Announcer: What do Ringo Starr, Phil Collins, Buddy Rich and Ginger Baker have in common? They are all famous drummers and they all bought drumsticks from the BusinessMakers Show's guest, Herb Brockstein, the founder of ProMark. Check out Herb's interview at thebusinessmakers.com. And now back to the BusinessMakers Show with your host, Russ Capper.

Russ: This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here and seen online at thebusinessmakers.com. Up next on today's show is my interview with Julia Rhodes, founder and CEO of KleenSlate Concepts. I accidentally came across Julia at a California Small Business show and was so impressed with her product and her passion that I interviewed her right on the tradeshow floor, and I might add you can see a video version of this interview with a glimpse of her cool product at thebusinessmakers.com. Julia is a schoolteacher turned entrepreneur. She found that tools of the teaching trade were lacking for sure, so she decided to do something about it. Check this out. Julia, welcome to the BusinessMakers Show.

Julia: Well, thank you, Russ, for having me.

Russ: You bet. Well, let's start by you telling us about KleenSlate.

Julia: Well, KleenSlate is an international product development company that creates products for the education and office supply industry, durable, sustainable, be-here-tomorrow products.

Russ: Okay, products that do what?

Julia: Basically products for communication.

Russ: Okay. Now I know a little bit about it already and there's this sorta whiteboard theme that goes throughout. Is that all of the products are whiteboard oriented?

Julia: Yes, they are. I was a teacher and - for 14 years in the classroom and found that I was missing tools to quickly assess what was going on with the learning.

Russ: Okay. Tell us a little bit more about what triggered the idea.

Julia: Well, I working in the classroom with kids and I needed a quick assessment tool and I was having difficulty. I was grading papers every night, on weekends, just trying to find out whether or not they were grasping the concepts I was teaching.

Russ: Okay. And that led to what sorta product?

Julia: So I went out there to look and there wasn't anything out there, so I thought, "Well, I'm gonna invent one." [Laughter] So I ended up creating a handheld whiteboard so every kid in the classroom would have one.

Russ: Cool. Okay. So they use these whiteboards to answer questions from you or to demonstrate that they know what you're talking about or what beyond that?

Julia: Well, basically, it's a quick assessment tool and it gives every child a voice, so that shy child in the back that doesn't always answer the questions and holds back, they hold up the paddle and they get that quick - you know, the teacher sees they need help or they've got the answer and it's quick, it's right there, and then the teacher can move on and they don't waste time passing out the marker, the old dirty sock, because I created first an eraser for the ends of the dry erase markers, so I took that to market and then I built the next product, which was the customer asking for the handheld whiteboard.

Russ: Okay. And the eraser on the marker, you said that was your first invention actually.

Julia: Yes, this was my first invention. [Laughter] You know, here you had the dry erase marker and not one had an eraser. It's a $1.8 billion marker business and not one had an eraser, and I said, "Well, I'm going after that." And I cashed out my retirement, refinanced my house, and I went to town and started a business.

Russ: [Laughter] Typical entrepreneur story. So let me ask you, how long have you been doing this now?

Julia: I got my first patent in 2002 on the eraser and I've been doing it ever since, and I was honored as - actually won the award for 2010's Small Business Person of the Year for central California.

Russ: Wow. Congratulations.

Julia: Thank you.

Russ: And approximately how many of these whiteboard paddles do you think you've sold now?

Julia: Over a million; I can tell you that. [Laughter]

Russ: My goodness, Julie. Congratulations.

Julia: Well, thank you.

Russ: Well, thank you so much for sharing your story with us and we wish you good luck.

Julia: Well, thank you very much, Russ. Thank you for your time.

Russ: Okay. That wraps up my interview with Julia Rhodes and clearly the product of hers that caught my eye is her cool student dry erase white paddleboard. To see more about this product, go to thebusinessmakers.com and check out the photos and the video version of this interview. You've been listening to the BusinessMakers Show heard here and seen online at thebusinessmakers.com.

Announcer: This is your weekly dose of The American Dream heard every week on the radio and streaming online at thebusinessmakers.com. The BusinessMakers Show is produced and edited by Executive Producer John Whiteside in cooperation with Noisemaker Communications. The BusinessMakers' Web site at thebusinessmakers.com is designed and managed by Interactive Director Kelsey Ruger. Join entrepreneur Russ Capper and John Beddow, a publisher with American City Business Journals, again next week for the BusinessMakers Show and be sure to check out our midweek podcast, the BusinessMakers Overtime hosted by Katie Laird and Esther Steinfeld.