The Right Sisters: Hot Off the Press!

My newly published book, The Right Sisters: Women Inventors Tell Their Stories, is getting rave reviews.

Don Kelly, Former US Patent and Trademark Office Chief of Staff who now runs Patent Agent Plus had this to say:

“A MUST READ!” for anyone with an inventive idea and curiosity about what it takes to bring that idea to market. Rhodes and Harrelson have captured a wonderfully readable collection of richly moving stories about contemporary women innovators - - in their own words. As a special tribute to sisters everywhere, The Right Sisters is an eloquent commentary on still-prevailing barriers faced by female inventors. Beyond that, the tales of their courageous struggles and heartwarming victories deliver a powerful dose of motivation for us all.

Lorin Beller Blake at Big Fish Nation says

The Right Sisters is brilliant! Women entrepreneurs all over the world are becoming a force that is having more and more impact. We need inspiration every day to remind us to keep going. That is what this book offers—inspiration from women who have a seedling of an idea and make it a reality.

Bob DeMatteis, author of From Patent to Profit, says

The Right Sisters will make you laugh, make you cheer, and at times make you cry. It will give you a whole new perspective on the extraordinary vision, perseverance, and generosity of America’s women inventors. Julia and Patricia tell why the next wave of innovation in America will be from women!

Order your copy now on the "Contact Us" page of KleenSlate Concepts.

The Invention of Blue Jeans

The following passage was featured on the Writer's Almanac on May 20, 2010:

It was on this day in 1873 that Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received a patent for work pants reinforced with metal rivets, the pants that came to be known as "blue jeans."

But the story of blue jeans began about 500 years ago, in the port city of Genoa, Italy, where a special thick cloth was used to make pants for fishermen and sailors in the Genoese navy. The cloth came from the Italian town of Chieri, a town known for its weaving and textiles. The fabric started out brown, but was eventually dyed blue with gualdo, or wode, a plant that was popular for its blue dye before indigo. The pants were designed to be heavy-duty, to stand up to wet and dry, to roll up easily when the deck got wet, and to be quickly removable if the wearer fell overboard. Our term "blue jeans" comes from a bastardization of the French "bleu de Genes," or "blue of Genoa." In 2009, Genoa held a three-day conference celebrating their role in the history of blue jeans.

But the fabric that Levi Strauss ended up choosing was serge, from the city of Nîmes, in France. It may have been copied from the Italian version, or it may be a similar fabric that was created independently, but it was this "serge de Nîmes," that Strauss chose for his pants, and "de Nîmes" eventually turned into plain old "denim."

Levi Strauss was an immigrant from Bavaria, born Loeb Strauss in 1829. His family had a dry goods business, and when he was 24 years old, he saw an opportunity in the California Gold Rush and headed west. He had some canvas that he had intended to use for wagon covers and tents, but when he discovered that the men out there had trouble finding sturdy work pants, he started making pants out of canvas. And when he heard that the pants were good but they chafed, he switched fabric, to the "serge de Nîmes."

One of his customers was a tailor named Jacob Davis, from Reno, Nevada, who bought cloth from Strauss and sewed his own work pants from it. Davis had heard from customers that the pockets kept ripping, so he had the idea to reinforce them with metal rivets at their weak points. He decided that he should get a patent for this idea, but he didn't have enough money. So he wrote Strauss and asked if he would be interested in sharing a patent for sturdy work pants with metal rivets, and Strauss agreed. On this day in 1873, the two men received U.S. Patent No. 139,121 for "Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings."

By the 1920s, jeans were the most popular men's work pants, although still used only by laborers — with one notable exception being the Santa Fe Artists Colony, whose members wore blue jeans in the 1920s as an artistic statement. In the 1930s, Hollywood Westerns portrayed cowboys in jeans, and they became a novelty fashion item for East Coasters who went to dude ranches. During World War II, jeans were considered suitable work pants for both men and women to wear in factories. For women's jeans, the zipper went down the right side instead of the front.

The 1950s saw the biggest change for jeans, as they became a teenage status symbol. James Dean wore jeans in Rebel Without a Cause, and along with leather jackets, they became the quintessential clothing of bad boys and juvenile delinquents. Jack Kerouac wore blue jeans and work shirts as early as the 1940s. In the late 1950s and into the 1960s, jeans became the outfit of choice for bohemian artists, preferably with a black turtleneck and sandals. In 1960, the word "jeans" was finally used in advertising (teenagers had been using it for years). By the late 1960s, bellbottom jeans were taken up by the flower children of the counterculture, and by the 1970s they were a staple of mainstream American culture. And there are some people who can always wear jeans — John Grisham said: "Writers can wear anything. I could go to a black-tie dinner in New York City with blue jeans on and boots and a cowboy hat and a bow tie, and people would just say, 'Oh, he's a writer.'"

kleenSlate Concepts Selected as the Central California 2010 Small Business Person of the Year

MommyPerks.com Rocks! I love building relationships with new customers!

KleenSlate Concepts Selected as the Central California 2010 Small Business Person of the Year

May/10/2010

2 packs, 12 packs, 24 packs. Check the site for rates.

*Please note: Mommy Perks is not in the habit of posting business press releases on our blog. However, the owner of KleenSlate Concepts recently made a large contribution to our first Twitter Party. We, in turn, are happy to promote the Central California Small Business Person of the Year press release, in her honor!

Release Date: May 7, 2010
(559) 487-5791, ext 143
Contact: Melende Ward

KleenSlate Concepts Selected as the Central California 2010 Small Business Person of the Year

National Small Business Week: May 23-29, 2010

SONORA, CA – The U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Fresno District Office announced today that Julia Rhodes owner of KleenSlate Concepts has been selected as the 2010 Central California Small Business Person of the Year.

The award presentation for KleenSlate Concepts will be held on May 24, 2010, 12:00 noon at the Sonora Board of Supervisors Chamber located at 2 S. Green Street, 4th Floor in Sonora. For information regarding the award presentation, please contact Melende Ward at (559) 487-5791.

This year marks the 47th annual proclamation by the President calling for the celebration of National Small Business Week. The award recognizes a business owner who exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit and honors his or her individual contributions to the community. KleenSlate Concepts was selected after a competition held among businesses located within the 15 Central California counties served by the Fresno SBA. The Alliance Small Business Development Center of Modesto nominated the business for the award.

“The Small Business Administration is very proud of the tremendous growth and success that KleenSlate Concepts has achieved. This company serves as a role model for other small business entrepreneurs,” said Carlos G. Mendoza, District Director for the Fresno SBA Office.

Upon notification that she was selected for the award Rhodes said, “I am honored to be selected and I wouldn’t be here today without the help of family, friends and loyal customers. It helps having great products, however, at the end of the day it is the team you have in place that makes or breaks you.”

KleenSlate Concepts was founded in 2001 by Julia Rhodes. At that time her product was little more than a well developed idea for a solution to a common problem – “the missing white board eraser.”

As a previous elementary school teacher, Julia was very familiar with wasting time hunting for erasers for dry erase boards. She did her research and found that no one was manufacturing an eraser that would cap directly to the end of a dry erase marker. With the help of the Alliance Small Business Development Center, Julia started working on her business plan and attended many training and counseling sessions.

Since the development of the dry erase cap KleenSlate has developed many other products including the Dry-Erase Paddles which can be used in classroom settings and team activities. Every paddle is complete with a marker and eraser. The paddle marketing theme “Put the Paddle Back in the Classroom” allows every student in the classroom a hand-held dry erase paddle. The paddles allow an entire classroom to answer a question instead of an individual student. Knowing how financially strapped the schools are, but seeing the measurable difference the paddles are making in the schools performance, Julia is enlisting local businesses to help support local schools.

In 2002, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued Julia her first patent and trademark and Julia currently holds international patents in China and Japan with other patents pending in multiple countries around the world. She also mentors new inventors on the challenges of the inventor’s journey and is in the process of writing a book to share her knowledge.

KleenSlate Concepts has rapidly evolved into an international product development company providing simple yet effective communication tools for businesses, classrooms, hospitals, homes and travel. The firm currently exports products to the countries of UK, Germany, Spain, Australia, Canada, Peru, Denmark, Switzerland, France, Japan, Israel, China, New Zealand and Ireland and donates products to deaf schools in Africa and Ethiopia.

The popularity and success of KleenSlate products has big retailers such as Office Depot featuring the products in their stores, web sites and catalogs. The business has four employees in its Sonora office and dozens of independent sales reps around the world.

Kurt Clark, Center Director of the Alliance Small Business Development Center said, ““When Julia approached the Alliance SBDC for assistance in 2002, she had already cashed out her teachers pension and had refinanced her house. Like many entrepreneurs, Julia committed all of her personal financial resources to her dream, but also engaged family and friends to provide the seed capital necessary to develop her first product. Assistance from the SBDC enabled her to develop a Business Plan and helped her secure a loan from the local County Revolving Loan Fund (RLF).”

“Julia’s path in business is one that many entrepreneurs experience including the need to stay educated on the ever-changing challenges of business ownership. I am proud to have worked with Julia through these past eight years and see the tremendous success she has had and how she has inspired others to live their own dream,” said Center Director Clark.

Small Business Person of the Year nominations are judged on seven basic criteria: staying power, growth in number of employees, increase in sales and/or unit volume, current and past financial reports, innovativeness of product or service, response to adversity and evidence of contributions to community-oriented projects.

KleenSlate Gets Around

You never know how, when, or where your invention will show up. I have had email from folks describing the KleenSlate dry erase Paddles being used in places I never dreamed about when I first invented the product. Here are a few examples:

• travelers using the Paddle around the world to help communicate in various languages by drawing pictures,
  
• parents using the Paddle to help an autistic child stay on schedule,
• a nurse who used the Paddle for a patient with a vocal impairment,
• a man who used the Paddle to reconnect with an old friend.

Since I designed this product when I was a teacher, I am always delighted to hear stories and testimonials about how it is being used in the world of education. Recently, my friend Rebecca P. Cohen, one of the woman inventors who is featured in The Right Sisters, took the Paddles into her Outdoor Education program. The story of Rebecca using the Paddles with the kids in the garden is featured on Rachael Ray's Yum-o.org

I'd love to hear your story about how you have used KleenSlate dry erase Paddles.

Forging Relationships

Connecting with other women in business is food for my spirit. During the last two months, I have attended two conferences that renewed my energy and provided inspiration to reach for a higher plateau during these difficult economic times.

In September, I headed to Boca Raton, Florida for the "Count Me In" Leadership Conference hosted by Office Depot at their new headquarters. For three days, I was immersed in workshops and surrounded by 108 inspiring women who were discovering ways to grow their business to million dollar enterprises. I had match-making meetings with amazing companies like Power Purchasing, Scripps, and Office Depot-- all potential customers for KleenSlate! I came home filled with ideas and possibilities.

Last week, I attended the Astra's 13th Annual Workshop, Match-Maker, & Awards Dinner: Connect 2009, Start Local-- Go Global. The name Astra comes from the Latin ad astra per aspera which means rising to the stars through difficulty. These days call for just that kind of attitude, and the women and corporations at this event were finding ways to build economic bridges between women entrepreneurs and major corporations.

I presented a workshop on the value of doing one's homework and the preparation necessary for successful engagement when approaching big corporations with a business idea. Because I walk my talk, I was matched with Robert Half International, Apple, and AT&T. Making certain that I had a comprehensive understanding of these companies' values and needs was a critical component to finding a way to add value to their business. I pitched our Partners in Education Program and our patented dry erase products. I was able to explain to these big guys how they might enhance their branding through promotional products that I could provide.

Most importantly, I forged new relationships--without a doubt a key feature in the successful development and promotion of one's inventions and business.

Weird (Funny) Inventions

Some inventions are too funny for words. Check out this video of Weird Clothing Inventions.

I bet that made you laugh. Do you have your own odd ideas for inventions? Care to share?

Writing & Inventing

Last week I retreated to a cabin in the High Sierra, with my co-writer Patricia Harrelson, to work on The Right Sisters. It was an energetic, productive, and at times, comical experience.

We immersed ourselves in the lives of eight women inventors, reviewing transcriptions of our interviews with them, researching and fact checking key points, talking in depth about the common and unique themes among them, and eventually reading and revising the drafts we have written of their chapters. What occurred to me as we worked was how similar the writing process is to the inventing process.

The are both creative endeavors that require deep and meaningful attention and action. Patricia and I talked at length about each inventor. We hiked to the river and to a giant rock pile, notebooks in hand so we could record the insights that came to us. We stretched our bodies in yoga poses and our understanding of each woman deepened. I remember the talking, thinking, walking, and stretching that went into developing KleenSlate and my erasers and paddles.



A little humor is essential to both processes. Our cabin was funky. It was very old and tilted on the foundation, so we slept and wrote on an angle. A skunk family had nested under the cabin all winter, so that during the heat of midday a pungent scent wafted through the floorboards. At night, we had a regular visitor, a critter who made a rukus in the little kitchen, nibbling on fruit we'd left on the table and knocking pans off the stove. These discomforts seemed to feed our process rather than detract from it. We giggled at our cockeyed computers sitting on the table and shone flashlights into the kitchen at night trying to "catch" the critter in its beam.



We never caught sight of him, but we caught much more. The essence and flavor of the women inventors who have so wholeheartedly shared their stories with us. It is going to be a GREAT BOOK!