Graham who invented white out
That sparked something in Graham. In a moment of ingenuity, Graham mixed up some white, water-based tempera paint at home in her kitchen blender. The next day, she brought the paint solution and a slender paintbrush to her office and put the concoction to work, painting over mistakes, letting them air-dry briefly, then typing the correct letter s over them.
Et voila : Her mistakes were perfectly hidden. Despite working nights and weekends with her son and future member of the Monkees , Michael Nesmith, to fill up bottles in their garage, she barely broke even. But demand spiked as her product became a notorious lifesaver for secretaries. Things changed dramatically for Graham after that. When her boss failed to comment on the covered-up mistakes, she knew she had created a useful product. She began sharing it with a few other secretaries.
She continued refining the product, working with a chemistry teacher to perfect the right formula. At the start of the business, she mixed up batches in her kitchen using her blender.
She employed her son and his friends to put the liquid into the bottles, trim the small brushes so that they were easier to use on small mistakes, and add labels. Initially the company was called the MistakeOut Company. On weekends she wrote letters and set up appointments to meet with companies that might market and distribute the product but it was slow-going. By , the business was occupying all her time. That year she applied for a patent and changed the company name to Liquid Paper.
Publicity in an office supply magazine resulted in a major order from General Electric, and that was the big break she needed. Bette Nesmith Graham moved out of her kitchen and operated her business from a trailer and then moved to a small house.
In , she opened a fully-automated plant for making and packaging the product and moved her office into official headquarters in downtown Dallas. By , the company was producing 25 million bottles a year and was more than holding its own against companies like Wite-Out created in In , Bette married Robert Graham, a frozen food salesman, who started working with her in business.
In , the couple divorced, causing major problems with the business. Initially, Robert Graham took control of the company but Bette fought back and re-gained control of the company. By this time, she was having health problems and wanted to leave a legacy that would benefit others. When they took a pass, she decided to market it herself. A placement in a national supply magazine led to her first big score: orders all over the US, including a bottle sale to The General Electric Company.
Over the next few years, she sought help from a number of industry professionals, including a polymer chemist named Bill Mallow , and further refined her product for a mass market. As the product spread in popularity, Graham relocated the operation from her garage to a trailer to an office building. She hired a staff of employees to help out with marketing, production, and logistics.
You have to face fears and doubts constantly. You keep doing it over and over. Graham spent heavily on advertising, showcasing her product during prime-time TV programs like The Tonight Show and in Glamour and Fortune magazine spreads.
Sales grew in tandem with exposure. In , they divorced and he tried to cut Graham out of the company by changing the formula and booting her off the board. He continued to receive Liquid Paper royalties from the deal his mother had worked out and used them to launch the music video company PopClips — a predecessor to MTV.
As chronicled by Forbes contributor Tanya Tarr, Graham left behind much more than a fortune. Among its offerings:. During her successful run, Graham also established two philanthropic foundations — one that supported women in the arts, and another that offered assistance to disadvantaged women. Shortly before her death, Graham sat down for an oral history interview at the University of North Texas and ruminated on her success.
Have an idea of someone we should cover? Shoot us a note here. Privacy policy. Generic filters Hidden label. Hidden label. The secretary who turned Liquid Paper into a multimillion-dollar business Bette Nesmith Graham invented one of the most popular office supplies of the 20th century.
By: Zachary Crockett zzcrockett. And she did it all during a time when women were discouraged from pursuing business ventures.
Making ends meet Born Bette Clair Murphy near Dallas, Texas, in , Graham was raised to be imaginative, strong-willed, and independent. Enjoying this article? Thank you for subscribing. Your submission failed. Please try again! Business and tech news in 5 minutes or less. Recent Posts. Electric truck maker Rivian gave its customers a much cooler ….
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