Boulder County Business Report
September 2, 2005
Author: Caron Schwartz Ellis
Why can't a woman be more like a man?
Unlike Henry Higgins in "MyFair Lady," I'm not questioning motivation or emotion. What has bugged me since I was old enough to recognize the difference between us and them is my inability to pee against a tree.
Not that there's anything wrong with sitting to take care of our business. Usually it's a fine method.
But when camping or biking,or even when "roughing it" is as innocuous as having to use a Porta-John, I can see the advantage that men have.
But yesterday I discovered I now have the freedom to choose how to relieve myself.
It's all because of P-Mate.
P-Mate is a disposable female hygiene product that allows women to urinate standing up. Unlike portable plastic urinals that can be "adapted" for women, a P-Mate just sort of fits in the right place by itself, you don't have to remove any clothing to use it, and the flow reaches far enough that you don't drip on yourself.
You can even pee on a tree, but more about that later.
I didn't go out looking for P-Mate; the concept showed up in a press release from Karen Diamond, proprietress of Go Your Way, a newly formed company based in Broomfield.
Go Your Way is the first distributor of P-Mate in the U.S.
"My best friend has a friend who was traveling in Norway," Diamond said. "She brought them back and became very dependent on them because she's an outdoorsy runner, hiker and biker."
But the only place the friend of the friend discovered she could buy them was in Canada.
When the friend showed a P-Mate to Diamond, at first all she could do was laugh. But after the humor wore off, "I couldn't stop thinking about this product," she said.
"We're all trained to just hold our pee. But I've heard for years that it's not healthy for women to hold their pee," Diamond said. This was just the solution for those "cross your legs" times when there's no toilet available, or only a dirty one, or when you're pregnant and can't squat, or any other time it's just easier to remain standing while urinating.
Diamond decided that if women had to go to Canada to buy them, she was going to launch a business to make them available in the U.S.
She spent six weeks e-mailing the Canadian distributor and finally heard back from Joe Product Promotions of London, England, which had just acquired the rights to distribute P-Mates in the U.S. Diamond and Joe reached an agreement whereby she became the sole distributor for P-Mate in Colorado with the right to generate national accounts.
"They haven't given anybody else a deal yet," Diamond said. "They obviously had some faith in me."
Go Your Way is Diamond's first entrepreneurial venture. The 48-year-old mother of two teenagers has worked for various nonprofits and arts organizations and has supported her husband, Mark Diamond, in his career as a jazz musician, but said she was never inspired to start a business before.
"In the past month I have gone from working for others to starting my own business. I'm amazed with how much I've accomplished in a short amount of time," she said.
Diamond has sunk a grand total of $3,000 into Go Your Way so far. "Wiring money into an account in London was one of the most frightening things I've ever done," she admitted.
The concept appears to have hit a nerve; within a day of sending out her press release, Diamond's Web site -goyourway.net - received more than 3,000 hits.
So back to peeing on a tree.
After distributing samplesto female co-workers (whose reactions ranged from horror to delight) I broughtthe last one home to try myself.
As my husband and I were getting ready for bed I sprung it on him. "Let's pee outside tonight," I said suggestively.
We walked out to the edge of our deck in our very private backyard.
I unfolded the bright green P-Mate until it resembled a little slipper with a hole in the toe.
I put it in place -without removing any clothing, really.
"OK," I said. "One, two,three, go."
It was the first time my husband and I engaged in a genuine pissing contest.
For more information about P-Mate, contact Karen Diamond at (720) 317-3303 or visit
goyourway.net.
September 2, 2005
Author: Caron Schwartz Ellis
Why can't a woman be more like a man?
Unlike Henry Higgins in "MyFair Lady," I'm not questioning motivation or emotion. What has bugged me since I was old enough to recognize the difference between us and them is my inability to pee against a tree.
Not that there's anything wrong with sitting to take care of our business. Usually it's a fine method.
But when camping or biking,or even when "roughing it" is as innocuous as having to use a Porta-John, I can see the advantage that men have.
But yesterday I discovered I now have the freedom to choose how to relieve myself.
It's all because of P-Mate.
P-Mate is a disposable female hygiene product that allows women to urinate standing up. Unlike portable plastic urinals that can be "adapted" for women, a P-Mate just sort of fits in the right place by itself, you don't have to remove any clothing to use it, and the flow reaches far enough that you don't drip on yourself.
You can even pee on a tree, but more about that later.
I didn't go out looking for P-Mate; the concept showed up in a press release from Karen Diamond, proprietress of Go Your Way, a newly formed company based in Broomfield.
Go Your Way is the first distributor of P-Mate in the U.S.
"My best friend has a friend who was traveling in Norway," Diamond said. "She brought them back and became very dependent on them because she's an outdoorsy runner, hiker and biker."
But the only place the friend of the friend discovered she could buy them was in Canada.
When the friend showed a P-Mate to Diamond, at first all she could do was laugh. But after the humor wore off, "I couldn't stop thinking about this product," she said.
"We're all trained to just hold our pee. But I've heard for years that it's not healthy for women to hold their pee," Diamond said. This was just the solution for those "cross your legs" times when there's no toilet available, or only a dirty one, or when you're pregnant and can't squat, or any other time it's just easier to remain standing while urinating.
Diamond decided that if women had to go to Canada to buy them, she was going to launch a business to make them available in the U.S.
She spent six weeks e-mailing the Canadian distributor and finally heard back from Joe Product Promotions of London, England, which had just acquired the rights to distribute P-Mates in the U.S. Diamond and Joe reached an agreement whereby she became the sole distributor for P-Mate in Colorado with the right to generate national accounts.
"They haven't given anybody else a deal yet," Diamond said. "They obviously had some faith in me."
Go Your Way is Diamond's first entrepreneurial venture. The 48-year-old mother of two teenagers has worked for various nonprofits and arts organizations and has supported her husband, Mark Diamond, in his career as a jazz musician, but said she was never inspired to start a business before.
"In the past month I have gone from working for others to starting my own business. I'm amazed with how much I've accomplished in a short amount of time," she said.
Diamond has sunk a grand total of $3,000 into Go Your Way so far. "Wiring money into an account in London was one of the most frightening things I've ever done," she admitted.
The concept appears to have hit a nerve; within a day of sending out her press release, Diamond's Web site -goyourway.net - received more than 3,000 hits.
So back to peeing on a tree.
After distributing samplesto female co-workers (whose reactions ranged from horror to delight) I broughtthe last one home to try myself.
As my husband and I were getting ready for bed I sprung it on him. "Let's pee outside tonight," I said suggestively.
We walked out to the edge of our deck in our very private backyard.
I unfolded the bright green P-Mate until it resembled a little slipper with a hole in the toe.
I put it in place -without removing any clothing, really.
"OK," I said. "One, two,three, go."
It was the first time my husband and I engaged in a genuine pissing contest.
For more information about P-Mate, contact Karen Diamond at (720) 317-3303 or visit
goyourway.net.