03.28.08
Posted in mom inventor at 10:45 am by Tonya
Ideas come at the strangest time. I am disillusioned with the whole inventing process in case you haven’t noticed that I haven’t blogged anything for a year. I am selling product, but not doing anything else regarding products. Until last night while I was falling asleep. I do not want another product, and cannot afford another product, but I am going to go out today and see if I can find materials to make a prototype. This product is an exercise type of thing, and is directly related to my therapy background, but would be good for any one.
I will do things much differently this time though. I will not do it myself again. That costs too much money and is more work than one person can do. Instead I am going to try going through bigideagroup.net . They are a group that will shop your idea out to companies, and share in the profit. So worth it in my opinion. They are not one of those inventor help companies that basically steal your money. They are legitimate.
Other good inventing resources are mom inventors, inventors digest, and www.UIAUSA.org.
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02.25.07
Posted in mom inventor at 8:26 am by Tonya
I went to a casting call yesterday in San Diego for a PBS tv show that they are starting the second season of. It is called “Everyday Edisons”. It was a very good experience overall, even though they did not pick me as one of their inventors. Every one involved was very nice. The day was filled with a lot of waiting my turn, but we kept busy talking to other inventors who are in the same position. Their website is http://www.everydayedisons.com .
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06.18.06
Posted in being a mom at 7:24 am by Tonya
I haven’t written in quite a while because I have been doing other things. Sorry, but the computer just doesn’t rate sometimes (not that anyone cares whether I write or not). I haven’t really been doing anything related to product and mom inventing lately anyway. It has been the end of the school year, so things have been chaotic related to kids, family, and household management. We went on a trip to Yosemite right after the trade show, and then we went on a trip to Hawaii. We don’t have time to unpack before we have to pack again. I think that I am going to focus on family and household management over the summer, so I may not write much at all unless someone really wants me to, or unless I get bored (not likely).
Hawaii was great. We did some snorkeling, hiking, swimming, and museums. No agenda, and just fun. We stayed at a relative’s house, so it was an affordable trip. Now to get all the laundry done.
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05.15.06
Posted in mom inventor at 5:59 am by Tonya
Well, we are back from the jpma trade show, and I was definitely ready enough. The show was a success on several levels. It wasn’t as great as I had hoped that it would be, but it also was better than some other trade shows that I have been to. All in all, it was a good trip. It was in Florida, and we spent a couple of extra days just having fun. That part was great. I’ll write more later.
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05.03.06
Posted in being a mom at 9:21 am by Tonya
Here is a news story about how much mothers should get paid for doing all of the jobs that they do. Here is a site where you can actually calculate how much you would get paid for what you do in your area, adjusted for the cost of living in your area, and what you specifically do.
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04.29.06
Posted in mom inventor at 5:35 am by Tonya
I have an idea for a new product, and I have been trying to figure out how it would work. I’ve tried some different things, and then bailed on them because they didn’t work right. Well the other day in the shower (I always get my breakthroughs in the shower, except for once when I got a breakthrough in the bathroom at a ski resort) I figured out a new way that it might work. I’m working on some prototypes to try out with some kids, and I have started my research on whether other patents exist. It seems that my preliminary patent search has shown that there are some similar ideas out there, but not with my exact solution. First though, I have to see if it can work in the real world. Patenting is such a headache and hassle that I am not going to start the process if it is not going to be something that will work. Hopefully in a few weeks I will have been able to try it out with a few kids and see if it is a truly workable and viable product. To me, that is the fun part, working out the problems and coming up with a solution, and then figuring out how it can work in a variety of situations.
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Posted in mom inventor at 5:25 am by Tonya
The JPMA tradeshow is only one week away. So, am I going to be ready? The answer is, no, not as ready as I would have liked to be. I will be ready enough though. I have signs, background, paperwork, props, original product ready to sell, and samples of new product. What I don’t have is new product ready to sell. Oh well. They (and I) will just have to be happy with the samples That I do have. It is all such a headache.
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04.26.06
Posted in mom inventor at 5:27 am by Tonya
I guess I haven’t really found the secret to organizing, but I do have some things that are necessary for me to stay organized.
The most important thing is time. I have to block out certain times and designate those times to do certain things. There is always something that needs to be done for my product, so I could keep every spare minute filled with working on that and never get anything else done. I have to consciously tell myself that I am not working on that today. Today is an organizing day. Otherwise it would never get done. It is all a constant balancing act.
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04.21.06
Posted in mom inventor at 5:26 am by Tonya
I am the type of person that really likes to be in control (just ask my husband). In some ways, being a mom inventor works well with that personality trait, and in other ways it goes against that trait. There are some aspects that I really want to give up control on, and others that I hate it when I have to give up control. I love that I have a manufacturer who does all the sewing. I hated sewing myself, and am thrilled to give up that piece of control. I hired a graphic artist, and he did a great job on my logo, but it is sometimes hard working with him. On another project, I wanted him to recreate something that I had already done so that it could be in the right file type. He felt the need to get creative with it and question why it was different from the last one I did. I did not ask for creativity here. I wanted it on the logo, but not on this new job. So I took back control, and figured out how to do it myself.
Right now we have only two weeks until the JPMA (juvenile products manufacturer association) trade show. I am working hard getting everything ready to go. I’m remaining calm, and have a million things in my mind that I have to have ready and bring with me. If I had employees, and gave out jobs for them to do, I think that I would be much more stressed because I would not have a mental picture of what part has been completed and what needs to be done. I would though like to tell someone else to package product and stuff media folders. Maybe someday I will have someone (other than my husband) to order around.
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04.19.06
Posted in mom inventor at 4:10 am by Tonya
I got to sleep in until 3:30 am this morning. That felt better. Now I will get to work.
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