Fielding questions about the inroads in respect to growth of InventorSpot, today we have its chief business officer cum managing editor Michelle Blu with us. Geographically renowned as a geek cum blogger, Michelle deems in innovation as essential tool for survival. And her very presence at EliteChoice is the result of our due amount of respect for her. Having associated with InventorSpot since its launch in March 2006, the growth visibility of the blog says all about her. Ooops..did i tell you InventorSpot was amongst the 125 Elite blogs handpicked from 2007 work-outs and is shining under “2007 Elite Odds & Ends Blogs?”
Stopping myself here, I handover it to her to takeover with tight shoulders. Enjoy the ride into the inventor’s world with her lovely responses.
Hi Michelle, Introduce yourself to my readers.
I’m Michelle, chief business officer and a managing editor of InventorSpot.com. At InventorSpot, we have a team of bloggers covering the latest inventions, innovations and interesting ideas from around the world everything from the wacky to the wonderful.
Take us through your typical day at work.
What I love about working on the web is the flexibility that it offers me. I really don’t have a set schedule although my family would claim that’s because I work around the clock.
Your blog very beautifully deals with inventions, inventors and ideas. What can be the fourth ‘I’ that we can expect at InventorSpot in 2008?
In 2008, we will continue to work on making incremental improvements to our site. With the site’s focus on inventions, innovations and interesting ideas, we have plenty of opportunities to improve the content we provide to our readers. We are also working in 2008 to improve awareness of InventorSpot.com, since we are still a relatively new site and only a few people know about us.
InventorSpot targets the discoverer in all of us, how has your involvement with the site contented the inventor in you?
We offer Serious Fun for the Inventor in All of Us. Since the definition of an inventor is someone who creates something using creativity and imagination, I feel very much like an inventor in helping to create this site.
Your deep sense of knowledge on ‘invention’ has helped you reached at a pedestal of mentor. Whom do you consider as your ideal?
For me, the ideal inventor is anyone who has a good idea and is actually willing to do all the hard work necessary to bring it to life. There are a number of successful inventors that are an active part of our inventor community and help new inventors in our forums that I really look up to as ideal role models.
We along with other bloggers’ are great fan of yours and enjoy reading your wacky finds. We would like to know those three inventions that you have discovered about you while contributing to InventorSpot.
We are always looking for great inventions to share with our readers, from the totally wacky to the truly inspired. Depending on my mood on any given day, I would pick different inventions that I like.
My favorites this week are:
Surfboard that doesn’t need waves
Sandals that hold your booze
The diet sunglasses that turn off your appetite
The airbag suit for motorcyclists
Pen down your two favorite posts:
a) from InventorSpot.com
This is a really hard question as I don’t really have any clear favorites. I think a lot of our articles are really informative and entertaining. We seek to inform and entertain, so I think articles that do that well include:
10 Ways to Piss Off Your Woman by one of our wacky products writer Amused and Bemused. For some reason, I find his ridiculous humor and goofy finds really entertaining.
Experiments with Flying Cars by Lisa Zyga, our science innovations writer. I just thought this was a really interesting article.
10 Weirdest and Funniest Japanese Condoms by Steve Levenstein, Japanese Innovations writer, InventorSpot. I thought it was an original and fun look at normally mundane item.
b) From others
A favorite post from another website? This is too hard a question for me so I’ll just have to skip it.
Name one ugliest and award-winning invention (each) that you have come across so far?
I’d have to pick as the ugliest invention, eyeball tattoos. It’s just so wrong on so many levels. In terms of award winning inventions, there are so many that I think really deserve awards. You’d have to qualify the criteria and time frames. A practical invention was an item we wrote about a while ago – a staircase made up of drawers. It is such an ingenious use of space that the invention seems totally obvious when you see it. I love inventions that seem oh so obvious once someone has done the hard work of conceiving and making it.
Do you contribute to any other blog/site as well?
No.
Name five best online reads besides InventorSpot that you like to go through everyday.
There are about a 100 sites that I really like and visit often, including many of the popular gadget, news, financial and political sites. A few of my current favorites include:
DarkRoastedBlend
CalculatedRisk
Miss Cellania
TheThinkingBlog
HackedGadgets
Which is that one sector (technology, gadgets, household, furniture or others) that focuses on producing luxurious creations?
I think all of them do. And creating something super luxurious is a great way to get free publicity for your brand so I think many companies try to do that.
They say living in a healthy competition can help one grow. Whom do you consider as InventorSpot competitor in blogosphere?
There is a tendency for some folks to consider us in the same category as the technology and gadget blogs. I think we are broader than that. We just look at the world through the lens of the inventor, and I don’t think there is really another site on the web doing exactly that. Sites like boingboing, Neatorama, TrendHunter, SpringSpotters, Wired, MakeZine are some of the sites we’d like to be like when we grow up.
Your Biggest Achievement.
I am hoping the biggest achievements are yet to come. In terms of successful milestones, I’d probably point to the great team of writers we have managed to find.
Any regrets?
That it takes so much time to do so little.
InventorSpot is now a huge team. What is the revenue-generation model behind InventorSpot?
Right now, our revenues are from advertising and affiliate programs. Over time, perhaps we’ll find ways to diversify from that.
How would you like to be known as Blogger, Inventor, Editor or Entrepreneur?
A successful serial entrepreneur.
What interests you besides new inventions?
I like to topic of inventions as it covers pretty much all aspects of life. When I am not thinking about inventions, I am obsessed with food and what I am going to eat next.
Give us your opinion about EliteChoice? Criticism is invited.
Your site is fun to visit. You choose great things to write about on your site. You also have a fun topic focus which works on many levels. I think the appearance of site is a bit cluttered. I noticed because InventorSpot.com is really struggling right now with how we can make our site better looking. We are finding it a real challenge to build something that looks good and works well.
Your Turn! Feel-free to ask me one question.
What do you think has been the smartest thing you have done on your site?
Well, I think you as my friend or my savvy readers can answer this question well. I believe this series of Elite Blogger and the smart choice of posts can be counted as my USP. Add to this, the Elite Handbag, Elite Estate and Elite Fashion Blog Bazaar posts done frequently. Bottom line: Unlike other blogs, i take pride in running this blog independently.
Many thanks Michelle for considering this interview call and putting it in your tight sked. Readers here is a mud pile, feel free to drop in any queries or questions, if I have missed on anything. Michelle, am sure would be open to answer them. Wish you luck for giving your best shot in whatever you pursue.
