So you know I LOVE Napoleon HIll. I am working on my Thinking and Growing Rich. My goal is to manifest $480 million dollars in the next 4 years. The book says to name your price, so I named one I think would make me happy. Whatever it is. Name it. Named it. Claim it. Claiming it. Manifesting what I think.

Part of getting the money–the main part really for me is gaining my freedom. Freedom to do what I want to do from moment to moment. Feeling freedom now–what will it feel like–working at the things I LOVE to do–inventing, business, working out, personal coaching, helping people with weight loss, and this…manifesting their dreams.

I have experienced this already. Sure it sounds nuts, but it’s not really. I manifested a size 10 from a size 20 and have maintained it after seeing it in my head I made it happen. The book says this and I knew it before I read the book as I experienced it from time to time previously. You have to feel what it’s like. I felt what my smaller body was like.

I know it works. I’m now working on a size 6–ripped and lean for good.

Anyway…so far I’ve been manifesting good parking spaces. Not $480 million dollars. But it’s a start.

Alissa

I just found a wonderful IJN warship cup from the early 20th century, specifically 1907. Here is the cup:

Three things make this cup very rare: it is dated, it is named to a specific warship, and it has the American flag in the design. Of course, a cup like this would never have been made in the 1930s, when tensions were high between Japan and America, but this was from a more peaceful time, at least for these countries. First, a translation of the inscription: ‘Meiji 40 [1907] Warship Chitose, Dispatch to America Commemorative.’

This warship was actually American-made, at the Union Iron Works in SanFrancisco. It arrived in Japan in 1898. After service in the Russo-Japanese War, she went around the world, stopping in the USA to celebrate the 300th Anniversary of the Jamestown Settlement. For this event was the cup made. No doubt there were parties and other celebratory events that the sailors could enjoy. This cup was probably paid for by the Japanese government (but commissioned by the ship officers) for the sailors who went on the trip. I imagine that they would have gotten this cup after returning to Japan, but it is possible that they received them aboard ship.

Read more about the warship Chitose on the Wikipedia page, which also has a short video of its launching filmed by Thomas Edison! Fascinating!

Loverage is a term I got from the book, The One Minute Millionaire by Mark Victor Hansen.  The book stated that in order to become rich, do what you love to do and do what you are passionate about.  Thomas Edison said it best: “I never did a day’s work in my life. It was all fun.”

That is LifeStyle living folks, doing what we love to do and getting paid for doing it.  Tiger Woods plays golf, NBA players love to play basketball and they earn a ton of money doing it, actors love to perform, and entrepreneurs provides good products and services the masses can use and get paid a lot for doing it. Entrepreneurs love to make money!

I had an aha moment the other night.  We had an early Thanksgiving meal and of course we were asked what we were thankful for.  Certainly, I am thankful for the really blessed life I am living right now and I realized that for the first time in my life, I have a clear direction of what kind of life I want to live, the kind of LifeStyle I want to live and I build it by doing something I am so passionate doing; I’m in the business for people who love helping people.  I help people and I get paid doing it.  Now that is Loverage!!!!

What are you passionate about doing?  And how can we make money doing what we love to do?  In the words of Art Williams, just Do IT!

If you are now here, then you have some spare time on your hands.

How would you like a hectic journey into a brilliant messed-up mind?

Let’s not waste any time and let’s get down to it.

This week, one of my more amusing reads has been “Complete and utter Zebu” by Simon Rose and Steve Caplin (to find out what Zebu is, you’ll have to buy the book). It’s a catalogue of the sometimes scary lies told by businesses, politicians and publicity gurus to part us from our money, our morals, or our votes. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable read.

It seems odd for me to pull a business lesson out of a book which spends much of its time holding a sceptical eye up to some of big business’ more dubious tactics; but towards the end of the book I found a delightful chapter devoted to quotes from some of history’s most influential businesspeople and inventors- getting things wrong. And because they’re quotes, I can repeat some of them here for you.

“The Phonograph has no commercial value” - Thomas Edison

“This ‘Telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a practical form of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us”- Western Union Memo

“That the automobile has practically reached the limit of its development is suggested by the fact that during the past year no improvements of a radical nature have been introduced”- Scientific American, 1909

“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?”- Harry Warner, head of Warner Brothers, 1927

“Television won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.”- Darryl F. Zanuck, head of 20th Century Fox, 1946

“There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.”- Ken Olsen, founder of Digital Equipment, 1977

So – you can rightly giggle to yourself at these pontificating pronouncements from the great and the good. Edison, of course, is forgivable for many of these comments – he successfully patented a raft of inventions; and watched several more reach a mass audience with somebody else long after he had discarded them.

Several more of these comments, though (particularly Warner and 20th Century Fox) are paradigm examples of big companies sticking their heads in the sand when a new, threatening technology comes along; hoping the danger will go away.

The quote from Scientific American about cars is also by no means alone – in the 1800s, the British Society, then the world’s foremost platform for scientific discourse, almost closed its doors, claiming that “everything there to be discovered has been discovered”.

What makes these comments so interesting is that we’re all experts when we’re armed with hindsight. In the fray of business, these big players are at an inherent disadvantage. They move slowly and ponderously. It’s small, agile companies which create game-changing new business models. Some smarter large businesses see this, and create innovation labs to check out new ideas. They fund offshoots without the burden of the big corporate architecture, to accelerate new ideas to fruition.

Fashion brands even employ young style consultants who are so close to emerging trends that they can spot next year’s playground uber-trend while it’s still incubating in just one urban club.

But if you’re looking for the Next Big Thing, you can do no better than to ask yourself, all the time, “Why does it have to be this way?” By thinking differently, by challenging received wisdom, by questioning the assumed and obvious; that’s where so many innovative new ideas and their subsequent businesses can be allowed to emerge. And that thinking needs no money: just an open mind.

The Edison Garden Market and Creative Cottage are two added activities at the Edison & Ford Winter Estates on Thanksgiving Weekend.  The Estates will be open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 AM – 5:30 PM and closed on Thanksgiving Day.

Throughout the weekend more than 30 vendors and the Estates Garden Shoppe will offer a wide variety of unusual plants including heritage plants, orchids, bamboo, bromeliads, fruits, vegetables, roses, edibles and gift items for the garden and home.  Holiday gifts such as the Estates Heritage Herb baskets and other items from the Estates Garden Shoppe will also be available.  The Edison Garden Market is a free event located in the Estates public gardens and the area near the Banyan Tree.  Edison Garden Market hours are Friday, November 27, noon – 5 PM; Saturday, November 28, 9 AM – 5 PM; Sunday, November 29, 9 AM – 3 PM.   

Creative Cottage also opens Thanksgiving weekend in the Edison Caretaker’s House with spectacular work for purchase by regional artists, authors and chefs.  Featured artisan, Norman Love, internationally known award winning chocolatier has created a special “Edison” hand-crafted chocolate in honor of Thomas Edison.  Other artists include:  Leoma Lovegrove, Marie Dyer, Manfred Behr, Karen Flanders, Ellen Sheppard, Virginia Harper, Anita Singh, James DiGiorgio, Lynn Russell, and members of the Southwest Florida Quilter’s Guild.  Creative Cottage will be open 1 PM – 5 PM until December 11.  During the Estates Holiday event, Edison & Ford Holiday Nights, hours will be extended to 9 PM.  Estates members are always admitted free and will receive a 10% discount.  For non members a “shoppers pass” will be issued at the main ticket area.

On November 21:

164 BC Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restoresdthe Temple in Jerusalem. This event is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah.

1694 Voltaire, French philosopher, was born.

1783 Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent, Marquis d’Arlandes, make the first untethered hot air balloon flight.

1787 Samuel Cunard, Canadian-born shipping magnate, was born.

1863 Maori surrendered at Rangiriri.

1877  Thomas Edison announced his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record and play sound

1905 Albert Einstein’s paper, Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?, was published in the journal “Annalen der Physik”. This paper reveals the relationship between energy and mass. This led to the mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc².

1920 In Dublin, 31 people were killed in what became known as “Bloody Sunday“.

1922 Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia took the oath of office, becoming the first female United States Senator.

1929 Marilyn French, American feminist writer, was born.

1936 Victor Chang, Australian physician, was born.

1941 Juliet Mills, British actress, was born.

1945  Goldie Hawn, American actress, was born.

1948  George Zimmer, American entrepreneur, was born.

1977 Minister of Internal Affairs Allan Highet announced that ‘the national anthems of New Zealand shall be the traditional anthem “God Save the Queen” and the poem “God Defend New Zealand“, written by Thomas Bracken, as set to music by John Joseph Woods, both being of equal status as national anthems appropriate to the occasion.

Thomas Edison is known to be a gallant gentleman who is known best for creating a lot (I mean A LOT) of inventions. But some strongly disagree. I am one of them. Thomas Edison might not be such a “amazing inventor” as you think.  Sir Humphry Davy and Sir Joseph William Swan are both two great inventors that also contributed to making the light bulb, but they were not credited to the light bulb. Instead of being a inventor, Edison was more of a business man. He hired people such as Tesla and took advantage of them, and later lied to them after using their ideas.

Later in life when Tesla was working for Edison, and asked for his pay of $50,000, he simply told Tesla, “When you become a full-fledged American you will appreciate an American joke.” Tesla immediately resigned, and later on, before his death, Edison said that his biggest mistake was not appreciating Tesla’s work. Yet, I don’t think Tesla ever forgave him, as he was the only man to have a negative comment on Thomas Edison in a Times Magazine article.

“Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search… I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.” Nikola Tesla

But no matter, what he was – inventor, fraud, or businessman, Thomas Edison will be remembered with respect.

My opinion sure might be way different from yours or might be the same, but in conclusion, I don’t really care! Its okay if you think Edison is amazing!

Links – The Scientists, Wikipedia

Oatmeal.com is fun. I’ve learned 17 new things about cats (as Steph knows), how caffeine works in your body, facts about coffee, how long I’d survive with Bigfoot, the six phases of a tapeworm’s life, what my heart’s been doing lately, the nine crappy kinds of handshake, how we’re all going to hell in a zombie apocalypse, the exact rules on apostrophe usage and five very good reasons to punch a dolphin in the mouth.

In other words, a lot of things that don’t really mean much.

…Yep. Bye.

P.S. I’ve decided I don’t like Thomas Edison. Sure, he invented a couple of things, but I still think he’s a tool. Why? Because one time, he got Nikola Tesla to do some special-genius stuff around his company, and promised to pay him lots and lots of money. Tesla, the super-genius he is, did everything that Edison couldn’t do himself for the company. Then, when Tesla asked for his money, Edison said “Tesla, you don’t understand our American humour” and decided to just not pay him. What an asshole.

Agent Andy. I got about $1million dollars worth of advice yesterday from Andrew Abrams yesterday. Truly a priceless 45 minute conversation. He is a designer, licensing agent, genius all around to bringing products such as mine to market. Do this Alissa!

What I took from the conversation.

My price point is too high. Will make that adjustment on the website tomorrow.

Gift show representation…HUH? Knew nothing about it, now I know something and have a contact.

Retail packaging…I knew a bit about this, but got more detailed information about showing for gift shows (spindle, J hook).

Hope. There is a market for this product. Getting out to it won’t be as hard (or as easy) as I thought.

Yay for Andy!

Much love,

Alissa

Fearless is not the absence of Fear. It is Some Thing Else in the midst of Fear all around. A sixty five pound pack solo on the mountain does not make me nervous. Going swimming is a terrible fearsome prospect.

The neighborhood bully ambushed my brother and me coming back from the corner store. On the path through the woods. He had a knife. He took my money. Sure. I told my Dad. My Dad went looking for him. Memories come back from Mt. Adams.

Next Time the bully was at the Lake! He threw me into the water over my head and blocked my way to shore. I learned how to swim quickly.

There is also the small matter of my pool scholarship which is greatly resented by our local anti-social service agency. My swim pass is good until December first. After that I will ask for a State Hearing and appeal for transportation costs to Seattle. The water is cheaper in the city. These thoughts make the steel in my legs very heavy.

Necessity is the Mother of Thomas Edison. If his shoulder was possessed by his bff Screaming Pain he would go swimming directly and sit in the sauna, too. Mr. Edison’s family was very smart. That’s called a good gene pool. Week 19 on the Port Gamble – Talkeetna Trail. Some portage necessary. No trouble. Seventy Five Weeks to Go.

First things first. Now that I have finished Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, I am ready to read some more sci fi. I don’t think the critics or the book sellers are categorizing Brown’s latest opus as science fiction, but clearly it is. The villain is so much a Frankenstein (only with multiple tattoos); the almost- love interest is a bit clumsy (as often is the case in science fiction books and films), and the hero is  larger-than-life, capable of amazing feats (including not getting his loafers wet while completely submerged in a float-to-relax tank). There’s no end (and I mean that almost literally) to the number of science fiction books I could read, but I have found many so dry and boring. Still, my latest Science Fiction book is not a work of fiction; it is a non-fiction history book pulled from my collection. It is titled Things to Come, the history of science fiction film. This book, which has many photographs, is as interesting as most science fiction books I have read of late. Who knew the very first science fiction films (shorts) were created in 1897? I didn’t know that or that both Thomas Edison and H.G. Wells had their hands on and in early science fiction movie-making.

If you are a fan of science fiction, or sci fi films, you must also know the name, Georges Melies, whose film, A Trip to the Moon (1902) is sometimes regarded as the first of the thousands of science fiction films to follow. My history book reports there were sci-fi films already created before 1902. A good number of these films seemed to be about making sausages. Some earlier, and later films,  featured female robots (although they were called something else) and warriors. Those female warrior sci fi movies were created about the time women were demanding the right to vote; it figures they might have also had some influence on the male film-makers.

It is amazing to me to learn just how accurate some of these early films were when it came to predicting mental telepathy, x-ray technologies, robots, and crazy mad scientists up to no good (that’s just for starters).

The main point, to me anyhow, is how close science fiction is to psi (or the practice of extra-sensory perception). Looking backwards more than 100 years, we can see how a number of film-makers predicted ideas that became realities; in other words, like clairvoyants, they were able to visualize the future. Some of their predictions included push-button services, robots and space travel – and I am only up to 1914 in my history book. Additionally, one of the film-makers (Abel Gance, from France) used futuristic cinematography – distortion, out-of-focus photography and other camera tricks – just a few years into pioneer film-making. His brave, experimental filming blows my mind (unfortunately, Gance’s work in La Folle de Docteur Tube was not all that popular). I view Gance as a true visionary – not only as a film-maker, but as a clairvoyant. If his and other early science fiction films aren’t examples of ESP, I don’t know what is.

I wrote a note on my town website about the product. It was risky because (and I had forgotten but was quickly reminded) how touchy people are on that message board. I got my hand slapped right away for advertising there. OUCH, that stings!

The person who slapped my hand is probably right, but the way he did it. YUCK. I was so upset, annoyed, hurt I got shaken for half a day. Now I have had lots and lots and lots of positive comments from people who have tried the product, bought the product and all and one guy, who has never seen it, and may tend toward the snarky makes a comment and WHAM I hit the mat and it takes hours for me to get back up again. This ish is fragile, but getting tougher.

And then some people are NOT jerks….I did have some very good news. I’m connecting with a man (thanks Barbara!) who can help me move the business to business end of things forward. I hope to work with him to get into gift shows and make contact with corporations and other vendors/orgs who could use the product as a promotional vehicle. Every time a customer or alumni looks at their iPod they’d see the logo of that company. Pretty cool. Looking forward to that!

Much love,

Alissa

p.s. my dear friends via facebook backed me up on the jerk thing.

There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the labor of thinking.

One of my favorite things to do is to take day trips and explore Ohio’s history. There are a total of eight presidents from Ohio, I have been to the homes of four of them. We can also boast Thomas Edison, born in Milan Ohio. I took a day trip there about two summers back. Milan is a small canal town, the basin of which was in Thomas Edison’s back yard.

“Everybody makes mistakes”

The song starts.  A former attendant of TPC (the abbreviation for The People’s Church), a Church belonging to the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville TN, Destiny, now known as “Miley”, makes a philosophical statement in her song.

“It might be crazy; I do it anyway”

What she says is echoing the Apostle Paul’s statement where he says:

“I do what I don’t want to do; but I don’t do what I want to do.  For when I try to do what I want to do, I can’t; but rather, do what I do not want to do.”

- Romans 7:14-15

He is of course, explaining the inherent nature of what we know today, as “Sin”.

“If I’m not doing so well; why be so hard on myself.”

Modern Christian theologians have widely agreed that the worth of a person is not on what they do (“who” they are), but rather what they believe in (“whose” they are).  This belief in inherent dignity can be expounded in the analogy of a hundred dollar note.  No matter how much I pound the hundred dollar note, step on it, flush it down the toilet, its inherent value still remains at $100.  Go to any store, and that is the value you are offered.  This is because the creator of the change valued the note at $100.  The definition was provided by its creator.  Furthermore, if it attempted to be anything else other than its intended creation, for instance, if you tried to use it as toilet paper… It’s utility is, well, let’s say, not as useful as it could be!  Thus, it follows, all things being equal, that since our value is determined by the fact that God created us and loves us It doesn’t at all depend on what I do, but what God has done.  So yes indeed, I shouldn’t “be so hard on myself”!

“Again and again and again and again”

I really like this statement because it indicates to the listener this idea of hyperimprovement.  An important part of the Product Development Life Cycle in Engineering is this idea of hyperimprovement.  This is how the latest and greatest technologies are invented.

“No problem can’t be solved”

The inherent nature of God is his invincibility; I mean, the fact that he can do all things.  As the BIble says, “All things are possible through God“, who makes them possible!  It still surprises me the correlation between the greatest inventors in the world in the past (Edison, etc etc), and their faith (in God!).  But… correlation does not equate causation **winks** LOL!

“If things don’t turn out the way you plan, don’t stay down… try again!!!!”

The Apostle Paul (the greatest missionary in Christianity) was once greeted with persecutors who beat him, he was shipwrecked, he was starved, etc etc, and this was a lot to deal with for a great Jewish lawyer of his day!  As he says though, nothing could stop him from the prize that Christ Jesus had prepared for him at the end

As Hilary Duff says

“BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!!”

Sorry I’ve wanted to do this all my life, see what I look like with H Duff

Yeah it’s pretty hot LOL!

I’m actually quite a funny person, witty, sarcastic, teasing…but you can’t tell lately. Heavy. I’m glad I have some friends with whom I can laugh. My cousin is number one on that list. I SO glad she is coming to New Jersey. We LAUGH all the time and she thinks I’m the most hilarious thing out there. (It helps to have a good audience!). I think we’ll do a podcast when she gets here. We say the most ridculous things when we’re together. You’ll laugh.

I could use some more joy. Joy makes it all flow. I carved out a bit of time to a little of my bible…Think and Grow Rich. I know my mind is in charge of all of this. Working on controlling that.

I used to laugh with my dad and I still can sometimes, but only one the good days, which is about 1 out of 3 for him. My poor darling dad.

Today sent a note to ilounge.com to ask them to review my product. Fingers crossed. I will talk to my neighbor tomorrow who writes about technolgy about who can review the IMP. He kindly offered to do this a month ago, but I’ve been a bit nuts (to say the least, eh?). It’s a good time as holiday shopping is just beginning. FOR REALZ I never thought I would be in a position to be getting ready for holiday shopping…from this end of thing. GET YOUR STOCKING STUFFERS RIGHT HERE! LOL.

Much love,

Alissa

Recently returned from a quick visit to the incandescent oasis that is Las Vegas, your correspondent wishes that he had discovered “The All-Inclusive All-You-Can-Eat Buffet Guide” before the trip.

A service of Eating the Road (“On a journey to find out what the American road tastes like”), the Guide is quite comprehensive:  from preparation…

…Meals leading up to the buffet have been debated for ages. My recommendations are a large dinner the night before consisting mostly of light breads and vegetables to expand the stomach. It is also advantageous to drink plenty of liquids, preferably water. This also varies greatly on what time of day your buffet meal is going to be. For a breakfast buffet your larger meal should be the lunch prior with a small dinner. The morning of I would suggest a very small meal containing some sugar in order to get your metabolism up and running. Eat nothing more throughout the day. Liquids are advised, preferably water, as almost a mandatory health concern due to the high sodium content you are about to consume…

through strategy:

Initial scouting: This takes discipline and some patience but will pay off in the end. Be sure to walk the entire length of the buffet including the dessert area. Sometimes you’ll find hidden and unexpected items. Take note of all dishes that you would like to try. With knowledge of the layout and items at handle you can now plan your attack. Some things to consider on your first go around is what items have been freshly placed out and which will be available during your subsequent trips. Make note of the costliest items as well as the most popular.

Grab a dinner plate, this is a must, always use the largest plate they offer…

To “exit strategy”:

You’ll want to be sure that you have no further commitments for at least 3 hours…

With sections on Types of Buffets, Objective, Preparation, Location, Pre-meal Setup, Strategy, Etiquette, Exit Strategy and Post Game, it’s the Baedeker of buffets!

As we consider how to pay for our repasts, we might we might  pause to honor the debut of the stock ticker, that auger of bulls and bears, which clacked for the first time on this date in New York City in 1867…  In a scenario not unknown in these times, the ticker was created by Edward Callahan, who rigged a telegraph to print stock (and gold) prices on streaming paper tape.  But only two years later, Thomas Edison (who had been, we might recall, a telegraph operator) patented a slightly modified version, closed Callahan out of the market, and made his first fortune– the one that financed his laboratory in Menlo Park… from whence the stream of inventions for which Edison is remembered, along with the accompanying stream of patent litigations that generated dominance of one market after another.

Callahan’s Stock Ticker (source: Early Office Museum)

I like this business stuff. I have a challenge ahead of me because my product is so new (it came out of my brain, you know) I have to EXPLAIN what it is to people THEN convince them to buy it. The solution is really sort of obvious and once people see it they like it. BRILLIANT! MAKES SENSE. AWESOME. YOU’RE a GENIUS. …thanks!

Tangled cords…AHHHHHH!

Orderly cords!

IMP

It is rather genius…in it’s simplicity and functionality. If I do say so myself.

So I talk about it and it works…to educate people about it. And encourage them to solve their tangled cord problems. I’ll talk. And keep talking.

Tonight I ended up at the Princeton Macintosh Users Group (PMUG). For some reason I thought “users groups” this morning. I was actually thinking, “Holy sh*t, I started this company and now I have to sell these things! How?” People need to know about the IMPs. So I spent the day sending notes to my contacts on Yahoo and posting the first video commercial to my friends on Facebook. It’s a start right.

I am getting lots of good praise from my friends and family who finally see the IMPs and people are spreading the word to their friends, but I haven’t had any sales yet…until tonight (ok, it’s been 12 hours or so….ok, ok). Anyway the universe (don’t believe in it? sorry.) sent me to the PMUG meeting at the last minute tonight.

When I clicked on the link on the Apple website for MUGs in the area I saw listings for NYC and NJ. The next PMUG meeting listed was in December, but I just clicked on it anyway. I was surprised to see that the next meeting was this evening and the topic was Gadgets and Gizmos for the Holiday Season. What? My IMP is the perfect stocking stuffer (thanks for that idea Jen!)! Thank you universe…once again.

I picked up my kid and called my husband to tell him to come home early. I got my dad settled and my kid settled (with McDonalds…sorry kid, but had to give you something to make up for the fact I wouldn’t be home tonight…he got Astroboy and was happy with that). I programmed Princeton University into the GPS and was off.

I gave myself all kinds of pep talks on the drive down. “I’m gonna sell ALL these IMPs to those PMUGs!” “I am a great salesperson!” I’m not a salesperson…yet, but I’m building up the muscles…tonight was the first night.

I arrived at the meeting early and sat down. There was an unexpected crowd of older folks there…how cool, I didn’t see that coming, but liked it. They were companionable and friendly. I chatted with a few folks.

Then I noticed the presenter sitting down front and said to myself “No time like the present.” So I went down and introduced myself and the IMP to him. He was kind enough to include my IMP in his presentation. He went through like 100 products…some amazing and some weird and even some DIY suff for the holidays. He had a powerpoint with a lot of the products and then actually a few in person. He ended with mine and said “The inventor is actually here”. I explained what the product did “what you do with your earbuds…when they’re not in your ears”, was added to the URL list that will be shared with the entire group, and got some applause.

When I first spoke to him he mentioned his girlfriend Marie who reviews “products like yours”. I looked for Marie after the meeting and gave her a handful of IMPs. People complemented the packaging (designed it myself….thanks!) and the idea. They loved that I had it patented and I sold 3! Not quite my whole bag, but a start…and it felt SOOOOOOOO good. Way better than working…hello?!?!?! People give you money, for your product. You make money. I figured with that $27 bucks I made, paid for a good handful of product, a small dent in my investment…but something back. What a RUSH! I was high the whole drive home!

Alissa

p.s. I drove through EDISON NJ and I thought about one of my inspirations…Thomas Edison. Cool.

Thomas Edison, nicknamed “The Wizard of Menlo Park”, was the famous scientist who invented the phonograph, the motion picture camera and the light bulb.  Edison’s industrial research lab was built in Menlo Park, NJ and he invented about half of his 1,093 patents from this location.

After a five-year, 13 million dollar renovation, Edison’s complex has recently reopened for visitors.  The renovations include audio tours featuring narrations from former employees , 400,000 artifacts, 5 million documents, 10,000 rare books, and 60,000 photographs.

The laboratory complex is open Wednesday through Sunday from 9an to 5pm. Click here for directions.

If you are traveling to NJ for business, Churchill has no-fee, corporate apartment rentals with flexible lease terms.