Book Review - Mom Inventors Handbook, Written by Tamara Monosoff

How to Turn Your Great Idea Into the Next Big Thing

"The Mom Inventors Handbook:" How to Turn Your Idea Into the Next Big Thing

Publisher: McGraw Hill

Available in Paperback;295 pages

A terrific, easy-to-read book slanted towards moms inventors who want to start a business and get their invention to the marketplace.

Tamara wrote her book, not just as an instruction manual, but also to serve as an empowerment tool for women entrepreneurs. "The Mom Inventor’s Handbook" gives meaty specific advice and instructions, but you also get wisdom (and sometimes, a reality check) in this book.

If you have an idea but little or no background in business, this is a perfect starter book. Tamara addresses everything from creating a business plan to setting up a home office. She breaks down research into two main areas: preliminary patent research and market research (something mom’s already do without realizing it every time they shop) and simplifies the very complicated patent process.

Sensitive to the vulnerability of women, she gives advice on avoiding scam artists and how to find the right funding, and how moms on a budget can do much of the “leg work” and even some legal steps on their own. If you are naïve about business, this book can help you avoid being taken.

If you want information you can immediately apply to researching and obtaining patents, marketing and selling your ideas, (this book has excellent sales and marketing ideas and worksheets) I highly recommend this book.

An “Inventions” columnist for Entrepreneur, Tamara Monosoff is also a mom, the founder and CEO of Mom Inventors, Inc., and an award-winning inventor. She has appeared on Today, CNN and Good Morning America, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Time, People, and the London Times.

She wrote the book from the perspective of a mother, but encourages those who are not mothers to also consider her book a valuable resource for would-be inventors. Tamara gives readers the sense that she really wants other moms and women to succeed and does not hold back on trade secrets.

Her organization produces products made by and for moms that are sold through retailers nationwide. She even invites her readers to contact her personally through her website to submit a personal story, or email via handbook@mominventors.com or FAX (925)-280-8224.

As part of her doctoral research in international and multicultural education, Tamara wrote a dissertation entitled, “Women and Leadership in the Executive Office of the President 1993-2000.” She interviewed fourteen of the highest-ranking women serving our country under Bill Clinton’s administration.

She focused the interviews on how women in power feel about their role as leaders and was surprised to discover that even the most powerful women often do not see themselves as leaders, but who were still able to enjoy feeling the rewards of personal gratitude of being a leader.

Based on her own life’s adventures and research, Tamara gives more than just practical and logistical advice; she offers philosophical approaches to business and inventing. She believes the first step in creating is adopting the mind-set of an entrepreneur and cautions women who sell themselves short with statements like, ”I’m just a mom trying to bring my idea to market,” and “I don’t consider myself an entrepreneur or an inventor – I just want to see my product on store shelves.”

As I read this book, one of the messages that repeatedly came across to me is that most women who hesitate do so because they lack knowledge of the business process – not because they lack the ability to learn. Moms have many innate skills that can be applied to business, and with the right idea, tools, and moxie, “ordinary” women can become extraordinary inventors.

The “Mom Inventors Handbook,” begins with the idea stage and ends with solid advice on manufacturing and getting your idea to market. Tamara gives detailed advice and information for every step in the entire idea-to-success process, along with personal stories from other women inventors, including her own anecdotes.

The book acts as a “Myth Buster” to common misconceptions about the entire invention-to-market process, which she covers in easy-to-understand detail.

Her instructions are simple and straight-forward, as is her advice to women with an idea: “As a mother, you already have what it takes to be a successful inventor or business owner. Believing in yourself throughout the process will help you succeed.”