia. In this post, Meryl responds to the difficulty some students have with forming letters and keeping track of the sequence of letters. One child had this to say about his problem, known as dysgraphis: "I can't think and write at the same time." So Meryl lists insights and alternatives to help kids with dysgraphia, and among them she mentions the KleenSlate Paddle.

Parents, educators, AND entrepreneurs can learn something from Meryl's blog Departing the Text. Keep your eyes open for the right fit for your child, your students, OR your product.

Innovative Customers

When I invented the Kwik Chek paddles, I envisioned them being put to use in classrooms across the country. Back then I wasn't aware of customer innovations. Since that time, the paddle has been used in a myriad of contexts including with hospital patients who are temporarily unable to speak, to prompt kids about chores, and at least one time to facilitate a date.

I recently learned that the paddles have made it all the way to Afghanistan to take part in the war there. Here is an email message that explains:

I heard about your company through a Google search for white board paddles. I am a Crew Chief on Chinook helicopters for the US Army currently deployed to Afghanistan. These paddles come in handy when you are trying to communicate with ground personnel and passengers over the loud noise of the helicopter. I appreciate your services and will definitely pass on your name when other crew members ask me where I got them.

Thanks!
Tyler Parsons