Turning “What If?” into a Multimillion Dollar Business

Photo Provided by Lori Greiner

Persistence, time and energy. That’s the difference between “what if” and product success, and Lori Greiner has all three. After years of having ideas for products and even books and sitting on the sidelines, she grew tired of thinking about what might happen. So when she had a promising idea for an earring organizer, she immediately got to work. Read more

Who Says You Can’t?

Rose Totino, one of many women inventors featured in Susan Casey’s book, Women Invent!, stands as a role model for Casey. “She was quite a lady,” Casey says of Totino, who invented the world’s first frozen pizza.

Author writes about go-getting women

Susan Casey’s list of “friends” is extensive. Some were born in the 1800s, while others haven’t graduated from high school yet. And many, she never met. But an avid researcher and lover of “detective work,” as she calls it, Casey combed through libraries across the country, hungry to meet women inventors. She now knows so much about them that she calls most—dead or alive—friends. “I feel like I know them,” she says.

Her far-reaching memory harkens back to a “brilliant” woman who came to the United States in the 1920s and built the first solar-heated house. She jumps to the story of the hardworking secretary Bette Graham, who secretly invented Liquid Paper in the 1950s to cover up her typewriting mistakes. Casey’s research was published in Women Invent!, a book about female pioneers of their time.

“These women were pursuing their interests in a very intelligent way—and following through,” Casey says. “They say, I’ll figure out a way to do it. I’m gonna make this happen. It’s inspiring.”

Casey talks about her favorite women inventors, unable to pick just one. She tells the story of Rose Totino, of the famous brand of frozen pizzas, like she’s a long-lost friend: “Rose settled in Minneapolis, and nobody there knew a thing about pizza,” she explains. “Rose would take pizza to the PTA when they were asked to do a potluck. And people thought, Wow, this is great! And it caught on!”

Casey’s book was published in 1997—just before the advent of the Internet and online search engines. She spent nearly 18 months in a Los Angeles library, “zipping” through microfiche and making notes for her book. “It was really fun. For a lot of these women, I had to search in books and call historical societies to find anything about them,” she says. “Now, I Google their name and five biographies pop up.”

Still, the lengthy research process is what Casey found fascinating. “Spending several years talking and researching about optimistic people is inspiring,” she says. “There’s a model of every kind of person in this book: chemists, balloonists, secretaries. When I speak, I teach girls and boys that anyone can use their ideas and create something terrific.”

Creating Job Security by Becoming the Boss

I recently received an e-mail from a business owner and new author whose book release has been delayed by the publisher. She says the book explains how to turn a product idea into a profitable business, but the publisher and booksellers are telling her people simply aren’t taking “risks” right now.

Undoubtedly, it’s more important than ever to be cautious with our income and assets. But starting a business can be a very wise investment of your time and money — if you do it right. And with the uncertainty of the economy and fewer “secure” jobs available, becoming an entrepreneur or independent professional is an option many women are examining more closely. In our recent poll, more than half of you said you were either starting a business or taking on freelance or contract work in an effort to create financial security in your life. Read more