Preface
As I have mentioned in my previous blog posts, as an inventor and a writer I am particularly interested in other inventors' 'journey behind the journey'.
I believe behind every mechanical journey that there is a subtextual journey. For me it was that moment when I realized other people were fulfilling their dreams and I wasn't. The basic excuse being, that I felt like I couldn't, or that those kinds of things only happened with other people. BTW, folks, I'm being very honest here. It's hard for me to confess to feeling like a loser at one point in my life (or has it been multiple times?)
After doing a HARO request looking for other inventors who would share stories about what held them back, if anything, from pursuing their invention or building a business, I was surprised to find the answers varied tremendously. Uh, am I the only one who hears voices in my head that tell me I can't do things?
Teresa Joyce, the inventor of FunctionAll-Linens, was the first inventor I spoke with. Before I tell you the interesting things I learned about her, I need to tell you about her clever product-- bed sheets with pockets. Yes, pockets. She has designed fitted-sheets with pockets that are oriented on the side of the of the mattress. Also, she developed bed linens with pockets that lay on top of the bed.
www.FunctionAll-Linens.com
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A-Ha Moment
So how did she come to her idea? Teresa loves her bed. She works, reads, watches TV in her bed.
Interestingly enough, and I need to a do a little more digging on this one, Teresa is an insomniac. When and if she falls asleep, she will drop things around her will dozing off. And she said she knows better than than to rouse herself to put her book, water bottle, pen, and her glasses on the night-stand.
A couple of expensive crushed fashionista glasses later, and a thousand dollars poorer, Teresa only realized she had a problem.
Teresa told me about her "Flash of Genius". did you know this is actually a legal term? I knew what the common meaning is, but the wikipedia explanation is interesting. "This is a legal term in patent law which was used from 1941 to 1952 called "The Flash of Genius Test" for patentability. It argued that an invention could come to someone out of nowhere and without years of working on it beforehand."
Teresa told me that even though she had put the broken glasses out of her mind, although not forgetting the thousand dollars her brain kept working until a few weeks later while awakening, stretching and did a motion with her hands as the fell to one side of the mattress when her eyes opened wide and decided that she needed to make sheets with side pockets.
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From 'A-Ha' to Action
Unlike me in the beginning of my journey, nothing really has held Teresa back from pursuing her invention. If there was anything working against her, it was that she is moving slower than she would have liked to.
Working 3 years on this project so far, with 800+ linens sold to date, Teresa insists that she will never put her family in debt. She has been paying cash as she goes for everything.
"A real source of pride," she said.
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In my next blog, I will tell you Teresa's secret on how she has been able to build a business without incurring debt. You don't even want to know how much debt I have personally incurred. If you have any thoughts you'd like to share, please email me.
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Eva Winger
TheInventorChronicles@live.com
follow me on twitter @InventorChronic
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