Tina Faith Orr is the CEO of Novel Gizmos by Avid Faith Designs, a provider of unique, novel products. Many products are developed in-house, patented, and can be customized. I have a technical background and am also creative. I like to make things. I have a passion for learning, helping others, and love to learn about intellectual property, especially patents.
- Tell us about your invention/product? What does problem does it solve?
“My Skin Pals ™ ” collection
I have several inventions/products that I am working on. My latest is the “My Skin Pals ™ ” collection which is patent pending. This invention solves the problem of people forgetting their skin protectant, serves as a reminder to apply protectants, which helps to establish healthy habits. It is a portable, refillable, eco-friendly, magnetic travel container which can be used in automotive environment with the magnetic vent mount or passenger side visor clip, home environment (desk/refrigerator/office), travel environment (luggage, airport, purse, backpack) and outdoor environment as it has a clip carabiner which also attaches to belt loop. It frees up automotive console space as well as desk space, eliminating all those bulky containers. The colorful, magnetic containers with carabiner clip attach to anything and/or any suitable surface such as desk, lab desk, refrigerator and more. No more forgetting to bring your skin protectant. It is a handy PAL that’s there for you, right at arm’s reach! Just Fill-Clip-N-Go!
The collection can hold any suitable substance and is currently customized to hold Hand Sanitizer, Sunscreen, and Lotion. The colorful, magnetic containers and the vent mount can be customized with company logo for promotional and advertising purposes. The collection consists of Sanitize
Samaritan Clip ™, Lotion Loader Clip ™, Sunscreen Redeem Clip ™, Protectant Pal Clip ™, and the My Skin Pals ™ Clip Gift Set.
This invention has many embodiments in the patent application from simple to very complex. The complex versions would require working with an automotive manufacturer or automotive accessory manufacturer. The designs are ready for further discussions, and I am interested in licensing as well.
- Advent Perpetual Wood Customizable Calendar collection (Large and smaller version)
The C3 Calendar (Customizable Cognitive Creative Calendar) is a calendar that can be customized to display any positive subject. This patented wood calendar can be used year-round as a teaching tool or inspirational tool as the day boxes are removable mounted and can hold many chocolates. Customize the inserts to display spiritual, inspirational, motivational, academia, or any positive subject. The month box slider stores the unused months. The day boxes can store many wrapped chocolates as well as other items such as office supplies and more. Each day box can accommodate 20 inserts =40 fact lessons/day= 1240 fact lessons/month=14,880 fact lessons/year. It is a family heirloom to pass down to generations. It is reusable and encourages learning. Included in the large calendar: frame, month box with 12 sliders, 31-day boxes, 31 customizable wood inserts.
The D3 Calendar (Daily Devotional Dessert Calendar) is the C3 Calendar that is customized to display 31 uniquely chosen Bible verses. The D3 Calendar allows for creation of a post dinner ritual (similar to blessing before dinner) for a daily spiritual, religious devotional to be read prior to dessert, thus establishing a new family tradition.
The perpetual, reusable, customizable calendars are beautiful, elegant décor which is also functional. Kids love to play with the wood day boxes, rearranging them. Excellent for teaching kids how to read the calendar, teaching them the months/years as well as academic subjects as well. The calendars are protected by IP including a utility patent, CIP continuation-in-part patent, and a design patent.
Customizable Storage Calendar (CSC)
The CSC is a Customizable Storage Calendar (CSC) which is smaller than the C3 and D3 Calendars. The CSC includes calendar frame, 7 rotatable day boxes, 14 holidays, month box,12-month sliders, 40 year # sliders. Day boxes are removably mounted and rotate to display the current day number. Month box stores the 11 unused month sliders while displaying the current month. It is a family heirloom to pass down to generations. It is reusable and encourages learning. The dual sided day box top wall slider contains 2 holidays, one on each side.
- Toy Collection (Awaiting market launch)
I am also working on a toy collection which I have received interest in from several retailers. I may be accepting pre-market orders in late 2022 or 2023. I have many variations of the toy. Any pre-market orders will not take any payment form or credit card form initially. Once any manufacturing order is completed and product arrives, I can then follow up with customers for them to pay for me to ship the toy(s). I think the toy collection would sell well on HSN/QVC, retail stores, and online. Be sure to like/subscribe to my YouTube channel to stay up to date for future developments.
What was the inspiration for your invention/product?
My inspiration for the “My Skin Pals ™ ” collection is my family since we would forget sunscreen leaving it at home prior to hiking or going outdoors. Driving back home or stopping at store to rebuy sunscreen is inconvenient. Kids often leave their sunscreen at school such as in locker or home, needing to apply sunscreen prior to playing sports or other outdoor activities. It can be attached using the carabiner clip. It can also be kept in the vehicle on the magnet vent mount or the passenger side visor clip when parents attend the game/outdoor activity.
People often forget their hand sanitizer when leaving the house to go to the store, event venue, and other places. They seldom apply hand sanitizer prior to going into the store. The public hand sanitizer stations are typically pump operated by hands that are not clean. The hand sanitizer is right there at your fingertips and is Ready4Reapplying when returning back to the car after shopping. We attended a concert recently and I had one of my magnetic containers filled with my vitamins clipped to my left belt loop and the other magnetic container filled with hand sanitizer as purses were not allowed into the event venue. The Skin Pals are very convenient when traveling thru airport as you do not have to dig thru your purse or backpack to find your skin protectant.
I often apply lotion which is kept upstairs. I keep a Lotion Loader which magnetically attaches to the refrigerator so that I don’t have to go back upstairs to get my lotion. It also declutters the kitchen counter as the skin protectant containers are not taking up counter space.
My inspiration for the patented Advent Perpetual Wood Customizable Calendar collection (Large and smaller version) collection is my son. Every year we would buy the paper/cardboard advent calendars which contain only 1 piece of chocolate. Many of the advent calendars do not contain any positive insignia to be read. We would throw them away every year as they are no longer usable once the day is opened since they are for one season only, which creates a lot of waste. We would spend anywhere from $20 – $60 per advent calendar based on calendar. I crafted the removable day box wood insert to display a Bible verse on each top wall of the day box, which allows for my son to learn the word of God. My mission is accomplished if only 1 person is blessed by the D3 Calendar as the word of God needs to be brought back into the homes. The D3, C3, and CSC calendars can be used in home, office, schools, churches, daycare, church schools, and Montessori schools.
My inspiration for the Toy Collection (awaiting market launch) is from a famous, inspirational song about the importance of being resilient, joyful, and strong even in insurmountable circumstances. This toy collection is going to be AMAZING once launched. I am very excited about the 2 variations of the toy, especially since it can bring kids much fun and joy, as well as adults.
What is the number one goal you have with regards to your invention/product?
My goal is to bring joy into the lives of others with my products. I would love to have much more success in marketing to get these products onto the store shelf. I dream of being financially able to give some of the products such as the toys to orphanages and other kids that are in need. It is great to solve a problem as well by inventing. I have notebooks full of ideas that I hope to bring to fruition in the future.
I also have an entrepreneur spirit and have plans for building a unique, novel subdivision as well as affordable housing subdivision. I don’t know if I will have the time or resources to accomplish this in my lifetime, but I have the passion for it, as it will help people with the current housing crisis.
Who is your product for (target market)?
Advent Perpetual Wood Customizable Calendar collection
The patented wood calendars target market is kids and adults, age 2 and up depending on the version. Even elderly people can use the calendars as it helps with cognitive abilities as well.
“My Skin Pals ™ ” collection
The skin pal’s collection can be used by kids and adults. Kids need to use skin protectant as well as adults. It makes a great gift also, especially for those that you have no idea what to buy for them.
Toy Collection (Awaiting market launch)
I have 2 versions of the toy. The toy is customized to many themes. Kids are the primary target market age 1-up and adults. Adults can use it when at event venues as well as in dim lighted places such as parties/clubs. It’s a fun, uplifting toy.
How long did your invention/product take to get to this point (from the time you conceived of the idea to now)?
The Advent Perpetual Wood Customizable Calendar collection took many years to get the product to market for sell in e-commerce. I started with cardboard prototypes cutting the shelves with a mini hand saw on one of the dining room tables, wood prototypes painting them in the garage, and lots of brainstorming with sketches. I even created formulas for calculating the calendar dimensions based on the wood thickness, compartment height and width, allowing for any dimension such as the face plate height to be adjusted. Any dimension could be changed in the spreadsheet, calculating the new calendar height and width. The overall product height and width, as well as the weight affects everything including shipping cost, storage shelf space, and retail space footprint. Once I finalized my prototypes, I then sourced a manufacturer for the calendars. After I brought the large calendar to market, I came up with a small, lightweight design for the calendar and invented the small version, the CSC calendar.
See prototypes link. https://avidd3.com/prototypes
It’s just me handling everything from idea concept, prototype, drawings, patenting/IP, marketing, website development and more. The calendars is my first invention.
The “My Skin Pals ™ ” collection took a couple of years to go from idea to market launch. I created many prototypes and finalized the current version, bringing it to market. I decided to launch the simple version of this invention first as it was less complicated, easier to manufacture, and faster time to market. This product would sell better in retail stores on the shelf at checkout register as an impulse purchase, automotive section, skin care section, and travel accessory section. Selling in stores reduces the cost to consumer as shipping cost is not incurred when purchasing in stores. I will be updating my product video for the skin collection in the near future.
The Toy Collection (Awaiting market launch) took about a year to get it to the current state as I am working on more than one product/invention and am also a supplier for Wayfair. I have many products in Wayfair and just got into Walmart.com this year.
When you had your idea, what was the first thing you did?
I write my ideas/inventions down in a notebook. I have several notebooks full currently. Many times, ideas come to me at night when in bed. I put a few keywords in my phone to remind me to write it down on paper the next day. Once I document my idea, I do not share it with anyone, except for my family perhaps and a few people in my inner circle – you know who you are! I do a computer search to see if it my idea/product exists already.
Nail gadget – I also have a nail gadget. I created the prototype for it in the middle of the night on Thanksgiving when everyone was asleep. I thought about how I could make this using what I had around the house and gathered my supplies. I made the nail gadget prototype in under an hour once I fully thought it out. It works great. I haven’t had a chance to file a provisional patent application on this yet as I am working on my other products currently.
What has been the greatest challenge getting your idea from your head to something tangible?
The greatest challenge is to find manufacturers that are willing to work with independent inventors. I have overcome that with my inventions/products thus far. Now the greatest challenge is time to market all these inventions/products. Marketing is the hardest part as you have to reach out to customers and companies. You also have to manage your money wisely as it’s your money that you are spending inventing. Large companies have many more resources to further launch products to market. I am very interested in licensing some of my inventions/products.
How did or are you funding the development of your invention/product?
I am funding the development of my inventions/products entirely myself. I am open to discussing growth opportunities with venture capitalist as well as other sources.
How do you currently market your invention/product?
I market by creating websites, advertising with Wayfair and Walmart.com since I am a supplier, talk to local people showing them my products, talk to people at airports when traveling, advertise on YouTube and Facebook. I try to focus marketing on YouTube and my websites. I would like to sell them on DRTV, ASOTV section in stores, as well as retail stores. I create sell sheets for my inventions/products also, submitting them to companies.
Tell us about your background?
I am a very creative, technical oriented person. I try to help other inventors when I can. I have a background in engineering and computer science. My Dad always taught me that if you can learn how to do something, you do not have to pay someone else to do it for you. However, some things it may make more sense to outsource. Be wise and smart with what tasks you outsource. Always, before sharing your idea with companies, try to get an NDA (nondisclosure agreement) signed to protect you. However, establishing trust is always very important. To learn more about me, please see link. I am featured in an amazon book about inventors, number 30.
Who are your favorite female creators and why?
Joy Mangano since she has overcome many obstacles in her inventor journey and also helps other inventors with her new tv show, America’s Big Deal. Marcy McKenna who is the head of the Women Inventors Club – Product Based Entrepreneurs as she helps other inventors also.
What’s been the most surprising part of your creative journey so far?
I am surprised at how much marketing is needed to bring a product to full market fruition. It’s not as easy as they make it look on Shark Tank. I find it interesting to review patents to see what others have invented and how the patent application is designed. as well as other forms of IP (intellectual property) such as trademarks.
Thus far, I have done my patent work (pro se). https://www.novelgizmos.com/patents
If you want to attempt to write your own (pro se) provisional patent application or utility/design patent application, I recommend the book “Patent It Yourself Book, How Design Patent Drawings Book, Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP).”
I read many patents including patent prosecutions (responding to office actions, presenting arguments to resolve issues with application) to learn more about patent rejections/objections and how to overcome prior art. However, Patent Attorneys are very skilled in this area and can write your claims so that they can encompass the scope of your invention to obtain adequate patent protection. The patent rights that are granted with the issuance of a patent are defined by the patent claims.
If you have an idea for an invention or new product, be sure to at least do a search to see what’s out there. Many ideas that people have already been invented. You can search for patents on google as well as the USPTO website. There’s several YouTube Channels that have videos on inventing, licensing (exclusive vs nonexclusive vs co-exclusive), venture vs licensing your invention, etc.
What is a typical day like for you?
Check email for my inventor/product businesses, check email for my rental business, check marketing/social media, work on marketing with email and cold calls and much more. I am currently working on my video marketing and will be updating my sell sheet for one of my products with new pictures. I check my Wayfair and Walmart.com for any new orders, updating my inventory when needed. Any new order, I pack, label, and ship myself which means a drive to UPS or FedEx since we live so far out from town. Inventing takes a lot of ideas and sometimes you have “throw it against the wall and see what sticks”. Some ideas/products will be great, and some won’t. When you get a “Yes”, that’s only the beginning.
If I am developing a new product or idea, a typical day could include researching to see what’s out there on the market currently. No need to “re-invent the wheel”. If you are making a prototype, sometimes you can go to the store and see what materials that they have that you can use to create a quick mock up to visualize your product. You can also use materials that you have around your house for mockups. Once you have your product/prototype (actual or digital), if you are pursing licensing, browse your local store to see what product category it will fit into. Look at the label on similar products for companies that you can add to your list on potential licensees to contact.
Who have been your role models, mentors, etc?
There are many people out there who are inventors who have educational material as well. InventRight, Stephen Key, has a tremendous amount of information on licensing your invention. I have an inner circle of people/friends that I bounce ideas off of occasionally.
Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
Don’t give up. Just because someone doesn’t like your idea, who cares. Follow your passion. Invent and create what you like! If it’s even just a gadget that you use in the house and you don’t commercialize it, you learn during the process. You can use items in your house to help you visualize your invention/product. Sometimes just writing it down is a start. Studies have shown that writing something down increases your chance of following thru with it. The inventor journey is like none other. There is no “golden roadmap” to inventing as each product is unique. Your first invention is more than likely not going to be a “homerun”. It takes a lot of ideas and persistence to stay in the game. Spend wisely. Always continue to learn. I have much more to do in my inventor/product developer journey.
“May you have courage to make it to the “start line.” If you never cross the “start line”, how can you expect to finish? May you have strength in life to carry the torch you have been chosen to carry, raised high shining bright for the world to see, as you run this race called life. As you approach your finish line, may your torch be passed to future generations – a legacy fulfilled.”
What’s the best way for the readers/audience of Inventing Women to connect with you?
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk1jt37vS_zxjz52jjGUWgw
https://www.facebook.com/avidd3
What is the cost and how can we learn more, purchase your product? FREE SHIPPING
Sanitize Samaritan Clip ™ $15.99
Lotion Loader Clip ™ $15.99
Sunscreen Redeem Clip ™ $15.99
Available at Walmart.com and Wayfair thru my website.
https://www.wayfair.com/brand/bnd/avid-faith-designs-b60541.html
Discounts available for schools, academic institutions, and churches!
