Tool Tree

I am a 25-year veteran of the mortgage-lending industry and have owned my own mortgage company for 10 years. Nationally, I was one of the first brokers to achieve the Certified Mortgage Consultant designation. I have served as a speaker at a number of local and national conventions, and have written articles for Mortgage Originator magazine.

In my spare time, I ride Harleys (big ones!), created a unique art form, and am a Master Practitioner/Trainer/Certified Coach in Neuro-Linguistic Programming. I am also an ordained minister and active in a local omni-denominational church.

I have always been an exceptionally creative person. Over the years I have created "Freeway Flora" and "No-Die Bonzi" (flowers and trees made out of old tire scraps), and have sold them at art festivals in the West. In addition to my artistic achievements, I have an uncanny ability to generate creative solutions, whether in business or around the house. My garage and house are full of gadgets I couldn't find for sale, so I just "made" them.

For years, I've drawn up plans of ideas to patent. On an airplane trip home in early 2002, I was thumbing through a Sky Mall magazine and found three of my previous ideas for sale by someone else. "That’s it!," I said. "I'm taking one of my ideas to market." This was the beginning of the Tool Tree.

When I arrived home, I contacted a manufacturing engineer through a mutual friend. I learned about and completed my first patent search soon after.

I then made my first prototype and researched several local manufacturing companies. At about the same time I contacted a patent attorney and began the patent and trademark submission process.

I continued to refine and redesign the Tool Tree while looking at all possible ways of producing it. About a year later, I found a company that could help me complete the design and manufacture of the Tool Tree. It took almost a full year to finalize the design and make the first injection molds.

It has taken me two years, but the Tool Tree is ready for market.