Why it took years to create my TV tray tables

And how I learned to be nice(r) to myself in the process.

mini design explorations for the lazy jamie tv tray table from november 2022.

On October 2, I'm launching lazy jamie’s reimagined TV tray tables.

What you can't see is the three years of development it took me to get to this point.

When I used to hear someone say it took years to create a product, I'd roll my eyes. It sounded like a convenient talking point. Did you really make prototype after prototype because you had to get it right, or are you trying to emphasize quality to sell more product?

Now I sympathize.

The truth is, most prototypes simply aren't usable for reasons that are painstakingly out of your control. And with an original design, it takes about a year to even get to the prototyping stage.

You can't fully understand this process until you've gone through it yourself. I don't mean that condescendingly—there's just no logical way to explain it because the path from start to finish is entirely illogical. The best way I can describe it is: one step forward, two steps back.

our first two sets of prototypes and the random hardware changes our former manufacturers made without approval to cut costs. i'm almost embarrassed to show you these.

To give you a taste of what came up creating our TV tray tables:

• The first industrial design firm I worked with created something that couldn't actually be produced. I had to restart from scratch.

  • Learning: This well-respected firm had mostly CPG experience. I needed furniture-specific experts.

• My first two prototypes were made overseas, and the manufacturing partners changed elements without telling me to reduce their costs.

  • Learning: For my business stage, U.S. production makes more sense—better control over design and quality.

• When I was in final production stages, one of my primary suppliers had an explosion at their Montana plant. (Thankfully, no one was hurt.)

  • Learning: Delays are inevitable. If enough businesses rely on a resource, someone will find a solution. Also, humor helps.

• A global trade war and new tariff policies threatened to shutter small import-dependent businesses.

  • Learning: I got lucky here—I'd already pivoted to U.S. manufacturing before the tariffs hit.

• I made thousands of emails and calls to manufacturers that went unanswered. If they did respond, I was told my project was impossible.

  • Learning: All it takes is one yes. When someone says something can't be done, they just mean by them.

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But the manufacturing challenges were, at the end of the day, all solvable with time and persistence. The internal ones ran deeper.

When I meet people in person and tell them the name of my company, they often laugh and say something like, “are you really lazy?”

this scene in the wedding planner is meant to be depressing but to me it’s aspirational.

The truth is, on a personal level, lazy jamie represents what my therapist calls my "shadow self"—the ugliest image I have of myself. Whether or not it's accurate, I've always felt like others categorized me as lazy. That was painful because deep down, I agreed with them.

I'm the insightful ideas person who always has something creative to add. But when it comes to execution, there are other people better at that.

Creating these TV tray tables became a master class in dismantling that belief. Every day for three years, there was a problem to solve and a door to kick down—and no one else to do it but me.

And yet, I finished. I made it to the end and saw it through.

• Learning: if you make friends with the things you don't like about yourself and actually lead with them (instead of hide them), that’s where the magic happens.

In my case, lazy doesn't have to be a four-letter word. The best products come from people who intimately understand the problem they're trying to solve.

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The lazy jamie TV Tray Tables launch on October 2. Sign up for the waitlist at lazyjamie.com