Inventing and creating is very stimulating to the mind. You have to love it for that aspect because it really doesn’t pay. The product that I am working on now is very simple for me to make by piecing together some other products. It will be more of a challenge if I get to the point that I want them to be all one piece and machine made. I will either have to search for manufacturing sources or try to get a big company to buy my idea. Right now though I am working on the small part of it.
Yesterday I worked out how much they would cost in supplies, time to make them, and packaging. You have to include packaging in your cost because packaging can get expensive. I worked out that I can make 20 of these in 15 minutes, so that makes 80 in an hour. I could pay someone to put them together for 15 cents each.
So lets figure the cost of supplies is 25 cents, I will double that and charge 50 cents wholesale, and then double that again and charge $1.00 retail. That is how most things work when it comes to pricing. I think that electronics are different though.
Most of the product that I made today will be given to students that I work with in the school district. I am still working on seeing exactly how useful they are, how much the kids like them, and whether it will even be viable to sell them. I’m not sure that it is even patentable. I don’t know that at such a low cost, it would be worth the expense and effort to even start the patent process, and my product is so simple that I think a patent would be denied anyway. They won’t issue a patent to something that is obvious. Now while my product isn’t obvious to everyone, it could be considered obvious to other therapists.
If it was a different product, this is the time to do patent searches at http://www.uspto.gov. You have to first research patents, because if there is already a patent out on your product, then it is not worth doing any work on it. You will not be able to make any money on it, unless you are already a millionaire and you want to buy someone else’s patent. I do not fall into that category. My category is someone who will never see the money back that was spent on my last invention. That is why I am very wary about how much money is spent.
I also have another route to go as a therapist. Some of the big therapy product manufacturers will buy therapists’ ideas and manufacture them and put them in their catalogs. I am not sure what route I will go. I am just at the beginning stages.
Yesterday I spent much of the day working on packaging design in photoshop. When I started my first invention, I didn’t know anything about photo editing and photoshop. I just jumped in and learned it. I have gotten pretty good at it. I went through many stages yesterday. I find that I have to make it in photoshop, print it out and see what I don’t like. I changed things many times, and now have a good first package topper. I will package my product in 4, 8, and 16 per package, and put them in a bag sealed with a heat sealer, and topped with a cardstock topper.
A good way to figure out how your product should be packaged is to go to stores and look at how similar products are packaged. You also need to look at the tags and product inserts to see what information needs to be on the packaging. Another thing to do if you want your product to be in stores is to buy a bar code.
I have a new product that I am working on. It is an Occupational Therapy Product, specifically to help handwriting. So, since I am just starting out on this one, I think that I will go through all of the stages here on my blog.
I just got the idea for this product last week on Thursday when I was working with one of my students. It is a small item, and will be very easy for me to make. I am going to make several of them and give them to students that I work with for therapy. That way, I can test them out on a controlled population and see how they work and what I need to change.
I did do some comparison internet searches, and there is a product out there that does a similar function, but it is more complex and does some other things too. Mine is simpler, and could be more widely popular than just with the kids who need it. As I get farther along, I will link to it and let everyone see it. I doubt that I will go big with this as I don’t think that it is patentable, but I will make some and sell them at some point.
Stay tuned to see how it all goes. I will hand some out tomorrow to some teachers and students as I made a few over the weekend.
The Cover Me Strap
Here is a blurb from the creator’s website, covermestrap.com.
I’m Natascia the creator of the Cover-Me and founder of Little Carr, LLC,
Being a busy mother of three I developed the Cover-Me strap out of pure necessity. I never purchased a shawl or nursing cover as I felt that it just took up room in my diaper bag and was one more thing I would need to wash, plus I didn’t want to spend $35 on a nursing cover that would just be one wrinkled mess when I went to use it!
One afternoon I was nursing my daughter at a park and just couldn’t manage to keep her blanket draped over my shoulder. I shoved the corners of her blanket under my bra straps in an attempt to lock it in place to keep us covered, but it wouldn’t stay put. I was fidgeting and my daughter was growing ever more frustrated when I thought…..why isn’t there a strap to keep blankets in place? I wanted a strap that was sturdy and sporty and stylish and would work. After finding the hardware and hiring a seamstress to make one for me to use, I realized that there was definitely a market and moms everywhere would love the Cover-Me!
What was initially designed as a tool to help moms breastfeed in public has truly become a tool that all moms need! I love getting emails from moms about the new ways they create cover with the Cover-Me.
I’ve used the Cover-Me as a nursing cover, bib clip, sun shade, lovey leash, and blanket stay! Shoot me an email or send a picture of how you use your Cover-Me! I love hearing from moms, dads, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.
She also lists other uses for the strap.
Nursing Cover (bib style):
•Attach both ends of the Cover-Me to the longest side of a blanket approximately 12 inches apart.
•Slip the Cover-Me over your head and drape the blanket over your baby.
•Adjust strap to desired length for comfortable nursing, knowing you’re perfectly Covered!
Nursing Cover (diagonal style):
•Attach one end of the Cover-Me to the corner of a blanket and the other end to the side of the blanket. (with the Cover-Me fully extended)
•Slip the Cover-Me over your head and one arm and drape the blanket over your baby. (the Cover-Me is diagonal across your back)
•Adjust strap to desired length for comfortable nursing, knowing you’re perfectly Covered!
Bib Clip:
•Attach both ends of the Cover-Me to the longest side of a napkin or burp cloth.
•Slip the Cover-Me over your baby’s head and drape the napkin over the baby’s chest to create adequate Cover!
Sun Blocker:
•Attach both ends of the Cover-Me to the longest side of a blanket approximately 12 inches apart.
•Slip the Cover-Me over your head and drape the blanket over your baby in a front carrier.
•Adjust the length of the Cover-Me to create optimum Cover!
Blanket Keeper:
•With baby in a stroller, drape stroller blanket over baby’s lap.
•Extend the Cover-Me to the longest position and attach to the corners of the blanket from behind the stroller.
•Go on a walk knowing your baby is Covered!
Lovey Leash:
•Attach one end of the Cover-Me to a stroller strap.
•Attach the other end to baby’s lovey and keep it safe from the ground.
I love all the different nursing covers on the market, especially the Hooter Hiders
The next of our mom inventors is Jessica Kim. Her company is Babbaco, and her product is the Babbacover car seat cover
The car seat covers are all very cute. They have elastic fit in the front and back for a sure fit while keeping the sides loose for circulation, elastic opening for a sure grip on the car seat handle
Window openings in the front and back, button the window flaps up or secure them down to prevent flapping in the wind, the window openings create easy access to baby, allows your baby to see out, and provides sufficient circulation
Side cargo pockets on both sides, throw in your keys, wallet, diaper/wipes, teether, things that you want to keep easily accessible
About the Inventor.
Jessica Kim is so real. She’s a mom, a wife, a serial entrepreneur, and just another woman trying to balance it all. Jessica strongly believes that every mom is entrepreneurial. Moms need to switch plans at the drop of a hat, be resourceful with what they have, and make things out of nothing (like creating a puppet out of your glove to get through that grocery line). Jessica designs her products with real parenthood in mind. She is not an expert mom at all; she doesn’t believe one exists. She’s ready to share her reality of being an entrepreneurial mom. Jessica celebrates that reality and dedicates herself to creating solutions for all of us…and why not look super cute at the same time?
Some more examples of the cuteness of the covers.
She also has babbaburpies
I am going to post on some other mom inventors and what they have done. I am going to start with one that I love. I love it because it relates directly to my profession as an Occupational Therapist and a child feeding specialist. It is The Wean Machine
The mom behind it is Tilly Beazeley, and the official website is TheWeanMachine.com. Tilly is from England and was tired of washing the large machine she used to make her baby food. She wished she had something that was small and easy to clean up.
It makes it easy to make food smaller for a young toddler to eat. It does not puree
I used a similar item with my kids when they were young. It is much better for kids to eat home made baby food. It tastes better, and you know how it has been made. This makes the process much easier.
This is a company that encourages kids to be inventors. they market and work with other groups to sponsor competitions. Check out BKFK and read about kids who have invented some interesting things.
The twistified swing was invented by an 8 year old boy. He won second place in the Invention Dimension Challenge. Here is a video of him and his cool swing.
I bought and have read the newest book by mom inventors founder Tamara Monosoff, Your Million Dollar Dream. I would not say that the book is life-changing, but I did absolutely benefit from it. A lot of the information is related to using the internet to help your business. I was stimulated to try some new things. Before I bought the book, I had already started a therapy activity website to share information and ideas. I did that because I wanted to, not because I thought that it might make money. After reading her book, I decided to try some of the ideas in it because it couldn’t hurt to make money too, right? As long as I was doing the website anyway. I have only just begun, so it will be a while before I see how successful it becomes. If nothing else, I have been stimulated in my therapy job.
Here is a therapist who created the fasten-ator. Her website is http://www.school-ot.com/, and the page for her fasten-ator is www.school-ot.com/My%20Products.html. Her name is Jennifer Dodge. Here is what she says on her site about her product.
“I designed and sewed up the prototype (in the picture above) for this after trying to work with a 5th grade boy who had Downs Syndrome. He had a hard time with his pants buttons and zipper, and would come out of the bathroom with them undone to get help. At the same time, he rejected practicing on a doll or stuffed snake as “baby stuff,” and was NOT interested in practicing on clothing – “boring!!!” He did like to use the wiggle pen and a few other fine motor toys, so after about 10 hours struggling with a sewing maching (not my forte), I made up one of these. I put the favored toy inside, closed up all the fasteners, and gave it to him. It worked! He willingly worked at opening them all, accepted my help to learn how, played with the toy he found inside, and then closed them all back up at the end of the session, “for next time.”
I then started using this with children with severe language weaknesses, such as children with autism and/or moderate cognitive disabilities. Instead of trying to get across that if they practiced buttoning and unbuttoning x number of times, then I would give them a reward, using the Fasten-ator was a much more natural cause-and-effect activity. They saw the desired item or icon go into the box, saw the buttons and/or zipper and/or snaps and/or clips and/or laces get done up (modeling!), and understood that to get the toy those fasteners needed to get un-done!
Some of the other OT’s I worked with asked if they could get one too. I wasn’t eager to spend another 10 hours sewing again, so — long story short — Abilitations was interested and started having them manufactured to sell.”
You can go to the abilitations website at http://www.abilitations.com/ and search for fasten-ator. There isn’t a picture up there though. I think that it is great that it was picked up as a product.
I haven’t been doing any true inventing lately, but I am always creating things to use in therapy. here is my clothespin UNO game. 
You can read the whole therapy post at http://www.therapyfunzone.com/. I am working on creating a more permanent version, and we’ll see if one of the big therapy manufacturing companies would be interested in it.
