Florida Mompreneur
Creates a Brand New Pacifier Weaning System
Ditch
the Dummy!
The Only One Step Pacifier Weaning System
Florida Mom Penny Angela recognized a gap in the baby
market when trying to wean her 2 year son Joey off his pacifier.
Penny Says: “Joey would not part with his pacifier, the
only time it actually came out of his mouth was when he was eating, every time
I tried to take it away, or pretend to
lose it, he screamed and cried, wouldn’t sleep, I was at my wits end.
Then a friend suggested poking a hole in his existing
pacifier, as this renders the pacifier unsatisfying for the child. I tried it
and it worked, within a few days Joey actually weaned himself, just put it
aside one day and that was that!
Then, purely by chance,
I came across an article about this “do it yourself” pacifier weaning
method, apparently it can be pretty dangerous, the pacifier loses its integrity
and slivers of silicon can become in-bedded in the child’s gums, or bits can
break off and even create a choking hazard!
I was pretty horrified, but knowing this method does work,
I decided to create a pacifier weaning system along those lines, but with a
manufactured hole, still work’s the same, but it’s totally safe.
I searched the web for similar products, the only tangible
pacifier weaning system I found (besides books) was a set of 5 pacifiers
reducing in size, this looked great, and I’m sure it works, but priced between
$20 and $30 depending on who’s website you place your order, it’s pretty
expensive for the average parent. I wanted to be able to retail my product for
less than $10 including shipping.
I originally came up with the name “Binky Stop” but after
research, found the word ‘Binky’ was trademarked already and trying to use the
name in any shape or form would result in a cease and desist letter from the
company’s law team! So were most pacifier related catchy names. I was born in
England, we call pacifiers ‘Dummies’ and so ‘Ditch the Dummy’ was born.
Then the work began. Patenting a product firstly is a must,
Ditch the Dummy is now patent pending.
I didn’t even know what a CAD Drawing was until an American
manufacturer explained, getting a CAD (3 D computer drawing) is the first step,
okay not very difficult or expensive, just searched for CAD companies on the internet,
and picked one.
Then submitting to manufacturers, firstly I approached
American companies. The first looked great; they were already making a child’s
product, but when they eventually returned my call, explained they were not
open to more business. Another came back with a quote of $7.00 per unit for a
5,000 minimum order, but the cost would go down to around $5.00 for 20,000
units and without packaging (I was hoping to sell these for less than that, not
to mention didn’t have a spare $35,000).
Another wanted $10,000 for tooling then $4 per unit, again
without packaging, but he did have a friend who would package the product, I
didn’t pursue for how much per unit the friend would charge, I’d basically had
it!
I began to search for an American Company that sourced
China Manufacturers, basically a middle man, found quite a few of those, but
they all seemed to require paying before they actually did anything, and this was $1,000’s of dollars (before you
even got a quote!)
Then by chance I came across a company who would do all the
leg work with China, got me a fantastic quote, including packaging and all for
just 10% of the order cost, which was to be paid after production and the
product was on the ship!
I found another company on the web called “Mentor.com” this
site is worth its weight in gold, and it’s free, I found my perfect mentor
Anthony, he helped with our website – he basically built it! Now he’s onboard
with marketing tips and best practices.
I went to Fiverr.com for my logo, this is a great site for
any kind of artwork, logo’s or basically anything you may need for a business,
and yes, prices do start at just $5, found a great guy in India who came up
with the perfect logo, my husband created the packaging artwork on photo shop,
job done!”
Penny’s product is now on the ship, due to arrive in Miami the
first week in September 2016. The website www.ditchthedummy.com is
now open for pre-orders for just $6.95 plus shipping.
