Mom Invented

As a single mom with no college education working three jobs, Darla Phillips seemed an unlikely candidate for business success in 1997, but her ideas were strong and she was driven to  build a better life for her daughter. It took a lot of perseverance and learning things the hard way, but 12 years later, she has a lot to show for it, including two patents, two licensed products and an invention marketing company.

Her first product idea, MicroWax, a patented microwavable cooking paper that lets you use your microwave like a stovetop or oven, is only now gaining recognition. But her second product idea, LuggageSpotter, took off quickly. A cushioned wrap that attaches to bag handles to help identify luggage, LuggageSpotter is currently licensed to a number of different industry sectors, has sold more than 7 million units as a promotional product, and is carried in more than 1,000 retail stores. The product is still gaining market share, too, with new licensing deals and retail opportunities.

Darla has also licensed MicroWax and is beginning to sell it through direct sales TV ads -- look for them soon on The Food Network and Fox News in LA, New York, Dallas and Tampa.

To help share her success, two years ago Darla founded LOOK! Marketing Inc. to help other women bring their ideas to market, as well as to manage her licensing business.

We're inspired by Darla's amazing success, and we're happy to have caught up with this mogul mom and product marketing pro to hear her story and her secrets to success…

How did you finance your business, and how have your finances changed as you've grown your business?

I found an investor for both LuggageSpotter and MicroWax. I tried financing my businesses on my own, but as a single mom working three jobs, it just wasn't happening. I found my investor through a friend after trying to do it the hard way. It's best to ask people you know who might know someone who has a few bucks they may want to invest.

I am fortunate in that I licensed both LuggageSpotters and MicroWax so I don't have to worry about financials anymore. LuggageSpotters’ stream of revenue comes from 3 sources, each from different licensing agreements. It's been very lucrative and will be for many years to come -- so much so that my granddaughter will still be reaping the benefits when I am gone. MicroWax is just now getting started, but if it sells through via our new infomercial, I can retire in a couple of years with nothing to worry about.

Where are you selling your products, and what sorts of licensing deals do you have in place?

LuggageSpotters sold exclusively in promotional markets from 2002 to 2007. We have sold over 7 million to date with company logos imprinted on them. When I felt it was time for me to move onto retail accounts, I licensed my patents (promotional industry only) to a competitor who continues to sell more than 600,000 LuggageSpotters every year. It's now become a staple item in promotional and should be around for a very long time.

In early 2009, LuggageSpotter became a retail product in the sports licensing industry, and they’re now sold in more than 1,000 locations. I licensed my patents a second time to a company that sells sports licensed products (sports industry only) in retail stores nationwide. They sell in a 2-pack for $14.99 with NFL, NCAA, MLB, NBA and NASCAR licensed logos imprinted on them.

In March 2009, I licensed LuggageSpotters for a third time to the gift/novelty industry (gift/souvenir/big box stores only). This product houses imprints such as #1 Mom, #1 Dad, Princess, The Boss and VIP. We are currently talking to several big box stores for placement.

MicroWax is just now going on TV for its first test run. If it sells well in the initial 2 weeks, it will be contracted to run an additional 12 consecutive months nationwide. After that, depending on sales, national retail distribution would be the next step.

What has been your greatest success in business?

Darla Phillips with her mother, daughter and granddaughter

I am a single mom who struggled her entire life. I worked 3 jobs trying to make ends meet. I grew up with little self-esteem and never really believed in myself. I decided one day to become an entrepreneur in my late 20s. I'm not really sure why because I was not college educated and I didn't know anyone who could help me invent, but I wanted to own my own business.

I basically learned from trial and error and made a lot of mistakes along the way. That is what made me so resilient. I struggled so much growing up, growing my business, and trying to get help while many doors were slammed in my face because I was a woman. I really have a heart to help other women believe in themselves and to truly pursue their dreams.

I think growing into a secure, self-motivated woman who now loves herself would be my greatest success through all this. I started out as a very insecure person with not much to go on. I'm ending up with so much joy, happiness, peace, and sense of accomplishment in my life now. It's been a difficult but terrific ride.

What has been your lowest point with your business? How did you recover?

MicroWax's first shipment came on a truck across the country that wasn’t air conditioned. The cooking paper has wax embedded in it, and all the wax melted together and ruined all 25,000 packages I had on that truck that were going to sell on QVC.

After I cried, I picked myself up, brushed myself off, and figured out a solution.

LuggageSpotters also had a melting issue – the first large order from overseas came in with the Velcro melted off, so they wouldn't stick together. Again, I cried, then figured out a way to sew new Velcro on every single LuggageSpotter, which took over 6 months to do. I just kept telling myself that quitting wasn’t an option.

Going back to your business's beginnings, what process did you follow to develop a prototype?

The LuggageSpotter was quite simple to make. I wanted to make it out of fabric with cushioning and an inside ID pocket to house a business card or ID card for confidential identification. I just went to a fabric store, bought what I needed, and made it exactly like I had pictured it in my head. I've changed the design very little since the first one I ever made back in 1999.

MicroWax, on the other hand, was a huge project that took me over 2 years to complete. I had to contact wax paper manufacturers, which are few and far between, to get my cooking paper manufactured. It was a very long, drawn out process with months and months of testing papers and coming up the correct formula that cooks best in the microwave.

How did you find a manufacturer for your product?

With LuggageSpotter, first I made them myself. Then I hired a couple friends to sew for me. But when the need got bigger and I started selling more, I looked everywhere for a manufacture in the U.S. None that I could find would sew at a price that would let me sell them at a low price. After about 3 years, I finally contacted the overseas manufacturers and have been using them ever since.

With MicroWax, it was a long drawn out process to find a manufacturer who would make the correct paper that would cook foods properly in the microwave. After gathering thousands of samples of cooking paper from all different sources, I had to test each sheet to make sure it did what I said it would do before I could put it on TV.

Once I determined which paper was best, I contacted that particular manufacturer to start production. But packaging was another huge issue. Cooking paper manufacturers only make their paper for wholesale food companies and not retail consumers, so it was next to impossible to find fulfillment for MicroWax. I ended up hiring a bunch of friends and doing it ourselves. Not recommended, but it worked until I could find something better.

What secrets have you learned in terms of marketing your product and getting it into stores?

I learned a lot about licensing and that you can license your product multiple times over, which creates huge market exposure in different ways. It's just important to only give exclusivity for each particular industry you are dealing with. That way, each license for the same product does not conflict with the others in any way. As a matter of fact, it completely complements the other licenses as the product sells in more arenas, which means a lot more exposure.

It's also important to get several streams of revenue coming in from different sources.

What was the biggest learning curve in terms of marketing your product?

I think for LuggageSpotter it would be where to decide to sell my product first -- retail or promotional. I started with retail and realized it was not the way to go out first. If you have a product you can sell in promotional (meaning printing a logo on it), it's best to start there. Retailers are very hard to get into unless you have a success story already. I sold millions of LuggageSpotters in promotional, so it was so much easier to sell my product to retailers because it was already proven to be successful.

But, there is also a flip side. I stopped selling retail when QVC stopped carrying the luggage spotter after 9/11, but I waited too long to come back to retail. After waiting more than five years, there were multiple knock-offs already in the stores that competed with my product when I returned. How I got around it was getting into a protected industry like sports licensing, where no one could sell knock offs.

MicroWax was a no brainer, really. It had to sell on TV. There was no other way to brand the product as it's a "have to see it to believe it” product.

What advice would you offer other moms developing products?

Do your homework. Read Tamara's book before you spend a dime. As a matter of fact, spend your first dime on buying her book -- it will be the best investment you ever made. Get a support system around you. Read, learn, experiment, talk to people, ask for help, and don't be afraid!

Thanks for sharing your story, Darla! If you have a great story to share, we'd love to hear it!

Tagged as: Business Secrets, featured mom, mom entrepreneur, mom inventor, product licensing, product marketing, woman entrepreneur, woman inventor