Character Bear is a finalist for the Home Shopping Network (HSN)/The Guilt Trip Live Event

Character Bear is a FINALIST!  I found out on Friday that Character Bear is one of the final 20 products being considered as the selected product for the Home Shopping Network / The Guilt Trip “best product search”.  Over 1,000 submissions were considered!  As exciting as this sounds, there is still more nail biting! 

Since November 17th, I have been watching my “dashboard” on Edison Nation’s website.  Basically, there are 7 steps you need to pass in order to be a finalist, and as you pass or fail each step, you get a green check mark or a red x on your status.  Edison Nation looks at the product, does market research, considers the uniqueness of the product, checks the patent and trademarks, and they then narrow down their top selections. 

On Friday November 30th, I still had a green check mark at stage 4 – and up until Friday, I was feeling pretty good about my possibilities. Actually dreaming about it.  Good dreams! But, since my status had not changed for a number of days, I was starting to stress.  What if I get a red X next?  What are they considering to get me to step 5?  Do they have enough information?  Did I explain it well?  Remember, I had just 3 minutes to explain Character Bear – and I have so many creative ideas for this, there was no way to share it all.  What if they didn’t pick Character Bear because they didn’t have the right information?  Oh how I wish I could set up an hour long meeting with them!  But you just have to sit back and watch the “dashboard”.  And you hope you shared enough information so that they really get it.  And you really want this!  And you are very nervous!

My friends all believe, and they keep telling me Character Bear will be selected as the final one.  They are so supportive! I am so hopeful! 

I saw on the Edison Nation website that other inventors had already starting finding out they were finalists Friday morning – so I really started stressing that I was still at level 4 at noon on Friday.  But at about 1:40 I get an e mail from Edison Nation – the e mail states that the status of your submission has changed and to click on a link to find out what that means.  It could mean you are out of the competition, or it could mean that you advanced a level.  So my heart is racing, and I click on the link – it seemed like forever for the page to load – seriously!  Finally it loaded and I had another green check mark at level 5 – but I still had 2 more to go!  Another e mail came at 2:00 and the final e mail at 4:00.  Those few hours seemed like days!  When I learned I was a finalist – I can not tell you how excited I was.  I starred at that green check mark and the tears started to swell in my eyes (glad they don’t have a camera on me now!).  It’s almost not believable. 

So now, they get Character Bear!  And I am one step closer to bringing Character Bear to market in a big way. WOW!

A lot is at stake this week.  19 other hopeful inventors are in the same spot I am – we all want it so bad.  And now we wait – we are no longer any part of the presentations – the experts are doing their thing – and we will know sometime this week. 

I know Character Bear is in good hands, so I am not as stressed as last week.   And I know there are many things to consider for this search.  I just hope that Character Bear has all those things. I really really hope!

In the meantime, I can’t help but think about what this could mean.  It’s sort of like having a lottery ticket – and your chances are 1 in 20 – GREAT odds, right? The dreaming continues.

So really, what could this mean?  It could mean that Character Bear reaches the dream that I have for it.  It could be the next big hit.  It could sell millions.  The stock in my garage could be worth a whole lot more soon – because it’s the original.  The new Character Bear will be different.  I have told my husband for years that those hundreds of boxes filling his (our) garage are like stock we are investing in – and they will be worth a lot more - one day.  Could that one day be near?  Could my dream come true? It’s possible…

So here is what happens next -  Edison Nation (EN) will be presenting the final 20 inventions to Home Shopping Network (HSN) on December 4th.  The HSN and EN teams will narrow down the pool to the top 5 or 10.  From there, a star from "The Guilt Trip" will make the final selection. The selected inventor will be flown to HSN's headquarters to do a walk-on for December 23 on HSN.  It all happens pretty fast!

I have cleared my schedule – I can’t RSVP to any Holiday parties until the end of the week.  I am hopeful.  I am dreaming!

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