plavery85's Blog Entries
Everyday Edisons Inventor Season 3
August 09, 2008
Hi everyone, I'm an average person just like you and like you I had an idea that I thought was a good one that I really wanted to make happen. Like many of us I just did not have the time, money or know how to make it happen. I messed around in my basement sketching, building prototypes out of junk, showing them to friends for their opinions and constantly rebuilding, starting over and rethinking my ideas. I've never had a lot of money so I was constantly buying bits and pieces of already made objects that were close to what I needed and then cutting them up, drilling them and combining them to come up with some contraption that would get my idea across. Believe me they didn't always look pretty, or work the best, but they were good enough to prove to me that it could be done. I've done this all of my life, since I was in third grade and invented the cereal sugarer. It consisted of a canning jar lid, a ramp and a base made out of 2 scraps of wood nailed together in an "L" shape. It was my pride and joy on "show and tell day" back circa 1974. You'd line it up with your bowl of cereal, spoon the sugar into the canning jar lid and voila it would slide down the ramp and into your bowl! I stumbled across an ad for a casting call for Everyday Edisons while surfing the web for info on American Inventor. I ended up taking one of my ideas to the Washington D.C. casting call for Season 2. I made it to the filming stage but they ended up saying that my idea was too much of a niche market. It was only good for craftsman and construction workers. I did not make the show that season, but I could see they really liked my idea, it just wasn't a fit for the show. I could also see from that casting call that they were serious, it wasn't about looking silly for camera, or putting on a good show, it was about the ideas. These people wanted to make dreams come true. They wanted to invent. I went back home very excited and ready to come up with an idea that was the proverbial "tooth brush", something everyone uses and needs. I spent months thinking about it when a flash of inspiration came to me when I least expected it. I took what I created from that flash of inspiration to the Providence RI casting call for Season 3 it equaled making it on the show! Now I have the Everyday Edisons team behind one of my "Cereal Sugarer" machines. No it's not actually the machine I described above, but it came out of the same mind and was created the same way, out of whatever bits and pieces I could find. The only difference is that I'm quite a bit older and I managed to get the concept across well enough to someone that can actually do something about it. I could never have made this happen on my own. Like I've said I've done this pretty much all of my life always wishing that someday I'd hit on something that someone would want. It turns out all my struggling and building and working late into the night finally has paid off. I am one of the fortunate few to be a Season 3 Everyday Edison. A little over a year from now I will see something I created fully realized, packaged, marketed and setting on a store shelf ready for anyone to purchase. It is an amazing feeling. It's so amazing that even though I haven't even had the first official meeting with the team yet I've already started on my next, and in my opinion, even better idea. I'll be at Season 4's casting call just like many of you, trying again. Inventing is so much fun...it's what I do. I love the challenge of it. I always say it doesn't matter if it gets made or not. It doesn't even matter if in the end it doesn't work. It's the trying and the figuring and the tinkering that I love. I can't just sit around when I have an idea that might make something work better, or make life a little easier. I've got to try. I'll continue trying for the rest of my life. Any way, I've started this blog to keep you posted on how Season 3 is going and what this all means to me. I'm a graphic designer by trade and I've dabbled in product development a little but I was never trained for that. At my last job they realized that with all my tinkering and inventing I've done on the side that I had the kind of mind that let me think of ways to improve their product and they would always run new ideas or concepts by me, the graphic designer, for my input. It gave me a taste of what could be. Of course because of the nature of the show I'm not allowed to discuss the details or tell you exactly what product will be setting on that shelf next year, but I can share with you my feelings about it all. I realize how fortunate I am. I know you all wanted this just as much as I did. I'm here to tell you it doesn't matter who you are, or what your official label is, if you have the inventor in you they will come out and do their thing. Keep trying, keep thinking and hopefully you too will be an Everyday Edison someday. That's all for this first entry. I'll be back after the first meet and greet with the crew to share my thoughts on it all and how it went. I hope you find this interesting and worth reading. Let me know your thoughts and I'll do my best to tailor this blog to the masses. If I ramble, let me know. Sometimes I just need to get it all out. Above all else, keep inventing.
The First Visit To EE
September 27, 2008
Well, here I am...one week after the first visit in the beginning of my journey with the Everyday Edisons team and I still can't believe it is happening. They flew the East Coast inventors down for a 2 day meet and greet. I finally got to meet some of the other inventors and what their ideas are. Let me start out by saying I was very impressed not only with the staff of Enventys, but with the other inventors. I mean we run the gamut. Travel Agents, Graphic Designers, Engineers, etc... I think Season 3 will be a very interesting show. They have given themselves some challenging problems to solve and it should be fun to watch and see how they solve them. I can not explain how surreal it was to actually be standing in the rooms and meeting the people you see on the show. It was even more amazing to know that they were there to meet and speak with me...the lowly graphic designer with an idea. It was a little overwhelming at times. At one point they had all the employees come into a huge room they use for doing photo shoots and just walk around and mingle with us. There was no rhyme or reason to it, just walk around, introduce yourself and see where it goes. I met tons of people, all very nice and all very professional. I have to admit I really liked seeing the people who don't always make it on camera. They are every bit committed to making our ideas succeed as everyone else on the show. I can only imagine how much fun it would be to work there full time. Louis are you listening??? I'd love to work for you!! I really felt like they listened to me and cared about my insights on my invention and really wanted to hear my thoughts on it. My idea was just that, an idea. I managed to build a fairly descent set of prototypes but they were hand made. They were not really how I intended my product to look in the end but I think they managed to show the judges that it had potential. I guess so because they chose me for the show. I feel like I actually had a chance to speak my mind and show them my vision for the product above and beyond what I could physically do myself. In other words, I think they got it. One thing that really threw me was when we were on the initial tour of the building. They were leading us around to the different departments and when we got to the Industrial Design Department Daniel Bizzell the head industrial designer picked me out of the group...smiled knowingly and said I've been working for you for quite a while and you don't even know it. He then proceeded to constantly smirk and knowingly nod whenever I had an idea regarding my product, or would make a suggestion. I realized that the team had been working on my idea for quite awhile at that point and being the experts that they are they probably already thought of and found a way around most of the problems I was bringing up. That is truly the hardest part of this whole thing...letting go. I have to let go of my idea and let it grow and evolve and turn into an amazing product that everyone will want to own. I have to have faith in the staff at Enventys and understand that while it was my idea that got the ball rolling it's going to take the experts to make that little snowball of an idea into a massive hurtling boulder of a product! I have every confidence in the team and know that in the end whatever ends up on the store shelves it's there because of me and my idea. An idea that I had the courage to pitch to the experts at a casting call one day back in May of 08. It could have been any one of us inventors that day. I was fortunate that they chose me.
Waiting and worrying
October 07, 2008
Well, another couple weeks have gone by and I'm back at home, getting up and going to my day job and living life like nothing special is going on. All the while I know that EE is working away on my idea. I'm not sure what they are doing, but the longer they take the more I worry. I hope they have filed for all the patents they needed to because as I wait I keep seeing more and more competitors getting closer and closer to my idea. No one has done it yet but they keep getting closer. It's hard not being able to tell you what my idea is at this point but in my opinion it is an idea that is long overdue. It will solve a very basic problem that a lot of people have. It's hard waiting and not knowing because I do know that there are a lot of other people and a lot of other companies working away too trying to do what I've already solved and EE is perfecting. I have every confidence that EE will do a great job and get it to market without a hitch I just hope it isn't too late. It may just be all the waiting that is getting to me. I've re-watched Season I and keep wondering how it will be for me. Will it all work out? I hope so. I know all of you are used to the wait since you are here on this forum I know you are no stranger to waiting. Just know that even though I made the show I still have to wait. Fortunately I know the wait will result in my product being produced in the end. That much I savor, but it still doesn't do anything to appease my desire and need to know what the heck is going on!
More Optimistic
November 09, 2008
Hi everyone, Sorry about that last blog, I guess I was getting a bit down with things. I never expected having to wait around and know nothing to be so hard. I mean this whole experience is a great thing. I know that the team is working hard on my idea and that it's moving forward and that in the end it's going to happen. It will be a product out there for anyone to buy. My kids will be proud of their dad and I will be proud of me and all will be well with the world. What I didn't expect was the feeling that I'm a stealth inventor. Knowing this is all happening, but in a way not being a part of it is very strange. I want to scream out to the world...Here I am! Look at Me!!! I made it! I can't though because it's too early. Still filing for patents, still working out the bugs, still waiting. I guess with my last blog I kind of got myself buried in it all and lost site of the bigger picture which is that I did make the show and that I will have a product on the market in about a year. And in my heart know how much the team at Everyday Edisons want it to be successful and that they have the skills to do it the best it can possibly be done. I couldn't ask for more. I've had a couple of reporters contact me now and they all want to write articles on the local inventor, they can't yet because of patent issues, but I can't wait for that to happen. It's a kind of validation. I want to see my name in print with the word inventor or invention. It makes me feel like all these "crazy" ideas I keep toying around with over and over again aren't as "crazy" as one might think. I've decided to fill the void and time with working hard on my latest ideas. I am having a fun time with it to. Each idea has it's own unique challenges and everyday I'm tweaking, changing, or surfing the web or scouting out Home Depot for a part that will work. It's a lot of fun and there is no pressure on me to do it. Inventing has kind of become my hobby. Hopefully a hobby that will bring me some return if I find the next great thing. If I don't, I don't but I will at least have some self satisfaction in knowing what I dreamt up could be done because I'll have a proof of concept prototype, or hopefully fully functional one in front of me in the end. I never really sat down and tried as hard to come up with ideas until after I made it on the show. I see the show as being my opportunity to push this hobby of mine to the forefront, It's my chance once it airs to have a little more weight behind my ideas and hopefully a little more clout to get in to present them to people. I'm pushing myself very hard right now because I don't want to miss the chance to do something with my creative side and invent! Believe it or not I actually have 2 new completed ideas and am working on 3 more. They all are at various stages of development and I've got drawings, re-drawings, prototypes, and parts galore for all of them. It's kind of cool to jump from one to the other on the fly. If I get stuck on one, I move to the next and then usually within a few days I'm back on the other because my mind had a chance to re-think and solve what I couldn't when I was so very focused on it. The mind is an amazing thing. My big challenge now is where am I going to go with these ideas. I'm debating entering a couple of them online. One would fit the "As seen on TV" challenge very nicely, another the Westpoint challenge. I worry though that if I do the online thing that it just won't have the same impact as a face to face. I'd hate to kill an idea just because no one got it because I wasn't there to explain it. Then on the other hand I just have too many to go to a casting call with. I need to narrow the ideas down and keep the best 2 for the casting call and the other's for online maybe? I'm just not sure. Any way, I'll figure it out and all the ideas will get in front of someone somehow. In fact I think I'll go enter that Spirit Halloween one right now. Hopefully with any luck you'll see me posted as a winner. If not then no harm no foul, I'll just come up with another idea and enjoy pushing the limit of my creativeness and my abilities. There is no way anyone can tell me there is anything wrong with that.
Successful Failure!
November 15, 2008
I just had a very successful failure on one of my new inventions. I know that the sentence I just wrote probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense to anyone other than an inventor. Successful failures are what happens when the invention you are working on and have been building for the last month or so fails miserably, but for some strange reason you are happy and excited about it. That's what happened to me. I literally spent the last month and a half working diligently on my idea. I spent hours online researching, I talked to experts on the subject, I bought the parts that I needed from around the world and I built my prototype. I was very proud of myself and excited to try it out. The item I built is electrical which is a subject I knew nothing about before I started my research. Any way, it didn't work. Well, that's not exactly true. It didn't work how I expected it to, but it did work just enough to tell me what I was doing would work, I had just done it wrong. I guess I had my Edison light bulb moment. You know what I mean, it took Edison a whole lot of trial and error and lots of failures before he got a bulb that actually worked how he had envisioned. My prototype in a way was my first failing light bulb. It worked just enough to get me happily beaming and running around the house all excited like a maniac. I actually woke my wife up from a sound sleep to tell her that it worked and that I had done it. Strangely though, she wasn't very happy to hear my good news. Then, about 2 minutes later it stopped working. Let me tell you I was not a happy camper when it stopped...not at first. I went back online, I did more research and I talked to my expert again and I realized my mistake. I didn't quite get it right but I am on the right track. I now know what I need to do and if all my new calculations are correct I will have my working prototype with attempt number 2. I ordered the new parts, I'm beginning to re-build and anxiously awaiting those parts so I can prove to myself that it can be done. Inventing is such an exciting and interesting way of looking at the world. I have to tell you there are not many things you can fail at in this world and still feel like you succeeded. The icing on the cake is that the idea made me want to go out and figure it out and in doing so I learned something. I learned a lot of somethings and now I have just a little more knowledge and understand things just a tad better which at the age of 41 is a good thing, a very good thing. I want to go on exploring and learning for the rest of my life. It feels good to keep learning and growing. I hope I am around to have many many more successful failures.
It's been a very long time
February 21, 2009
Well, it's been quite awhile since my last entry so I thought I'd take the time to fill you in on what's been happening lately. I've been working on a lot of different invention ideas, finding parts, experimenting with different combinations, drawing, drawing, drawing and building lots of 3D models. Some are for current searches, a couple are for the next casting call and then I have a few that just don't fit anywhere quite yet. I love inventing, it really keeps my mind going and gives me a huge break from the day to day chores that always need to be done. In my last entry I talked about my Successful Failure, well I accidentally miss-wired that project on the follow up and while I still think it will work I just haven't been able to get myself to pick it up and have another go at it since that mistake. I have moved on to other ideas that came to mind and do plan on getting back to that one, just not yet. Sometimes it's hard to put all that time and energy into something and then know the mistake you made but just not have anymore left in you to do the whole thing over yet again. It's a very tiny complicated wiring job with lots of connections and soldering to do and at this point I'd love to give it to someone else to physically do it. The creative part is over and I'm not great at the technical part when it comes to electronics. I think that's why I'm having such a hard time with it and have shelved it for awhile. Anyway, I have completed one of my entries for the casting call and it works great, kids will love it I hope! I have made 2 prototypes for the Lifetime Brands search and am working on a 3rd idea. Unfortunately I can't build a prototype of the third one so it's back to 3D modeling on that one. I am also running out of time for the HS search which I will be entering one Travel item idea into. I've gotten pretty adept at building things that don't exist out of found parts. It's a real challenge sometimes to figure out what piece of what machine can be used in a totally different way it was ever intended to be used as. I've also gotten pretty good at telling sales people what I'm looking for without feeling like an idiot when I have to say I'm working on a prototype for a new invention and that's why I don't really care if it comes with this or that. I'm going to cut this thing apart and destroy it anyway so it doesn't really matter. I'm starting to run into the problem where I just don't have the time to make my best ideas happen and it's getting hard to stay up until 2 in the morning to make the time. I'm sure a lot of you can relate. I'm so glad my father-in-law has a full set of tools, and an eye for detail that I just don't have the patience for. He has helped me numerous times with building final prototypes. I come up with the idea and the plans and then he takes the time to cut out the parts and build them with my direction. It works great and it is a huge help. Edison Nation asked me if I could make a prototype of one of my submissions recently for the ASOTV search and there is no way I could have possibly done it on my own and had such a perfectly functioning prototype in the end as quickly as they wanted it. It was a work of art and I have to tell you it is really cool to see something that was only in my head actually working the way I designed it to and working really well. I am so proud of that invention and really hope the EN crew can make it real. As far as Everyday Edisons the show goes, I would have thought I would have been back down for more filming by now and to see a prototype but no luck on that front. So far I was only down the one time. There have been some interesting developments though. I can not go into detail, but I'm sure it will make for some good TV! I actually got a call from John M, asking for a favor and follow up call from Todd S. the president of Edison Nation asking for my help on the project. It made me feel really good that they wanted my help. It was nice to actually be included a little on what was going on down there with my idea. Because of the show though they only told me the bare minimum so I still have no idea what my invention now looks like, or how it operates or who will be the vendor etc... They needed a little help with the presentation and a technical aspect of the invention. I do not know if what I sent them will help them or if the already explored the ideas I came up with, because they are like the CIA down there. It was just nice to be included and feel more like it's a team effort and not just that I gave them an idea and I'm out of it. No matter how good a company is, or how much you trust them or have faith in them it is so hard to just let your idea go and then hear nothing at all and be out of the loop while it's being developed. I see being chosen for the show as a pivotal moment in my life. A very important chance to try to make my dream of inventing full time a possibility. I have devoted my spare time since making it onto the show almost completely to nurturing my ideas and trying to invent more. I want to show the EN crew that I have a lot more to offer and with the phone call I received from them I think they see that and that is better than anything I ever could have hoped for. Years from now when the show is over and this is all just a distant memory I hope that I will still be in contact with Enventys and working with them on the next big idea. If that can happen I will be very very happy. I have to tell you too that if I'm still cashing royalty checks from that very first idea, that will just be icing on the cake!
Is it all coming true? Really? I can't believe it!
May 02, 2009
Hi all, If you are reading this you must really like me or something. Nah, I know you just learned I had another of my ideas chosen to be produced in the ASOTV LPS! I am so excited about it. You all know from my posts and earlier ramblings that I want to do this full time. I'm sick of working on Dimmer instruction sheets...my day job. It took a lot of back and forth with EN when they asked for a prototype of my idea. My father-in-law really came through for me and practically built the whole thing himself. I made one part but he did the rest. I drew up the plans, we debated it and he made it. They then requested a few modifications and for a while there it was looking kind of touch and go from my end, but ultimately they chose it and I am now riding high on adrenaline! My dream of doing this full time may actually be starting to happen. I'm really trying to put that out of my mind so I can focus on the work needed to make that happen. I don't want to feel too confident otherwise my next ideas will stink. I don't think I covered this yet but I thought I'd jot down a brief history of my adventure thus far and how I got to this point in my life. I think what really started it all for was when I made it to the filming stage of season 2. I got to present my idea to the panel of judges but was ultimately rejected. They all seemed to genuinely like it and I was getting excited about all the great things they were saying about it. Then the Lawyer came in and said a dreadful 2 words amongst all the praise "limited market". After being told my idea was a good one, just not a good one for the show I was determined to come back to the casting call for season 3 with an idea they couldn't possibly reject. I went home realizing they wanted something everyone uses...a tooth brush. In my mind that meant either a kitchen product or bathroom one for obvious reasons. I chose the kitchen as my inspiration,went home and set about working on the problem. Nothing came to mind immediately. Then when I finally stopped thinking about it it just came to me in a flash. I built some prototypes, with my father-in-laws help and went back and presented it at Season 3's casting call in Providence. I made it onto the show. I was 97% sure I'd be chosen right then and there the day I presented it from the very positive reactions I was getting. One of the judges was involved in direct responce television, I can not remember her name, but as I was speaking and demonstrating my idea I saw her leaning in and smiling. I think the dollar $ign$ we flashing in her eyes. After it was all over Dave, Everyday Edisons, head of commercialization whisked me off the set and said "put that away" you don't have any protection on it and then went on to ask if I realized who "she" was...the DRTV judge. It turned out she's one of the biggest names in DRTV and to this day I still don't know her name. He then said he had never seen a reaction like that out of the judges in over 15 casting calls. My item has a big time WOW factor. He then had me present it to the retailers which looked like a congressional hearing and was very intimidating to do with so many people all focused on me and my hand built prototypes. It took months until I found out for sure about the show but in my heart I knew it would happen that very day I presented it. Then the EN site followed a few months later and I've taken every opportunity to put any idea I have into the LPS's. Right now I have 10 different ideas in 3 searches, most of which are G4 or higher. It's telling me I really have a shot at this. I've been through some very hard times in the past and I was finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. I went through a divorce a few years back, I didn't want it and I was the one being that was rejected after 16 years and three beautiful children. It was a very very low period in my life. I honestly had thoughts of just ending it all at times as I was going through it, it was that bad. I was totally beaten down and destroyed emotionally. At some point in all of that something clicked in my mind that I could either let myself die inside, or I could try to learn from it and be better and stronger for it. I decided the latter. I picked myself up and started making me and my wants and needs a priority, something I hadn't done in years. I met a wonderful woman...Barbara, on a speed date believe it or not, and we've been together ever since. We married in 06 and I couldn't be happier. She fully supports me in all that I do and is pretty much the exact opposite of my first wife. My life has really changed for the better and I owe a lot of it to her. Why am I telling you all this? Because it matters. I had to rise from the ashes of my life to get to where I am today and have the faith and courage to believe I can be something more. I've always known I had it in me but it took being on the brink of disappearing altogether for me to do anything about it. Sometimes it takes great adversity to motivate. I don't know if either of my ideas will ever make me wealthy or let me retire early or any of that, but I do know that the possibility is now there. I cracked the door so to speak and now it's up to me to step through. I am trying my hardest to take that door off it's hinges and throw it away altogether. As for how do I come up with my ideas, if there is a trick, I wouldn't say there is one but there are things you can do to help yourself think and get into the inventing mindset. I do some of them naturally, it's just the way that I am. I'm very mechanically inclined and also an artist. I tend to notice the aesthetics of things and how they work which is a very good combo. Techniques I use are that I'll go into a store such as walmart and I'll just stop and look at what they are selling. I go in with no real purpose in mind, I just walk the aisles looking for anything that jumps out at me. Believe it or not if you do this, in any given aisle maybe 1 or 2 things will catch your interest. Why? Maybe it's the packaging, maybe it's it's color or size. Maybe it's the materials. Whatever it is you can use all of this info to your advantage on your next idea or design. Now you know orange pops out, or it's better on a shelf than hanging etc... The other technique I use, which I find invaluable, is to go into a hardware store, or home depot or a place like that and go to the hardware section with all the different door catches and slides and drain covers and just all the technical hardware kind of stuff. I'll pick them up and look at how this flips this way and that turns into there and I'll imagine what would happen if I took this one and combined it with that one, how would it move? What could I do with that? I just question things. The last technique I use is the Love it Hate it technique. I'll find a product that I either love or one that I hate and I try to figure out why I like it so much or hate it so much. I'll take both and try to think what I could do to make them better. Could I add a feature to it to make it do more. Could I change the shape to make it look better or work better. Does it need to be made lighter? I really analyze them. It's good to do this exercise with both items you like and ones you hate. You really have to think differently to do each. It's not really a technique, but it's always good to start with someone's need, want or problem. It doesn't have to be yours, just something you see that is honestly needed. I fell though that the best ideas are needs that people don't even realize they need. I can't go into detail but my ASOTV item is one of those, a need no one realizes is out there because it's just always been done this one way. My idea gives them a new, and I think better, way to solve a common problem. I can't say what it solves or how it solves it, but hopefully around Christmas time after the test marketing is done you'll be able to buy one and see for yourself. I think you all need to hear it can be done and I wanted you to understand that this is all new for me and I am way out of my normal comfort zone but that is why this is happening. I'm am determined to MAKE it happen and I'm taking it very seriously. I see this as my chance to buy a better house, move into a nicer neighborhood and do one thing that up until this point I never saw any possibility of happening. I want to be able to put my children through college. I just don't make the kind of money needed to be able to do that. That is my biggest goal and I think it's one worth fighting for.
The invention that never should have been
August 01, 2009
Okay, new topic this time. It's probably one you can all relate to. It's a little story about a great idea of mine that quite frankly never should have been. Also, when I'm finished here I will have committed one of the worst sins an inventor can commit, I will have talked about my invention. I'll up that ante a little and say right now that if anyone out there wants to take this idea I'll be discussing and use it for their own feel free. The only thing I ask is that you don't make fun of me on any sort of mass media when you are rich sailing around on your big boat on your way to the French Riviera to meet Paris Hilton from all the money you made off of this idea! If you can agree to that then read on, otherwise STOP RIGHT HERE! I'll even throw in the prototype at cost plus shipping and handling if you are interested. Okay, here it goes. I was sitting around one day trying to think up ideas for the first Lifetime Brands LPS when a long overlooked problem came to mind. I spent the next few hours on and off thinking about how to solve it. Then a flash of misguided genius struck me and I was off sketching furiously! I spent 3 days toying around with the idea and perfecting the design before I got to something I liked. I then spent another 2 weeks looking for things I could build a prototype out of. So by this point I'm probably a good 15 or so hours of time in on the project between all the sketching, googling, parts hunting etc... Then I found the parts and purchased them. Fortunately the parts weren't so expensive. I built the whole thing for a little over $14 add that to the 15 hours spent researching and locating plus oh another 3 hours building the thing at lets say a nice $30 an hour and my idea at this stage cost me around $554 of my time and money. By now you are probably wondering what the heck I made...what was the idea. I still think the problem is valid, just my solution was to put it nicely, disgusting. I couldn't see it at the time while I was inventing. I was caught up in the idea and it was all about making it work with very little concern on what I'd have in the end. I forgot to really think it through, if I had I would have realized right off the bat that I was working on "THE INVENTION THAT NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN". That last bit should be said in a loud deep menacing voice for the drama! Maybe add a little echo to it to for good measure! I'm going to make you guess at what I could have possibly made. The problem was a kitchen one. It was in fact a kitchen clean up problem. The prototype was built out of a rubber sink stopper, a screw, electrical tape, 2 plastic elongated oval shaped pitchers, black spray paint and a roll of adhesive backed shelf liner that looked like brushed aluminum! Any guesses as to what I made? Do you know what the problem was I was trying to solve? I made the worlds first ...WAAAIIIT...FORRRR...IT....combination cooking spoon soaker/scraper drying rack and cook book holder! Doesn't that just sound amazing! I thought so at the time. As I said the problem is still valid, my solution is not. Basically the unit consisted of two elongated oval pieces, a bottom tray and a top tray. The top tray had a compartment to hold your spoons and stuff a v shaped notch when looking at it from the side that could hold pan lids temporarily or cook books and then a smaller front compartment that would hold just the tools you are currently cooking with. The lower tray had a window cut out of the front just wide enough to accept cooking spoons. This window was just below the top tray. On the bottom side of the top tray I used the rubber sink stopper to form a rounded squeegee scraper shape. When in use you'd fill the lower tray with water. After you stir your sauce you'd stick the head of the spoon into the slot so it's now resting in the water. When you pull it out you lift up and you squeegee the water and whatever else off the spoon and it comes out clean. It worked great but it only took a few times of doing this to get the most disgusting and nasty water known to man. There is no way anyone would want to put a spoon into that water after using it just a few times. Also because of the window you put the spoon in you could see it from your angle. I tried to paint the unit black which helped, but you could still see the gunk filled water as you scraped the spoons off. What I had spent hours making and thinking was the greatest thing of the planet was in fact a big waste of time and money. I even took time to describe and film it so tack on another hour to the bill. So before you go out and fly with an idea half cocked, really think it through. I learned my lesson and always think my ideas through now. There is just no way anyone would ever buy this as a product in the real world. No one is going to stick there spoon in and out of dirty food soaked, bacteria laden water and actually eat it. I have no idea why i didn't think of that up front, but I didn't. Now I have this lovely prototype just setting around reminding me of how stupid I was. Oh well maybe the next idea will be better. Don't forget it's only $554 plush shipping and handling if you want to take this baby on and buy yourself that big boat, or maybe a plane! Yeah, a plane would be cool! If you would like to see what you are buying I posted a picture of it on my profile. Now don't go ripping me off and making your own based on the picture. You need to buy my prototype otherwise you'll see me in court! At least the moment you sail out of international waters you will. No wait oops I shouldn't have said that...now you know how to avoid getting sued by me. This is not good...not good at all.
I have an idea but I'm not going to tell you!
October 10, 2009
Well, again, it's been quite awhile since I last wrote. I have so much going on right now. As you know I've been trying to make inventing my career as opposed to working all day and then coming home to work all night on my ideas. Well, it's slowly starting to pay off and the reason for that is that I communicate and work with others both here on the site and at my various jobs I've held. I know as inventors we learn very quickly that we have to keep our ideas secret...we can't tell anyone, we can't discuss them because if we do someone is going to steal them. There is truth in that statement but it is also misleading. It makes it sound like if you even mention a tidbit of your idea that the person you are telling is going to run off take it and make millions. I hate to say it but even if you gave someone every detail of your idea with drawings, schematics and everything 9 out of 10 times they will never do a thing with it because it would be too much of an effort or believe it or not they have some morals and character and they know it's your idea. If we as inventors never talk to anyone, never bounce our ideas off other people, we will waste time and go down roads we never should. See my "The invention that never should have been" blog for a great example of this. Yes, even I do it sometimes. I guess what I'm saying is that as an inventor you need to be in the know. You need to listen to people and what they need. You need to identify problems which you can work to solve. How do you do all this? You talk, you ask questions, you join the conversation. If you just hang out on EN and read the posts but never make any posts of your own you gain some inkling of what is going on out there but you never really get it because you are an observer not a participant. You need to dive in and talk, listen and respond. Take a look at the site and there are certain people who stand out. I can list 5 or six right off the bat without even thinking. I won't here because I didn't ask if I could but I'm sure you too know who is posting, who is talking and what certain people on this site are about. Those are the people who can help you. None of the ones I can think of have ever posted a thing about their inventions but they do ask about things. They also will help other inventors. I personally answer every email I get from people from this site. I do my best to help people succeed and it makes me feel good that I have some knowledge to share and that I may be helping others with their dreams. If we would all do that can you imagine the potential? Through my interactions both on this site and during my career I've made some pretty cool friends. People that can help me and that want to help me because I've helped them. There are a few key people I met through EN that I actually do share some of my ideas with. I trust them. They earned it just as I've earned their trust because we all want to help each other and want each other to succeed here. When I first start an LPS I usually list out 3 or 4 concepts and I do just enough sketching and writing to be able to relay the most basic idea to another. 9 times out of 10 I'll bounce those ideas off at least one person from here that I trust to get their opinion and any suggestions they may have. I then don't waste time entering all 4 and I focus on the 1 or the 2 that really have potential. I sometimes even get a suggestion that makes it way better than what I came up with on my own. If you want your ideas to fly they first have to walk. I walk them over to a select group of "inventing friends". Afterwards the one that survives is usually moving along at a good jog. You need to develop a network of friends that can help you, that want to help you. It really helps to push your ideas to the next level. If it's just you sitting at a computer for hours on end you will overlook something or you will waste time on concepts that quite frankly never should have been. Bottom line is that you should use your resources. EN is a huge resource but it's not just the site itself it's the people here. My example of how this can work is that I've gained the trust of people that are opening some doors for me and giving my opportunities I never would have had if I had holed up somewhere and didn't share my concepts at least a little. My former boss is at a new company and they are looking for ideas. She brought my name up and told her boss about me, my inventing and this site. She actually showed him the site and explained it to him and then talked about me and how I made it onto the show. I also worked on some concepts when we were coworkers that she also expounded upon. A second co-worker of mine from that previous job also put in a very good word for me and my ability to conceptualize and think out of the box. They both did this independently of each other. I was a graphic designer there. It had nothing to do with inventing but I shared some of my ideas with them to get their opinions. Now they've opened a door for me to present ideas directly to a major retailer and the president of that company is actually asking about me and wanting to know what I charge to come up with ideas. That is an opportunity that I never would have been given if I was running around saying Don't Peek! I have also developed a relationship with one of the owners of a Chinese factory that I worked with on projects in the past at that same company. I've contacted him outside of that job and mentioned some of my ideas. He too is very interested and wants to work with me. Again I showed him a couple of ideas. Nothing he'd ever be interested in, but he saw the potential. I know we'll do something together at some point when the timing is right I'm just not at the point where I could fund it. The glitch in that deal is that I have the ideas, he has the ability to produce the products but we do not have a way to sell or market them. So all you people out there, open up share a little and join our team! We need someone to market some of our ideas! Inventing can be a dark dangerous secretive place and it can also be a very rewarding place. Take a little time, pick and choose what to share and what not to share. The trick is to share just enough to peak their interest and let them know that you know what you are doing. If you can do that you just might get something in return. So talk, share and help one another and see where it goes.
It's Finally the 1st Quarter of 2010
January 09, 2010
Well, here we are sitting at the beginning of a whole new year and exciting things are happening. It was a little disheartening to find out that Season 3 of Everyday Edisons was being pushed back. My moment of fame delayed. All the excitement was supposed to have already happened by now way back in September/October. It is really difficult to keep your spirits high when you just do not know what is happening with your ideas. My show item is still hush hush Top Secret even to me. I presented the concept at the Providence casting call back in May of 2008 so it’s been a wait of almost 2 years since all of this started. It’s been a very long and hard wait but one that I have every confidence is worth enduring and that I’m sure any one of you would gladly accept. Over the past 2 years I’ve been pressing hard with other ideas and am entering any and all LPS’s that I think I have a good idea for. I try my hardest to focus on the challenges and actually get some satisfaction in solving the problems and finding new solutions to old problems. The LPS’s give my creative side a focus and allow me to really go crazy with the concepts but with a real goal in mind. The goal is to get another product to market. That too has paid off with my being the sole winner of the first ASOTV LPS. The good news is it’s the first quarter of 2010. This is when all this stuff is supposed to finally start to happen and it seems to be beginning to move again. I sent my “It’s the first of the year, please tell me anything” email to Marla and she told me a lot! They are scheduling final filming for Season 3 as you read this. Everyday Edisons the show has a new producer that Marla is working with and we the inventors should have some clue as to when the big reveal and final filming for each of our segments will happen. I cannot wait to see what they have done with my idea. I’ve prepared myself for it to be different and I trust any and all changes they have made will only help make the item that much more of a success. As long as my core concept is still in there I’ll be happy regardless of how much it may have changed. If they stayed true to the idea then I’ll be proud to say I was the inventor and the inspiration for it. I wish I could have had more input on it and it’s development but I trust Everyday Edisons and know it will be the best it can be. I owe them a lot. I have to tell you that the only thing in my experience I can compare to this wait to is the wait for Christmas as a kid. It’s the night before. You are lying in bed imagining all the possibilities with no real clue what may be waiting there for you under that tree. You’re excited to rip open those presents. You imagine playing with the toys, the fun, the adventure and you are right on the edge of your seat with excitement. That is what the wait for the big reveal is like, only to the extreme because this Christmas present has the potential to really change my circumstances and open up new possibilities for me. This “toy” has the potential to keep on giving for years to come if it’s well accepted and received. This could change my life. I also found out that my ASOTV item has reached the manufactured prototype stage and that EN is sending me the prototype to see and experiment with. I was amazed when they told me that and very happy they cared enough to send me one. They plan on filming the test infomercial for it January 15th…next week! Shortly there after…hopefully shortly… they will announce it officially on the site and launch the test campaign! It’s all happening and it’s going to start moving quickly from here on out. It’s about time... bring it on. Do me a favor, when EN writes the blog and posts the links to the item buy one! If it tests well I’ll have my very own ASOTV item! It’s amazing to think about. I’m no Ron Popeil or Billy Mays, but I’m on my way! Heck, why don’t you buy 2 just to make sure they keep selling. I might buy 1 or 2 or 20 myself! Trust me you’ll want one of these when you see it. It’s an idea way over due that I have a pretty good feeling solves a problem almost everyone experiences. Wish I could tell you what it is but I’m not allowed yet. Here’s to a new year, new hope and finally some light at the end of the tunnel.
The eve of my success or failure...at least on this one ; )
February 27, 2010
Well, here I am...at the moment of truth. My first product is about to hit the market and it's all or nothing. I've been waiting a very long time for this. You might say I've been waiting all my life. My entry for the very first ASOTV Live product search is going to start testing very soon. They took what started out as, believe it or not, a cut up lid of a copy paper box and turned it into a real product about to hit the airwaves in it's very own infomercial! I had proven the concept to myself with the cut up box lid. I then spent the next couple of weeks, sketching, drawing, rethinking and drawing and sketching and waking up in the middle of the night to re-draw, well I think you get the point. In the end I entered a very nice 3D model of my idea along with the best write-up I could do on why they needed to make this. It was one of those ideas you just know needs to be made and will be made. I was hoping hard they'd like it. The sponsor was interested and then the next round of thinking started. EN requested a prototype. I never in a million years even thought about how I'd go about making one and now I was being told the sponsor was interested and they wanted something as soon as possible. I had 2 weeks to figure it out and get it back to them. I had to now completely re-think how I could make one of these. I obviously didn't have a plastic injection molder so mine would have to be made out of wood and plexiglass with just a touch of metal. I ended up completely redesigning the concept so I could build one. I get impatient once the problem is solved and usually end up rushing through the prototype. I get tired of it and want another challenge. Fortunately my father-in-law is a planner and a craftsman. I gave him my newly developed plans and he built the prototype for me. I helped some and directed but he did the bulk of the work. I have to tell you it was beautiful. It worked perfectly and if this didn't sell them on the idea nothing would. As luck would have it after some back and forth and requests for extra parts the sponsor bought into the idea and that is why I am where I am to day. The day of reckoning, the eve of success or failure. This could be my big chance to change my life and start down a whole new world of inventing or I might get nothing and it'll be a total failure. I'm confident it will do well, very well but there is always that chance it won't which is why it has to be tested. To test it they made an initial run of product and a full fledged infomercial. I can't tell you anything about the product or the company making it because it would skew the test results but I can tell you the infomercial is great. Really cheesey, lots of over acting and even the phrase "But wait...that's not all"! I am so thankful for getting my chance a lot of people put a lot of time and money into an idea that came out of my head and is now actually here on the planet ready to sell. It's just amazing to me. I'm so proud that it's mine and that its going to be out there for anyone and everyone. Will my idea save the world?...no. Will it be around for all eternity like the can opener?...probably not. Will it solve a problem people have...sure will. Will people buy it? Well this is where I'd like to scream at the top of my lungs YES THEY WILL!!! So if you see an infomercial for something new that's kind of cool that you might like to buy...Buy one. It might be my idea, it might not but I'm sure there is someone else out there just like me waiting and wondering, worrying and hoping that your purchase just might make things a little easier for them. I know I sure don't look at those commercials the same way anymore. I now wonder who's idea was that? What is there life like? Has this product made it better? I then realize they could be one of my friends here at EN. EN is changing lives. Whether this particular product does well or is an abysmal failure EN has changed my life. I'm proud of what I've been able to accomplish with them these last 2 years and win or loose I'll always know I took my shot and EN gave me the opportunity to be able to take that shot. Win or loose I'll always know I did my best. Here's hoping for the best.
