Articles
Inventor's Patent on ID Tags Finally is Paying Off
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Business - Friday, May 20, 2005
By Kevin Manning
Like many inventors, Lila Shepley had a good idea, but she took a risk and developed her creation: an identification tag that laces onto shoes.
She and a business partner she eventually bought out began marketing on AwareAbouts plastic ID tags just before the terrorist attacks with a mass mailing to first-responders.
The timing couldn't have been worse; There was no response to their campaign.
'There was no point in even calling anyne. It just wasn't important, considering what was going on," Shepley said.
But she didn't give up and kept finding new ways to get the word out about the tags she sells only on her Web site, www.awareabouts.com. She sent several ID tags to a charity walk in Alaska, and suddenly sales from the Pacific Coast skyrocketed.
AwareAbouts' target market is parents of small children, kids or adults with medical conditions, and runners or walkers who want to have some form of ID with them while they exercise.
The jazzy tags come in several styles and two basic types: engraved and laminated. Shepley engraves whatever information buyers request. The engraved tags sell for $12.95 each. The laminated variety allows buyers to write their own information on the tag and laminate it themselves. They sell for $9 each. The tags, which are all made domestically, consist of three layers: a clear plastic dome with a design underneath, a plastic middle and a bottom for engraving or marking. Shepley assembles them at her home in Glendale.
She has invested about $20,000 in AwareAbouts, including hiring a patent attorney and creating her Web site. Shepley won a utility patent in 2002.
"I really love it," she said. "I think of other things I could do, but I just love this."
