"Invention Game " paying off

Remote carriers protect pricey accessory

When Jackie Harden was younger, she and her late brother Jim used to play a game.

They called it the Invention Game, figuring that if they could invent something people needed, they could become rich.

A few years ago, Harden thought she had found her niche.
"I was at a swap meet," she said. "And I kept seeing babies dropping their bottles onto the ground. I figured I could invent a leash to keep the bottle from falling."

Excited, she went home and told her stepmother about it.
"I still remember her response," Harden said. "She said, 'I hate to burst your bubble, but ...'"
But someone already had come up with the idea.

She started two businesses while living in Northern California - one a janitorial service and the other an espresso truck - but soon realized they were too labor-intensive for her ever really to make much money.

"The espresso was actually very successful," she said. "I did it with my ex-husband, though, and when we got divorced, I gave it up and moved down here."

Harden, who now lives on Ontario remarried, had a baby and was a stay-at-home mother for six years. Her husband. Dan, is a millwright, installing custom conveyors in factories.

"We were living off his income," she said. "I wanted to make some money, but with my lack of education, I knew I was going to have to work for myself."

She got her inspiration -and finally the invention she had been seeking - when her husband's remote controls for his car alarm both broke.

"He went to the dealer and they wanted $93 to replace one," she said. "He asked me if I could drill a hole or something so it would stay on his key ring."

It was the "or something-" she came up with that might make her a fortune. Harden sewed a leather pouch with a grommet at one end to hold the remote.

"Dan told me I should market it," she said. "I told him it was dumb, that there must already be something like that."

There wasn't, and Harden's "Remote Totes" are now on sale at car dealers all across California and four other states. She estimates that she has sold about 38,000 of them at a profit of between $1 and $2 each, although nearly all of the money has been poured back into expanding. She started selling them at swap meets and then on a Web site — www.remotetotes.com.

Her customers love the product, which not only keeps their remotes on key rings, it also protects them from getting wet or broken.

"What a great invention," said Mark Stillwater of Oceanside. "I show mine off at work all the time."

Mario Aguilar of Brownsville, Texas, said the totes had saved him from embarrassment.
"I had a broken remote for a long time," he said. "I had to use a ladies' coin purse to carry it in. Talk about feeling silly."

At present, Harden has two employees - her stepdaughter and her neighbor - making the totes. It costs her more to have her production in California, but she doesn't want to have her product made offshore.

She's still working to grow her business, but not as much as she would have 10 years ago.

'Back then, I would have put 24 hours a day into this," she said. "But now my little boy -he's 51/2 - is my No. 1 priority."

By MICHAEL RAPPAPORT
STAFF WRITER

Note to the consumer:

"Regardless of where you purchase your remote tote, we will stand behind our product 100%. In the unlikely event that you find defects in workmanship or are not pleased with the product, please contact us directly, and we will be happy to rectify the situation. We want all of our customers to be 100% satisfied with our product."