Lisa Lloyd’s empire of inventions started simply enough 16 years ago.
"I had a really bad hair day," Lloyd said.
  
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She had recently left the Navy after a two-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, six 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.
"What I want more than anything is to build the Lisa Lloyd brand, as a platform for future business and helping others," Lloyd said. "I have tried a little of everything."
Lloyd moved to Tucson when she was 5 years old because her mother was stationed here. At 16, she graduated high school and moved out on her own, then joined the Navy at 21.
"I thought it was a great experience, but as an entrepreneur, I had a hard time conforming to the rules," Lloyd said. "I was still trying to find out who I was."
After leaving the Navy and having her first child, who is now 15, Lloyd tried different career paths.
"As I got older, I tried a bunch of different things and ended up in sales," Lloyd said.
Lloyd attended college courses, but was able to gross $30 million in sales with her inventions without completing a degree.
"I always joke I have a Ph.D. from the school of hard knocks," Lloyd said.
She brings that experience to her clients, who can choose a $95 per hour consulting session or a yearlong coaching program that helps her clients license a product. Lloyd acts as a champion of their cause throughout the process.
"Everybody has an idea and wants to bring it to market," Lloyd said. "It’s really a matter of marketing and not going broke."
Anita Saldivar and her husband Frank invented an indoor/outdoor lighting fixture and have been working with Lloyd for a few months on licensing.
"She gives us guidance and kind of keeps us accountable. It’s easy when you don’t know what you’re doing to lose focus," said Saldivar, who first met Lloyd almost a year ago. "She’s not just somebody who doesn’t really know what you’re facing or what you’re going through."
Saldivar said the couple spent about two years developing the product. She said they didn’t know how to bring the product to consumers.
"We didn’t really know even about licensing. We thought to have a business you had to manufacture and sell the items," Saldivar said. "We obviously don’t have the money those large companies have to manufacture these items."
With Lloyd’s guidance, Saldivar said the product is patent pending and they look forward to licensing it to a manufacturer.
"She’s really a great person and has a lot of knowledge and compassion for [her profession]," Saldivar said of Lloyd.
Adam D. Martinez is an entrepreneur who has been working with Lloyd for three months to bring a set of flooring tools to the licensing phase.
"I am thrilled to get to work with her, it is a privilege," Martinez said. "She’s guided me with complete confidence.
Martinez said he spent two years brainstorming his products and didn’t know where to go after that.
"It’s been stuck in this roller coast ride because I had no idea who to talk to," Martinez said. "We’re getting close and I’m excited, I can’t wait to see what they say."
Lloyd said the key to a great product is something that not only serves a need, but is easy for a company to deliver to the consumer.
"I’m thinking about every person who touches it and trying to solve a problem for them, not just me and the consumer," Lloyd said.
As a mother of three kids ages 10, 11 and 15, Lloyd said she gets ideas for products constantly.
"Like most people, I’m in the middle of doing something and thought there was a better way," Lloyd said.
Lloyd’s husband, Chris, said she is often working on a new product into the night or has a eureka moment at inopportune times.
Lloyd said initially it was an experience to see her products on the shelves of major retailers.
"It used to be surreal," Lloyd said. "It’s not anymore; it’s just a business like everything else."
In the future, Lloyd said she’d like to do inspirational and motivational speaking based on her experiences as a businesswoman and with her faith, using her book as a basis of discussion.
"It is my story as well as a tutorial from concept to market," Lloyd said about the book.
The new avenue she’s taken with her career has helped to keep her motivated, Lloyd said.
"I just love helping people, it’s fun," Lloyd said. "That’s kept me in the business as much as inventing.
Contact Kelly Mahoney at (520) 295-4227 or kmahoney@azbiz.com.
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