[00:00:01] Speaker A: Want to protect your business, the time is near. You've given it heart, now get it in gear it's Passage to Profit with Richard and Elizabeth Gearhart. I'm Richard Gerhardt, founder of Gearhart Law, a full service intellectual property law firm specializing in patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: And I'm Elizabeth Gearhart. Not an attorney, but I work at Gearhart Law doing the marketing, and I have my own startups.
[00:00:25] Speaker A: Welcome to passage to profit everyone. The road to entrepreneurship, where we talk with startups, small businesses, and discuss the intellectual property that helps them flourish.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: I'm really excited. Richard and I are going to be grandparents in March, and so Courtney's company, Soluble Toys, really intrigued me a lot. These are toys for kids, but they're not your normal toys. So I'm going to let her talk about how they're different and why they're so great for kids. So welcome, Courtney.
[00:00:55] Speaker C: Thank you. And thank you for having me. Solubo our tagline is Play simply learn exceptionally. And that's really what we try to do. The toys that we have, I designed myself, and I designed them because I noticed that my kids would get really just bored with the super busy, loud, colorful toys. And then I started making toys out of cardboard boxes and stuff like that, and they loved it. So that's kind of where a lot of it came from and a lot of inspiration that I have comes from my own kid. And then I also thought back to how I learned when I was a kid and how the most simple environments is where I learned the most, and that's what lasted the most. So that's really the essence of what I've tried to infuse into our business, is just simplicity, but also, like, an incredible learning environment.
[00:01:42] Speaker D: Sounds great. I've been to your website, and the toys really are super cool. But you designed all of these yourself.
[00:01:48] Speaker C: The very first toys that we launched was our Emotions Coin Drop and our Learning Drop. And I designed both of those. The puzzles I selected, I wanted them to fit my vision. They weren't something that I specifically designed. They were, like, the design that I chose, and it was just something that I worked with the manufacturer. But to main two toys. Yeah, I designed them completely myself. I had never designed anything like that ever before. So that was a really cool challenge. Like, I challenged myself to do it, and then here we are now.
[00:02:18] Speaker D: Wow.
[00:02:18] Speaker C: Right?
[00:02:19] Speaker B: Well, and I looked at your website, too, and I really like that you have little discs with faces and the emotions that go with the faces, but also you had one where a baby, it's sitting up. I don't know if it can even is old enough to walk it. It's just putting cards into a slot. And the reason I like that so much is because it's something they can do and they can feel like they accomplished something.
[00:02:40] Speaker C: Right? Yeah, absolutely. It's funny because a lot of people ask me, they're like, well, what's more popular, the emotions coin Drop or the Learn and Drop, which the Learn and Drop is with the flashcards? And I'm like, well, it depends on who it is. And it's pretty much right there, like next to each other 50 50. But I found that it just depends on how the people see the toys. Somebody could see the toys as like, this is an incredible opportunity to stick cards in the box. And some people could see that and be like, well, why do we stick cards in the box? So something that we actually recently started doing is we work with a lot of pediatric specialists. And so I gathered a ton of activities from all of them and just condensed it all into a card. So every toy that goes out now goes out with a card with recommendations from these pediatric specialists and what age groups. This is the interesting part. So when we originally launched, it was twelve months and up, but it quickly turned into something that I didn't expect. And I have a licensed marriage family therapist. She tells me she uses it with like six year olds and even older than that. I actually had a speech therapist recommend that we take the toy itself and then also pair it with paper that's the same color, and then you can use it for even older kids. And the same thing with the flashcards and the box, you can use it to any age. So it's really become more open ended like I had originally hoped it would be, but it's proven to be way further than I expected. So I could say even going up to 1012, it just kind of depends on the person.
[00:04:11] Speaker D: Courtney's toys are so different than so many of the toys that are available now. If you went to like Target or Walmart or something where all of those toys are based on characters in Disney movies and all these other things. And to me it's kind of interesting because a child who is deciding on what toy to play with, on the one hand, if they're influenced by a movie or they like a particular cartoon character, that's one source of motivation. But if they're playing with a simple toy that doesn't have sort of that same kind of oomph behind it, or notoriety, I guess, is that kind of different, do you think, for the child between playing with the two toys?
[00:04:51] Speaker C: I think it depends. I'm not going to sit here and say that I don't have toys like that at my house for my kids, because I totally do. My kids are like obsessed with the number blocks, and there is so many toys that we have that are like number blocks toys. Like this Netflix show. When I look at my kids and I see my kids playing with a toy like that, they love it. But I have found that they're less likely to play with it longer. It honestly depends. But a lot of those toys are designed for that use and that use only. It kind of limits the child to that use. Whereas if you have a toy that's more open ended, then they could use it for a bunch of different uses. And if they get tired of one, they can do something different. So it's really that longevity difference. And it's so true that every child is different anyway, and having toys that are like, this is how you play with it, that's it ends up being a little bit harder to appeal to a vast majority of children. Right.
[00:05:44] Speaker B: I think you want them to be interested, but not overstimulated. I think a lot of the mainstream toys are overstimulating. So I think these simpler ones probably are better, especially right before bed.
[00:05:55] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:05:57] Speaker B: So how are you promoting your company? Are you selling at Walmart? Are you selling on Amazon? Are you selling just on your website?
[00:06:04] Speaker C: Yeah. So the main place that we sell is on Amazon. That was something that we quickly found out was really just where people go to turn for stuff like toys for kids, especially educational toys. So we quickly decided to sell on Amazon and it's gone really well. We have made a community on Instagram, and that's really primarily where people find us. And we have been able to come across some of the most incredible stories of how people have used our toys. Like I said, pediatric specialists, they have backed our toys from the beginning. Before we even released the toys to market. We had a speech language pathologist test them with her clients. And so having that has also been really beneficial. And people love to hear how toys can be used for child development. They just love to hear that kind of stuff.
[00:06:52] Speaker D: So when you went into business and you created your toys first, how did you have them made?
[00:06:58] Speaker C: This is actually something that I have spent a lot of time doing research on. So I didn't know anything of how this stuff worked prior to designing the toys. I have my master's in film producing, and there are some aspects of film producing that work with producing a physical product. Because if you think about it, a film is a product. So that definitely helped me narrow in my search. But I quickly learned how to work manufacturers, and I did a lot of stuff on YouTube trying to watch things about tutorials, of how to do things. That's just the reality of trying to understand how this stuff runs. I didn't find a whole lot of resources or classes on how to do this. I just kind of figured it out along the way.
[00:07:39] Speaker D: I think that's really important for entrepreneurs who are wanting to start a business is the resourcefulness, because there's not always just a book out there that says these are the steps that you follow and you can have your toy made. Right. You have to do a lot of research. You have to do a lot of comparison shopping. And then there are good people to work with and people who are not so good. Right. It's hard sometimes to tell who are the good people to work with, right?
[00:08:07] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:08] Speaker D: Did you find that? Are the toys made in the United States? Are they made overseas?
[00:08:12] Speaker C: They're made overseas. I did, I think, about ten interviews before selecting our first manufacturer. And with that, they sent us samples. And I really stress when I'm making decisions about people to work with. I really rely on people's vibes. I know that's a really catchy thing to say, but I really do look at their communication and look at how they're communicating with me and their timeliness. And just like, if I get a good, well rounded, positive experience from them, then I'm more likely to work with them because I know that we have this trust built, and that's really what I looked for when I originally started interviewing manufacturers, is just that good quality relationship that it wasn't like, they're working for me, I'm working for them. We were just working together to make it happen.
[00:09:03] Speaker D: That's great.
[00:09:04] Speaker B: I like our relationship with Noah Fleischman, who produces this show.
[00:09:08] Speaker D: And then so what are your future plans? I mean, are you happy with the business as it is now? Do you want to grow it? Where do you see your business in another couple of years?
[00:09:17] Speaker C: We've actually had a lot of growth in the past couple of months. I have just like I think it was a week ago, I released a children's book, something that I wrote and illustrated. It's called all the ways Sterling communicate. So that's something that we have been educating our viewers about. We have a new toy coming out when we go to the Toy Fair at the end of September. And that's super exciting. I designed that one as well. So that'll be the first time anybody has ever seen it, aside from our testers that we have. And so we have expansion. We hope to get into more retail spaces. We launched a podcast called Neuroplay, and then I also launched a kind of adjacent company with a speech language pathologist that is actually, like, helping people who have toy companies. So a lot of the knowledge that I've gained, I've been able to do consultations with people, and that's been really cool too. So really just getting our toys out there more and then also supporting other people, I'm very passionate about giving back and supporting. That's really the hope for the future.
[00:10:20] Speaker D: That's amazing. And that you've got so much on the table, it sounds like you're really taking off. You'd mentioned on your website that you're autistic. Tell us a little bit about that.
[00:10:30] Speaker C: It has kind of been the way I describe it is like a domino effect in my family. My brother was diagnosed first. My brother was diagnosed as an adult, and he's my older brother, so he's about three or four years older than me. And when he was diagnosed, then it kind of sent like it was when my son was about a year and a half. And so then we kind of understood some of the things that we're showing with him, and then he got diagnosed a few months later, and then I think my mom got diagnosed after that, and then I got diagnosed after that. And so it's just kind of been like this domino effect in our family. But it has been unbelievably helpful to understand how our brains work. So that's been really cool, knowing and just getting to adjust our perspectives on so much, it's been really helpful. I would say that my experience as a child and my experience as an adult, it really has impacted my ability to create the toys that I have, because there are so many children that learn in these different ways that there aren't a lot of toys curated towards them. And I'll give you a great example. My kids use something called an AAC device, and it's an app on an iPad, but it's basically how they talk. And that's actually what my children's book is about. It's about using an AAC device, and it shows the progression of using the device and then eventually implementing American Sign Language and also spoken language. So our kids actually, with our toys specifically, they will use their devices to play with the toys. And that's something that I don't ever see with other companies. A lot of autistic children get overstimulated easier, and I know I get overstimulated easier. So kind of taking all of that and bundling up into just how we do what we do, it's just changed so much. It's really good.
[00:12:23] Speaker B: That's excellent. So what is your website?
[00:12:25] Speaker C: Solubotoys.com it's solobotoys.com.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: They'll buy directly from your website?
[00:12:34] Speaker C: They can. And there's actually an integration between our website and Amazon. So if somebody wants to buy from Amazon, they can actually buy from Amazon on our website.
[00:12:42] Speaker B: Okay, great. Thank you so much, Courtney. What an incredible product, and it is something brand new. If you have little ones, I highly encourage you to take a look at it. Soliboytoys.com.
[00:12:54] Speaker A: Before we go, I'd like to thank the Passage to profit team. Noah Fleischmann, our producer, alicia Morrissey, our program director. Our podcast can be found tomorrow. Anywhere you find your podcast, just look for the Passage to Profit show. And don't forget to like us on Facebook and Instagram. And remember, while the information on this program is believed to be correct, never take a legal step without checking with your legal professional first. Get Heart Law is here for your patent, trademark, and copyright needs. You can find
[email protected] and contact us for a free consultation.
[00:13:27] Speaker D: Take care, everybody.
[00:13:28] Speaker A: Thanks for listening and we'll be back next week.
