As a car fanatic, Cross ironically sold his Corvette of 17 years to help finance this business venture. Cross shares "You
can get another car, but when you get a dream, act on it."He now has two patents and one pending, signifying three designs that California Gold offers. The total investment into California Gold - $15,000. Cross
feels there are no guarantees in business, but tires will work. "I have the confidence that as a man who likes nice cars, it will appeal to men and women."
The first prototype was a replica made and
photographed one weekend in his garage with [one of his two] his granddaughters (both of whom he is grooming to become company executives).. It will hit the market to test product acceptance late spring 1998.
Cross
enters the history books as yet another African American inventor. Commencing on Blacks as inventors, he conveys that 'we tend to procrastinate, have many great ideas and feel like something's wrong because no one's
doing it. We need a new way of thinking as far as working for ourselves rather than allowing someone else to do it for us.'
Cross says that in the past, African American people "didn't do the legal research to protect
them- selves and other people took credit for it." He says the best advice to give future inventors and entrepreneurs is "Do your research and homework."
Cross has worked with Seattle Metro for 25 years, first
as a bus driver, now as a tunnel controller. Devoting 40+ hours, sometimes 7 days a week to Metro, he still comes home and spends 30+ hours a week at home on his business. But he's no novice to owning a business. Before
Metro, he owned a Laundromat, dry cleaning and
Even though he's on his way, he's had opposition. For example, a major company became interested, but reneged at the last minute. After negotiating with
several tire companies, he said, "They don't want to back
small business or believe I don't have enough background and don't want to take risks. Also, they are trying to listen to take ideas."
But even in that
aspect, he has a confidentiality agreement drawn up by an attorney, so companies won't disclose information to anyone else. For this reason, Cross strongly advises inventors to protect your ideas. Even
without an attorney, inventors can fill out forms themselves, which can be found at federal buildings.
Another obstacle was when a company he looked to for contacts, realized the potential for California Gold and
wanted 10% of the product gross and all proprietary rights. (T-shirts, mugs, etc.) The last thing Cross remembers the businessman saying was "I would not be able to get it done without him."
Cross
refused to become discouraged. Instead, he says, "I turned negative into positive to motivate me to do it on my own." He looks forward to a fall production line , after it goes public, but is unsure of whether he
will market it himself or sell to a company, but refuses to sell the idea outright.
This Louisiana native was brought to Washington state with his Aunt Ardella at age 21. He considers her a major influence. He
recalls. She was able to buy a home, car and property in the late 40's, early 50's when Black people weren't able to."
Cross says "She held the Cross family together. She was like Big Mama in 'Soul
Food', she was a pillar and rock, not only for me, but for the whole family."
He is motivated by the women in his life: 2 daughters, 2 granddaughters and his wife. He doesn't believe behind a good man there's a
good woman, instead, "Behind a good man, there's a better woman who has given me all the support in the world."
His wife, Marie says, "I am amazed at his creative mind and I believe he's a person on the verge of
something and I'm glad to be a part of it. "Marie will do the books for the business."
But out of all the women one seems to stand out. Aunt Ardella, who put a Southern boy with a high school education and no
tire background, on the lips of car enthusiasts and African American historians for years to come.
