Straight From the Inventor's Mouth: Louie Kish The Creator of The PencilPull™

I’ve told my proud history many times, but I don’t believe I’ve ever written it down. I’m not bashful, do not lack for ego ???? but as you will read, without the many players, there would not be a PencilPull™.   So here is more useless information than you probably wanted. But you can use something like ChatGPT® to cut to the chase.

Many folks come up with great ideas, but few are as fortunate as I to have recognize the timing of situations and act with the help and support I’ve received from family and people along the way.  Much of my “luck” came from just being aware and then going with my God given instincts.  Have you ever read "The Science of Being Lucky"? It’s all about how you make your “luck” by always being “aware” of what’s in front of you, and taking advantage of any situation.

Evolving: After high school, I floundered in junior college and decided that I needed a change, so I joined the Air Force and shortly after married my wife, Bev. We traveled from Denver to Idaho. I went to Vietnam, where I got to work with a contractor who worked for an electronics company. He was an EE and made much more than this Airman electrical technician did. I figured I was as clever as him, so I decided to work toward an engineering degree when I got out. I chose Texas to close out my AF career. After graduating from UT, I worked in a lab but got to meet people from a lot of different companies as I showed them my designs. I decided that design was not my prime interest; I liked working with folks, so I moved on to sales and eventually spent 22 years selling high-end test equipment for Hewlett Packard/Agilent Technologies, and along the way got an MBA in marketing. I mention these transitions because each build on the other.

Mother of Invention Section:  Fortunately, I was given some slack time off work (new boss at Agilent, who needed time to make new plans for our group), so I took the opportunity to work on constructing an addition to our house in SoCal. I’m not the most organized guy, so I inevitably left a trail of pencils laying around the house and construction site – very frustrating when I was without one when it was needed!! The tipping point came on a hot muggy day; I was hanging with one hand from a rafter in the garage, and I reached for a pencil that was in my pocket so that I could mark a joist, and the darn pencil dropped to the floor! I immediately had a flash of inspiration:  ATTACH  a pencil to my retractable HP badge holder. I eventually found a piece of rubber tubing, attached it to the string, and voilà! I never dropped a pencil again during that build.

Salesmanship Effort:  So, as luck would have it, one day I had the retractor attached to my shirt when I had to dash to Home Depot. While in line, two customers and a Home Depot associate asked me where they could get one. Later that day, my wife and her sister were sitting around the table as I described the events and I was fortunate enough to get strong  encouragement to “do something with it,” so I applied for, and eventually received, a patent for PencilPull  and started a company, making plans to sell them. Many thanks for this family!  As luck would have it, a company in SoCal (Mike at KeyBak) was close by. They were the only US manufacturer of retractors, and I had used their badge holders at HP/Agilent. Fortunately, they were an honest bunch! They manufactured my first PencilPull, and when I later landed Home Depot, they used their factory in China to make the Home Depot product. My wife and sister-in-law went to local shows, I visited hardware stores, etc. – no Amazon at the time – to look for customers.

Very fortunately, a few years later (early 2003), I was given notice of layoff from Agilent, short of full retirement. Uh Ooh! I was now a 52-year-old. How the heck would I get a job that paid as well?!

Anyway, I set my sights on Home Depot as a customer. Unfortunately, at the time, Home Depot had just moved from statewide dispersed purchasing centers to centralization in Atlanta. I called Atlanta; they told me to call the former Anaheim purchasing center, who promptly sent me back to Atlanta. My sister-in-law tried again several times, same result. Frustrated, I was able to contact the office of the former local buyer (Paul Stubbs – my soon-to-be hero). By stroke of luck, the secretary listened to my woes and she got Paul to agree to give me 10 minutes to present my product to him. Bev visited him (Feb 28, 2003), and he was running late, so we had to chase him down the hallway to the cafeteria where he listened to us and examined the product. He said he liked it and would send it down to Greg Bennar, the buyer in Atlanta. I didn’t hear anything for an uncomfortably long time, so I decided to gamble and left him a message that I would be in Atlanta near the end of June 2003 and could I stop in? He said, “Oh, the PencilPull, sure, I’ll give you 20 minutes.” So, I got there, he was running late, he gave me 10 minutes, and voilà, he said he would buy them. We could ship to all 1800 stores, but he couldn’t promise me how long each store would repurchase. Billy Bastek eventually replaced Greg at Home Depot and he continued to support PencilPull for the past decade plus.  As and aside - my last day at Agilent was June 30th. I went on one hi-tech interview before deciding to focus on PencilPull and have been living the dream ever since.

Sales went well, but after a few years of direct delivery by us, Greg told us that he could not deal with single-product vendors. However, he hooked us up with Jim Ardell, who knew the owner (Dick) of Prime Line Products, and they agreed to carry the PencilPull. For five years, they did a great job, and the people were great. But I knew that C.H. Hanson® was the right partner; they made the Home Depot pencils, for gosh sakes! Although I tried several times to get their attention, but it wasn’t until I met “Bob” at the Vegas Hardware show, and he worked to get the product into their bag. Once again, I was the beneficiary of honest, fantastic people at C.H. Hanson. Our good fortune continues to this day.

Product Development: This is not rocket science, but it wasn’t trivial either. My invention and eventual patent relied on a universal, flexible adapter attached to a string. Since then, many almost copycat products have swarmed Amazon, leaving me with a feeling of irritated pride. Over time, we built a fantastic product by solving issues with the holder material to prevent “memory”; we had to figure out the right material for springs, and winding them so they wouldn’t break after many and many cycles; we had to find ways to keep the molded parts from falling apart in rough environments; we had to improve the cord so that it could withstand the abusive environments and abrasion. Our current products are the best that money can buy; we out-test and outlast any of the copycats.

Great Partners: To be honest, none of that would have mattered if it weren’t for the interest, honesty, integrity and good business practices of each of the heroes (Paul, Jim, Greg, Phil) and companies mentioned. After all, it was just me, and anyone could have made and absconded with the product. So, it’s just as much a success story for each of the companies and people that I’ve had the pleasure to work with. They have helped migrate my design and have improved manufacturing techniques with seemingly minimal help from me.

On and On: Lastly, as luck would have it, our daughter Tarran Wittmier agreed to run and take over the company two years ago when one of my doctors discovered stage-IV cancer in my gut. Fortunately for me, there are two new drugs swarming around my lymph nodes that are doing a miraculous job counteracting that crap. I feel lucky here because it was found unexpectedly and somewhat early.  The support we/she continues to receive from divine intervention, family, Mike, Jim, Phil, the C.H. Hanson gang, and all their employees collectively makes them my “luck personified”!

To Learn More About This Product: >>>

https://www.chhanson.com/pencil-pulltm-xl-pencil-holder-clipstrip.html

https://www.chhanson.com/pencil-pulltm-xl-pencil-holder-w-o-clip-strip.html

https://www.chhanson.com/pencil-pulltm-pro-pencil-holder-carabiner.html