Next Week's News!

We are very excited to let you know that on Monday, November 2, Melinda and Jen will be interviewed by Rich Hallstrom and Tim Humphrey, Hosts of Motivation with a Purpose on KKNW Radio 1150 AM.

You can listen live from 1:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. PST!



On Friday, November 6, Womentorz will be taping a segment for 6 ABC Action News with Karen Rogers! Karen will interview Jen and feature a few fabulous women inventors as well. We are more than thrilled about this exciting opportunity. Not sure if the story will air the same day, but we will keep you posted!

With less than two days away from the official launch of Womentorz.com we continue to receive mail daily from women around the country who share our vision and want to be a part of this unique ground floor opportunity.

Thanks also to all of you out there - you know who you are - who are helping to spread the word about us. It's no newsflash, but still amazing to see what we can do when we join forces vs. going it alone!

We are excited to see what's around the next bend...hope you'll join us!

Don't Miss It! Melinda & Jen Featured Tonight on "Your15Minutes" Blog Talk Radio

It was a pleasant surprise recently to receive a "request for interview" from Angle Bush, Host of "Your15Minutes" on BlogTalkRadio. Ms. Bush is a dynamic speaker, author and motivator who has interviewed the likes of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Kwame Jackson from The Apprentice.

Melinda and I will be calling in to the show from our respective homes in Seattle and NJ to discuss Womentorz and also our own inventions. The show will air live tonight, Tuesday, October 27 at 6:45 p.m. EST.

You can listen by clicking on http://blogtalkradio.com/your15minutes

Hope you'll join us! It will be fun and informative!

Step 7: Focus your time and money: Don't let other people or things distract you.

It’s easy to become distracted when a concept or idea seems so daunting it makes it difficult to keep your nose to the grindstone. Distractions are an issue for every woman trying to work from home or at a workplace while juggling the everyday duties of running a household. It's not always kids who are distracting. Often distractions come in the form of housework, friends, spouse, TV or the Internet. Identify your most common distraction and set a daily goal to deal with it.

Even when you’re not trying to work from home, experts say workplace distractions are so widespread that even managers who extend their workday hours cannot avoid disruptions by colleagues, which come in the form of project requests, meeting reminders, last-minute or changing demands, emotional breakdowns, and even expressions of love. We all need to learn the word NO and when to close the door to avoid disruptions. People generally understand if it’s done in a respectful manner.

It’s easy when trying to get an invention to market to become distracted with the overwhelming cost of manufacturing and packaging. Luckily, Womentorz takes the worry of marketing, advertising, PR and retail distribution out of the mix.

It’s also important to not get off course on the financial road. Staying focused on what your priority expenses lay is imperative. It’s easy to get distracted by the bells and whistles. Keep a detailed log of current and future expenses – keeping all receipts along the way. Even though it may be difficult to obtain hard numbers for costs, you should be able to make rough estimates of how much money will be needed to make your idea an actual product ready for market. Having a solid financial plan is one of the most difficult and essential elements to your success.

Q/A with Womentorz Owner, Melinda Knight

Q-Have you always been an inventor?

A- No, but I have a design background and am always thinking of creative and new ways to solve problems. The AttachaTray is definitely the first time that I took an idea and ran with it. Because of my success in business in general, I felt comfortable exploring other avenues to invest my time and resources. I definitely inherited my father’s entrepreneurial spirit and always look to him as an example when I have choices to make.

Q- When did the inspiration hit you to invent your laptop tray?

A- The inspiration for the AttachaTray came while I was working out at the gym and was thinking how nice it would be to be able to get some exercise while keeping up with my businesses. The gym I go to has WIFI, and I knew that if I could get it made, it would be the perfect place to showcase it. I spent the next month or so studying the equipment and making sure there wasn’t something already on the market similar to my idea.

Q- Tell us about your family?

A- My husband Brent and I have been married for over nine years and have two children, Payton age 5 and Rylie age 2. We have lived in Edmonds for the past seven years and have no intention of leaving anytime soon. We are quite the home bodies, so usually our nights are spent watching movies and relaxing. I think it’s because of the daily stress in our business lives that the thought of going out is completely overwhelming.

My husband is very supportive with all of my ventures since I’ve been able to prove myself to him over the years. It isn’t unusual for him to get a little scared at first, but he comes around eventually. I appreciate that he believes in me.

Rylie is quite the ham and always puts a smile on our faces. He has a lot of personality! Everything is dialed to the highest volume in everything that he does. Payton is our sweet and energetic child who loves to cuddle. He loves ice skating and is quite the pro at it already. I have no idea why he decided that was the sport he wanted to go in since Brent and I have never discussed it, yet alone put ice skates on. He’s been at it though for over a year now.


Q- What is one of your goals?

A-I would be nothing without my family. We are a very close unit that is supportive and loving. It breaks my heart when I’m not able to give them the attention they deserve all of the time. My goal is to do a better job of balancing my time.

Q- What are your hobbies/interests?

A- I used to be an avid football and rugby player, but that was a LONG time ago. Sports were my passion back before I had a family. I met my husband while playing football actually. I was also asked to play on a professional women’s football team in Seattle, but turned it down due to my heavy work schedule at the time. The name and the ownership of the team has changed, so I’m not completely sure how they are doing now.

My love for sports has been replaced with a love of interior design. My passion is definitely in making spaces beautiful and working with clients to fulfill their dreams. I wish I was able to take on more projects, but it keeps me from my children and my other businesses that are more lucrative. I have a tough time taking pay for something that I love to do.

Q- What makes Womentorz different than what is already available out there?

A- That’s the thing-there isn’t anything out there like Womentorz. There isn’t anything out there for inventors in general let alone for women inventors. We are providing a marketplace where buyers can go to one place to see all of the latest inventions by women instead of a website here and there that they most likely don’t even know exists. We are providing the missing link between buyers and sellers with our investment in marketing, public relations and advertising. This is an opportunity for women to come up with even more inventions because they know they don’t have to worry about getting their product to market. All they have to do is please the buyer who will be the determining factor to their success.

Q- What do you see in the future for Womentorz?

A- Eventually, I also see Womentorz being an investor in some of these ideas. Jen and I have so many ideas in areas we can take Womentorz. The boundaries are limitless!

Important Womentorz.com Update

We’ve been talking a great deal over the past few months about how we will be promoting womentorz.com prior to its launch as well as post launch. Hopefully you all know about King 5 News doing a feature story on Womentorz. This is just a taste of things to come. People all across the nation are buzzing about what we’re doing both on the seller and buyer side. What a perfect time to launch…..right before the Holidays!!!!

We would like to give you a sneak peak at the advertisement that will be viewable on a national level on major web sites such as Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray, Oprah and Good Housekeeping, just to name a few. We will be promoting womentorz.com as the place to shop for unique gifts during the Holidays. Advertising efforts will be on an ongoing basis to encourage traffic to the site and bring you the most buyers possible.

Another exciting promotional opportunity is our interview with Angle Bush, Host of "Your15Minutes" on BlogTalkRadio. Ms. Bush is a dynamic speaker, author and motivator who has interviewed the likes of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Kwame Jackson from The Apprentice. We will be calling in to the show from our respective homes in Seattle and NJ to discuss Womentorz. The show is scheduled for Tuesday, October 27 at 6:30 p.m. EST. We hope you will all tune in.

Things are going very well in finishing up the technical backend coding required to run such a sophisticated website. Remember, we are building a website configured like an ebay or Amazon.com, which is no easy task. This isn’t your average e-commerce site. Blue Sky Projects has been doing an amazing job. This week we are busy with the beta stage, testing the site making sure all the bugs are worked out. The plan is to send inventors who have expressed interest in becoming members a link to the site on the backend to build their profile and upload their inventions. The site will be extremely user friendly, so there shouldn’t be any problems that we foresee.

In the meantime, if you don’t have an account with Pay Pal, please be sure to set one up. This feature will allow all members to receive purchase payments IMMEDIATELY. Womentorz will not be touching any of the transactions. Pay Pal is the only company we could use to set up this type of scenario.

Members will not be charged during the week prior to the official launch. This is your opportunity to be up and ready for visitors once the site goes live. If you haven’t contacted us with your interest in becoming a member please email us at info@womentorz.com. We hope to see all of you on Womentorz.

Q/A with Jennifer Cannon, VP of Global Communications, Part 2

Read Part One

Q-I assume you saw a need for Womentorz? Tell us more.

A- Honestly, this is Melinda Knight’s idea – her baby. We kept in touch after Chicago and she shared with me a lot of the frustration that many of the women were feeling about their experience–it was tough for some because you really didn’t get any feedback from the producers one way or the other. You just gave your pitch and they kept their poker faces. We wouldn’t have known if they loved us or hated us.

Melinda really had an “aha” moment if you will while she was out having drinks with a big group of the ladies at the end of that day (I had to leave)–she kept hearing the same thing about how much money each of them had put into just getting a prototype together to get to the casting call or that they had their product manufactured, but just couldn’t get it marketed or on a shelf somewhere…so much frustration and many feeling like this was their only shot.

Mel called me one day and said, “Well, I have this idea and I was wondering what you think about it…give me your honest opinion…” After she explained I thought–holy cow, this girl’s a genius! I told her that I thought it was a great idea and that I would be happy to help her in any way that I could. And here we are...

Q- Tell us more about you?

A-I have a beautiful son who is twenty-four and two beautiful daughters ages six and four. I am very lucky to be married to my best friend and biggest supporter, Paul Cannon. We met on match.com before it was cool to talk about it. I think we lied to a few people and said we met through college friends (I didn’t go to college). We will celebrate our eighth wedding anniversary in November.


Q- That's great! Where did you grow up?

A- I grew up in Southern California and was raised between mountains, valleys and beaches.

Q- What about some faves?

A- Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love to cook for friends and family, love to read (although I don’t seem to have much time for it at the moment), love music and I hold my friends close. I love horses and saved up my own money to buy one when I was fifteen, but now am allergic to them. I think too much. Sometimes I give myself what one friend calls “over analysis paralysis”. I grew up being a people pleaser–I am happy to say that finally, I do a lot less of that.

Q- You are not the only people-pleaser in the world, rest assured. Tell us about your parents?


A- I am very proud to say that I come from a family of inventors. My great grandfather, John Christian Jensen, invented the P-Static Precipitator in 1937. It keeps static energy from building up on the outside of airplanes. He also studied lightning at Nebraska’s Wesleyan University. He took some of the first/only pics of “ball” lightning. My dad has a couple of them hanging in his office.

I know that my grandfather, Bob Jensen, also has many inventions in his name, I just don’t know what they are!

My father, Steve Jensen, invented and holds the patent for the Electronic Ballast for fluorescent lamps in 1973. The Electronic Ballast keeps fluorescent bulbs from getting hot. My dad is the smartest guy I know–when I say he’s a genius, I am not kidding. He plays piano by ear and cannot read music. Here's an interesting fact: He grew up with Darrell Dragon, “The Captain” of “The Captain and Tennelle". They played piano together regularly as kids.


Q- What is one goal that you have in your own life?

A- I would like to write (finish writing) at least one book and have it published before I leave the planet! My current working title is “Well Adjusted”.

Inventor Showcase: Board Book Albums

We had the extreme pleasure of recently being contacted by Laura Miranti, CPA who is a work at home mom with an entrepreneurial spirit and passion for what she does. Her daughter was the inspiration for her invention called the "Take Your Pix ™" board book photo album.

We will let her tell her story along with a description of her product. We are so thrilled to have her on board. Her product will compliment many of the other inventions that will be available on the site. You can learn more at: http://www.boardbookalbums.com/



How Board Book Albums Came to Be
In January 2007, when my daughter Lucia was a year old, we realized that she was somewhat behind her peers in meeting certain developmental milestones. We began having regular sessions with a physical therapist and an early learning specialist. It was amazing to see how much progress Lucia made very quickly! By age 2, she began walking well and trying to say lots of words. In order to encourage her speech development, the early learning specialist (who is like a speech therapist, but works with children before they begin to talk) suggested that I find Lucia a photo album to fill with photos of her family, toys, and other familiar objects in her world. When I was unable to find a kid-friendly photo album, I came up with the idea to create a board book photo album. This album has been a wonderful learning tool for Lucia. She loves to turn the pages and look at photos of her family, toys, and other familiar objects in her world. Studies have shown that young children only have object recognition with photos. This means that before the age of two, they can not relate a drawing of an object with the actual object, but they can relate a photo of the object with the actual object.

My hope is that many children will enjoy our board book style photo album. Kids with autism, speech delay, or other special needs may find it particularly beneficial as a learning tool, or just something fun to create with their own favorite photos. We hope that you and your children enjoy it as much as we have!

About our Product
Board Book Albums, LLC is proud to offer a new chunky board book style photo album that can be used by small children, big kids, and adults alike. The "Take Your Pix™" photo album (patent pending) has sturdy pages, into which photos can be inserted from an opening in the top of the pages. Unlike other albums, these albums have thick sturdy pages that are perfect for little kids to handle (like the chunky little kids books). Notches have been added to the page edges to facilitate page turning. The photo album is 7" x 7" with 10 pages. It holds 20 4" x 6" photos and has a cover photo frame that holds a slightly smaller photo (about 4" x 5", so you can just trim a 4" x 6" photo to fit). All of our Board Book Album products are free-standing and perfect for display!


Scrapbooking, Baby Shower Gifts, and Wedding Photo Albums
The albums could be used by little ones to keep all their favorite photos or to record memorable events. Moms and other grownups could make scrapbooks, or customize and decorate the albums for special occasions, to give as gifts, etc. The solid white albums are great for weddings, scrap-booking, or decorating yourself. Kids would have a great time decorating their own books with stickers, stamps, or markers. We also offer pink, blue, and yellow albums titled “My First Photos” that are perfect for toddlers or to give as baby shower gifts. We plan to offer the books in other styles and colors in the future. Please feel free to make suggestions or share ideas about products that you would like to see in our store!

Introducing Official Slogan of Womentorz

Thank you to everyone who participated and gave feedback with regard to helping us choose a slogan for Womentorz. You gave us a lot of really fun ideas to choose from. There was one, however, that seemed to stand out and received many comments here and in conversation among friends, family and objective observers :).

So, without further ado (drum roll please)...we are proud to announce:

WOMENTORZ

brainz. broadz. big ideaz.

as our official slogan!

We are planning for chic Womentorz-wear shirts in the near future and may incorporate some of the other great slogan suggestions we received.

Thank you again to everyone for all of your support - we have really been feelin' the love!

Cheers~

Womentorz and King 5 News Seattle!

Thanks to our fabulous and well connected PR genius, Kat Spellman of The Spellman Co., Eric Wilkinson of Seattle's King 5 News will be taping a piece on Womentorz this morning! It's all going down at Zeitgeist Coffee www.zeitgeistcoffee.com, which is also the location for the launch party in November.

Well, all we can say right now is WOW! The call went out to find a few women inventors in the Pacific Northwest who might be available to be featured in the piece and the response was overwhelming!

Due to the big response we wanted to be sure to tell you about the women who Melinda will be meeting today and also introduce you to the ones we won't be able to include this time. There will be many opportunities in the near future however, and we can't wait to include each of them! For now, here is a rundown on the absolutely incredible products brought to our attention yesterday.

Melinda will meet Lauren Selig, the imaginative mind behind http://www.lalatravels.com/ . She's got a wonderful iPhone application for children and many other great products.

Sharon Stuart will be there with her BedVoyage Personal Travel Sheets http://www.bedvoyage.com/ . Live the green life in style with BedVoyage's earth-friendly pure comfort bamboo fine linen sheet sets.

Stacy from Beauty Alert! cosmetics labels http://www.beautyalert.biz/ will also be there, and hopefully they will have time to squeeze this one in - it is truly a great way to keep track of how old that mascara or eye-shadow is getting!

Here are links to the other gals who responded. I do hope I have not left anyone out. We were blown away! Again, we can't wait to feature all of them in some way at the next available opportunity.

Sara Hart makes beautiful icon chocolates that are brushed with 24-carat gold that are very inventive. She even had her own molds made so each icon is personal to her. They do mail order. http://www.almachocolate.com/

Lee Rhodes, creator of Glassybaby http://www.glassybaby.com/ is a $2 million per year product with 10% going back to charities! She has been featured on King 5 News, is on the O List and will be in the New York Times today!

Dana Frank is lovely and has the most amazing watches that you can just clip onto your bag. http://www.tututime.com/

Mary Dolan's Dog Doodads - This a specialized dog harness and its purpose is to stop a dog from pulling while walking on leash http://www.wonderwalkerbodyhalter.com/

Many thanks again to everyone who responded. We hope that you will see what we are trying to do with Womentorz and want to join us!

Have a great day!

Q/A with Jennifer Cannon, VP of Global Communications, Part 1

Q-How did you and your business partner, Melinda Knight, meet?

A-Melinda and I met at the Chicago casting call for Milojo’s (Kelly Ripa’s production co.) Women Inventor Show.

I decided to stay at the hotel where the call was held the night before so that I could be in the lobby as early as possible the next morning. I had no idea if fifty or several hundred women would show up. It was all pretty mysterious with even the hotel staff not knowing much about what was going on.

I resisted the urge to be in the lobby at 5:00 a.m. and instead went down at 6:00 a.m. There were just a couple of other ladies there and I joined them in a small seating area. It must have been right around or a little before 7:00 a.m. when Melinda made her way over and sat down behind me on the fireplace hearth. I turned around to say hello because a) it’s in my nature and b) most of the ladies were pretty friendly and introducing themselves to one another.

When I heard more about her, I couldn’t believe that she flew across the country with a recumbent bike which she still had to put together before we went in! We chatted until it was time to go downstairs but then lost track of each other before going in to register.

After my turn in the "30 second room" I was able to say goodbye and exchange information with a few of the ladies and Melinda before I ran out the door. I am realizing more and more how fateful that day was! I was also surprised recently to learn from her that I was the first person she met that day. Alot has happened in a very short time!

Q- What are your hopes for Womentorz?

A- I feel so passionately about the need to create and connect and share information with others that I hope that Womentorz is going to be a place that encompasses all of those things for many, many women.

I see a global e-commerce site with women from all over the world joining together and selling high-quality, innovative products- creating a one-of-a-kind shopping experience for all consumers. I would also love to see a “Young” or “Junior” Womentorz for girls ages thirteen to eighteen.

I hope that we can help a lot of women out there realize their entrepreneurial dreams.

Inventor Showcase: Red Goddess Celebration Box™

Today has been the most exciting and fulfilling day thus far in the Womentorz evolution with I'm sure many more to follow. I feel truly blessed to have met Marianne Impal who also auditioned at the New York casting call. I would love it if she commented to this posting to tell us all about her experience with that adventure since most of us can relate.

Also, she is currently looking for a manufacturer that specializes in sewing/fabric. If you have any recommendations please leave a comment.

Here is her description of the Red Goddess Celebration Box™:

As a wife and mother of two young girls, I was instantly inspired after reading best selling novel “The Red Tent”, to recreate what seems to be a lacking piece of history where girls actually looked forward to becoming women.

Taking a close look at how Media can effect girls today, putting much emphasis and expectation on the way girls should look and act on the outside has left tweens and teens lacking in self-esteem on the inside and not looking forward to what can be a very empowering and rewarding time in their next phase of womanhood.

Even though my girls were only ages 3 and 5 at the time, I was already thinking of ways to help them accept their future changing bodies. Every adult woman can relate and remember to such a time in our lives during adolescence where the many changes in our physical body, mental, hormonal and psychological changes, has left us feeling awkward and abnormal. It was obvious to me to make such changes for my girls as positive and accepting as possible, so I bought a fabricated box and began filling that box over the years with special treasures, books, bath and body products… anything I could think of that women used to nurture themselves or age old advice that I wanted to pass down to them. My vision is that this treasure would be put aside as sort of a Modern Day Hope Chest and when the timing was right… be it their first period or a time when conversation lacked between us or seeing a sprouting body that needed to be supported with a healthy outlook… I would take this box down as if it were a handed down treasure from one Woman to another. It would be our conversation starter, her keepsake box to keep in her private space or even her gift to pass down to her daughter.

After many years of spreading this concept around to friends, it became clear that many Mother’s, Grandmother’s, Godmother’s and Aunt’s truly wanted to do something special for the young girls in their life with all good intention, but with busy lives getting hold of many of us and reality setting in… many just wished the perfect product was already out there to pick up and having, ready and waiting for the right moment.

It is with great pleasure to introduce the Red Goddess Celebration Box™. A unique and empowering product that is not just a present, but a special gift with a positive message behind it. Visit www.raecole.com for more information.

6. Learn to analyze details: Get all the facts, all the input. Learn from your mistakes.

They say that success lies in attention to the details. Being a detail oriented person doesn’t always come naturally, but it is something that can be learned over time through life experience and self-discipline. As inventors, we need to be aware of things going on in the industry as well as maintain a focus on what we need to do to achieve our goals. If something is overlooked, we are inevitably hindering the completion of the task at hand.

Refer to the experts, utilize your resources and don’t be afraid to ask questions. We can’t expect ourselves to know the answers to everything, but you have to start somewhere no matter the level at which you enter. I promise that most people are flattered when considered knowledgeable in a subject matter you are lacking.

Also, don’t be afraid to make a mistake. If you do not try, you will neither succeed nor fail. Mistakes can be viewed in one of two ways; either a failure or an act of falling forward. The key is to not repeat the mistake, only making them one time and learning from it.

Exciting News!

We are very proud and excited to announce that Beverly Clark, author of "Planning A Wedding to Remember" which at the time was the #1 wedding planner sold in America, will be advertising on Womentorz.com! After launching a line of all original, hand-crafted wedding accessories, websites dedicated to wedding and honeymoon destinations, she is now selling diamonds. If you go to her site you can see the hot jewels worn by host Vanessa Williams at the Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards!

Looking for that perfect engagement, wedding or anniversary ring? The new website features fine jewelry in all prices ranges and she is able to offer great value by selling directly to the consumer. Sound familiar? Stay tuned because she is going to provide our customers with a code to enter to receive an additional 10% off of any purchase! She is currently busy acquiring new and affordable pieces that will appeal to a broad marketplace.

Beverly Clark is a self-made, true entrepenuer with the can-do spirit that embodies what Womentorz is all about.

We are proud to welcome her here!

Inventor Showcase: ID LINK

I'm so excited about showcasing this invention for two reasons - first being that Wendy Siim auditioned for Kelly Ripa's TLC Women Inventor show, and secondly her product could literally save lives!!! She is completely what Womentorz is all about. Here's more information about her invention:

ID LINK, temporary/emergency wristbands and collars are waterproof identification bands that are designed to be easily customized to communicate critical information for pets and family members at a moment’s notice. A must have in the event of an emergency evacuation or even family outings and travel.

Necessity is truly the mother of invention in the case of ID LINK, founded by Florida sisters, Wendy Siim and Heidi Weber who discovered that pet microchips and metal identification tags were useless if separated while away from home, or contact information outdated.

Apprehensively agreeing to pet sit her sister’s beloved dog Siren, Wendy inevitably found herself in a worst case scenario when Siren escaped in search of her missing family. Siren did have a microchip and had her metal ID tag on her collar, BUT the contact information connected to both of these was to a phone number that would go unanswered for the coming few weeks until Heidi and her family returned home. Fortunately, with the help of an entourage of friends and a cacophony of shaken dog treats Siren was located.

This life altering near disaster started the brainstorming process and the concept that arose was a waterproof collar which locks into place after CURRENT contact information is written on the band itself with an indelible marker. After witnessing the news accounts of family members separated while evacuating and the mayhem in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, the concept was expanded to include family members themselves in the form of a wristband.

The final product, brightly colored waterproof bands, adjustable to fit any size until locked into place as pet collars or wristbands. The bands are sold in packets with an indelible nontoxic marking pen to easily and permanently inscribe contact information immediately prior to travel or evacuation.

Portable and convenient, not only are they vital in emergencies, but can also be used for:
Family travel and outings
School field trips
Parties
During patient transportation/relocation
Young children starting school or riding the bus
Pets boarded or left with a groomer etc.

Communicate exactly what you want:
Contact number(s) -- Outdated contact numbers for lost pets are almost an epidemic Teacher, bus and school information
Allergies and special needs (no peanuts, cannot swim, etc.)
Health issues (hearing impaired, Insulin dependent, etc.)
Precautions (muzzle to clip nails, afraid of thunder, etc.)

ID Link collars and wristbands are Latex free, made of brightly colored waterproof vinyl that lock into place. The included permanent marking pen has been specifically chosen for its durability and is AP certified non-toxic.

Get On Board Now

Womentorz.com has many exciting things going on including the planning of a launch party in Seattle in November, connecting with celebrities and getting tons of media opportunities thanks to the Spellman Company. Now is the time to get on board and let us know that you’re planning on being a “Womentor”. We already have a number of women who are going to be a part of our media blitz and are going to receive free national publicity because they jumped on the opportunity.

The website is scheduled to begin the beta stage October 15th and therefore, we would like to start getting an official count for solid members. Regardless of whether you have your own website and are receiving traffic, the traffic Womentorz will be receiving will be of benefit to you. Once the website is launched, we will be investing in a national advertising campaign where Womentorz will be found on popular sites such as Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray and Good Housekeeping to name a few. We are going big, so now is the time to get in! Please email info@womentorz.com for more information about being a part of the beta stage.

For Your Consideration

I can almost hear you, yes, I am speaking directly to YOU, my fellow inventor, wondering if membership with Womentorz.com is the way to go. I am approaching you now from the perspective of someone who has a product which has yet to be manufactured, but who looks forward to proudly listing GrimeOut, a specialized cleaning tool, on Womentorz.com one day in the near future.

For those of you who have ready-to-market products, which in many cases you have likely put every last dollar into, there is probably not a lot left over to make that big push into the marketplace. Let’s face it, it costs money to build and maintain a beautiful website – and hey – you may already have a website, fine. How do you drive the most traffic to that site? Will your website garner media attention?

For those of you who are selling on the giant Amazon – terrific! Fantastic! How much of the percentage of your profits are you seeing? My oldest and dearest girlfriend sells a children’s book on Amazon. She doesn’t pay for membership – that is done through her publisher. Okay, great. The cost of the book: $13.00. Lori’s profit on each book sold: .63 cents. WHAT! Holy hellfire! The good news is she does readings at local schools in her area and is able to sell them that way. I will use my Auntie Buttercup (aka Cynthia Wall) as another example (yeah, that’s what I call her – I’m Poopsie – it’s a Ya Ya thing). She has written five books which are published through the American Radio League (ARL) and also sells her books on Amazon. She also does not pay a membership fee and receives a much better percentage of her profits than Lori. She does not have a website.

When you are selling on a site like Amazon, your product is thrown in amidst a sea thousands of other products just trying to get noticed. The folks at Amazon are not personally marketing you or shouting the wonderfulness of the new “Super Duper 2000” you have spent your life savings to create. They will not be showcasing you on their blog, sending shout-outs on Twitter, bragging about you on Facebook, or trying to get your product featured as the “must-have” gadget or baby item in a major magazine!

Membership with Womentorz.com makes sense because we want you to get the most profit possible for all of the blood, sweat and tears – let’s not forget dollars – you have poured into your invention. We are inventors ourselves and we get it.

Womentorz wants to work for you as well as with you. We want to proactively promote you and be a part of making your idea the next big thing! In the great, slightly changed words of Jerry Maguire “Help us help you!”

Thank you for your consideration~

Step 5: Be persistent and work hard: Success is a marathon, not a sprint. Never give up.

The difference between the successful inventor and the person who just has a good idea is a persistent and resilient spirit. A resilient spirit may mean contacting ten people the first nine of which say no, but number ten says yes to a contract with the inventor or becomes a source of venture capital.

Inventors and business owners in general need to develop “thick skin” and be able to withstand rejection without taking it personally. It is difficult for most people to separate themselves from the product or service they are trying to sell especially one that’s cared about passionately. The approached contact may suffer from a lack of imagination, is oblivious to the inventions potential, or has other hidden issues better to remain hidden. It is important for the successful inventor to believe in herself and her invention never losing sight of her goal.

Jen and I remind ourselves of the need for perseverance every day. We are passionate about the network and community of women we are building and appreciative of the support of everyone around us.