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Frustrated Inventor, Sign Here

As a manager of an Exxon service station and a tow truck driver for fifteen years in New York, Fred Fink saw his share of cars abandoned on the side of the road. (Fred says AAA estimates 25 million breakdowns a year in the U.S.) Fred has spent countless hours talking with police officers who stopped at his station, trying to find the owners of abandoned cars.

In today’s go-go world, stranded motor-ists no longer wait for a tow truck. They use their cell phones to call a family member or friend to pick them up and get them where they need to go. Most figure they’ll take care of the car later. But they can’t take care of a car that’s gone. Police ticket or tow abandoned cars—unless the driver has left a compelling message.

Seven years ago, Fred invented the Roadside Message Board as a handy, portable way for stranded drivers to get their message out—before it’s too late. It’s a license-plate-sized board that fits in the glove box, under a seat, or over a visor. Its two suction cups hold it to a car window or on the dashboard. It comes with ten prewritten messages that can be displayed on the message board. It also comes with a dry erase marker so drivers can write their own message on the board. There’s even an emergency flasher that can be clipped to the sign or worn as the carless motorist walks along the road.

The preprinted messages Fred chose are the most common ones he encountered as a tow truck driver. These phrases of desperation were often scribbled in crayon or lipstick on a napkin or on the back of a receipt. The messages read like titles from a series of roadside sleazy novels: Car Trouble, Battery Dead, Out of Gas, Flat Tire, Overheated, Went for Help, Please Do Not Tow, Please Do Not Ticket, Be Back in __ Minutes, and—in case someone is just looking to get rid of the car—For Sale.

Fred knew the secret to success would be promotion. To keep costs down, he had his product manufactured in China, spending $15,000 for a mold and placing a large order of 10,000 units. The product arrived from China in pieces; then Fred hired companies that employ handicapped people to do the assembly work.

His first prototype was a flasher with a belt clip. Then he glued the flasher onto the board. But the handicapped workers weren’t allowed to use glue because it might impair them. So he went back to his drawing board and came up with the solution. Fred modified the board to hold a clip-on light. That was just the ticket to keep his customers from getting a ticket.

At first, his family and friends were very excited, but didn’t realize how much it would cost to proceed. Overall, he has spent $1 00,000 in the last seven years. It took five years to receive the patent at a cost of $10,000. (He was told it would cost $5,000, but it got rejected the first time and had to be resubmitted.) The mold cost $15,000. Liability insurance costs $2,000 a year.

With the bills adding up, Fred recently decided this venture was experiencing its own emergency. “I’m lucky if I make 50 cents per piece,” he said. After paying for the patent, making the mold, manufacturing the product, traveling to conventions, incorporating, and keeping liability insurance, there’s not much left in profit for this idea man. So after selling 9,200 of the 10,000 units he had made, Fred closed his corporation because it took too much money to keep the business running. If he wanted to promote the Roadside Message Board, he’d have to spend more money to travel and hire salespeople.

At this point, Fred is waiting for people to contact him. He thinks it would be a great giveaway for car insurance companies. And the board provides a space to promote a product, leave a message on a store window, or occupy kids in the car with a game of tic-tac-toe. He’s looking to sell the remaining Roadside Message Boards. He has them on a website, MarketLaunchers.com for $9.95. His dream is that a company will buy the mold and give him royalties. He’s ready to walk away from it—much like the motorists he’s tried to help.