ByerSource – In-Line Bonding Device

 

We were recently contacted by Michelle at ByerSource about their in-line bonding device. This is a device designed by an electrician for electricians. What we also uncovered is an inspirational story about how licensed Master Electrician Mike Federowicz’s late night idea became a reality after a chance meeting with Michelle. We asked them to share their story with you and hope that you find inspiration to follow through on your great ideas.

Michelle’s (ByerSource) Testimonial:

I’ve always had a passion for running my own business since the age of 10. With that in mind I started outlaying that path for success. Attending college at night and working full time days was very challenging, but well worth the time and effort. In 2003, I graduated with my Master’s Degree in Business Management at the age of 35 and while working to that goal, I have. Since then I have had the opportunity to work for some of the finest new product development organizations in the United States such as Duracell, Motorola and Tyco Electronics.

Although I had a thriving career, I was still challenging myself to start my own business. Knowing that I really didn’t have any money, I took a leap of faith anyway and decided to file for a businesses license. Remaining at my existing job would be necessary so that I would have income to funnel into my business and we could survive for a little bit.

Byersource, located in Smithfield Rhode Island, was establish as a small women owned business on April 7, 2007, specializing in contract manufacturing, design and new product development. I accomplished this by recruiting two of my friends and asking them to work pro-bono for as long as it took to start making some profits. Together we were a three person organization with 20 plus years experience between us with multiple disciplines in sales & marketing, engineering, quality and manufacturing.

Our first years of business were very much a learning curve and we endured some expensive lessons. The business started out as an outsourcing customer designed parts with a smattering of ByerSource designed components. There are many challenges to outsourcing and we were naïve to importing product and managing the financials. We knew how to design and market products for other companies but in order to help us become extremely successful we were going to have to come up with our own products.

Our business sustained itself, even in a downturn economy; however, I became unemployed in November of 2009. This was the first time in 20 years I was without a job like the hundreds of thousands of other people. This was the turning point in our business, because funding new projects started to dry up because I was out of work. Banks were not extending loans and the Small Business Administration was like climbing MT. Everest to get anyone to even look at our application.

Day after day I would pull myself out of bed just to maintain some kind of normal schedule and to avoid slipping into a career slump. The emotional roller coaster I was on daily was sometimes too much to bear. My confidence was diminishing and my morale was low. It seemed like everything was falling apart at once not to mention the cold days of winter were just ahead.

Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse in November of 2009, I noticed a puddle of water just below my main circuit breaker box in the basement. I opened the door to the panel and saw that I had water trickling down my circuit breakers. In a panic, I called the electric company, who could not help me. Then I started going through the phone book to find an electrician and then I remembered that my neighbor down the street knew one. I gave her a call and she gave me the number for Mike Federowicz (Licensed Master Electrician in Massachusetts and Rhode Island).

I called Mike that day and thankfully he answered the phone. I quickly introduced myself and told him about the problem I was having. Upon his arrival he quickly diagnosed where the water was coming from. Apparently the water was entering into the main jacket of my electrical supply line, making its way down into the circuit breaker box. Mike applied a temporary fix for he would be returning the next day to replace my main line and replace my whole circuit breaker box to bring it up to code.

As promised he returned the next day to retrofit/ replace the service lines and breaker box. At the end of the job, we were chatting outside by his truck and we started discussing what I did for work and that he heard I had a side business.

As it turns out Mike was an entrepreneur and spends his free time developing products for the electrical, commercial and industrial markets but never knew how to market any of his ideas. This is when he reached into his truck and handed me a part and asked what I could do with it. My response was what is it? After a brief conversation about the functionality of the part, I agreed to look into what I could do with it or even if this part had a chance to displace any competition.

Much to my surprise after researching NEC codes and what was currently on the market today, I knew we had a chance to be a key player as a small fish in a very big pond. As I focused all of my efforts into this product I started to envision how this model was going to look and how would we tap into opportunities.

Utilizing my experience as a Product Manager (past employments) I knew the first thing in product development was to design for manufacturability, keep cost down and think about channel to markets. Our primary market focus was end users and then distribution.

Since then, we have taken the appropriate steps to patent our intellectual property, go thru ETL certification for UL and CSA approval, team up with reps firms and employ resources to get our part made. We are working with a handful of machine shops fabricating this part for us and we perform final assembly at the Smithfield Rhode Island Location.

Our primary focus is to keep small businesses thriving and bring manufacturing back to the United States.

 

Mike Federowicz’s (Master Electrician) Testimonial:

It all started with nightly walks. While I was on these walks I would always be looking at the workmanship on residential and commercial dwellings which were worked on by local electricians. Particularly, I would focus on the services outside of the dwelling or building.

One night while on one of those walks I witnessed a young boy riding his bike and as he came down the driveway his handlebar caught a ground wire. This ground wire was not properly installed and was hanging loosely off the house before it attached to the ground rod. Needless to say after seeing his scraped knees, my gears started to turn on what could be done to prevent these instances from happening and help aid electricians in installing a proper and safe ground.

I also took into consideration ways to cover exposed wire to avoid tampering and to help avoid the potential of a very serious accident such as children constantly smashing their cable box and intersystem device with their different weapons such as balls and bats. I also took into consideration that I had to make it easy for the end user to install this part so that they would want to use this device in place of what exists today to help avoid hazards.

Based on my observations, I decided to make my own device on a lathe I had in the basement and then soon after that met Michelle by chance who owned ByerSource. I am confident that this device will cure the protection of the grounding conductor and also prevent injuries, such as scraped knees.

For more information about this in-line bonding device please take some time to review this PDF that contains key features, applications, and technical information.

If you are interested in placing an order ByerSource will be offering a 20% discount on any volume for 5 days to all Mike Holt Newsletter Members. You can contact them directly at: 401-316-7256 or visit them online at www.byersource.com