Enough already with the Mom-Inventor contests. Here's my challenge to brands...

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Huggies is doing it. So is Target. Ditto for Whirlpool, Working Mother magazine, and Good Morning America.

They’re all sending out a rally cry, inviting moms to submit their new product ideas for a chance at hitting it big. Typically these contests choose one winner whose invention or product gets bankrolled by the company, paying the mom a cash prize plus a portion of the royalties. In the case of Walmart.com’s “Get on the Shelf” competition, the winning three products will be sold in select Walmart stores across the country.

Cool, right? Yeah, kinda.

But here’s where these contests leave me cold. The #1 sentiment I hear from moms from Toledo to Tacoma is that they have too much stuff and not enough time. Their worlds aren’t in need of one new-fangled gadget to bring happiness and balance. In fact, researchers at UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives and Families (CELF) report that clutter in the home can trigger depression. And no one has more clutter than American families.

Yet these contests fuel the notion that the highest calling for mompreneurship is to invent something. I checked in with Patty Lennon, Founder of Mom Gets a Life, to see how she coaches women looking to start businesses from home. Here’s what she said:

“It is so important for moms or anyone to go into product creation with their eyes open. When I’m working with a client I ensure she’s researched obtaining a trademark and patents, understands the cost to bring product to market, knows the start-up costs with producing a tangible product and the marketing and sales costs that follow. Once a mom has reviewed what it takes, many find that a service-based product is much easier to manage, cheaper to start up and also far more fulfilling.”

Let’s think beyond the SKU

Many moms have inspired ideas for making life better for families. They’re creating community or mobilizing social change or teaching other moms how to cook or garden or whip their resumes back into shape. These are the true champions.

Here’s what I’d love: for a bold brand to invite moms to enter a zero-footprint contest. What can a mother dream up for a better world that doesn’t fire up smokestacks and litter our planet with more junk?

http://www.facebook.com/jennyrapson Jenny Michelle Rapson

Wow, Kat. Just – a good wow. This is such an amazing idea. The mom in business I know who has helped the most people and made a profound impact on my life and so many others is a Speech Language Pathologist. She went out on her own to open her own practice that provides an affordable therapy option for families whose insurance plans don’t cover therapy services (in our case, my daughter needed 50 visits a year and insurance only covered 20.) My family could never afford a clinic rate of $100+ for a half-hour but we could afford her rate of $45/half-hour. By not taking/dealing w/ health insurance companies, she provided my family and so many others an affordable alternative to the clinics in our area. Without her I do not see a way that we would’ve been able to get our daughter the help she needed. She found a way to make money to help support her family (she and her husband have 6 children) and use her skills to help families and kids, and she doesn’t create one bit of waste! This is a woman who deserves a big, fat grant so she can expand her business and keep helping our community.
And I never would’ve even thought it might be a possibility if you hadn’t posted this. I sure hope some brands accept your challenge!
Powglass

Absolutely great article and advice. As a mom inventor I can only say one thing: read the story again. Even if your product becomes successful – it’s half the battle. The biggest challenge is to continue to stay on the shelf. New innovation takes tons of money, tons of patience without any reward for at least 3-5 years and even after that once you start selling all the profits have to be reinvested back in order to keep growing. You are constantly under pressure of deadlines, suppliers, and buyers. If you can endure it for 10 years (99% of people can’t) than it is not for you.
Powglass

bsolutely great article and advice. As a mom inventor I can only say one thing: read the story again. Even if your product becomes successful – it’s half the battle. The biggest challenge is to continue to stay on the shelf. New innovation takes tons of money, tons of patience without any reward for at least 3-5 years and even after that once you start selling all the profits have to be reinvested back in order to keep growing. You are constantly under pressure of deadlines, suppliers, and buyers. If you can’t endure it for at least 10 years (99.99% of people can’t) than it is not for you.