Mother is the invention… or is it Invention is the mother… wait it’s “Necessity is the mother of all invention.”
But it’s mothers who invent. Imagine you’ve got a new baby or your child has an issue and you’ve got a problem that needs solving. You look for the right product or service and it doesn’t exist. What do you do? Many women have an ah-ha moment and say that if that doesn’t exist, I’m going to create it. I’ll become a VentureMom.
Take for example the woman who was waiting for a phone call from the pediatrician while walking her baby in the park.
Her phone rang, and she dug around in her diaper bag until she finally found the phone and then the doctor’s call went to voicemail. She said to her husband later that night, “I wish there were something that would hold my phone on the stroller handle.” Ah-ha, she thought, “I can’t be the only one who needs that.”
Leslie Pearlman did some research and found a company that could create a prototype of a plastic device that would attach to the stroller bar and holds her phone. That way she could play music for the baby, talk to others, do a stroller work-out and know exactly where her phone was should she be waiting for a call from the pediatrician.
Leslie took her invention to the baby stores in the city, while she was strolling her baby.
The shop owners gave her orders on the spot. She was able to secure pre-orders before she ever asked her manufacturer for her first run of products. Now the TextHook is found in every baby store across the country. And this is her side gig.
Another mom had boxes and boxes of photos that needed to be organized.
She began to make photo books of all the family photos that she had collected over the years. She also loved to make photo books for her extended family’s trips and special occasions. They then shared these beautiful creations with their family and friends. Word got around that Sam Loomis had the gift of taking your photos and using an online service to deliver a beautiful keepsake photo book.
What began as a part-time job for a few close friends turned into a full-fledged business that Sam could make real money with. And she had the flexibility of working from home, taking jobs as her time allowed and making her own hours – the perfect flexibility.
Rosemary Maxfield’s daughter broke her arm and the cast was so hard and uncomfortable, she was having a hard time sleeping and the cast was so obtrusive. What’s a mother to do? She created a comfortable, stuffed animal arm sleeve to wear over the cast. This was fun and it made it easier for her daughter to sleep and travel. It also made recovery more fun. A product was born, CastAway.
So many ideas come from needs that can’t be met.
Moms are the most creative and resourceful people on the face of the earth when their child is in need. They are VentureMoms – they have a need or see a need and work to solve it. What’s your idea?
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Holly Hurd is the founder of the VentureMom platform, which is designed to show every woman in America how they too can start a business and find economic freedom and that oh-so-coveted – flexibility Holly created the VentureMom Marketplace to make it easy for women to offer products and services on the web. It’s an online shop where each vendor has their own storefront and all in less than 15 minutes.