Barbara Carey inventor, entrepreneur

MrSoloInvntr

If there is any one success story to inspire you here is one I stumbled upon recently. She is a California entrepreneur. Her name is Barbara Carey. You have to do a search on her and read how she started up her million dollar ideas. It seems she is doing something right here. I think it is important and valuable to check out key moves and read stories of successful entrepreneurs like this. Its stories like this that give those of us starting up some inspiration. How cool would it be to get her to talk to the startupnation!

theswaynester

Great idea!

Rich

barbara carey is an amazing entrepreneur! she and i talk every now and then - do we need to get her posting here? or maybe on our radio show? would you dig that?
rich

theswaynester

Definitely dig it, dude.

Rich

alright. i emailed her - should hear something back today. cross your inventor`s fingers...

Christina

She sounds like a very inspiring person. I am looking forward to being
able to hear an interview with her, or have her posting here.

inventress

Hi Barbara Carey here!
I would love to participate.  Please let me know when and how.

theswaynester

Hi Barbara--Welcome to StartUp Nation!

inventress

Thank you. What a nice place to be. I feel at home here surrounded by similar souls!  

theswaynester

Hey Barbara... Would you mind fielding a question?This has been my dilemma--what if you have an idea but it`s out of your field of expertise.For instance, I`m not exactly an electrical engineer. (I once almost electrocuted myself changing flourescent bulbs.) But, I have an idea for a device that requires some (not a lot) of electronics.Do you abandon the idea and work on something that`s more manageable... find a partner that can help... try to figure out a prototype yourself?
The Swaynester. (I have to write it that way or Rich and half the board calls me the Sway Nester.)

MrSoloInvntr

Barbara,
It is great that you can join us here. I am a aspiring entrepreneur here in Santa Cruz area, im sure you know the area well. I was inspired from reading articles about you and your success. I have been working on developing a consumer product for over a year now. I am getting ready to produce the first prototypes to test. I have a few questions you may be able to answer. How does one know if their idea is patentable? If so, should one spend the dollars to try and patent? If my product is ready to market, should I try and patent and wait on the patent process before trying to find potential customers? These are the difficult questions those of us face who have never been down the road of bringing a product to market. Thanks for joining us.

MrSoloInvntr

theswaynester,
Are we on our own here? Guess so.

iouone2

I am just listening on this one.... 

theswaynester

Hey Allan. Hey Vince.How`s it going?

inventress

You need to do a patent search to find out if you have unique art. I usually choose items to market that are inexpensive in unit cost with little or no tooling. This way I go and get orders for the item first before it is made. I work with a patent attorney to protect it. I don`t like to give legal advise because I don`t usually protect my item unless it sells. I get my product to market very fast and if it sells then I go for the patent within the time frame. barbara

iouone2

Barbara,Thanks for your help here. I have a question. When you say, "with little or no tooling" I understand the words, but could you give an example? You don`t have to use your own product as the example. I just want to understand if we are talking about items made from molds or what.