SCORE Guides Travel Entrepreneur in Mapping Expansion Plans

After being sick for three years, undergoing four surgeries and mustering her remaining energy to run her household as efficiently as possible, Amber Waldeier was taken aback at pricey baggage fees airlines had begun charging.

“I’ve been living this efficient life, only doing what’s important. Money toward suitcases is not that important to me,” Waldeier, of Liberty, recalled thinking of her family’s eight-day trip to the beach. “I will find a way around their rules.”

In 2019, she sewed together her first prototype for Zipplicity Un-Luggage, a packable neck pillow able to hold up to five pounds of luggage.

“It’s real estate on an airplane,” Waldeier said of neck pillows. “I was just going to make them for myself.”

But, her second-grader loved it so much that she couldn’t stop with just one. He excitedly packed 10 pairs of underwear, a swimsuit and a stuffed animal in his neck pillow and proudly wore it around the house.

With her family’s encouragement, Waldeier used $1,000 in her checking account to pay for a provisional patent.

“I had this new lease on life. After three years with debilitating pain, I felt good,” she said. “Watching life pass you by, you think about the times you chose to not engage in life or backed down from a challenge, there are things you regret you didn’t try or didn’t do. From now on I want to live and I don’t want to have any regrets. I am not going to take opportunities for granted anymore.”

At about that same time she began working with a certified SCORE small business mentor. SCORE is a national nonprofit organization that supports small businesses through free mentoring. Waldeier’s SCORE mentor was in the process of filing for her own patent.

“To talk to someone who was just a little further down the road was so helpful,” she said.

In 2020, Waldeier started with a goal of earning $8,000 to recoup the patent fees. While that didn’t happen according to her timeframe, she used stimulus check money to pay for the utility patent, which came through in 2022. To date, 5,000 Zipplicity packable neck pillows have been sold, saving passengers an estimated $4.5 million in baggage fees.

Since she sewed together that first version, Waldeier has made at least 50 prototypes, improving the pocket and overall shape.

When her mentor moved, Waldeier sought additional business guidance from SCORE mentors Greg Thomas and Ed Reeves on bookkeeping, spreadsheets, understanding financial projections, as well as profit and loss statements.

“I had come from a different world,” Waldeier said, noting that she had begun a master’s program in counseling prior to falling ill. “It’s a completely different language. I told Ed, ‘I need you to teach me how to talk business-ese.’”

Waldeier brought her packable neck pillows to a larger audience when she competed in SCORE’s 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition. She was one of 45 finalists in the nationwide contest, which drew interest from more than 2,200 entrepreneurs.

“I enjoy the energy of the crowd and the audience. In high school I was voted most bashful,” she said. “I’m a new person coming out of three years of pain.”

Reeves is confident that her perseverance and resilience will pay off.

“She’s very open to suggestions and ideas,” he said. “We may plant the seed and boy she just runs with it. We can be a great sounding board and be a great resource to bounce ideas off of.”

In addition to continuing to grow sales of Zipplicity’s packable neck pillow, Waldeier looks forward to releasing a new product this summer, one that doubles as a blanket, pillow, and of course, storage space.

“We’re going to expand our product line with another innovative, hands-free travel product,” she said of the new addition. “A lot of my customers are women who enjoy looking stylish while they travel. You’ll love it.”

To learn more about SCORE, request a mentor or volunteer to be one, visit score.org.

About SCORE

Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 17 million entrepreneurs start, grow, or successfully exit a business. SCORE's 10,000 volunteers provide free, expert mentoring, resources and education in all 50 U.S. states and territories. Visit SCORE at score.org.