04.19.06
A little more sleep
I got to sleep in until 3:30 am this morning. That felt better. Now I will get to work.
04.18.06
Amazing what you can get done when you are up at 2:00am
I have been up since 2:00am this morning. You ask why would any sane person do this? The dogs woke me up. They were running around the house like maniacs playing, and then I heard a bunch of chewing. I checked on them, and there was chewed up kleenex all over the floor, and one of them had gotten my sunglasses off of the counter and chewed them to pieces. I sent them outside for the rest of the night, but after cleaning up the stuff, I just lay in bed and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I got up and started working. Boy did I get a lot done, and all before 6 am when the kids get up. I think that I deserve to go to bed now (although I did take a short nap while my daughter was doing her homework).
Good night. (I hope I get to sleep in till 4am).
04.13.06
Requirements to being a mom inventor
So, I should fill you in on some of the requirements to being a mom inventor. For starters, you have to keep really odd hours. In general, you work when the kids are asleep. For some moms, this means staying up late. I am a morning person, so for me this means getting up really early. I am usually up by 4:00 am. I have been up as early as 3:00 am. It is a nice, quiet, peaceful time of the day. I would probably be up then even if I didn’t have work to do, and I would get a lot more done on my household maintenance. As it is, household maintenance is often at the bottom of the to do list. Most people think that working from home would be great, and give them time at home. That is not always the case. I have found that often I work much longer and get less done around the house than I had hoped. The days when the kids are home with me I have to force myself to stop working and pay attention to them.
Another requirement is that you learn a lot of different trades. I have been learning to be a seamstress, graphic designer, web designer, writer, photographer, accountant, office manager, marketing executive, patent lawyer, and a few others I can’t remember right now. It definitely is good for your mind and keeps you stimulated.
Another big requirement is money. It costs a lot of money to bring a product to market, and subsequently most mom inventors start their business with a lot of debt. I am hoping that soon we will cross over from the incurring debt side to the making money side. I repeat, it is expensive. If you don’t want a lot of debt, don’t do it. I have even gone the cheaper route by writing the patent myself and not getting a lawyer.
Another requirement is space and organization. All of the stuff slowly accumulates and takes over the space. My husband complains that I have taken over his office. Yes I have. You also have to designate time for organizing because it can get out of hand. I have sewing stuff, 6 large boxes of product, 3 large boxes of packaging supplies (vinyl bags and inserts), 3 large boxes of other packaging supplies, a box of packaged product, a large box of buckles, bolts of fabric, rolls of velcro, more buckles, and much much more. It has potential for taking over the whole house, but I try to limit it to one room.
04.12.06
Today things are falling into place
I guess that my email harrassment is paying off a bit. My pad manufacturer is going to get some ready by the show, and I received an email that the manufacturer in China will do a smaller run for me. This is good news. Now I just need to get the manufacturer up and running with the pad covers and we will be ready with prices and probably time estimates. The day has started out well. I hope that it keeps going that well.
04.11.06
There is always so much to do
The big JPMA (juvenile products manufacturers association) show is coming up in only a few weeks. There is so much to get done in such a short time. Since I changed the name to go along with my new logo (from change-eze to hug ‘n’ hold), I have to get new signs made, and I want everything to fit in my luggage. It all has to roll up and be compact. That part I am not too stressed about. What is stressfull is that I am adding two products to my line, and I sent one to China to get a quote, and I haven’t gotten that yet. The other is being done here in the U.S., but I haven’t gotten that quote either. This is stressful because I can’t show a product at the show that I don’t have a price on and an estimated delivery date from the sewing manufacturer. Luckily I think that I have all of my printing ready to be done.
I am adding a changing pad with slits in just the right places for the Hug ‘n’ Hold straps to come out. I am also doing a buckle version of the Hug ‘n’ Hold that will work with the new pad, any other pad, grocery cart, or high chair. I will also need to have pad covers made with the holes in the right places. On top of all of that, I need to get the packaging ready for the new products. There are just so many details. I wish that I was a large company and that I could delegate some work, but it all falls to me. Although it would be more work to be a large company because then I would have to deal with payroll and other hassles. No payroll here (not even to me).
03.14.06
sick kids
Sometimes it seems like it is hardly worth trying to work for a living. Even when the kids are school age, they seem to get sick a lot, and then I am not going to work. Sometimes I wonder why I have a job when I am not doing my job. My kids are most important though, and when they are sick, what else can you do but stay home with them?
Of course there are those times when one of the kids gets sick and it is almost a relief because I have a house full of things that need to be done, and staying home with a sick kid gives me the opportunity to get them done. I don’t get as much done when the kids are home though as when I am home alone and the kids are at school. At least I do have those days some times.
03.11.06
why do I spend so much time on the computer
I am getting tired of sitting on the computer and working. Pretty soon I am going to have to take a forced break and try really hard not to turn on the computer. I will only be allowed to turn it on to check orders, and once they are fulfilled, I will have to turn the computer back off. Even now I am on the computer, and I am not doing orders right now. I am typing. My bottom is starting to get a permanent imprint of the computer seat. I spent all day Thursday updating my website, and my planned household organization tasks went undone. In many ways, the computer makes life much easier, but in many ways, it makes life harder and more complex, and fuller. It can be a pain. Now I am going to get out of this chair, and get on with other aspects of life.
03.08.06
Hello world!
So, here it goes. I probably won’t be doing much blogging because who has time. I don’t even know why I am doing it, but maybe I just need an outlet to vent. I just found a packaging source (vinyl zippered hanging bags) that doesn’t require me to purchase 10,000 bags at a time, and when I got the order, they were not the size that I had ordered. Now I have to add to my list of things to do, call and get the right size of bags. I am getting ready for the JPMA (Juvenile Products Manufacturer’s Association) trade show in May. I have to get all new signs, flyers, brochures, business cards, media packets, packaging, etc. printed because I changed my product name and got a new log (which I paid a graphic artist a lot of money for). I am also trying to make sure that everything that I bring fits into a suitcase so that I can just bring it on the plane.
I just sent a sample to a factory in China, and may be making the leap from getting manufacturing in the US to having it done overseas. We’ll se how the samples come back. I assume that they will be good. My last manufacturer (who I think I need to be done with) finally sent me the last of my last order. It has been 9 months since I made that order. I think that is a bit long of a lead time.
Now I need to find a good printer to do my package inserts.
On a personal note, spring break is coming up at the end of March, and it will be nice to take a whole week off from my real job. Of course I will probably still be doing work on my product. That never ends. At least I’m not making them myself because I hate sewing.
