January 2, 2025 • 19 mins
Join us for an inspiring fourth episode of the Inventor Spotlight Podcast, hosted by Samantha St. Raymond and powered by the Inventor Smart Community App. In this episode, we sit down with Ginger Thomson, the brilliant mind behind the "Doorhickey," a groundbreaking hands-free handle for sliding glass doors.
Ginger shares her incredible journey from the inception of the Doorhickey to successfully bringing it to market. Learn about the challenges she overcame, the victories she achieved, and how her innovative product won contests and attracted interest from QVC. Ginger also discusses the expanded applications of the Doorhickey and the vital role the Inventor Smart Community played in her success.
Watch the episode here: https://youtu.be/cwxWMCGKnL8
---------------------------------
To learn more about the Inventor Smart Community App, watch the video here: https://youtu.be/PxQvjjBq1S0
Inventor Smart Community App: The Ultimate Inventor's Community! Imagine a place where your invention ideas are celebrated, nurtured, and propelled forward. Welcome to Inventor Smart, where you'll connect with a passionate community of creators who understand your journey and help you bring your ideas to life!
Here's how Inventor Smart Community App will inspire you:
*Connect and Collaborate: Join lively group chats and forums to brainstorm with fellow inventors, share your progress, and overcome obstacles together.
*Tap into a Wealth of Knowledge: Get expert advice on patents, licensing, manufacturing, marketing, and retail distribution – all from experienced inventors who've been there.
*Spark Your Inspiration: Attend exciting online and in-person events designed to ignite your creativity and connect you with fellow innovators. Join live streams with industry leaders and the National Inventor Club, participate in book club meetings and Q&A sessions, or meet face-to-face at Meet and Greets.
*Gain Recognition: Showcase your invention to the community and gain valuable exposure. Pitch your ideas to explore potential partnerships. Be featured in our "Inventor in the Spotlight" series, where we share your inspiring journey with the community.
*Stay in the Know: Receive real-time notifications and announcements to keep you informed and inspired. Download Inventor Smart today and experience the power of a supportive community!
Download the Inventor Smart Community app today:
iOS in the Apple app store:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/inventor-smart-community/id6448789752
and Andriod in Google Play store: https://inventorsmartplay.com
Also on the web app.inventorsmart.com.
Have a great invention idea? Do you want to know if your idea will make you money? If you're just getting started, need help with product development, engineering, prototyping, finding a product licensing agent or with bringing your invention idea to reality manufacturing overseas or in the USA, schedule a call with Brian Fried, The Inventor Coach @ https://brianfried.com
Ginger shares her incredible journey from the inception of the Doorhickey to successfully bringing it to market. Learn about the challenges she overcame, the victories she achieved, and how her innovative product won contests and attracted interest from QVC. Ginger also discusses the expanded applications of the Doorhickey and the vital role the Inventor Smart Community played in her success.
Watch the episode here: https://youtu.be/cwxWMCGKnL8
---------------------------------
To learn more about the Inventor Smart Community App, watch the video here: https://youtu.be/PxQvjjBq1S0
Inventor Smart Community App: The Ultimate Inventor's Community! Imagine a place where your invention ideas are celebrated, nurtured, and propelled forward. Welcome to Inventor Smart, where you'll connect with a passionate community of creators who understand your journey and help you bring your ideas to life!
Here's how Inventor Smart Community App will inspire you:
*Connect and Collaborate: Join lively group chats and forums to brainstorm with fellow inventors, share your progress, and overcome obstacles together.
*Tap into a Wealth of Knowledge: Get expert advice on patents, licensing, manufacturing, marketing, and retail distribution – all from experienced inventors who've been there.
*Spark Your Inspiration: Attend exciting online and in-person events designed to ignite your creativity and connect you with fellow innovators. Join live streams with industry leaders and the National Inventor Club, participate in book club meetings and Q&A sessions, or meet face-to-face at Meet and Greets.
*Gain Recognition: Showcase your invention to the community and gain valuable exposure. Pitch your ideas to explore potential partnerships. Be featured in our "Inventor in the Spotlight" series, where we share your inspiring journey with the community.
*Stay in the Know: Receive real-time notifications and announcements to keep you informed and inspired. Download Inventor Smart today and experience the power of a supportive community!
Download the Inventor Smart Community app today:
iOS in the Apple app store:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/inventor-smart-community/id6448789752
and Andriod in Google Play store: https://inventorsmartplay.com
Also on the web app.inventorsmart.com.
Have a great invention idea? Do you want to know if your idea will make you money? If you're just getting started, need help with product development, engineering, prototyping, finding a product licensing agent or with bringing your invention idea to reality manufacturing overseas or in the USA, schedule a call with Brian Fried, The Inventor Coach @ https://brianfried.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hi, Gender, nice to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Thank you, Samantha. It's great to see you too.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Welcome to the Inventor Spotlight series podcasts that we've been doing.
This is episode number four, and I've noticed a trend
lately that right now all of our guests have.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Been female inventors.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
So I just realized that this afternoon when I was
looking at our schedule, I'm like, I kind of like this.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
So welcome to episode four. What's that?
Speaker 4 (00:40):
I'm sorry, I like the direction that's going.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah, yeah, me too, So again, welcome to episode four.
I know you've been featured before. You and I have
met a couple of times on our online meetings and events.
I think you have one of the coolest products that
I've seen in quite some time. It's very simple yet effective,
so I can see where you have There was a
(01:04):
problem and you created this very simple solution. So Gender,
go ahead and tell us about your product and.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
What you created it for.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
My product is the door Hickey, and the door Hickey
is hands free handle for sliding glass doors. So if
you if you use your sliding glass door at all
to go out to your deck or your patio, because
you're grilling, you're planting something, you're taking your baby out
there to go sit on a blanket and have a
(01:36):
picnic in your backyard. Your hands are usually full, right,
And so I created the door Hickey because I like
to entertain. I lived in a condo with sliding glass doors,
and I was always putting things down, opening the door,
picking them up, getting through the door, putting them down,
closing the door, and you know, and then picking it up.
(01:58):
And that seemed really inefficient, and I thought, like a
lot of invendors, like every inventor, there's got to be
a better way. I didn't know what that was, though,
because that was and I'm not kidding, I know, I'm
dating myself, but that was forty years ago, and I yeah, yeah,
I know, I know, and there was no consumer Internet available.
(02:19):
I didn't know anything about inventing a product, not that
I did, you know, twenty years later when I did
start doing it, but at least more resources were available then.
So I put the idea on the back burner, and
I'm like, there must be a way to open doors
that would be simple, hands free, not automated in that
kind of thing. So fast forward twenty years and my
(02:44):
husband and I built a new house. We have sliding
glass doors in our new house, and I said, you know,
I've always thought that we should try to develop a
product for hands free sliding door opening. And so what
we came up with is the door Hitky. And this
isn't actual. This is the package door Hitchi. They come
in sets of two. You know why they come in
(03:05):
sets of two, Samantha.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
For the inside and the outline of the door.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
It's act me absolutely because once you get outside then
you need to slide. Your hands are still full, so
you need to slide the doors closed.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
And so we sell them in two.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
And let me show you how it works. Because and
the door Hickey, of course, and some people are like, ooh,
that's kind of brisque.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Well it's like do Hickey only for a door, although
it does.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Have a suction strength. So there that's the picky bird.
So let me show you.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I think I like to play on words.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
It's fun, thank you, thank you. Well, you know, if
you can't have fun while you're doing this, you know
what what can you do? So here I am going
out to my deck, my patio, and I need to
slide the open and close the door and so I
use my door hicky for that. Otherwise you're frumbling like this.
(04:00):
If I'm right handed, I'm fumbling to try to get
that door handle. So this just creates an extra handle
for your sliding glass door. And I'll show you the technology.
The technology. It is technology, but it's very simple. So
the door hickey has a suction cup. You you just
(04:25):
loosen it a little bit, you push it onto the
clean glass. And the glass doesn't need to be clean
because when there's a film of dirt or something like that,
it doesn't hold as well. You twist it and as
you twist it, it's going to create a vacuum suction
in the suction cup. And so it is really a
strong I call it a Herculean hold because it does.
(04:48):
It stays on. When you want to take it off,
you just reverse it. You just turn it counterclockwise, pop
it off. That's it. That's the door hickey. And also,
of course people love it for their sliding glass doors.
But if you don't have a sliding glass door, but
(05:11):
you have a shower, which most people do, you con
suction it to the ceramic tile in your shower and
it becomes a subdishing. There are a lot of other
uses work, but the primary use is to open and
close sliding glass doors.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Well, bravo and congratulations again on solving a problem that
sliding glass doors do create with you know, just like
you said, hand that's free.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
It's a great design. I love it that comes to
in a pack.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
And I find it interesting too when consumers get a
product like this and then they discover, wait, I can
use this in the bathroom.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I could use it in the kitchen, or you know
other places.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Maybe you own a restaurant, you go, you know, I
have sliding glass stores in my restaurants, or I have
sliding windows in my restaurant, right exactly?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
How about drive through?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
You know drive through when I mean? Sure, yeah, fantastically.
So when did you.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
When I unfortunately I spent a month in the hospital.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
I'm sorry, I said, when did you launch your product?
Speaker 2 (06:21):
What was that? SA?
Speaker 1 (06:23):
When did you launch your product?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
We launched it about ten years ago, and we worked
on it a little bit now and then both my
husband and I had and have full time jobs. We
were raising a family. It was busy, and so we
would get inspired and we'd say, oh yeah, let's let's
work on that prototype for the door Hickey, and we,
you know, would contract with the university who had a
(06:50):
at that time, a rapid prototyping institute, so they helped
us create the first prototype of the door Hickey and
then and then we'd stall a little bit and that,
and it happens because you know, it's where we needed
to work to bring in income so we could spend
money on this invention, which inventions aren't for the faint
(07:13):
of heart, as you might know, they do cost some money.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
So so we would kind of put it on the
shelf and not think about it for a while, and
then something would come up, like an invention contest, and
we'd say, you know, that would be kind of kind
of cool if we could answer that and maybe have
a booth, have people, you know, do a poll and.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
See if people think this is a viable product. And
so we did and then we won. We kept winning
first place in these invention contests, which was really great,
and we'd get inspired and say, you know, we really
need to figure out how to create the product itself.
(07:53):
We had the prototype, and the prototype was pretty rough,
but then we needed to get molds made and what
we need to manufacture it and that so there's another
step in the learning process about how to go about
getting your product manufactured.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
Of course, so you're learning what we really love.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
I was just going to say, so, of course, you're
learning all the steps it takes to manufacturing, even if
it's a ten year process. You're learning how to do
product development. So you know, we can discuss like I
think even kind of touched on some of the challenges.
You know, we're working full time, so we're raising families,
but we're kind of we're slowly developing this product and
(08:36):
we're learning the process along the way of how to
manufacture and how to go to market, which as independent inventors,
that's a challenge in itself, especially if you're a new
inventor and you just don't know all the steps to take.
So what do you think you know now that you've
come this far, what's some of the success and the
(08:57):
triumphs that you've already had creating the door hit.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Our first breakthrough success, if you will, was in twenty
sixteen when we won a QBC Sprouts competition and when
if you were the weekly winner of that, they purchased
some inventory and put it on QBC dot com, and
so we had about four hundred units of remaining inventory
(09:30):
sold it to QBC. They sold out. That was wonderful
and then you kind of went about life and we
were we sell online and then last year we were
approached by QBC to they wanted to put this on air.
(09:53):
So we are actually preparing now. We have all the
product ready to go and in our manufacturer's warehouse, ready
to ship to QBC and hoping that we're going to
be on air pretty soon during the warm months selling
out on door hickeys and so that was a really
big success for us, is to be able to connect, yes,
(10:16):
you know, to have them you know, contact us and
you know and purchase our product. So we're super excited
about that. In the meantime, last fall, we were contacted
by a brand new business competition game show that's going
to be televised later this year, probably in November. And
(10:37):
unfortunately I can't tell you what it is. I can't
tell you the name of it. I can't. I mean,
I know that, but we were flown out to Los Angeles,
all expense paid and to compete with other inventors on
this game show. And so we are really excited about
that because we're hopefully preparing for an influx of sales
(10:58):
when that airs as well.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Gender. I'm just blown away by this, you know.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
And I love the fact that you know we're at
this ten year stretch, right because we talk about this
why we've been doing this podcast and in our meetings
of how long inventing takes, right, and having the fortitude
just to keep pushing and you may have to shelve
it for a minute, but then another incident will happen.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
You know.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
I love these bridges of incidences. Right.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
You have this great appearance on QVC. You sold out
four hundred units remaining inventory, right, and you just said,
then we sit back and life happens, right, And then
they've circled back around and they've called you again, and
now you're leading us to believe it's a bigger order
than four hundred units. You know, you're inventory ready, your
(11:47):
distribution is ready. You're ready to go live on air
with QVC, which is just fantastic for a product like you.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
I mean, I get it right.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
I shop on QVC, you know, I do some really
cool deals. So I think this success story that you're
sharing with us not to mention the upcoming show and
we definitely understand the privacy rights and the contracts there,
so we'll catch up with that after that airs and
see how the success comes from that.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
But you have to just be overjoyed right now.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
This is a great inspiration for this show and for
for inventors out there listening today.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Thank you very much. I am overjoyed, and I say
I but actually my husband is part of this effort too,
and so's it's you know, been teamwork certainly, but he
my job is more flexibles. I work from home and
he does not, although he is set to retire this June,
so I'm you know, he he doesn't necessarily know it yet,
(12:49):
but he is going to be working full time on
the door Hickey two and so we're you know, which
is fine with him. We actually tonight we've got a
package a box full for Amazon and so that we're
shipping off to a warehouse, an Amazon warehouse. So we
sit our our kitchen counter and and we package our
door hickeys and and and it's fun. It's fun to
(13:15):
have somebody that you can bounce ideas off of two
and you know, you know, I'm glad I have my husband,
but I'm really glad for this group because it has
been so valuable to me and in finding out, you know,
just some concrete resources about where I can go to,
you know, find certain things. I know that you've helped
(13:36):
me before, Brian has helped me before, all the other
members of the group when we have our when we
have our get togethers or our meet and greet, have
a lot of great suggestions and I love that. So
this is this has been just just a fantastic resource
for for us with the door Hickey.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
So obviously you're talking about the Inventor Smart Community app,
which is, you know, just such a great innovation from
founder and leader Brian Freed. So you can go to
Google Play, you can do your app stores wherever you
download your apps, Inventor Smart app and again it's a community,
(14:18):
a collective community of inventors every day, inventors at all
different stages of development. So that was the brainchild behind it.
Let's build this community of all these independent inventors like
yourself and like myself. Again, we're at all different stages,
but we're helping one another.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
And I think it's.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Theme that we've been really focusing on, or we've been
hearing over and over again, is the trusted and the
reliable resources that Brian has put together within the apps
platform so that we're not left to our own plethor
of information like it gets so confusing, it gets overwhelming,
(14:58):
especially if you don't know a trusted source to go to.
So the Inventor Smart community and the National Inventor Club
is definitely building this emphasis on we're all coming together
as a community inventors. I love it. I love being
a part of it, and it's constantly learning new things, right.
So I'm so happy to have you here as our
(15:21):
episode four of our Inventor Spotlight. I think you're a
great example, I mean, an extraordinary example of working together
as a team, your husband and also working your full
time jobs, you know, up until you've recently changed positions
or whatever. You're doing this more full time at home,
and it's taken all this time, and you've learned so much.
(15:43):
You're getting involved in inventor groups, National Inventor Club, and
you're learning along the way, and now you're telling these
great success stories of just the patience and the fortitude
that you guys have had to get you to this point.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
I think that's a.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Great message for our audience, our other inventors. I think
it's a great message that I can't wait to hear
the results of the QVC live.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I'm I'm blown away by that. For you, I think
it's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Thank you so much. We're hoping for a lot of
success and I will let you know how it all
works out. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I can't wait to hear it.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
So in the meantime, if as a consumer and a shopper,
where can I get the door Hickey right now?
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Door Hickey dot com is probably the easiest way. D
O O R H I c K E Y door
Hickey dot com and that is a website where you
can purchase your door hickeys. And we also sell on
et C and we also just are starting to sell
on Amazon. So Doorhickey dot com probably is the eber. Otherwise,
(16:58):
just you know, search for door Hickey and you should
find a way to purchase them, and we'd appreciate. We
hope you love it. We want to hear feedback about it.
This is the set of two that you get and
the cross is only twenty nine ninety nine, so that
is a really good deal for two door hickeys and
(17:19):
when so you know, I hope that, and they make
a great gift if maybe you don't have a sliding
glass door.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
I actually switched insurance companies recently, and the young man
who now is my insurance agent, I was telling him
about the door hickey. He had heard about it and
he wasn't wasn't real familiar with it, and I told
him the purpose of it. And so when you're you know,
(17:46):
your hands are full and you're trying to get you know,
through store, use the door hickey. And he said that
his his dad almost burned their house down last year
when he was making something in the kitchen and it
started on fire and you kind of panicked and you
went to take it outside and throw it on the lawn.
(18:08):
It was flaming, and so he had his hands full
with these you know, potholders and stuff with a flaming
dish and you couldn't get the sliding door open. So yeah, yeah, so.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
It's an sample of like worst case scenarios, but best
case scenario for this product.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Yeah. Interesting, Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I hope nobody ever has use, but if they do,
it'll be there for them.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Well, I hope your insurance agent's home and it's I
was just going to say, I hope your insurance agent
home was okay and fully insured. Yeah, hopefully nobody was
hurt and everything worked out. But sounds like you received
a new customer as well.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
So perfect. Okay, miss Gender, We won't keep you very
much longer.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Again, we just want to say thank you for being
a member, a premium member of the National Inventor Club.
We love having you, I love hearing about your success,
and you have more to share with us at different dates,
and we'll look forward to catching up with you again soon.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Sound good, Thank you, Yes, that sounds great.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
All right, love you, have a great day, and we'll
see you again.
Hi, Gender, nice to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Thank you, Samantha. It's great to see you too.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Welcome to the Inventor Spotlight series podcasts that we've been doing.
This is episode number four, and I've noticed a trend
lately that right now all of our guests have.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Been female inventors.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
So I just realized that this afternoon when I was
looking at our schedule, I'm like, I kind of like this.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
So welcome to episode four. What's that?
Speaker 4 (00:40):
I'm sorry, I like the direction that's going.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah, yeah, me too, So again, welcome to episode four.
I know you've been featured before. You and I have
met a couple of times on our online meetings and events.
I think you have one of the coolest products that
I've seen in quite some time. It's very simple yet effective,
so I can see where you have There was a
(01:04):
problem and you created this very simple solution. So Gender,
go ahead and tell us about your product and.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
What you created it for.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
My product is the door Hickey, and the door Hickey
is hands free handle for sliding glass doors. So if
you if you use your sliding glass door at all
to go out to your deck or your patio, because
you're grilling, you're planting something, you're taking your baby out
there to go sit on a blanket and have a
(01:36):
picnic in your backyard. Your hands are usually full, right,
And so I created the door Hickey because I like
to entertain. I lived in a condo with sliding glass doors,
and I was always putting things down, opening the door,
picking them up, getting through the door, putting them down,
closing the door, and you know, and then picking it up.
(01:58):
And that seemed really inefficient, and I thought, like a
lot of invendors, like every inventor, there's got to be
a better way. I didn't know what that was, though,
because that was and I'm not kidding, I know, I'm
dating myself, but that was forty years ago, and I yeah, yeah,
I know, I know, and there was no consumer Internet available.
(02:19):
I didn't know anything about inventing a product, not that
I did, you know, twenty years later when I did
start doing it, but at least more resources were available then.
So I put the idea on the back burner, and
I'm like, there must be a way to open doors
that would be simple, hands free, not automated in that
kind of thing. So fast forward twenty years and my
(02:44):
husband and I built a new house. We have sliding
glass doors in our new house, and I said, you know,
I've always thought that we should try to develop a
product for hands free sliding door opening. And so what
we came up with is the door Hitky. And this
isn't actual. This is the package door Hitchi. They come
in sets of two. You know why they come in
(03:05):
sets of two, Samantha.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
For the inside and the outline of the door.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
It's act me absolutely because once you get outside then
you need to slide. Your hands are still full, so
you need to slide the doors closed.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
And so we sell them in two.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
And let me show you how it works. Because and
the door Hickey, of course, and some people are like, ooh,
that's kind of brisque.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Well it's like do Hickey only for a door, although
it does.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Have a suction strength. So there that's the picky bird.
So let me show you.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I think I like to play on words.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
It's fun, thank you, thank you. Well, you know, if
you can't have fun while you're doing this, you know
what what can you do? So here I am going
out to my deck, my patio, and I need to
slide the open and close the door and so I
use my door hicky for that. Otherwise you're frumbling like this.
(04:00):
If I'm right handed, I'm fumbling to try to get
that door handle. So this just creates an extra handle
for your sliding glass door. And I'll show you the technology.
The technology. It is technology, but it's very simple. So
the door hickey has a suction cup. You you just
(04:25):
loosen it a little bit, you push it onto the
clean glass. And the glass doesn't need to be clean
because when there's a film of dirt or something like that,
it doesn't hold as well. You twist it and as
you twist it, it's going to create a vacuum suction
in the suction cup. And so it is really a
strong I call it a Herculean hold because it does.
(04:48):
It stays on. When you want to take it off,
you just reverse it. You just turn it counterclockwise, pop
it off. That's it. That's the door hickey. And also,
of course people love it for their sliding glass doors.
But if you don't have a sliding glass door, but
(05:11):
you have a shower, which most people do, you con
suction it to the ceramic tile in your shower and
it becomes a subdishing. There are a lot of other
uses work, but the primary use is to open and
close sliding glass doors.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Well, bravo and congratulations again on solving a problem that
sliding glass doors do create with you know, just like
you said, hand that's free.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
It's a great design. I love it that comes to
in a pack.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
And I find it interesting too when consumers get a
product like this and then they discover, wait, I can
use this in the bathroom.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I could use it in the kitchen, or you know
other places.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Maybe you own a restaurant, you go, you know, I
have sliding glass stores in my restaurants, or I have
sliding windows in my restaurant, right exactly?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
How about drive through?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
You know drive through when I mean? Sure, yeah, fantastically.
So when did you.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
When I unfortunately I spent a month in the hospital.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
I'm sorry, I said, when did you launch your product?
Speaker 2 (06:21):
What was that? SA?
Speaker 1 (06:23):
When did you launch your product?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
We launched it about ten years ago, and we worked
on it a little bit now and then both my
husband and I had and have full time jobs. We
were raising a family. It was busy, and so we
would get inspired and we'd say, oh yeah, let's let's
work on that prototype for the door Hickey, and we,
you know, would contract with the university who had a
(06:50):
at that time, a rapid prototyping institute, so they helped
us create the first prototype of the door Hickey and
then and then we'd stall a little bit and that,
and it happens because you know, it's where we needed
to work to bring in income so we could spend
money on this invention, which inventions aren't for the faint
(07:13):
of heart, as you might know, they do cost some money.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
So so we would kind of put it on the
shelf and not think about it for a while, and
then something would come up, like an invention contest, and
we'd say, you know, that would be kind of kind
of cool if we could answer that and maybe have
a booth, have people, you know, do a poll and.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
See if people think this is a viable product. And
so we did and then we won. We kept winning
first place in these invention contests, which was really great,
and we'd get inspired and say, you know, we really
need to figure out how to create the product itself.
(07:53):
We had the prototype, and the prototype was pretty rough,
but then we needed to get molds made and what
we need to manufacture it and that so there's another
step in the learning process about how to go about
getting your product manufactured.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
Of course, so you're learning what we really love.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
I was just going to say, so, of course, you're
learning all the steps it takes to manufacturing, even if
it's a ten year process. You're learning how to do
product development. So you know, we can discuss like I
think even kind of touched on some of the challenges.
You know, we're working full time, so we're raising families,
but we're kind of we're slowly developing this product and
(08:36):
we're learning the process along the way of how to
manufacture and how to go to market, which as independent inventors,
that's a challenge in itself, especially if you're a new
inventor and you just don't know all the steps to take.
So what do you think you know now that you've
come this far, what's some of the success and the
(08:57):
triumphs that you've already had creating the door hit.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Our first breakthrough success, if you will, was in twenty
sixteen when we won a QBC Sprouts competition and when
if you were the weekly winner of that, they purchased
some inventory and put it on QBC dot com, and
so we had about four hundred units of remaining inventory
(09:30):
sold it to QBC. They sold out. That was wonderful
and then you kind of went about life and we
were we sell online and then last year we were
approached by QBC to they wanted to put this on air.
(09:53):
So we are actually preparing now. We have all the
product ready to go and in our manufacturer's warehouse, ready
to ship to QBC and hoping that we're going to
be on air pretty soon during the warm months selling
out on door hickeys and so that was a really
big success for us, is to be able to connect, yes,
(10:16):
you know, to have them you know, contact us and
you know and purchase our product. So we're super excited
about that. In the meantime, last fall, we were contacted
by a brand new business competition game show that's going
to be televised later this year, probably in November. And
(10:37):
unfortunately I can't tell you what it is. I can't
tell you the name of it. I can't. I mean,
I know that, but we were flown out to Los Angeles,
all expense paid and to compete with other inventors on
this game show. And so we are really excited about
that because we're hopefully preparing for an influx of sales
(10:58):
when that airs as well.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Gender. I'm just blown away by this, you know.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
And I love the fact that you know we're at
this ten year stretch, right because we talk about this
why we've been doing this podcast and in our meetings
of how long inventing takes, right, and having the fortitude
just to keep pushing and you may have to shelve
it for a minute, but then another incident will happen.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
You know.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
I love these bridges of incidences. Right.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
You have this great appearance on QVC. You sold out
four hundred units remaining inventory, right, and you just said,
then we sit back and life happens, right, And then
they've circled back around and they've called you again, and
now you're leading us to believe it's a bigger order
than four hundred units. You know, you're inventory ready, your
(11:47):
distribution is ready. You're ready to go live on air
with QVC, which is just fantastic for a product like you.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
I mean, I get it right.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
I shop on QVC, you know, I do some really
cool deals. So I think this success story that you're
sharing with us not to mention the upcoming show and
we definitely understand the privacy rights and the contracts there,
so we'll catch up with that after that airs and
see how the success comes from that.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
But you have to just be overjoyed right now.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
This is a great inspiration for this show and for
for inventors out there listening today.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Thank you very much. I am overjoyed, and I say
I but actually my husband is part of this effort too,
and so's it's you know, been teamwork certainly, but he
my job is more flexibles. I work from home and
he does not, although he is set to retire this June,
so I'm you know, he he doesn't necessarily know it yet,
(12:49):
but he is going to be working full time on
the door Hickey two and so we're you know, which
is fine with him. We actually tonight we've got a
package a box full for Amazon and so that we're
shipping off to a warehouse, an Amazon warehouse. So we
sit our our kitchen counter and and we package our
door hickeys and and and it's fun. It's fun to
(13:15):
have somebody that you can bounce ideas off of two
and you know, you know, I'm glad I have my husband,
but I'm really glad for this group because it has
been so valuable to me and in finding out, you know,
just some concrete resources about where I can go to,
you know, find certain things. I know that you've helped
(13:36):
me before, Brian has helped me before, all the other
members of the group when we have our when we
have our get togethers or our meet and greet, have
a lot of great suggestions and I love that. So
this is this has been just just a fantastic resource
for for us with the door Hickey.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
So obviously you're talking about the Inventor Smart Community app,
which is, you know, just such a great innovation from
founder and leader Brian Freed. So you can go to
Google Play, you can do your app stores wherever you
download your apps, Inventor Smart app and again it's a community,
(14:18):
a collective community of inventors every day, inventors at all
different stages of development. So that was the brainchild behind it.
Let's build this community of all these independent inventors like
yourself and like myself. Again, we're at all different stages,
but we're helping one another.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
And I think it's.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Theme that we've been really focusing on, or we've been
hearing over and over again, is the trusted and the
reliable resources that Brian has put together within the apps
platform so that we're not left to our own plethor
of information like it gets so confusing, it gets overwhelming,
(14:58):
especially if you don't know a trusted source to go to.
So the Inventor Smart community and the National Inventor Club
is definitely building this emphasis on we're all coming together
as a community inventors. I love it. I love being
a part of it, and it's constantly learning new things, right.
So I'm so happy to have you here as our
(15:21):
episode four of our Inventor Spotlight. I think you're a
great example, I mean, an extraordinary example of working together
as a team, your husband and also working your full
time jobs, you know, up until you've recently changed positions
or whatever. You're doing this more full time at home,
and it's taken all this time, and you've learned so much.
(15:43):
You're getting involved in inventor groups, National Inventor Club, and
you're learning along the way, and now you're telling these
great success stories of just the patience and the fortitude
that you guys have had to get you to this point.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
I think that's a.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Great message for our audience, our other inventors. I think
it's a great message that I can't wait to hear
the results of the QVC live.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I'm I'm blown away by that. For you, I think
it's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Thank you so much. We're hoping for a lot of
success and I will let you know how it all
works out. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I can't wait to hear it.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
So in the meantime, if as a consumer and a shopper,
where can I get the door Hickey right now?
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Door Hickey dot com is probably the easiest way. D
O O R H I c K E Y door
Hickey dot com and that is a website where you
can purchase your door hickeys. And we also sell on
et C and we also just are starting to sell
on Amazon. So Doorhickey dot com probably is the eber. Otherwise,
(16:58):
just you know, search for door Hickey and you should
find a way to purchase them, and we'd appreciate. We
hope you love it. We want to hear feedback about it.
This is the set of two that you get and
the cross is only twenty nine ninety nine, so that
is a really good deal for two door hickeys and
(17:19):
when so you know, I hope that, and they make
a great gift if maybe you don't have a sliding
glass door.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
I actually switched insurance companies recently, and the young man
who now is my insurance agent, I was telling him
about the door hickey. He had heard about it and
he wasn't wasn't real familiar with it, and I told
him the purpose of it. And so when you're you know,
(17:46):
your hands are full and you're trying to get you know,
through store, use the door hickey. And he said that
his his dad almost burned their house down last year
when he was making something in the kitchen and it
started on fire and you kind of panicked and you
went to take it outside and throw it on the lawn.
(18:08):
It was flaming, and so he had his hands full
with these you know, potholders and stuff with a flaming
dish and you couldn't get the sliding door open. So yeah, yeah, so.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
It's an sample of like worst case scenarios, but best
case scenario for this product.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Yeah. Interesting, Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I hope nobody ever has use, but if they do,
it'll be there for them.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Well, I hope your insurance agent's home and it's I
was just going to say, I hope your insurance agent
home was okay and fully insured. Yeah, hopefully nobody was
hurt and everything worked out. But sounds like you received
a new customer as well.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
So perfect. Okay, miss Gender, We won't keep you very
much longer.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Again, we just want to say thank you for being
a member, a premium member of the National Inventor Club.
We love having you, I love hearing about your success,
and you have more to share with us at different dates,
and we'll look forward to catching up with you again soon.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Sound good, Thank you, Yes, that sounds great.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
All right, love you, have a great day, and we'll
see you again.
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