Grill Charms: The Essential Grilling Accessory & the Mom Behind the Invention

Name: Leslie Haywood
Age: 38
Company:  Charmed Life Products LLC
Website:  www.grillcharms.com
Family: Jason (Husband) Madison (7) daughter Morgan (5) Daughter
Motto you live by: Life is Good

What are grill charms and how did the idea come about? Grill Charms™ are dime-sized solid stainless steel charms that are placed in food BEFORE grilling.  They have serrated stems which hold the charms in securely while flipping, moving and grilling food like you normally do. You Grill Charm™ your food prior to cooking to distinguish spices and flavors, steak temperatures, or to avoid health or allergy issues. They stay in the entire time, so when dinner comes off the grill, you simply look for your Grill Charm, and everyone knows which one is theirs. They are the perfect gift item for Father's Day, Birthdays, Groomsman, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Housewarming or Hostess gift ... you name it!  There are various collections for different purposes.

The whole crazy process started during a dinner party we hosted at our home in April of 2006.  My husband and I are sort of sauce/rub/marinade junkies. The flavor of the evening this particular night was Jerk, which we all love.  Some people happen to like their chicken “jerkier” than others.  Some of us like ours on the milder side.  Once all the chicken came off the grill, arranged on a serving plate, brought upstairs and served to our guests, my husband couldn’t tell which chicken was spicy.  Wouldn’t you know it… me being a “mild” person; I bit right into the hottest one of all!  He said “I wish there was a way to tell which chicken is which” and immediately I knew we had something.  This was my spicy lightbulb moment.  

What were the first steps in taking your idea and making it a reality and what were your most helpful resources?  The first thing I did and the first thing I tell everyone that tells me that they have an idea for a product is …RUN, don’t walk to the nearest bookstore and get a copy of “The Mom Inventor’s Handbook” by Tamara Monosoff.  That book was the roap map for the process and it gave me the confidence to do this crazy thing.  

You appeared on the show shark tank.  What was that experience like and has it helped business?  I actually went out there to tape in July, but while in LA to shoot, my father very suddenly and unexpectedly passed away.  Needless to say, I was on the next flight home and left Shark Tank behind.  They very generously gave me another chance to come out a month later.  The experience took on a completely new meaning.  What started out as a business opportunity, turned into me trying to prove that I still had what it took as a person to even get up in the morning, and had much less do with the TV show.  To this day, I can’t watch the episode without crying.  People say that I was one of the most confident people they saw on the show, but what people don’t know is that in that moment, I was doing it for my father and I it was so NOT ABOUT the 5 people sitting in front of me judging my product and I.   At the time I was just proud of myself for being able to function.  The fact that the Sharks loved the product (4 out of 5) was such sweet icing on the cake.  As far as has it helped my business?  ABSOLUTLEY!  The show is responsible for pushing me into profitability for 2009.

You are also a breast cancer survivor. How has that journey affected the way you live your life?  As I’m sure you can imagine, I take NOTHING for granted and am thankful for every day my family and I are healthy.

How do you manage owning a business and raising a family?  Hmmm…. I wouldn’t say I “manage” the work/family balance… It’d say it’s more like I “survive”.   
A lot of things fall by the wayside.   My house is a wreck!!!  The stuff that needs to get done around the house just doesn't get done.   My kids come first, my husband comes next and thankfully he requires very little, my business comes third and that eats up every single other ounce of time and energy I have on this planet and the house and "housewifely duties" come in a distant 4th.  Seriously... the dust bunnies are taking over, the plants are dead, the hot tub is green and the shower is black.


Do you set boundaries for family time / business time? Again, this work / family balance is the one thing that I need to get better at.  Thoughts of the business creep into my head even when I try to stifle them.  I caught myself at the playground with my children trying to enjoy a wonderful day with them, but my mind kept drifting back to “packaging”.  (That was the particular problem du jour).  Because incidents like that happen often, I do feel a lot more guilt then I ever had.  People talk about creating a life/work balance and as an inventor and entrepreneur I find that it’s a balancing act that is perpetually out of balance.  I try my hardest not to let the kids pay the price of having an inventor for a mom, but I’m also not kidding myself.  They watch a little more TV then I’d like and there have been days that I have snapped at them when they didn’t deserve it because the stress of doing it all just broke me down, BUT I really make a concerted effort to do both and do both well.  By the same token, to some degree, my business pays a price for me being a mom. For example, not too long ago my 7 year old was very sick and the marketing efforts I had mapped out for that week had to be put on hold.  It’s funny…. I do think that I’ve done a pretty good job of building my company and brand, but often wonder what I could accomplish if I had simply 4 hours of uninterrupted work.  Did Donald Trump build his empire like this?  Seriously… I have done live podcasts from the carpool line and conference calls from the laundry room!


What piece of advice would you give other mom entrepreneurs?  It is really important to “get out there” well before you have your product.  Create the buzz, talk to people in your field, and do lots of networking well in advance of your launch.  When you already have a group of people that know you and your story, when the time comes to sell your product or open your business, these are the people that will have known you “way back when” and will be more than willing to help you succeed.   It truly takes a village, and early on in this process I started recruiting mine.  I would not be where I am without their support, which they gave LONG before I launched my product.


What has owning your own business taught you about yourself?  That I’m a stronger person than I thought I was.
 

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