Kathy Dow Discovers

UPDATE:  VIZINI FREE GIVEAWAY.  Email KATHY@KATHYDOWDISCOVERS.COM  subject line:  VIZINI to enter.

Ladies, this is a hot idea and a a cool way to ward off the sun at the same time!

While we know that the sun is great for our health,  we also know that too much of it is detrimental to our skin and so we are conscious of the necessity to shield from the sun.

Enter, Rita Hockenbury of Round Hill, Virginia, who created the Vizini, (pronounced Veye-zeeny) a totally strapless, lightweight sun visor that fits on the side frames of your eyeglasses.  I had the opportunity to meet Rita at a recent media product event and I was impressed with the Vizini and with Rita’s enthusiasm.

Entrepreneur Rita Hockenbury

So why is this sun visor such a new and inventive idea?   The Vizini guarantees that you won’t get “hat hair” because it does not go around your head like the usual visors, but instead slips via loops onto your eye glass frames and so when you put your glasses on, you put your sun visor on.

Revolutionary Sun Visor

No hat hair, no hat headaches and no frowning, squinting or forehead wrinkling.   “This visor is for all those times you blow off wearing a hat because you don’t want to mess up your hair,”  she said.

Hockenbury, who professes to hating hat hair tried her hand at creating the Vizini when she began cutting the bills off of her husbands baseball caps back in 2000 in a effort to shield the sun and stop the squinting but not tangle her curls.

An early start out the gate without much marketing knowledge found Rita spending cash but not earning any.   Disillusionment set in and the Vizini was shelved in her garage for a couple of years before a nagging “unfinished business project” gloom and a push from her kids got her back on the bandwagon of bringing Vizini’s to the market.

Believing she had created a great product for women who are conscious of frown lines, furrowed brows and overly tanned skin, she proceeded with her idea and by 2007 was “ready to rock and roll” by ordering  8,000 units from China.  With stores standing by ready to stock the Vizini, Hockenbury faced her first “new entrepreneur” crisis.

The Vizini’s from China were inferior! With basically  no control over a product made and shipped from overseas,  Hockenbury  faced another roadblock.  She knew she couldn’t meet buyers on schedule.

Her advice today for entrepreneurs who hit the wall;  “Just keep your eyes on what you see in the headlights, don’t look at the whole thing, it’s overwhelming.  Just walk a mile a day, ” she says, meaning you can tackle it a bit at a time.

In January of 2009, the Vizini’s  reappeared better than ever, with a Made In the US tag after Rita found a manufacturer in Virginia.  They are available in more than a 15 colors, at hundreds of stores and are priced at $10.50 each on her web site.

The Vizini works with most eyeglass styles by just threading the earpiece of the glasses through one of two provided loops.   The Vizini won the 2009 Best New Fashion Accessory Award at the California Gift show and Rita has appeared on a  local Florida television show called “What a great idea!”

I particularly love this Vizini  because after a while I get the hat headache and most times I’m wearing my hair in a ponytail so it’s difficult to fit a hat or visor band around that.  A Vizini is on my must have list.  The convenience of storing one in your glove compartment, luggage or purse is a plus.  That way, your Vizini  will  always be handy when the sun is strong and you don’t have a hat.

Hockenbury’s niche for the Vizini are women who want to protect themselves from frowning and squinting, “It’s not a replacement for needing a big floppy hat to wear when you’re in the sun all day,” she said.

The Good News: Hockenbury has graciously offered a few Vizini’s for a free giveaway here on KathyDowDiscovers.com.  Subscribe to Kathy’s List to be eligible for a random drawing and to be updated every time a new product review is posted.

More information on how to contact Hockenbury is also located on Kathy’s List.