Inside Tucson Business:
Lisa Lloyd’s empire of inventions started simply enough 16 years ago. ‘I had a really bad hair day,’ Lloyd said.
She had recently left the Navy after a 2-year tour of duty that took her to Desert Storm. Lloyd was letting her hair grow out but could no longer put it in a French twist.
So she invented the French Twister, a hair clip that aids women with various hair lengths in creating the style.
At the time, Lloyd was working as a sales representative at a TV station making $14,000 per year. She had a newborn at home and was recently divorced, but only had small mortgage and car payments to meet each month.
‘I figured I could make $1,300 a month selling French Twisters door to door,’ Lloyd said. ‘I had nothing to lose.’
Her product later went on to gross $20 million in sales and was the first of seven products Lloyd has licensed, 6 of which are hair products. Now Lloyd consults and helps others bring their inventions to market. She also began the Inventors’ Workshop, launched the site www.icaninvent.com and is working on her first book, tentatively titled I Can Invent.
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