The Right Sisters: Women Inventors Tell Their Stories

I will not beat myself up over not writing in my blog. My writing time has been absorbed finishing a book that was started 2 years ago! The Right Sisters: Women Inventors Tell Their Stories should be ready to go to press in August and released in Late Sept or early October. It has been a fascinating and inspiring journey interviewing 10 amazing women inventors. I am honored to be telling their stories and I look forward to sharing them with you. My mother's artwork inspired the cover while her encouragement and support throughout my life gave me the confidence I needed to make this happen. I love you Mom!

KleenSlate donating to schools

Inspiring Inventors

Attending the 13^th Annual Independent Inventors Conference was an inspiring experience. I was invited to speak at the Conference, which was sponsored by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, along with Louis Foreman the Executive Producer of the Emmy Award winning program “Every Day Edisons.”

Speaking with Louis was an honor in itself, but I was overwhelmed when I opened the program and saw myself described as “one of the Nation’s most inspirational independent inventors.” WOW! They were talking about me!!

At that moment I knew my job was to join Louis and the other speakers in reinforcing the idea that the “American Dream” is accessible to inventors today. Our message: if you have that idea that makes life a little better and are willing to do your homework, you can take your idea the distance it takes to be successful. We spoke to a room filled with creative minds that were overflowing with unique and clever ideas. Faces were turned to us looking for hope and encouragement.

I am motivated to help other inventors because there wasn’t anyone to ask “how to” when I began my inventor’s journey. I was alone. Now inventors have a multitude of resources and experts willing to share information. The best part is that most of the advice and information you need to get started is free.

One of my proudest moments at the conference was when my son Joe turned to me and said, “You really inspire people, Mom! I am honored to be your son!”

I knew my trip was successful when I returned home to find this e-mail:

"[T]hank your for having the courage to follow your idea to fruition and for being an example to me and countless others - particularly women - on how they too can live the life of their dreams and support their families in the process. I was truly blessed and will be forever grateful and look forward to the time that I can be such a light to others as you have been to me."

Patricia B., Bethesda, Maryland

Conference Attendee, USPTO Independent Inventors Conference, Washington, DC, August 8-9, 2008.

Talk About Patenting

This week I head to Washington D.C. with my son Joe. I’ve been invited to be a guest speaker at the 13th Annual Independent Inventors Conference which is sponsored by United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Inventors Hall of Fame. The USPTO leads the way in creating and supporting a market-driven intellectual property system for the 21st Century.

There is nothing more daunting to a new inventor than trying to get an idea patented. There is no one to hold your hand and walk you through the process unless you have a patent attorney. And although it is an important step in the inventing journey, it is not the first step. An inventor has to know as much as they can about the product, the industry, the costs, and the potential customer before they even think about getting a patent or a patent attorney.

That’s why I’m delighted to have an opportunity to speak to inventors. I’d love to help them avoid some of the problems that I faced in the beginning. I’ll be talking about my story as a successful independent inventor and the things I have learned along the way, including:

• the importance of doing your homework,
• how to better position yourself for a successful launch,
• what you can do to protect yourself and avoid pitfalls,
• how to get your product into the right hands,
• where you can go for reputable resources.

You can watch a live web cast of the general sessions of the conference on Friday and Saturday at the USPTO’s website, www.uspto.gov. Log on Friday morning at 8 a.m.EST and follow the instructions to access the web cast.

The truly exciting part of this trip is that my son who is a video photographer will be following me around with his camera throughout the conference to document my adventure so I can share them with you. Look for a follow up next week when I’ll be posting segments of my speech and hopefully some video footage.

Speaking About Women

As a solo woman entrepreneur, I know the value of networking and sharing information. I have a large network that supports my business efforts, and I’m particularly interested in mentoring and helping women who are in business.

That’s why I was delighted to be invited by Office Depot to be the keynote speaker at the 2008 Women's Business Development Center's first annual trade show and expo. Office Depot chose me because they felt my experience working with them would be an asset to the conference.

The conference theme is "Building a Better Network" and the goal is to increase network and contracting opportunities for women’s business enterprises. The show will bring together America's leading corporations, government agencies, women business owners, and affiliate organizations.

The conference will provide an opportunity for participants to meet with corporate executives and buyers; network with corporate contacts, government representatives, and other WBNE members; attend workshops; exhibit their product and/or services; and meet the people who can influence their business success.

I am excited to be attending and sharing both my story of inventing a product, building a business, and successfully launching a product line. I encourage women business owners to learn more about WBNE and to get involved. And watch this blog for a my report on the conference.

At the end of the day, a measure of your success is in what relationships you have established and how those relationships help you build a better tomorrow.

Message from Africa

I doubt if there is anything more encouraging to a business woman than the kind of email message I just received from Alison Neumann pictured here distributing my invention, the dry erase paddles, to students at the Deaf School in Mampong, Ghana, Africa.

Alison was on tour as part of her year abroad study in Africa, and she carried with her a box of the dry erase paddles. Here is a segment from her email message:

I wish you could have been there to see the look on the headmasters face as I told her how the dry erase paddles could be used. . . But it was the excitement of the children using the paddles that showed me what a wonderful communication tool it would become for each of them. Their smiles I will never forget as each of them gripped their paddles as a precious gift.

As you can see, your kind donation will ease the frustrations of the limited chalkboard space for the teachers, and provide the young Deaf students a voice when they do not understand the lesson. All of this will greatly increase the success of the teachers' lesson plans in the classroom. This is especially important for a country with a very high level of illiteracy.

Messages such as this make my day. They help affirm all the hard work of taking an idea that popped into my head all the way to a product I can hold in my hand. Now that product is making its way around the world to be of use to others. What more could I ask for?

Networking

I'm heading to the east coast where Everyday Edisons is wrapping up its Season 3 casting calls at the Providence Rhode Island Convention Center on March 17. This will be the first casting call in the Northeast, and inventors will be arriving with sketchbooks, notebooks, and prototypes to see if their idea has what it takes to be on the PBS Show Everyday Edisons!

However, before going to Providence RI, I'll stop in Boston where I'll meet with a fellow inventor, Nancy Kerrigan. I met Nancy, whose products are in the pet industry, a few years back when I was in Boston for a meeting at Staples headquarters. I took her with me to my meeting to let her see what it was like doing business with "the big boys." Then I introduced her to my outsources in China. It wasn't long before her products were being manufactured there. Today, Nancy sells to the "big box" pet supply retailers.

Networking with other inventors works well because even though our inventions/products differ, we are often working on the same problems, issues, and challenges. Nancy and I support one another as we discuss our experiences and especially the challenges that we face selling to mass market retail stores. Not only am I looking forward to talking business with her, I hear Boston is beautiful this time of year and that Nancy's Auntie's spaghetti and meatballs are the talk of the town.

After saying good bye to Boston, I'll head to Providence, Rhode Island to meet up with the EDE crew for the last call. My job is working with the US Patent Office to talk with the participants about getting patents. I can't wait to see which inventors make the final cut of 14 inventors for next season's show.

Trips like this inspire and energize me because I love being in situations that support and promote inventiveness and entrepreneurial ventures.
j