It took Lisa Lloyd only 13 months to get a licensing deal for her new invention idea.
Lisa, a 23 year old single mom, was making only $13,000 a year selling ad space when she had a great idea. She always had to keep her hair looking nice because of her high profile job and other women would compliment her on her up-do’s.
She decided to act on her idea for the hair-styling tool “The French Twister” which helps women wear their hair up in the french twist hair style.
She began with absolutely no money. She started by using things she found around her house and ended up making a prototype out of a wire clothes hanger. From there she started calling manufacturers to get a plastic prototype made. It was not an easy job and it took a lot of testing to get her product just right. She found a local plastics molding shop by going to her library.
When it came time to manufacture her product she sold her used car for $500 and she used the money from her tax return to pay for it. With 500 units made, she went out on foot to salons to introduce her new invention idea. Clients loved them!
Lisa used free ways to get exposure for her product ie;media interviews and newspaper articles. Soon she found there was enough interest in her product so she went ahead and patented her product then proceeded to find a company to license her French Twister to. She went to the store to find hair-styling products, picked up a box made by Scunci, got their phone number and contacted them.
Because she had done her homework and had sufficient market research to show that her product was a good one, Scunci agreed to sign a licensing deal with her.
Below is an interview with Lisa Lloyd on The Big Idea.
In an interview with Dr. Phil, Lisa mentioned that her biggest mistake was going to a patent attorney first. She says that a lot of people make this mistake. They think their idea should be patented right away. But really the first step should be to find out if your idea is a good one and that it will actually sell by doing market research.
To add to her comment, your idea will develop and may even change based on the feedback you get from people. You may have to try out different models before you get it right.
The French Twister has generated more than $15 million in retail sales. Lisa didn’t stop there. She has invented quite a few more hair products and has made over $30 million in retail sales!
More articles:
Getting a Retailer to License or Stock Your Product
How Moms Can Use the Internet to Start Making Millions
Six Figure Yearly Program - Is It Worth The Money?
Submit Your New Invention Ideas To Proctor and Gamble
More Moms Who’ve Made Millions
Comments
3 Comments so far
[...] Lavellej-Momguide.com: It took Lisa Lloyd only 13 months to get a licensing deal for her new invention idea. [...]
I love the hair clip idea! It is so inspirational for me to see how other mom’s became millionaires as that is my goal.
I just started a blog about my family and my journey on becoming a millionaire with my invention. Hope you all check it out!
http://myjourney2becomingamillionaire.blogspot.com/
Iam so happy for lISA and her success.I also have developed a hair tool product and waiting for my patent to to be completed so I can license my product to a retailer. I am currently researching and making prototypes, getting ready for that day. Congrats!! to Lisa