Kathy Kramer has a small waist and slightly larger hips and always needed a belt or clothing alterations because there was extra room in the back of her pants. She sounds like tens of millions of other women, right? But unlike most women, in 2003 Kathy decided to do something about her fashion problem by creating a product. Now she's like a few hundred thousand women who plan to start a business. She invented the Invisibelt -- a flat, undetectable belt women wear under fitted tops.

The result? No belt buckle bulge, fitted tops lie flat, no more "back gap" and no need to pull and tug pants that stretch.

It took Kathy four years to bring the product to market, after fits and starts for various reasons, but in 2007 Invisibelt hit the market. That makes Kathy like tens of thousands of women who have identified a need, created a product, and actually brought it to market.

Listen to our interview with Kathy and you'll learn a number of important lessons:

• If you believe, don't give up: "The Invisibelt was a long, drawn out process. I would start up, then stop. Get motivated again, then stop. In between that I would start working on other inventions and prototypes. My husband wanted to kill me. I initially filed for the Invisibelt trademark in 2003 and had prototypes made by a local belt manufacturer. He thought I was crazy --an invisible belt?"
  
• Know what you do well and find others to fill the gaps:"I always wanted to have a partner in this project. I know my strengths and weaknesses. It took me years to find the right partner. I had about 20 'almost partners.' Many wanted to do it, and then I'd never hear from them again. I even flew to Atlanta to meet with the president of Spanx. I tracked down other owners of lingerie companies and scheduled meetings with them. I now have a partner who owns a promotional company. I provide the concept, PR, sales and creative and he provides the back-end, warehousing, fulfillment and manufacturing. I had to convince him for two years that the Invisibelt actually had legs."

• Be shameless: "I have no shame and will talk to everyone and anyone about the Invisibelt. You never know when you will have a fortuitous meeting. Unfortunately I saw Kelly Ripa twice and I didn't have the belt with me. I tried to explain to her what it was and it just didn't translate. Had I had one in my bag I would have given it to her. I got wise after those experiences and had one with me at a party over the summer. I approached Gayle King [an editor for Oprah Winfrey's O Magazine] and gave it to her. She was very nice! No news from Oprah yet, but at least it's on her radar.
• ABC (Always be Closing): "That's the thing about being an entrepreneur: no one is going to sell or believe in your product the way you do. In the beginning, and always, you have to be your biggest advocate. No one is going to have the passion that you do.
• Network like crazy: Kathy got the Invisibelt onto QVC. Any idea how hard that is to do? She got introduced to someone through a friend of a friend of a friend; went through a ton of training, and got on the air. Since then 200,000+ Invisibelts are on women's waists (not that you'd know it)." I have approached other small fashion solution companies like Invisibelt to chat and trade leads. I now have a network of friends and we all help each other. We share booths at trades shows, include each other in PR pitches, and trade retail contacts. Since we have the same customer it's win-win for all."
• Learn from your mistakes: "I thrive on instant gratification but have learned to slow down and not rush things. Our first 1,000 belts had faulty buckles but we needed to sell them because we had some press coming out. We didn't realize the extent of how poorly the buckle was designed. They ended up breaking after about 10 wears. We redesigned the Invisibelt and replaced everyone's belt who complained."
• Always have something new in the works: The next big thing for Kathy is the Invisibump, a stretchy belt designed for pregnant women. She is partnering with maternity fashion house Liz Lange to bring it to market.

Listen to our interview to discover more of Kathy's insights into entrepreneurship.