Working as a career counselor in what would turn out to be the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression was far away from being my own employer as I could imagine! I hadn't finished college and even the classes that I did take would not prepare me to patent a product and start my own company. There is no class on finding a manufacturer to produce an "invention" or one that will teach you how to start a company with no experience or money! I had only one thing to do...figure it out!
My husband and I were married in December 2004 and enjoying our first year as newlyweds. In September of 2005 my husband came home from work to inform me that he would be leaving for 2 months on an unexpected deployment to South America. My first thought was "GREAT, this is what my life is going to be like as a Navy wife" but, I smiled and told him I would hold down the fort while he was gone. 
We had plans to attend the Virginia Tech/Miami game in November in Blacksburg, VA. Now that he was unable to go, should I? Of course and he insisted! By the time the game came around, Billy (my husband) had been gone for just over a month and I was driving to Franklin, VA with my fellow Hokies to make the 5 hour drive into Blacksburg. As I drove the 2 hours out to Franklin from my house…it dawned on me that I had no "Hokie" gear! Being from Virginia Beach I knew that Blacksburg, VA would have much colder weather then what I was used to. After all it was November and the forecast was calling for highs in the 20's! It was obvious that my "spirit gear" would need to be fun and practical! I needed something that would keep me warm and show my support for the best college football team in our state! As a child I once made yarn pompoms and tied them to my shoe laces during a parade so, I used the same concept with one exception; I attached the pompoms to the fingertips of a pair of gloves. AND SO IT WAS...SPIRIT FINGERZ WAS CREATED! Unbeknownst to me that weekend, I would soon be embarking on my life's ambition: Homemade Entrepreneur!
I met with a local patent attorney to find out about the patenting process and fees involved. After a small loan from my brother and maxing out a line of credit, Mr. Radd, my attorney, filed a patent application with the US Patent and Trademark Office in Washington, DC on December 17, 2007. The application was approved in February, 2nd, 2010.
The name Spirit Fingerz™ came to me as quickly as the concept did. The first time someone asked me what they were I just said…"spirit fingers." I toyed with a few other names but never found another one that I liked. In naming the product, I did change the "s" to a "z" in finger so that the name would be recognized as a product rather than the popular cheerleading move "spirit fingers."
Not knowing how long the patent process would take (and attorney's 
never give you a straight forward answer) I continued my drive towards success. I called the Virginia Tech bookstore and talked to buyer Leslie Simmers about my crazy idea! She loved the concept and the fact that I had constructed the 1st pair for a Virginia Tech game and asked me to come up and show her a pair! My husband and I drove to Blacksburg with my homemade pair of Spirit Fingerz in a Ziploc baggie. Within 13 minutes of getting out of my car…I was back in the car with my first order for Spirit Fingerz™. This sale would be the driving force behind "the rest of the story!" It would prove that I had a lot more to learn before I could actually fulfill that order.
Where do I begin? Well let me go back to that August day in Blacksburg. After meeting with the Tech bookstore buyer, I hurried back east to make my 3:00 appointment with University of Virginia's bookstore buyer. After a "spirit fingerz" demonstration and some polite begging I did not get an order from them. The experience that day left me humbly disappointed. It would be a realistic view of what I would face in the "real world" of sales! One buyer loved them and one buyer did not! However, I continued my efforts and went home and immediately started problem solving! I needed to find a manufacturer that would be able to produce my "invention", after all, it's not like this product had ever been mass produced before! After weeks of searching online, sending emails and cold calling manufacturers I received a reply email from a man named Frank that was willing to help me! 
After a year of product development, licensing applications and approvals along with a $10,000 loan from my gracious mother; I received my first shipment of Spirit Fingerz™! The shipment came 11 days after my first child was born. Mind you, I was on maternity leave from my full time job as a Career Counselor (which I never returned to), learning to be a new mother, launching a new product and learning how to run a business all at the same time! I feel exhausted just writing it! But, I survived and continued making sales and adding stores to my list of retailers that carried the product! I received a lot of emails, phone calls and request from buyers for more colors and collegiate teams (VT was the only color and team available).
In December of 2008 I got a call that would change everything! Jon Saferstein, CEO of Merge Left Inc., was offering to undertake manufacturing the product and adding it to his established college bookstore accounts! Something that would take me YEARS to accomplish could all be solved by forming this partnership! It didn't take much, I was impressed and convinced! The contract was signed in January 2009 and I couldn't be happier with my decision, as I write this! Along with the new partnership, my husband and I were happy to announce that I was going to have another baby. We welcomed our daughter in October 2009.
On February 2, 2010 I was awarded a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Today, we now have 51 color combinations available, licensed with practically every college in America and 32 NFL teams! The product is available in thousands of retailers across the US, some as only seasonal accounts and some which carry the product year round. We also created a fundraiser program which allows organizations to buy Spirit Fingerz™ and sell them for a profit in order to raise money for a particular need. We have teamed up with several new rep groups to expand our store locations and recently set up online distribution with www.spiritfanatic.com who will build and manage an online retail store to make Spirit Fingerz™ more accessible to consumers. We continue to build the brand everyday and look forward to increasing our product line! My favorite part of this story, I must say, is that I am proud to live in a country that allowed me to literally start with nothing but an idea and through hard work and perseverance build a successful company.
