This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey, hey, what's up? Welcome to Side Hustle School. So glad you were here. Thank you for tuning in. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
Now we are focused today on a concept called Failure Friday. It's because I believe we can learn as much from failure as we can from success. Started this a few months ago, a collection of short stories all about mistakes, missteps, disasters, and of course, failure. So these stories that you'll hear, they will vary, but often they begin with an idea, something that they thought would happen, the person who you're gonna hear from, what they thought would happen, then what really happened, and of course, what they learned. Now, very often there is a gap between those two things.
I've got this idea, it's gonna go really well. I've got this idea, here's what actually happened. It doesn't go so well sometimes, and that's just life, and that's reality. And what's most important is what we do in that situation, how we adapt, how we respond, whether it's a mistake of our own or an out and out disaster, whatever category it fits in, the whole question is how then do you respond? So today's short story features Tracy Beck from Hood River, Oregon.
We told the successful story of her invention on episode 815, 815. What is that invention? Well, it is the P-Lux. I kid you not, that is the name, and that's also what it is, the P-Lux, an accessory that helps women use the ladies' room while wearing shapewear, which I now understand to be a pressing problem. The P-Lux is actually a very profitable product, but as you'll hear in the story, when she tries to pitch it to the founder of Spanx, she runs a foul of the company's lawyers.
So that's what you'll hear from her about, and I'll come back to the end to wrap us up. [Music]
Hi, my name is Tracy Beck, and I invented P-Lux, a device that allows women to more easily use the restroom while wearing shapewear. I invented P-Lux after having surgery and having to wear shapewear for five weeks, day and night as part of my recovery. I found it very difficult to use the built-in gusset to use the restroom, so I started using a kitchen funnel as my own workaround. My husband, who is a product designer, had just learned about the Spanx empire and Sarah Blakely's success story as the inventor of Spanx, and knew that if I had this problem, so did many other women, as Spanx are widely used and very popular.
Together, we invented P-Lux, a more portable and functional version of the kitchen funnel I had been using to solve my problem. While I have an extensive background in starting companies and e-commerce, our plan had always been to develop the concept and then hopefully partner with Spanx to have a wider distribution and reach, and ultimately help more women who use shapewear. So once we had the concept ready for presentation, and we found the proper context at Spanx, we sent a beautiful pitch to their headquarters in Atlanta. The pitch included custom decorated sugar cookies with images of the Spanx logo, shapewear, and many of Sarah Blakely's favorite things, including her red backpack, old school iPod, and Cheez-Its to name a few. In the box was also a card that when you open it, had an LCD screen that autoplayed an inspirational story and pitch from me.
It told my story, highlighted the problem, and described the solution. It included customer testimonials, celebrity stories, and tear-drinking music to show how amazing this collaboration could be. When I saw the package had arrived, I was eager to follow up. When I emailed to make sure they got the delivery, I was informed by their general counsel that they had an unsolicited ideas policy that prohibits them from opening the package. I assured them that I would be happy to sign and agree to whatever they needed in order to allow them to open the package.
But for each creative workaround and option I presented, it was returned by a hard, no-can-do response from Spanx. Much to my dismay, I had to admit that I had not done my research thoroughly enough to know and understand the limitations of my business plan. I have since learned that in general, companies fall into two camps, those that are interested in ideas from the outside and those who are not. Since learning this, I have made a point to inform other entrepreneurs of this little known policy that many brands adopt. They do so to protect themselves from consumers who give feedback and then claim credit and compensation if or when that feedback is incorporated into their product.
It's a legal shield that protects them from these types of claims and allows them to innovate more freely within their company. On the other hand, there are companies whose model it is to work with ideas from outside the company. They typically look for inventors who would like to license their ideas and have a model that is more open to these types of deals. So I learned that it's important to do this research prior to getting your sites set on working with a specific company. I also learned that the world doesn't end when your plan A doesn't come to fruition.
While I would still love to partner with Spanx and get my invention into the hands of every Spanx wearer, I have been able to secure other thriving relationships with retailers as well as grow my direct to consumer sales successfully. Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. Wow, thank you so much, Tracy, for that story. And what she says there is true. Some companies simply won't listen to your ideas because they're afraid you'll sue them later.
And it's just kind of how it goes. It's one of those things where, as you heard in the story, there's not an easy way around it. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Like by all means, try. A lot of our stories are of people who kind of go around obstacles and don't take no for an answer, et cetera.
But if you do try, don't get your hopes up. I think that's a good additional lesson here. But fortunately, Tracy's product is still doing really well despite the fact that this particular pitch didn't work. I'm grateful to Tracy and her team for helping us with this segment. Check out her website at plux.com, just like it sounds, p-e-e-l-u-x.com, plux.
And no, I am not an affiliate, at least not yet. Maybe I should sign up. But for now, if you have a question, if you'd like to update us about your side hustle, come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. Thank you so much for joining me today. Hope you will subscribe and come back tomorrow.
Much more is coming up. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
from the Onward Project.
