027: Inventor, Patent Holder, and Subscription Box Owner

My guest today is an inventor, a patent holder, and now a subscription box owner. Come listen as we talk through her journey from idea to product development and how it turned into her new subscription box.

Welcome to the Launch Your Box podcast with weekly tips, tricks, and strategies to start, launch, and grow your subscription box. Now here's your host, Sarah Williams.

Hey everybody, I'm here with Juliana Avelar, and we're gonna call her Jul. Because that's what she goes by. And it's really more of a, it's not really, it's really a nickname, but more of a product nickname as well as a name nickname, right, Juliana? Yeah.

It's so complicated.

That's a dirty ball. We're starting off complicated in this podcast episode.

It's big.

It's a big episode and we're gonna break it all down for you. So Juliana is here and she not only has a subscription box, but she is the inventor, inventor of the Jewel Loom. And I thought it would be super fun to have a conversation with her today about the process from having the idea for a brand new product to market, inventing it, getting it to market. Pat, you're a patent holder for this product, and I thought it would be super fun to talk about that. But not only did all of this happen, but you are now a subscription box owner. So we're going to dig in. Why don't you tell them a little bit about your business? And what the Jewel Loom is.

Okay, well, first of all, thank you. This is like so incredibly cool and awesome. I feel very honored to be on your podcast and be able to, to talk with your peeps. But yeah, so I— gosh, I started off with— and a lot of people may know this person— Aileen Jackson, the inventor of tacky glue in the gold bottle. And that's where my start started, and she— my career. And she had Elaine's Creative Living, which was the number one rated daytime television show all throughout the US and Canada. And so just by accident or planned, I ended up on air, and her, her daughter taught me how to bead. So Tiffany taught me how to do weaving. And I was like, oh my gosh, I like totally want my own loom someday.

Okay, let's, let's, let's break this down a little bit. I know what you're talking about because I know your product, right? You're listening. Obviously they can't see any of your product, but tell them when you say beading and weaving what you're talking about.

So, um, so Aline's had a bead weaving loom, so a loom where I mean, bead weaving is, you know, ancient, ancient, right? So it's very Native American and there's been looms around forever and a day. But they had a loom. And so she taught me how to bead. So we would— it's, it's a portable loom. And a lot of people, like sometimes people will say, oh yeah, I did that in camp when I was a little person, you know, we would make potholders or we would make friendship bracelets. So it's a tool that you warp and then you— the other term is wefts. So that's where you're actually weaving. Okay, you're making bracelets, you're making earrings, you're making just about anything and everything, and you're weaving. I say if it ain't moving, use it, right? So fibers and yarns and, and all kinds of fun things, but typically it's beads. So you can make bracelets, and, and that's what a lot of people make. So it's a portable bead loom.

So you got turned on to this way of life, this looming way of life. Yeah. And what happened then?

So I just basically would like threw it out there, like, someday I want to have my own bead loom. And then literally, it was 14 years later. Okay, from that time, it is a long time, but I just figured like, you know, if it The industry cycled. So I've been in the creative industries my entire career, so like forever. So it cycles, you know, like one day painting is the jam, you know, and there'll be thousands of paint stores all over the country. And then that goes away. And then scrapbooking came in, you know, and it took over the world. And then as that was kind of like chilling, I was like, okay, I think it's time. And so I started You know, because I had the industry expertise, I knew who had the real estate at the mass market. Now, with that said, I did try to do the loom on my own.

Okay, but see, you had an idea of how to create a different, something that was exclusive for you in a way that you wanted to weave. Yes. And so you Designed a loom?

So I rolled it out in paper air dry clay.

Okay.

I gave it its girly shape because everything I do has like a little curve to it, and I took it to a CAD/CAM person who does that and had all the specs and all the inches and meters and all the things drawn out. And then I found a patent attorney. Because I knew that I would need to get a patent on it. Um, but then in the meantime, I thought for giggles, well, maybe I'll be able just to make this on my own.

Okay.

But it's a, it's a huge undertaking. And especially in the US, it's, it's really expensive to do plastic here. So then it was that whole like distribution, manufacturing, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, no, that's way too much for me.

So your creative, your creative brain just wants to make the things, right? You don't want to have to go through all the logistics. Logistics to make it happen the way that you envisioned it. You just—

yeah, some—

you need some help with that, right?

Right. And I was lucky enough to know, like, having been in the industry, I knew who had the real estate at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Joann's. Like, you have to, you know, you, you do the footwork because you go through the stores and you know. And then I had— obviously, because I'd been in the industry for so long, I, you know, I knew who I wanted to partner with and present to first. Okay, so I took the concept to my manufacturing partner and we worked out a deal. And so she was born.

The Jewel Loom is here. And then what happened? You, you go to manufacturing. Yeah, products are made. Now where, where can people find them at this point?

So at that point, or at this point, so the original Jewel Loom has been on the market since 2013. Okay, it's available in the Michaels stores all throughout the country, Hobby Lobby, online, Amazon, Walmart, Target. Like, you just plug in Jewel Loom, J-E-W-E-L-L-O-O-M, and it'll pop up everywhere. Obviously I sell it as well, but yeah, it's all over the— it's all over the world. In fact, I need to get a map so I could start pinning where she is.

Yes, you do.

So yeah, so she— it's my intellectual property. I hold the US design patent. It's a design patents. I got it on my first try.

How hard was that process getting a patent?

I think when you— it wasn't, you know, I, it just was meant to be. I got it on my first try. So I had all my ducks in a row though. Like I had the CAD drawing that then went to the patent attorney. I knew I had to have a good patent attorney. I hired, you know, I was in Jersey at the time. So I hired an attorney there and You know, we went through all the things and, and he did all of his investigating, and then he said, this is how I think we should approach this. A utility patent would have probably been a lot harder because a utility patent, you're trying to patent something that's like totally brand new. You know, bead looms have been around forever, right? So my patent is a design patent because of the grooves and specifically because of the buttons that are on my Jewel Loom.

Okay.

And so that saves product. So in traditional bead weaving, you'd have a lot of beading thread, beading thread, and you're wrapping and you're wrapping, and then a tremendous amount of waste.

Okay.

So my, my buttons are what eliminate the waste. So the design patent is on those. But yeah, it was a pretty— just like, it was more time, like timing. Like, you had to wait for the government, you had to like It's a whole process of kind of like waiting.

Were you waiting on that design patent before you went to manufacturing?

Um, no, no, we actually did the mold and we did not have the patent. It was pending. Okay, it was patent pending, and that's what we stamped on the first looms. Okay, and, and so it went to show— it went to market 2013. To what was called— was it HIA then, or CHA? I was a creative— the creative show. And Michaels was the first to see it because my manufacturing partner Beadalon has very good relationship with them. They were the first to see it and they picked it up immediately. I don't, I don't even think— I think they saw it before the show. But anyway, and so yeah, and I even got— and this is like huge, so Toho, T-O-H-O, okay, seed beads from Japan are like, right there, the best. That's what I use.

Okay.

They even came to the booth and congratulated me, which was like, yeah, like for a Japanese company to do that, you are just like floored, right? Yeah. So yeah, so that's, um, yeah, so just like, so 2013 it was introduced at the show. Oh, and then I went to Jewelry Television. So my other big background, or my bigger background as well as being a product development expert, is that I'm— I've been on-air talent forever. So Elaine's Creative Living, HGTV DIY, then I jumped over into QVC. And so then in 2013, I introduced the original Jewel Loom on the Jewelry Television Network.

That's so fun. So how many products have you developed since the original Jewel Loom?

Oh my God. How many have you birthed? I— that's what I tell people now. I birth products. I'm like a birthing doula. I don't know. Oh my gosh. So we have the original Jewel Loom, the Jewel Loom needles that are like all the rage. People who— they just love the Jewel Loom needles because they're long. And I have the original Baby Loom, or the Baby Jewel Loom, and I have my book. And then in 2019, I introduced an all-new line made in the US to the Jewelry Television Network called the Weaving Goddess. And so she was a whole line, or is a whole line, of sustainable Baltic birch products that are made in the US. I have them built and made in Missouri, and I'm here in California. And so those were introduced, and we sold out of those in 2019 on the Jewelry Television Network. And then since then, let's see, I got the Mini Moon Goddess loom. I have the Fiber Loom. And oh, and my subscribers—

yes, we haven't, we haven't talked about that. We're just talking about your products, right?

Yeah. So they, well, they just got, they just got the new loom, the newest loom.

What's it called? I saw it on your website.

So she's the Wisdom Warrior. So it's the Jewel Loom Wisdom Warrior, and she is spectacular.

I love how you call your products she. Yeah, I love that.

They really are.

What's the difference between the Wisdom Warrior and say your other looms? Does it make a certain kind of thing?

Yeah, so I would say that if you're, if you're just getting started in jewelry making and you want to like play around with the idea of weaving specifically for jewelry, I start people with the original Jewel Loom because what's so unique about the The original jewel loom, it— in weaving, it's all about the tension of the warps. So like when you're done warping on my original jewel loom, you can play it like a guitar. So the, the threads are so tight after you take the metal rod out, the loom expands. So then the warping area is just super tight, and that's what everybody raves about with my jewel loom. So I start people with the original jewel loom. And then if they want like a companion partner to that for traveling, I turn them on to the Baby. Then when they want to— the Weaving Goddess line was birthed with— so, so the original Jewel Loom— sorry, let me, let me just say this— the original Jewel Loom and the Baby Jewel Loom are very structured. If you want instructions and you want to know how to make that bracelet, then those are the products you used. It's very structured, very organized.

Okay.

The Weaving Goddess line was birthed because I wanted people to start creating from their gut, from their belly. Okay. Right. So I don't want to tell you what to do. I'm going to show you how to warp and I'll show you how to weft. So you know how to weave, but I want you to like come from a place within. And express yourself through the Weaving Goddess line with your own creativity. With your own creativity, you can use what you've learned over here in the original Jewel Loom, but she was really kind of like the freedom weave, right? Like, she just evokes so much emotion. I can't even begin to tell you what it does to people when they open up the box and they see her. She's just literally the, uh, the figure of a woman, and, and she's very curvy, and so she empowers females and women to just like feel so delicious about themselves, and then they get to make something on her.

Yes, I love— I just love the way you refer to these, these products as an actual person. Like, I love, I love that you call them she. I love her. I love the way you just weave that into your products like that. So you've been super successful with your products. You manufactured, you've invented, you've developed your ideas, and then here comes Juliana and she's going to start a subscription box. So I think our paths crossed a little over a year ago, and, and so I know that you've been thinking and working on this and kind of going back and forth a little bit. When did the Creative Soul Box really come to fruition for you?

Yeah, so I actually just changed the name to Creative Soul Box a few months ago, but the idea of the subscription happened late last year. And you are correct, when we were in Tribe together last year and you had— you and Susan had your thing, and I joined your group and I joined Susan and I joined Stu, and I was like, oh my God, I can't, like, I am going to literally lose my mind. It's too much.

It's too much. It was so much.

And I was like, what do I do? What do I do? So I just had to like sit with everything and figure out the timing. And, um, and so then in November, I think of last year, 20— was that 2020? It's a blur. Sure was. Yeah. I introduced the whole idea of a subscription box. Now I didn't have Payroll dialed in. I was just, it was just a product. That was a subscription but without the tech. And so it was like a—

was it a one-time box? Did they have to go in and buy it each month?

They did in January, and if I'm not mistaken, February. And then I had somebody get payroll, payroll all dialed in for me. So it was either February— I think it was March. March was like official, right? Like you would buy it and then it would be recruiting, blah, blah, blah. So, um, yeah, so I've had January, February, March, April, May, just did June, and then July was this new launch for the Wisdom Warrior. And so I'm doing something kind of weird. I don't know, but I could have done it separate, but I was like, these people are so— I love my people. Like, and so I started the box because I love buying stuff. I love being a buyer. I love spoiling people. I love serving, and I get to just like pour my heart and soul into this group of people and spoil them. So I was like, you know what, they've been so good to me, let me give them first dibs on this new loom. And they didn't even see it. They had no idea what they were getting.

You were giving them really the VIP treatment in your business. Like, you're, you're rolling out the red carpet, they're getting exclusive access, they're getting first dibs. Like, you're treating them like they're in the first-class seat of your business, right?

Yes, and that's exactly like— I give them VIP status too. They have a code they get to use all year, so they automatically are VIPers. I'm starting to do like private, private shopping, you know, like if we make a bracelet in June and then they really love those beads, instead of just bringing them in, I'll, I'll get an order from everybody and then I can also extend a better discount to them by doing kind of like that private shopping. And, and so, yeah, so it's just crazy. And, and the new Wisdom Warrior came in a 28-inch long 6x6 box.

Oh my gosh, that's a big box.

It's a big box. She's a big girl. She's absolutely gorgeous. But it was so cool that so many people would trust me enough to like, to buy into something that they had no idea what they were going to get. I was like, trust me, you'll love her. And if seriously, if you just, if you hate her, then give her back.

But you know, so you, you officially started that subscription in March, and how many subscribers did you have in March?

So, well, um, I think there were only 40-something. So ironically, what happened was there was all— it was, I was like pushing almost 100, but the moment I went You know, you have to make a commitment to me. Yeah.

So your one-time boxes, you were selling about 100 a month, and then when you said 5 to 100.

Yeah.

Okay. Then when you said, okay, you gotta, you gotta make a little bit of a commitment to me.

Yeah.

But now where are we at?

So I'm at 60.

Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. And, and that's with no, I hate to say, oh, that's with no effort, but I haven't run any ads. I'm just working off of my Facebook group. And my email list. And so I know there's a lot more out there. I just have to— I've also come to the place, Sarah, where it's like I didn't really know where the sub box was going to fit in my world. Like, okay, let's do this. It's pretty cool. I like the idea of having like a box, put stuff in it. But, but I'm in love. I'm like so in love with my box and my people. And so I'm thinking about like kind of not doing something, other things, and like really focusing on my box.

Yes, taking some other things off your plate so that you can really focus on making this a good experience. I had to do the exact same thing, and it's hard as creatives because we can do a lot of things, we want to do a lot of things, we don't want to mass produce anything. Um, but when we, when we get back what we get, you know, as a subscription box owner, when your subscribers, like, they, they just become your friends. I'm just gonna say it, like, they become part of your business family.

Like, you're—

they're, they're your close group of people. And when you send your little baby out in the world, like your box, and then the feedback that you receive, it just lights me up. And I know it probably does the same to you. And then you just want to keep that feeling because you're, you're giving them a feeling that maybe they don't have with other things, right? Like you said, when they open that box for that new that new loom you have. They're going to have all these feelings, and those are the feelings that we get when we design the products, we curate the products, we do all the things and put the boxes together. That's the feelings we're sending out in the world. But when they're opening up, they're receiving those feelings from us. And man, it's just different. It's different than selling, you know, one thing here, one thing there, and there's no connection with that customer. Um, where this person shows up every month and they're getting loved on by you every every single month and you're building a stronger connection and honestly a more loyal connection. Like they're gonna, they're gonna want to be a part of whatever you're doing all the time. And that's what we're building with our businesses. And let's just say that the recurring revenue is the cherry on top of that, right? Like that's just the cherry on top of the business.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And you're, you're right. You know, it's, it's so hard to do the one, the, all the singular, you know, things in inventory-wise, product-wise, you know, because you have to sell a lot of those things. And I, you know, I love— I mean, I'm product development design all day, you know, that's my expertise. So I really get to use that and spoil everyone. And there's other, um, yeah, I don't— I just— yeah, I'm just feeling it. I'm just feeling like my energy just really wants to be with the box. And my August project— oh my heck, because it coordinates with the new Wisdom Warrior, and I just, I bought something, I got samples of something, and then I didn't order it right away. And guess who learned a hard lesson? So I'm all over the internet looking for this something. If you see something, like, get the sample and it's great quality, you better order it right, order it yesterday, right?

Like, I got a sample in for my December box. And I'm like, order it now, order it now. Like, we gotta get ahead of this because manufacturing is hard.

It's real hard right now.

It's not even like the manufacturing is the hardest point, but it's the shipping. It's the getting it to us is what's— is what's the hard thing right now. So we gotta get on it and we gotta do it early, early.

Yeah.

So it means that our brains have to think that far in advance, right?

Yes. And I have planned out through the end of the year, and this was the first time where I Bought a product that's not made by me.

Okay.

But I wanted to empower my people. So we're going to make the things to go on this item. And I wanted to empower those people who make things and sell for fourth quarter. So they're going to have like this prop that I purchased for them to put the thing on it.

You're so big, but I'm here for it. You're so big. You can't ruin the surprises. We don't know who's listening right now, right?

Yeah, because you know I'm going to promote the heck out of this when it goes live. Oh my God.

So, uh, Juliana, what piece of advice would you give someone wanting to develop their own products? Like, where do they start with that?

Yeah, well, um, I would definitely You need to know why people will need it, you know, like what's, um, you know, what's the need and is in whatever industry you're in, you know, I always, I, and here's the thing that I do. I always look at the world. I really do. I look at the whole entire world. I look at what's the vibe, what's happening, what's the struggle, what's the happiness, like what's going on. You know, and what are— where are people at? That's how I design my jewelry. Like, do we have a 1920s vibe going on right now, or is it kind of a '30s? You know, not really the '50s right now, but you know what I mean. And I take like all the big picture, what's happening in the world, and then I narrow it down to my, my base, which is consumer goods, like creativity, tangibles. Um, And you have to do your research, you know, like where's this product going to fit in and are you going to be able to make it here in the US? Do you have to go overseas? Because that's a whole other ballgame. A little bit more doable, but then, you know, when the sea hit with shipping and everything, it's kind of made it a little bit more, a little bit more challenging.

But yeah, it's like you've built a better mousetrap, right? Like you didn't just make a thing that was already out there in the world. You made the thing and you made it better. You created less waste. You made it made it more efficient. You changed the design of it. And so I think that's what people need to think about. Like, how is your product that you're inventing, that you're creating, how is that better or different than what's already out there? And if that is a clear-cut answer, then you need to move forward, right? If that's like, well, I don't really know if it's different. I don't really know if it's better, then you need to, you need to work on it a little bit more.

Right.

Right.

Right. Yeah. There's, there's a lot of, um, There's, you know, there's a lot of processes to it. And, um, you know, I'm constantly thinking about that. I just, I, there's, it's so, it's so much. But I would really encourage people, if you're going to go after a patent especially, you know, this is like, that's a whole other ball game. You know, I have the US patent, I have the registration mark, you know.

Let's, let's talk about that because you mentioned that earlier and I was like, what does that mean? So you've got the patent, but now what does that registration mark mean?

So basically the words Jewel Loom are like Nike, Apple, you know, like nobody could take that away from me. You know, people could challenge, people could try to challenge your patent. They, you know, the, the funny thing is they say your patent's only as good as, you know, how deep your pockets are, right? And trust me, I have had people and I am like, are you kidding me? But you know, I don't, it's like, you know, is my, is my Are my pockets deep enough to go fight it? And is it really that relevant? No, right? But with the registration mark, that's— it's almost like your birth name, right? It's like, it's like nobody can take that from you. They can't go into the courts and try to take Jewel Loom away from me. It is a registered mark. It's mine.

And I can't be like creating a loom and call it the Sarah's Jewel Loom because you have the registration, you have Jewel Loom. I can't have Jewel Loom in my name at all if I create—

oh no, there's no— in fact, I have I had to correct somebody because somebody did say that, that they made a homemade jewel loom, and I was like, oh no, you didn't.

But you know what, it's also kind of cool that it's a household name. You know, like we say, I'm gonna go get a Coke. Like in Texas, we call everything Cokes, whether it's a Dr Pepper or whatever. We go get Cokes. Like it's a household name.

I think that's funny.

I think some places call it pop or soda, but we call it Cokes. Um, so it's like this, it's like this household name that that's, that's a jewel loom. That's what you do with it.

I think it's Yeah, it's a blessing. I don't— I'm so grateful. I cannot— every morning I wake up and see what people are creating on the Jewel Loom and I just flip out. It's, it's super amazing to know that people take your product and express themselves with it. I think that's just— it's a huge gift. I don't take it for granted at all.

Yeah, well, I'm so grateful that you shared your story with us, and I hope that it inspires people listening today because it It's very interesting how you can go from really idea to inventor to patent holder and, and really create this business around yourself. And now you've just, you've just incorporated all of that into your subscription box. You get to love on your people and it just opens so many doors for you. And I'm just really excited for you about it. And I want to know where, if people are listening, One, they're going to start making bracelets after they listen to this, so they're going to need a Jewel Loom. Where can they find you?

I would go to julianavalar.com, start there, and from there you'll find all the things.

Yeah, at julianavalar.com. Yeah, that in the show notes, so you spell it correctly, and you can get yourself a Jewel Loom and start beading away.

Yeah, yes, I have a free video series just for new people, and it really helps you to get started.

That's exciting.

Awesome.

Thank you so much for being here today. We'll see you guys next week. If the idea of creating a subscription box is swirling around in your head, I encourage you to head over to launchyourboxwithsarah.com, get on our waitlist, and grab some of our free downloads to help you get started. That's launchyourboxwithsarah.com.