AT WHAT AGE WOULD
YOU SAY YOU ARE
CONSIDERED “OLD”?
81
Greatest
Generation
Boomers
Gen X
Millennials
62
Dobbs Ferry, New York, who spent 11
years creating her Puffalicious Body
Wash System before selling only about
50 units during her January launch.
Don’t want to tinker for years?
Some online companies can develop
your idea, with input from other site
users, and sell the
resulting product.
For instance, after
Jim Johnstone, 57,
of Urbana, Illinois,
sent an idea to
Quirky (1-866-578-
4759; quirky.com),
the company cre-
ated and sold more
than 3,300 of his
Thor collapsible ice
scrapers. But these
intermediary firms
reduce your profits.
You often must sign
over your rights,
and you’ll reap only
a modest share of
sales. (Quirky pays 4 cents per dol-
lar for in-store sales and 12 cents per
dollar for online sales; Johnstone has
earned around $11,500.) That said,
you may feel satisfied just seeing your
product on shelves. “If you’re lucky,
you might have a money-making
product,” adds Johnstone. “But at the
very least you are a lot smarter than
when you started.” ;
TWO TIPS
FOR SUCCESS
Join a local
inventors club
to get support
and advice. Find
a group in your
area at uiausa.org.
Be wary of
companies
that charge
hundreds—or
thousands—of
dollars to evalu-
ate your product,
say experts. Such
firms are often
scammers.
Hospital Food You Won’t Hate
Trends
CONSIDERED“OLD” SOURCE: MARIST POLL FOR HOME INSTEAD SENIOR CARE
If you’ve stayed in a hospital and the food was worse than your ailment,
here’s good news: Subpar meals are disappearing from med-center menus.
More hospitals are now serving healthy dishes with flavor, from hormone-
free meats and dairy products to fresh produce. There’s no extra cost
to patients (some facilities even save money by serving less meat), and
more than 370 hospitals have signed the Healthy Food in Health Care
Pledge, sponsored by the international Health Care Without Harm coali-
tion. Says Alison Negrin, executive chef at California’s John Muir Health
System: “If it’s prepared with knowledge, skilled labor, and good, healthy
ingredients, there’s no reason for hospital food to be bad.” —Mary A. Fischer
FROM TOP: ILLUSTRATION BY PAUL HOPPE; PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN UELAND.
Croak Addicts Is your little princess sounding more like a
frog? Speaking in a croaky voice, officially called “vocal fry,” has become normal among young women, new research published in the
Journal of Voice finds. (Say “Whaaat” as if you’re suffering from a
very sore throat, and you’ve got the sound.) But regularly talking this
way could cause long-term vocal cord damage. Which means these
women could end up not saying much at all. —Leslie Quander Wooldridge
Ah, Youth! Sometimes We Don’t Miss It!
