088 – Cookies in a Snap with Bill Stank
With a background in architecture and design, Bill Stank has long had an interest in product design and innovation.
He has conceptualized numerous projects and products with sketches and models. After years of imagining a truly streamlined product Cookies in a Snap became the invention that really felt right to bring to full development.
Cookies in a Snap was born out of an inspiring cookie making moment that led to a uniquely new way to shape and mold cookies.
The first Cookies in a Snap product represents the beginning of a series of creative accessories for shaping, molding, and making cookies.
Bill and his wife Mary Ann are very much amateur bakers but creative professionals excited about designing new products to make everyday moments special. Their goal is to make memories for adults and children engaged in the creative and fun activity of baking cookies.
All about Cookies in a Snap
The original idea came from a walk through the kitchen. [2:51]
Cookies in a Snap described. [12:16]
Bills first steps in developing the product. [8:21]
Finalizing the design and the first samples. [18:14]
Developing promotional materials and targeting the ideal customer. [16:42]
The 3-5 year plan of Cookies in a Snap [30:45]
Candle Flickering Moments
Identifying financial resources during the recession was a struggle. [21:30]
Business Building Insights
Opening your mind to creative ideas for a future product. [4:25] [6:15]
The costs behind creating a prototype. [10:28]
The benefits of working with an industrial designer. [19:03]
The value of a professional product introduction video even before the physical product is available. [23:09]
A discussion on patents, trademarks and non-disclosure agreements. [26:05]
Success Trait
Bill says optimism is essential. [29:43]
Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Bill relys on making lists either with pen and paper or the notes app on his phone. He also loyally reads the following magazines.
Recommended Reading and Listening
Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
The Art of the Deal by Donald Trump
Contact Links
If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcript
Thank you for joining me today on gift biz unwrapped.
Speaker:This is episode 88.
Speaker:It really is about belief in your product and a continued
Speaker:enthusiasm and just keep pushing it out.
Speaker:Hi, this is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to the gift of biz unwrapped,
Speaker:and now it's time to light it up.
Speaker:Welcome to gift bears on wrapped your source for industry specific
Speaker:insights and advice to develop and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host Sue Monheit.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:I'm Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online or
Speaker:are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business. And today I have joining us bill and Marianne stank
Speaker:from cookies in a snap with a background in architecture and
Speaker:design bill has long had an interest in product design and
Speaker:innovation cookies in a snap was actually born out of an
Speaker:inspiring cookie making moment that led to a uniquely new way
Speaker:to shape and mold cookies bill and his wife,
Speaker:Maryann are very much amateur bakers,
Speaker:but creative professionals excited about designing new products to make everyday
Speaker:moments special.
Speaker:Their goal is to make memories for adults and children engaged
Speaker:in the creative and fun activity of cookie baking.
Speaker:Welcome to the show bill.
Speaker:Good morning.
Speaker:How are you today?
Speaker:Very good.
Speaker:And I know you've got Marianne there too.
Speaker:She may pipe in from time to time,
Speaker:right? She can say hello this morning.
Speaker:Okay. Hi Maryanne.
Speaker:I'm so happy that you two are joining me and it's
Speaker:perfect. We are actually recording this in early December.
Speaker:The Christmas trees are coming up and so it's a perfect
Speaker:time to be talking all about cookies.
Speaker:So thank you so much for joining me this morning,
Speaker:The opportunity to tell our story.
Speaker:Well, I like to start off by having our listeners get
Speaker:to know you in a little bit of a different way,
Speaker:and that is by having you describe your ideal motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you could help us envision what that would look
Speaker:like, what color is your candle and what would be the
Speaker:quote on your camera?
Speaker:Well, I've always kind of favored the golden yellow color happens
Speaker:to be kind of a candle color anyway,
Speaker:but that's been my favorite color my whole life.
Speaker:And although I don't have a specific quote,
Speaker:I very much liked the word inspiration.
Speaker:I try to be inspired by other people and I hope
Speaker:I inspire them as well.
Speaker:Perfect. And that's exactly what we're attempting to do here today.
Speaker:So that falls right in line with our goal.
Speaker:So I want to go back and talk about,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I mentioned in the intro that you had a quote unquote
Speaker:inspiring cookie making moment,
Speaker:and I want you to tell us exactly what happened.
Speaker:One day Marianne was baking.
Speaker:She happened to be making peanut butter cookies and just as
Speaker:I walked by,
Speaker:she pressed a fork in the two different directions that typically
Speaker:make the waffle pattern on top of peanut butter cookies,
Speaker:which seems to be a universal way of shaping those cookies.
Speaker:And it occurred to me that what if they were different
Speaker:shape forks to make different patterns on top of the dough.
Speaker:And that led to the idea of how could I develop
Speaker:that? I started doing sketches drawings and the product started to
Speaker:evolve. And I ended up working with a community college student
Speaker:locally. The North Hampton County community college has what they call
Speaker:the fab lab.
Speaker:And it has all kinds of tools and equipment,
Speaker:3d printers,
Speaker:et cetera,
Speaker:that any entrepreneur in the area is free to use.
Speaker:So I started working with this particular student developed two very,
Speaker:very crude prototype with 3d printing.
Speaker:Very soon realized I needed to get some professional assistance and
Speaker:continued with the project from that on,
Speaker:we hired an industrial designer who has just been fantastic and
Speaker:ended up getting us to the final product that we now
Speaker:have. Wow.
Speaker:Okay. So that was a lot of the process and evolution
Speaker:of the product in a very short bit of time.
Speaker:So I want to break all this down a little bit.
Speaker:Were you interested in baking or have you spent a lot
Speaker:of time with Maryann or it was just like,
Speaker:seriously, you're walking through the kitchen and this idea comes to
Speaker:you Really over the years,
Speaker:I've always been in a creative line of work having an
Speaker:architectural background.
Speaker:And then when I worked on my master's degree,
Speaker:I finished that up in the year 2000,
Speaker:that was in marketing.
Speaker:And that led me to be sort of more conscious of,
Speaker:of products,
Speaker:whether they're advertised on TV or magazines,
Speaker:always kind of looking at things with a critical eye.
Speaker:So I'm always looking for some creative inspiration or ideas,
Speaker:and I've had many over the years,
Speaker:but this was one that as we continued to develop,
Speaker:it seemed to be very practical,
Speaker:very useful,
Speaker:and we are getting very good feedback on it.
Speaker:And I just happened to be walking by as she pressed
Speaker:that torque onto the cookie dough.
Speaker:Otherwise I might've missed it.
Speaker:And that got me excited pretty much instantly about developing a
Speaker:product. So did Marianne think you were crazy when she said
Speaker:you, cause you must've stopped her and said,
Speaker:wait a minute,
Speaker:what do you like?
Speaker:You must've had some type of little conversation there when the
Speaker:idea came to you,
Speaker:she stepped back.
Speaker:Cause I was,
Speaker:I was quite excited.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:I got an idea and she,
Speaker:she knows over the years,
Speaker:ideas can pop up just about any time from my way
Speaker:of thinking.
Speaker:I think the important thing for us all to note in
Speaker:your story is that you approach life in a way with
Speaker:that mindset of looking at things,
Speaker:observing things,
Speaker:as you were just mentioning,
Speaker:whether it's on TV or in the course of your life
Speaker:and thinking of creative extensions of what you're.
Speaker:And I guess that's because of your degree,
Speaker:but you also must have a mindset like that because I
Speaker:do know that you've looked at and thought through a number
Speaker:of different types of products.
Speaker:And this is just the one that looked like it was
Speaker:the right one to bring into full development.
Speaker:That's correct.
Speaker:Over the years,
Speaker:the more I've read,
Speaker:the more I've read about business and entrepreneurial type people and
Speaker:product innovation is it's almost a matter of being conscious of
Speaker:almost any little inconvenience in our own lives.
Speaker:And how can we solve that problem and make things easier
Speaker:for the general public to solve their particular problems with a
Speaker:new product.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So gift biz listeners,
Speaker:if any of you are thinking,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I want to do something for myself,
Speaker:I want to start something and you're not sure what that
Speaker:is because I hear from you a lot that you want
Speaker:to, and you just don't know what it is.
Speaker:This is the type of mindset to get in,
Speaker:be very observant of your life and your day as you're
Speaker:going through.
Speaker:Because if you have that mindset and you're set like that,
Speaker:just I'm sure bill did not walk through his kitchen thinking
Speaker:I'm going to have the idea of a lifetime right now.
Speaker:It just happened,
Speaker:but his mind was open to the opportunity.
Speaker:So a little nugget for you guys to think through starting
Speaker:right now.
Speaker:Okay. So you have this idea and you start drawing things
Speaker:up and you already knew about the resource in your community
Speaker:in terms of the college initially.
Speaker:Yeah. I'd been aware of that for some years.
Speaker:There are several entrepreneurial type groups in the Lehigh Valley and
Speaker:I'd been on some email lists and I had attended various
Speaker:seminars open to the public,
Speaker:talking about starting businesses,
Speaker:entrepreneurial efforts,
Speaker:the same community college had offered a six week,
Speaker:one day a week program on starting your own business licenses,
Speaker:patents, all those types of information that someone would want to
Speaker:be aware of.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:these types of resources are mentioned just the same as score,
Speaker:which meets monthly,
Speaker:which helps business owners as well.
Speaker:Right. All right.
Speaker:And so that then could take you only so far,
Speaker:right? So that was good that you were able to work
Speaker:in progress to a certain point.
Speaker:And then as you were just mentioning,
Speaker:you needed to bring in some professionals,
Speaker:talk that through with us a little bit.
Speaker:Well, oddly enough,
Speaker:the idea happened about four years ago,
Speaker:once we started realizing the product was something that would become
Speaker:sort of a modular changeable disc that would snap in place.
Speaker:I came up with the name cookies in a snap and
Speaker:we actually purchased a URL almost five years ago now,
Speaker:but the recession hit.
Speaker:So we just weren't in a position to proceed with the
Speaker:product. But I had talked to the local industrial designer back
Speaker:at that time,
Speaker:gave me some estimates on injection molding and his engineering services.
Speaker:And at the time they seemed a bit high for us
Speaker:to proceed.
Speaker:But with technology,
Speaker:so many things are becoming less and less expensive.
Speaker:So it was actually a little easier to do in the
Speaker:last year or so.
Speaker:But at that time I put it aside,
Speaker:we had gone to the international houseware show in Chicago one
Speaker:time. And then after that,
Speaker:we went a couple other times just to do some research,
Speaker:see which products are out there,
Speaker:see if there was anything similar.
Speaker:And we started learning quite a bit about the housewares business.
Speaker:And so when I went back to the industrial designer,
Speaker:it's almost two years ago,
Speaker:January it'll be two years showed him the product,
Speaker:reviewed it.
Speaker:There was a characteristic about it that he said,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:if we just made this one change,
Speaker:I think you'd have a very good product.
Speaker:And it was almost an inspirational moment for him.
Speaker:And he earned his money right there before I even hired
Speaker:him. We started working on the product.
Speaker:We did several 3d prototypes that were solid shapes.
Speaker:And then we started working with clear plastics,
Speaker:colored tops,
Speaker:and just refined it from there.
Speaker:Okay. Okay.
Speaker:And some of our listeners at this point might be thinking,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:what type of an investment is there to even get this
Speaker:started? And I'm not asking you for specific numbers,
Speaker:but someone was,
Speaker:had had an idea.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:now yours,
Speaker:I'm sure it varies by product.
Speaker:Right. But if someone was thinking about that,
Speaker:what type of dollars just from your experience,
Speaker:do you think you'd need to have available to start putting
Speaker:together just to the point of a prototype?
Speaker:Well, I think getting to a prototype depending on your product,
Speaker:that can be,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:let's say a thousand dollars up to several thousand dollars.
Speaker:I attended a seminar recently given by bucks County community college
Speaker:entrepreneurial initiative,
Speaker:which is where I work at bucks County community college.
Speaker:And the guest speaker indicated that almost all companies that are
Speaker:started do not have a unique or innovative idea.
Speaker:They started with less than $5,000.
Speaker:And there's not a high degree of technology.
Speaker:You're not necessarily writing a new program,
Speaker:a new app,
Speaker:but many things are quite simple.
Speaker:And so a lot of ideas can be started quite inexpensively.
Speaker:When you need to start getting into injection molds,
Speaker:then your expenses are going to start getting higher.
Speaker:But in my case,
Speaker:part of the difficulty is I have an injection mold to
Speaker:do the lids.
Speaker:I have an injection mold to do the bodies of the
Speaker:product. And I have two injection molds,
Speaker:which make four of the disks each.
Speaker:So if the product was something simple,
Speaker:something that snaps on top of a soda can,
Speaker:or does some type of little kitchen gadget,
Speaker:if it's one mold,
Speaker:it certainly can be reasonably priced compared to the investment that
Speaker:I had to make for basically four different injection molds.
Speaker:Yeah. Makes sense.
Speaker:And it occurs to me at this point that we really
Speaker:haven't described in detail what cookies in a snap actually looks
Speaker:like. So let's talk about that.
Speaker:Cause you're talking about the various parts and I can envision
Speaker:that totally,
Speaker:but just describe a little bit for someone who's listening and
Speaker:maybe out walking their dog,
Speaker:they can't get to a computer to real quickly see the
Speaker:website, but just describe a little bit what the product specifically
Speaker:is the,
Speaker:if the complete package with the case and then the inside
Speaker:and all that.
Speaker:Okay. Well,
Speaker:the product started to develop with the idea that you could
Speaker:both cut the shape of around cookie and mold a shape
Speaker:on top of that cookie,
Speaker:a star,
Speaker:a spiral,
Speaker:a depressed center to put jelly in,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:So the product evolved so that you could in one single
Speaker:motion pressing down on the dough that you've rolled to a
Speaker:specific thickness.
Speaker:And in this particular design it's one quarter inch so that
Speaker:when you press down with the product it's cutting and shaping
Speaker:and molding all in that one pressing motion.
Speaker:And the idea was to make the product clear so that
Speaker:when you're pressing down,
Speaker:looking down into the product,
Speaker:you can actually see the dose squish up and fill the
Speaker:mold, which is fun for anyone to do.
Speaker:And my grandkids particularly like watching that Well.
Speaker:And the other thing that I think is ingenious is the
Speaker:container for the different mold is also the handle.
Speaker:If you will,
Speaker:of the cookie press,
Speaker:you snap in the different parts,
Speaker:but they're also stored as one.
Speaker:So it's all one concise package.
Speaker:Yes. When we started with the idea that we would hold
Speaker:something and press down to cut the shape of the cookie
Speaker:and it could just as easily be square cookies instead of
Speaker:round. But when we started working with something that you would
Speaker:hold in your hand to be able to press down on
Speaker:the dough,
Speaker:we started to realize that that could become the container for
Speaker:the disks as well.
Speaker:So the disk snaps in the bottom,
Speaker:but when you're finished all the disconnects snap just drop in
Speaker:the top and you put the cap on it and it
Speaker:stores all the parts in itself.
Speaker:There's no old box falling apart that you put a rubber
Speaker:band around or old plastic bag with a variety of small
Speaker:parts and a wire tie,
Speaker:right? I like what you're talking about here in that,
Speaker:we're really seeing a demonstration of how the product evolved.
Speaker:You went from prototype and then one thing led to another.
Speaker:Then the shape,
Speaker:then the idea of being able to store it all together.
Speaker:Your concept initially didn't include necessarily all those elements,
Speaker:but it became the product that it is today.
Speaker:Over a little bit of time,
Speaker:That's correct.
Speaker:One of the things that we did identify early on was
Speaker:could I make this clear,
Speaker:but the part that everything could store in the product itself,
Speaker:that was something that evolved over time.
Speaker:One of the things that many people have in some way,
Speaker:compared it to,
Speaker:or at least said that it's much neater than is a
Speaker:cookie press changing a disc and trying to get the dough
Speaker:in and out.
Speaker:This is a much cleaner,
Speaker:simpler to use product.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:I want to just slip in a point that you a
Speaker:little bit glossed over because you didn't need to,
Speaker:but I want us to talk about this with our listeners.
Speaker:You had this idea of cookies in a snap and went
Speaker:and grabbed the URL right away.
Speaker:That's correct.
Speaker:Domain names are not expensive.
Speaker:You guys,
Speaker:all you have to do is go to GoDaddy.
Speaker:If you have an idea and I'll tell you for this
Speaker:podcast, I wasn't initially sure what I was going to name
Speaker:it. I think I purchased like 20 different URLs,
Speaker:20 different ideas because I wanted to make sure that I
Speaker:had them now.
Speaker:Eventually I zeroed in on one of them.
Speaker:And now since I've released all of the other ones,
Speaker:but you can buy names even just for a year.
Speaker:And I would advise you,
Speaker:if you have a name that you really liked,
Speaker:just how bill is talking,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:this was the name.
Speaker:It sounded perfect.
Speaker:And maybe there were two or three or four different ideas,
Speaker:grab those URLs right away if they're available.
Speaker:So you don't miss out on them down the road.
Speaker:One thing I will add to that is if you really
Speaker:liked the name and you're going to proceed,
Speaker:make sure you put it on automatic renewal because the day
Speaker:you miss renewing that URL will be gone.
Speaker:Someone will grab it Good point.
Speaker:And you always get notices that it's going to automatically renews
Speaker:too. So that's correct.
Speaker:Yeah. And I would also,
Speaker:since we're on this topic,
Speaker:check out Facebook pages and other things to see if they're
Speaker:available. If you think you're going to wait a little bit
Speaker:to your risk of someone taking that,
Speaker:but it's nice to have something very concise in it and
Speaker:that they all match each other,
Speaker:any social media sites as well as your URL.
Speaker:So, okay.
Speaker:I want to move on now.
Speaker:So you've got your prototype and then what happens next?
Speaker:What do you do after you have a prototype?
Speaker:You've pretty much zeroed in on,
Speaker:Well, we started working with a marketing firm here in the
Speaker:Lehigh Valley to develop promotional material and our main objective.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:besides selling on Amazon,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:as we get miscellaneous orders and more attention,
Speaker:our goal is primarily to approach the housewares industry and sell
Speaker:wholesale to retailers,
Speaker:baking and cooking type stores,
Speaker:bed bath,
Speaker:and beyond,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:So our big push will be when we get to the
Speaker:international house ware show in March of 2017,
Speaker:we did promote our product pretty widely to friends and relatives
Speaker:and sold quite a few hundred,
Speaker:which helped give us some cash,
Speaker:some seed cash to keep proceeding.
Speaker:Certainly it was helpful.
Speaker:Although our investment was more than what we did pick up
Speaker:by selling locally,
Speaker:but we knew that was going to be the case.
Speaker:We just wanted to enlist as much help as we could
Speaker:and let people get the actual product after we had done
Speaker:a preliminary production run.
Speaker:And you're also getting feedback on the product.
Speaker:Exactly. Exactly.
Speaker:You're talking about the fact that you really made a conscious
Speaker:Choice of which market you're going after.
Speaker:You're not going direct to the consumer.
Speaker:You're going to the stores who will then supply the product.
Speaker:That'll be our bigger market.
Speaker:Yes. Okay.
Speaker:So that planning is going on.
Speaker:How do you actually get this product made?
Speaker:You've got the prototype.
Speaker:How does it jump from a prototype to now?
Speaker:You have something that you can exchange Once we had finalized
Speaker:and really the last couple of 3d prototypes we printed,
Speaker:we were making very fine tuning little adjustments,
Speaker:how thick the dose should be.
Speaker:Should it be three 16?
Speaker:Should it be a quarter inch,
Speaker:the little tabs that the disc snap in and out that
Speaker:hold it in place or are they too big or are
Speaker:they too small?
Speaker:I had told the industrial designer the proceed with the injection
Speaker:moles. So then the factory ran 20 samples for us,
Speaker:send them back.
Speaker:And initially the disks were very hard to snap in.
Speaker:So we had to modify the injection mold.
Speaker:The next time they were too loose,
Speaker:we had to modify the injection mold,
Speaker:but that was all part of the price they had quoted
Speaker:for me to adjust things until I was satisfied.
Speaker:It worked out really well.
Speaker:They did an excellent job.
Speaker:I worked through the industrial designer who has connections with factories
Speaker:that he has worked with for the last 20 years factories
Speaker:that he trusts that he knows the quality.
Speaker:And I've heard many stories of people who have hired factories
Speaker:around the world only to have their product show up and
Speaker:not be acceptable.
Speaker:My industrial designer receives the product and specs it and I
Speaker:don't pay him until he and I are both happy with
Speaker:the quality.
Speaker:So it's not like it left the factory.
Speaker:You bought it.
Speaker:It's yours.
Speaker:Actually, when my first production run came in instead of eight
Speaker:different discs,
Speaker:he did a quality inspection after he checked about 50 of
Speaker:them. He found one that had a duplicate Fisk in it.
Speaker:He checked all of the production run for me at no
Speaker:additional cost.
Speaker:He wasn't happy with the factory,
Speaker:but that was part of the quality control he had promised
Speaker:in his price.
Speaker:So I've been very happy working with a single source for
Speaker:the product and for the designer.
Speaker:Absolutely. I mean,
Speaker:it, it costs a little bit more money to go that
Speaker:route, but you know,
Speaker:you've got proven and known resources in people that he's used
Speaker:before. And you know,
Speaker:let's face it.
Speaker:None of us who have never done a product before know
Speaker:everything that an industrial designer would Dow.
Speaker:So I think,
Speaker:well worth it.
Speaker:You touched on another point from the entrepreneurial seminar I went
Speaker:to about a month and a half ago,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:that most products are not unique and innovative.
Speaker:Most investments are pretty small.
Speaker:The other is that most people actually start a business in
Speaker:a field that hasn't been their main experience.
Speaker:I'm making a cookie product for the housewares industry.
Speaker:And my background is more in design and construction of buildings
Speaker:and renovations on college campuses.
Speaker:Yeah. Very good Point.
Speaker:So go with people who have been there before and know
Speaker:what they're doing.
Speaker:Yes. It's worth the extra expense to get it done.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:So all of this sounds good.
Speaker:And so just again,
Speaker:to ground everybody,
Speaker:how long has the product actually been out and been marketed?
Speaker:Oh, About three months now.
Speaker:Okay. So brand new.
Speaker:So there's a lot,
Speaker:a lot of future ahead,
Speaker:which is super exciting.
Speaker:What struggles have you had to get to this point?
Speaker:Is there any huge challenge that really,
Speaker:really, you just weren't sure if it was going to work
Speaker:and how did you then overcome it to get to where
Speaker:you are today?
Speaker:Well, the biggest struggle I would say was actually getting our
Speaker:financial resources together because my wife and I were both working
Speaker:full time and going back to five years,
Speaker:four and a half years to when we first got the
Speaker:RL and the idea my wife was working for a local
Speaker:university, the recession hit,
Speaker:she was let go.
Speaker:After 11 years,
Speaker:the job I had at that time was dependent on raising
Speaker:money and to do any new construction and renovation and their
Speaker:fundraising campaign essentially evaporated to nothing.
Speaker:So the recession was pretty hard on both of us.
Speaker:I happily switched jobs and started working for a local hospital
Speaker:in their facilities department,
Speaker:Marianne found another job.
Speaker:And so when we recovered from that,
Speaker:we found ourselves now in a better financial position to proceed
Speaker:with the product.
Speaker:And we started slowly,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I started working with the industrial designer and once I felt
Speaker:confident in the product,
Speaker:then I worked with the local video production company.
Speaker:So we took it step by step.
Speaker:And the more we did,
Speaker:the more we were confident in the product,
Speaker:the more it continued to look good.
Speaker:And after,
Speaker:well, over two years now,
Speaker:since the first sketches,
Speaker:I'm very,
Speaker:very pleased with the product.
Speaker:I haven't gotten bored with it.
Speaker:I haven't started to question the quality of it.
Speaker:And I think that's a very good thing to have.
Speaker:Okay. So you are still in the introduction stages,
Speaker:but has there been some event or maybe it's the video
Speaker:that you have?
Speaker:I'm not sure.
Speaker:But what types of things are you seeing that people are
Speaker:reacting to?
Speaker:They're seeing the product and it's a positive vibe that's moving
Speaker:the business forward?
Speaker:Well, one of the things was last year when we went
Speaker:to the house ware show in Chicago,
Speaker:in March,
Speaker:we did have our video finished,
Speaker:although we didn't have any production samples at the time we,
Speaker:the video was made using the 3d printed product.
Speaker:But when we showed various vendors and people in Chicago,
Speaker:the video,
Speaker:they were very excited about it.
Speaker:There is a distributor in Canada who has talked to us
Speaker:about exclusive distribution rights.
Speaker:We've been in touch and we will be catching up in
Speaker:March at the house ware show.
Speaker:Wonderful. And what types of now most of this has been,
Speaker:as you were saying,
Speaker:family, friends.
Speaker:I know you've been to a consumer show recently where you're
Speaker:now exposing people to cookies in a snap.
Speaker:What type of reaction have you been getting from people?
Speaker:People have commented primarily.
Speaker:They liked that it's small and compact.
Speaker:They liked the main feature is that it's self storing that
Speaker:all the parts fit within the product itself.
Speaker:And we started realizing a lot of people were commenting on
Speaker:the comparison to a cookie press.
Speaker:So that's why I mentioned it earlier in the discussion.
Speaker:It's something that comes up quite a bit and we have
Speaker:the potential to create more disk,
Speaker:dozens, and dozens of disks,
Speaker:of different design,
Speaker:Christmas sets,
Speaker:animal cookies,
Speaker:dinosaurs, almost everything in anything for any holiday or event,
Speaker:we could make disks and sets of different themes and expand
Speaker:the product to be an entire brand of cookie making Sure
Speaker:because once you get that first one down,
Speaker:it becomes easier from there.
Speaker:Yeah. In terms of themes and then also sizes,
Speaker:are you looking at now different sizes as well?
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:We can,
Speaker:I've already talked about cookies in a snap minis cookies in
Speaker:a snap squared,
Speaker:which would be almost a cookie that might be shaped similar
Speaker:to a chessmen cookie.
Speaker:You'd probably be square rather than rectangular,
Speaker:but yeah.
Speaker:Slightly rounded corners.
Speaker:So the dough comes out very easily Or like shortbread dish
Speaker:type cookie or something.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:Okay. You mentioned shortbread.
Speaker:The recipes that we have on our website,
Speaker:we have tested and we continue to try and refine them
Speaker:because you need a dough mixture that is going to hold
Speaker:its shape when it's baked.
Speaker:And that's one of the features of the recipes that we
Speaker:have online.
Speaker:Now that you're saying that I am envisioning a cookbook that
Speaker:goes along with one of the cookie and a snap themes,
Speaker:maybe it's for children where it's like all compact altogether and
Speaker:you sell as a set.
Speaker:How about that?
Speaker:That could be interesting.
Speaker:Yeah. Recipes.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it's an automatic extension down the road,
Speaker:your way in the beginning.
Speaker:I get it real quick question about trademarking or patenting or
Speaker:what do you need to do for a product such as
Speaker:yours? What I've learned early on and reading?
Speaker:I did online when we were at the international houseware show,
Speaker:the United States trademark patent office always has a booth there
Speaker:with plenty of free information.
Speaker:If you go public with your product early,
Speaker:you have a year to patent the product,
Speaker:to, to apply for a patent.
Speaker:But if you work with industrial designers,
Speaker:marketing firms,
Speaker:et cetera,
Speaker:and have them sign nondisclosure agreements,
Speaker:which I did,
Speaker:you can keep working on it for more than that year.
Speaker:And you could then file for a patent.
Speaker:So non-disclosure agreements give you a longer window to work on
Speaker:your product.
Speaker:They also help protect that information from being distributed or getting
Speaker:out there early after that,
Speaker:you can apply for a provisional patent,
Speaker:which we did the patents about 95% complete,
Speaker:but it gives you a one-year window before you have to
Speaker:apply for the final patent.
Speaker:And we did that in January of 2016.
Speaker:So we will file the final technical patent.
Speaker:Before January of 17,
Speaker:we also did a search.
Speaker:We did a patent search.
Speaker:We did a trademark search and applied for a trademark cookies
Speaker:and a snap.
Speaker:And that has been granted Wonderful.
Speaker:Congratulations on that.
Speaker:Your trademark protects your name,
Speaker:the patent.
Speaker:Does it protect just the design of the disks,
Speaker:the whole structure?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:what are you covered within a pack?
Speaker:Actually, I have two different patents.
Speaker:We have the provisional patent,
Speaker:which will become the final technical patent.
Speaker:And we have a design patent.
Speaker:The design patent protects the actual shape and physical design of
Speaker:the product,
Speaker:the technical patent,
Speaker:or it's actually called a utility patent,
Speaker:protects the technical features.
Speaker:The fact that there's a particular engineered component that allows you
Speaker:to be able to both shape the cookie and cut the
Speaker:cookie and have different 3d impressions,
Speaker:raised areas,
Speaker:depressed areas.
Speaker:The fact that all that works with one simple press is
Speaker:kind of the secret sauce of the patent that no one
Speaker:else had done in terms of cookie making cookie cutters,
Speaker:cookie shaping products.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:And very smart to get all of that taken care of
Speaker:and covered at the onset.
Speaker:Yes. I mean,
Speaker:there's a certain window of opportunity and if it passes,
Speaker:you're out of luck.
Speaker:Also, once you do apply for a patent,
Speaker:you have six months in which to apply for international patents.
Speaker:After that,
Speaker:you're out of luck.
Speaker:We did apply oddly enough,
Speaker:for a Chinese design patent.
Speaker:We talked to several people at the international house where show
Speaker:one of the companies,
Speaker:their product was being copied.
Speaker:It was being sold on Ali Baba,
Speaker:but they had the Chinese patent and the Chinese Ali-Baba stopped
Speaker:selling it from what he told me,
Speaker:they will ignore American patents and trademarks,
Speaker:but they will respect their own.
Speaker:So it was,
Speaker:I'd say a modest fee to get the Chinese patent.
Speaker:Interesting. Yeah.
Speaker:Good point.
Speaker:Good point.
Speaker:So then they had to pull the product from Ali-Baba.
Speaker:They did,
Speaker:that's a good result then Phil,
Speaker:I wanted to turn now into our reflection section.
Speaker:This is a look at you in a little bit of
Speaker:a different way.
Speaker:And some of the things that you're doing day to day
Speaker:to make you successful,
Speaker:do you have a natural trait,
Speaker:either you or Marianne that you feel has really helped you
Speaker:be successful?
Speaker:I'm perpetually optimistic.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:even when I have a bad day or a bad week,
Speaker:I recover very quickly and I make a list of things
Speaker:I can do to try and move the project forward Is
Speaker:recovery just time away.
Speaker:And then you approach it with a new thought or is
Speaker:there anything else that you do?
Speaker:I do some reading,
Speaker:I've got a couple of books.
Speaker:I also save some articles right now.
Speaker:I subscribe to entrepreneur fast company and Inc magazine.
Speaker:And as I read them,
Speaker:I'll underline certain phrases or paragraphs,
Speaker:maybe every other issue or so I care out a page
Speaker:that was particularly inspiring about someone who had hit some roadblocks
Speaker:and just kept pushing on and kept moving forward.
Speaker:And it's,
Speaker:it's always good to have reminders of that.
Speaker:This doesn't happen overnight.
Speaker:Overnight. Success is pretty rare,
Speaker:right? So it's inspiring that word that I mentioned earlier in
Speaker:the interview,
Speaker:it's inspiring to see others succeeding,
Speaker:having hit roadblocks and they keep working.
Speaker:And that's what I keep trying to do.
Speaker:I see this as a three to five-year window to assess
Speaker:how successful it's going to be.
Speaker:I'm not looking at this as six months or a year
Speaker:down the road.
Speaker:It takes time.
Speaker:A friend of mine who I graduated college with said,
Speaker:the number one thing to do is just keep pushing it
Speaker:out there.
Speaker:So that's my plan.
Speaker:And we'll see where we are in three or five years.
Speaker:Sounds good.
Speaker:Well, you didn't rush the development process,
Speaker:which I think was really wise.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:you've taken solid steps in terms of covering the concept and
Speaker:the design and all of that.
Speaker:And now you're into the marketing promotion stage.
Speaker:And like you said,
Speaker:you're going to see and already the initial reactions have been
Speaker:great. So you continue on,
Speaker:it's a story that is in the middle of its novel.
Speaker:I don't know what to say about that.
Speaker:You mentioned I didn't rush the development process.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:But the initial schedule I had was shorter than the time
Speaker:it took.
Speaker:So, Oh,
Speaker:interesting. Okay.
Speaker:I found that both in design and construction in other initiatives,
Speaker:you know how long it's going to take me to renovate
Speaker:my kitchen or anything else.
Speaker:So if anyone out there is thinking,
Speaker:I can get this done in six months,
Speaker:think more like a year.
Speaker:If you think he could do it in a year,
Speaker:it's probably going to take two,
Speaker:Double it up.
Speaker:You can always be surprised on the quicker side,
Speaker:I guess.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Do you use a tool or some type of app or
Speaker:anything that helps you to be productive in your day?
Speaker:I keep a list on my iPhone.
Speaker:I also carry a pallette,
Speaker:a little journal,
Speaker:like a five by eight book with nothing in it except
Speaker:lines. And I make notes about either ideas or things I
Speaker:wanted to get done or someone I need to call.
Speaker:And I keep it with me.
Speaker:I write down most days what I accomplished,
Speaker:what I did so I can go back and look three,
Speaker:five, 10 days ago and say,
Speaker:Oh, there was a note there to call someone or send
Speaker:an email or an idea for a marketing.
Speaker:Your point is though you put it down,
Speaker:either on your phone,
Speaker:maybe the notes app or something.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Yeah. Or on paper.
Speaker:So you're not just randomly going from one task to another.
Speaker:You have a plan.
Speaker:True. I liked the paper because when you're in art and
Speaker:design school,
Speaker:they encourage you to sketch and draw and keep notes.
Speaker:So it's kind of a trademark of people in the design
Speaker:field. I mean,
Speaker:I know there's all kinds of apps and software and the
Speaker:computers can do everything,
Speaker:but the design school still encourage you to draw manually and
Speaker:sketch. That's a different type of activity when you're trying to,
Speaker:You'd be surprised bill.
Speaker:And it might be because most of the people that we
Speaker:interview are creators in one way or another,
Speaker:but more often than not,
Speaker:people are talking about the,
Speaker:just the hand to paper,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the physical notebook or journal or sticky note tasks or whatever,
Speaker:more than I would have expected to be quite honest.
Speaker:But I'm glad because that's the way I gravitate to.
Speaker:I've tried some of these other apps and for some things
Speaker:it serves well,
Speaker:but just for your list in your to-do and day to
Speaker:day, I like the pen and paper.
Speaker:So I'm right with you there.
Speaker:Yes. It's easy to edit,
Speaker:cross out at an extra note,
Speaker:put something in the margin and let it evolve.
Speaker:Totally agree.
Speaker:Have you read a book that you think our listeners could
Speaker:find value in?
Speaker:This is going to sound a little odd.
Speaker:Well, I'll tell,
Speaker:I'll mention two books.
Speaker:Years ago,
Speaker:someone recommended awaken the giant within,
Speaker:by Tony Robbins,
Speaker:which is kind of been my go-to book.
Speaker:I've read it three or four times.
Speaker:And if I need a little encouragement,
Speaker:I'll read 20 or 30 pages.
Speaker:But in the recent year,
Speaker:during the political campaigns,
Speaker:as they were,
Speaker:someone had mentioned,
Speaker:Trump's the art of the deal and were critical of it
Speaker:because he,
Speaker:they almost said he was lying in the book.
Speaker:So I thought,
Speaker:well, you know what?
Speaker:I could find a used copy online,
Speaker:which I did for like a dollar plus a dollar 99
Speaker:shipping. I bought the book and I have to admit,
Speaker:I didn't finish the book,
Speaker:but I read well over half of it,
Speaker:he's not lying.
Speaker:He has a vision.
Speaker:He's excited about it.
Speaker:And he's promoting and selling it,
Speaker:his vision to other people.
Speaker:And that's what all of us as entrepreneurs have to do.
Speaker:We have to be excited about our product.
Speaker:We have to tell people why it's good and that's all
Speaker:he was doing.
Speaker:It really is about belief in your product and a continued
Speaker:enthusiasm and just keep pushing it out.
Speaker:And so when you're talking about the art of the deal,
Speaker:it's not necessarily,
Speaker:or only shall I say the content of what he was
Speaker:saying. It was the method and the fact that he was
Speaker:excited about it and sharing the idea.
Speaker:It's the whole concept of the book versus the content of
Speaker:the book.
Speaker:Exactly. All right.
Speaker:Well, give biz listeners just as you're listening to the podcast
Speaker:today, you can also listen to audio books with ease.
Speaker:I've teamed up with audible for you to be able to
Speaker:get an audio book for free on me.
Speaker:You haven't done so already.
Speaker:All you need to do is go to gift biz,
Speaker:book.com and make your selection.
Speaker:Okay. Bill now is the time when I invite you to
Speaker:dare to dream.
Speaker:I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable
Speaker:Heights that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box?
Speaker:The box contains what I'll call a pallet of cookie making
Speaker:opportunity sets of disks,
Speaker:different size cookies,
Speaker:different shapes,
Speaker:and all in a complete package to take care of any
Speaker:holiday season,
Speaker:birthday, or event,
Speaker:and make a variety of cookies and flavors for any occasion.
Speaker:And who has created this palette of all of these different
Speaker:varieties of cookies.
Speaker:Well, Marianne and I are working diligently to build a brand
Speaker:and create that large collection of designs and disks and themes.
Speaker:Hopefully someday that will include licensed characters and Oh,
Speaker:that's cool.
Speaker:Cool. Yeah.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:one of the reasons I do this question is for people
Speaker:to put out there,
Speaker:what they're wanting and know you've been talking about it a
Speaker:little bit through the podcast in terms of what your vision
Speaker:is. It just doesn't stop right here.
Speaker:You have product line extensions.
Speaker:And so your dream is just receiving and seeing that come
Speaker:to reality.
Speaker:Beautiful. You're exactly right.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:as it,
Speaker:as it grows,
Speaker:we could certainly start having our own brand name of cookie
Speaker:spatula, cooking pans.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it doesn't just have to be the cutting and shaping type
Speaker:product that we've been discussing.
Speaker:You never know where it's going to go.
Speaker:I'm going to have to keep an eye on you.
Speaker:We're hopeful and optimistic.
Speaker:Of course,
Speaker:There in the background.
Speaker:How many cookies are you making for this holiday season?
Speaker:Oh, well in about two weeks when my semester will be
Speaker:over for the fall,
Speaker:I will be very busily making tons and tons of cookies
Speaker:to share with family and friends.
Speaker:And we have in mind to be doing some local craft
Speaker:shows here in our area.
Speaker:So we've already have one scheduled for next Saturday and hopefully
Speaker:we'll be able to spread the word about this product.
Speaker:Wonderful. And where are you in the world?
Speaker:We're in Allentown,
Speaker:Pennsylvania, which is about 50 miles North of Philadelphia.
Speaker:Okay. So if anybody is listening from that area and you're
Speaker:going to a craft show,
Speaker:I want you to specifically look for bill and Marianne's booth.
Speaker:Cause they might just be there.
Speaker:Then you're going to go up to them and say,
Speaker:Hey, I heard you on Sue's podcast.
Speaker:How about that?
Speaker:That sounds great.
Speaker:Right? Exactly.
Speaker:Well, I want people to see it too.
Speaker:It's an awesome product.
Speaker:I just love it.
Speaker:And I,
Speaker:I actually saw you live at one of the recent shows
Speaker:and I have cookies in a snap.
Speaker:It's actually here in my office.
Speaker:I wanted to save it and leave it here until we
Speaker:did the podcast,
Speaker:but I'm going to be using it this holiday season.
Speaker:That's for sure.
Speaker:Wonderful. Yep.
Speaker:Anyone else can see the video@cookiesinasnap.com
Speaker:while we were at the show a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker:a retailer also bought 30 of them wholesale for demonstration during
Speaker:their black Friday period.
Speaker:Wow. Wonderful.
Speaker:Okay. Give biz listeners.
Speaker:You now have heard where you can see more about cookies
Speaker:in a snap and you also know there's a show notes
Speaker:page that will give you once again the website and also
Speaker:the social media site.
Speaker:So if you want to see more versions and more ideas
Speaker:and everything about cookies in a snap,
Speaker:you'd go to the show notes page and we'll have all
Speaker:that there for you,
Speaker:bill and Maryanne.
Speaker:Thank you so much for being on the show today.
Speaker:I know you're so passionate about the product.
Speaker:I was fortunate enough,
Speaker:as I just said to see you in person,
Speaker:see the love you have for the product.
Speaker:It's such an exciting story,
Speaker:and I really appreciate your jumping on here today when you're
Speaker:still part of the story.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you're still so new and there's so much future yet ahead
Speaker:of you,
Speaker:but I'm glad we caught you right at this point in
Speaker:time, much success for you.
Speaker:I know cookies in a snap is going to be absolutely
Speaker:a game changer for the cookie making industry.
Speaker:And may your candles always burn bright.
Speaker:Thank you very much.
Speaker:We appreciate your support and staying in touch with Absolutely.
Speaker:Where are you in your business building journey,
Speaker:whether you're just starting out or already running a business and
Speaker:you want to know your setup for success.
Speaker:Find out by taking the gift biz quiz,
Speaker:access the quiz from your computer at bit dot L Y
Speaker:slash gift biz quiz or from your phone like texting gift
Speaker:biz quiz to four four,
Speaker:two, two,
Speaker:two. Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for
Speaker:the next episode.
Speaker:Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
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