How to Get an Idea to Market
First, you need to find out if someone else already has a patent on the product you are thinking of developing. You do not want to infringe on an existing patent. Go to the US Patent and Trademark Office web site at http://www.uspto.gov. Click on the word Patents and conduct a simple patent search. The directions for a search are found on the home page. A more complete and extensive search may be necessary at a later date to make sure that you are not infringing on some other party’s patent if you decide a patent is needed for your product.
If someone already has a patent on your idea, contact him or her. Perhaps you can market the idea in exchange for a royalty or buy the patent outright from them. There are many great ideas that are patented but never brought to market. Sometimes the patent owner becomes ill or they just like the idea of the patent process but don’t like marketing or sales. Or perhaps they tried and gave up on the idea. There are about as many reasons why a patent never becomes a product, as there are patents.
You need to evaluate your product to see if it is commercially viable to bring to the marketplace.
Draw your idea on paper as best as you can. Talk to your relatives and friends about your idea. Identify the industry(s) or niche that your invention should be marketed to. Start reading publications about that industry.
Go to a local inventor club meeting. Read inventor magazines. The United Inventors Association’s website at http://www.uiausa.org is a great resource with a link to find local inventor clubs. Inventor clubs are made up of people just like you. They are looking to invent a new product or have already done so. Do not confuse inventor clubs with inventor marketing companies. Inventor marketing or development companies are for profit.
More steps to follow in later posts.
From the “Book Bringing a Product to Market From Your Home” With $500. and an Idea You can Make Millions” by Gary R. Bronga, President Clipeze Worldwide, Inc
Persistence and Commitment
Persistence and commitment are the keys to success. As everyone knows, most small businesses fail. It is my opinion, based on my experience, that most fail due to lack of effort or lack of persistence.
If you work hard, have an outstanding product, and provide great customer service, your chances of being successful improve substantially. Certainly outside events can adversely influence your start-up business, such as family illnesses, natural disasters, etc. These are things you do not have control over but you can overcome if you follow these simple guidelines. You need to do what you say you are going to do. Later on, if you have employees, you need to make sure they are following your lead, doing what they told the customer they would do. It sounds simple, but you would be surprised how many people will tell you one thing and do another. For example if you say the product is shipping out today, make sure it does.
Early in my business, before most of our customers started ordering regularly, I would have customers call me late in the day and want an order sent overnight because they forgot to order for a special event. Many times, they would call after our freight carrier made their pickup. I would get in my car and drive 35 miles to the carrier’s headquarters even for only a $20 order, despite the fact that that was the last thing I wanted to do after working my day job all day. I received countless calls from grateful customers. But better still, these customers often became large, repeat customers. A commitment needs to be made that your business will not fail due to lack of effort.
Gary R. Bronga is available for speaking to your group or association. Purchasing his book Bringing a Product to Market from Your Home entitles you to a discount for the unlimited consultations with Gary by phone or email program. Contact him for details. http://www.garybronga.com Call toll free 1-800-384-0014 or e-mail him at: admin@clipeze.com
Financing Your New Home based Business
Start slowly and develop the business one step at a time rather than borrowing money to start a home business. Market your business from what you earn in it. Sell 100 units of your product and then buy 200 more. Sell the 200 and buy 400. Go slowly. Begin small. Keep your ‘day job.’ Live on the earnings of your regular current employment and use the proceeds from your business to build growth. Leave your day job when you have the equivalent of one year’s gross pay of your salaried job in the bank.
Do a marketing campaign consisting of letters addressed by name to a particular catalog product buyer, store owner, or individual. This is one of many successful approaches.
Use your time and effort instead of money when starting a home business. Do as much as you can yourself. By doing this you will know every part of the process of your business and will make the most of the resources you have.
Play up your strengths and play down your weaknesses. Many people like doing business with a small business. Focus on the strength that you can give special attention to your customers’ needs. You can make fast decisions without checking with a boss, colleagues, or directors.
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Let me give you a hint about choosing colors for your products. If your product is to be produced in different colors, I have found a great way to help predict next year’s hot colors. Go to a large department store when a new season starts and view the women’s clothes from a distance. One or two colors will always pop out at you. These clothes designers test, study and spend large sums of money to predict the next popular colors. Sometimes it helps to take a photo with your phone to study to make sure you remember the colors more distinctly.
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How to Take an Idea to Market
First, you need to find out if someone else already has a patent on the product you are thinking of developing. You do not want to infringe on an existing patent. Go to the US Patent and Trademark Office web site at http://www.uspto.gov. Click on the word Patents and conduct a simple patent search.
The directions for a search are found on the patent office home page. A more complete and extensive search may be necessary at a later date to make sure that you are not infringing on some other party’s patent if you decide a patent is needed for your product. If someone already has a patent on your idea, contact him or her. Perhaps you can market the idea in exchange for a royalty or buy the patent outright from them. There are many great ideas that are patented but never brought to market. Sometimes the patent owner becomes ill or they just like the idea of the patent process but don’t like marketing or sales. Or perhaps they tried and gave up on the idea. There are about as many reasons why a patent never becomes a product, as there are patents.
First, you need to evaluate your product to see if it is commercially viable to bring to the marketplace. Draw your idea on paper as best as you can. Talk to your relatives and friends about your idea. Identify the industry(s) or niche that your invention should be marketed to. Start reading publications about that industry.
Go to a local inventor club meeting. Read inventor magazines. The United Inventors Association’s website at http://www.uiausa.org is a great resource with a link to find local inventor clubs. Inventor clubs are made up of people just like you. They are looking to invent a new product or have already done so.
A provisional application filed with the patent office is a great way to record the date you first thought of your idea. This simple form may give you some recourse if someone you disclosed your idea to claims your idea as their own. Also, it may afford you some protection if someone else independently thinks of your idea at a later date. A provisional application only requires a basic description and simple drawings of your invention and offers you a way to date the conception of your product. Later, if you decide to file a non-provisional patent (regular patent) you may get the benefit of the earlier date you filed on your provisional patent.
The filling fee, as this article is being written, is $110.00. As provisional patent fees change from time to time, you should check fees just before you file the application. You may fill out a Provisional Patent Application online. The web site provides a template cover sheet for your use.
The above is an excerpt from the book Bringing a New Product to Market From Your Home.
Excerpt from “48 Great tips for Bringing a New Product to Market from Your Home’’ Tip number 17
Search for an inventor club as a great way to find an engineer to develop your prototype. Going to an inventor club is usually the least expensive way to get a prototype made. There may be an inventor club in your community or search for them on the web. Inventor clubs can be a great source for many of your small business needs.
The complete e-booklet “48 Tips….” is available as a FREE download just register on the lower Right corner of this page.
Starting a Business In a Down Economy
You might think that starting a business during down economic times is a bad idea. Many times this is not the case. Some of the largest corporations in the country were started during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Their products, some 75 years later, are still household brand names. Bad economic times will force you to avoid spending unnecessarily. You should stay in your home office or garage as long as you can and should use basic office furniture and equipment. Most of the equipment you will need is available at thrift stores or garage sales. Computers and printers are often sold during out-of-business sales for steep discounts.
Normal areas to raise money in good times are not available and sometimes this can be a good thing. Angel investments, venture capital and conventional financing may not be available in down times unless you have discovered a cure for a fatal illness or the common cold. By not borrowing, you can grow in an orderly fashion without large amounts of debt. Remember, I believe in growing slow and steady, and paying as you go and marketing out of earnings.
Buyers of catalogs during slow times are easier to reach by mail and by phone. While they may want to limit the total number of products in their catalog, they must find new products, as new products are the lifeblood of catalogs. During good economic times, buyers of major catalogs are flooded with new samples. Many times, they simply do not have time to look at them all. During down times, several weeks may go by without a buyer receiving one sample. At the same time, buyers of catalogs are looking for that one product that may make a large difference in sales during the next catalog run and possibly save their company from future financial problems. During such times, prototype makers and product manufacturers are more receptive to new lines as well. Many manufacturers lose product lines from companies that go out of business. This creates openings. They are also more willing to do smaller runs at lower prices in the economy we are now experiencing.
Mail volume decreases as postage rates increase and companies cut back on mail marketing. When a potential customer receives less mail, they are more likely to see and open well-targeted direct mail pieces. This lifts response rates. Printers have too much down time on their presses and will negotiate and do short runs. Magazines are more likely to negotiate for space ads, allowing you to receive deep discounts during down times. Even press releases to newspapers and magazines are easier to get published as reporters and editors have less staff and time to go looking for stores. Many times, a well-written press release will be inserted directly as you sent it at the very last second to fill space in order to make a deadline.
The importance of trade shows was discussed in previous chapters. During slow times, fewer buyers travel to trade shows, but the buyers who do attend have added pressure on them to find new and exciting products to bring back to their superiors to justify the expense of attending shows. Also, you will have fewer exhibitors to compete with for the buyer’s attention due to the fact that companies that exhibit will limit the shows they travel to during a slow economy. Trade show promoters are much more likely to negotiate for sponsorships and advertising opportunities during a down economy.
In a down economy, it is even more important that you keep your day job until you have at least one year’s pay in the bank. It is also important to do your utmost not to incur debt
Does Money Change You?
I do not believe money changes you, however, it certainly changes the people around you. Use purchase orders and contractor agreement contracts from the start of your business.
Purchase orders can be created out of any accounting software program such as QuickBooksâ or Peachtree. A purchase order is a written authorization for goods and services, specifying the price and terms of payment. This is a legally binding contract once accepted by both parties. I would advise to use this method for all expenses unless you are using a company credit card for items like hotel room, tradeshow reservations, etc. Make sure you use a purchase order for the manufacture of your product.
Remember, you are a boss or business owner first. Personal relationships can easily cloud your judgment when you are inexperienced. When I was away exhibiting in almost monthly trade shows, I delegated the responsibility to order office and shipping supplies to a trusted employee. I found out later that the supply companies often offer gifts for certain levels of purchases. As a result, the employee would order $150.00 worth of supplies when we needed much less in order to receive a free small TV, radio or such. Employees left unchecked often will spend a lot of your hard-earned money. Months after discovering this ordering scheme, I still have enough pens and other supplies to last me for years to come.
When you hire an independent contractor, be sure you prepare and have a signed contractor agreement. If you do not have such an agreement in place you may not own the material produced by the contractor. This applies to such items as your web site, brochure, photos of your product, and even your company logo.
On the search engines, such as Google, you can find examples to download free for use simply by typing the terms work for hire and contractor agreement contract. I also advise you to use a purchase order with all the terms clearly spelled out. In the case of graphic artwork, make sure you have a disk of all artwork delivered to you before payment. Always specify that your company will own all rights to the material produced under the agreement.
It is advisable to file copyright protection on your company logo and other important artwork.
When some accountants, lawyers, and graphic designers, etc., see money coming in, you may experience a sudden increase in their fees for services rendered. You need to guard against this no matter how well you think you know them or how long you have been doing business with them.
Generating a Unique Product Idea
Think about the times you have said something like, “Why hasn’t someone invented a product that would do ______?”
That question can be the beginning of a unique product. You have probably had those thoughts and let them go without capturing them.
Write down your ideas for products the next time you notice them surfacing in your thoughts. Capture an idea without judging it and regardless of how incomplete it is in your mind. It can be developed later if you decide you want to take it to the next level.
Day-to-day chores or problems bring opportunities for new products. Many new products, such as the Weed Eaterâ, were created to make a chore much easier or to save time doing an unpleasant but necessary task. We all have too little time in the busy world we live in. Some of the most successful products save us time. If your product idea makes life easier, it may have potential. I say too often, “They can put a man on the moon but can’t make a coffee pot that doesn’t spill when you pour from it.” Some of the best products come from very simple ideas.
Go to the US Patent and Trademark Office web site if you think you have no product ideas of your own. The web address is http://www.uspto.gov/. This web site can provide ideas regarding the competition you may encounter.
In addition, the US Patent and Trademark Office web site has thousands of patents and many can be leased from the patent owner for a percentage or royalty.
Look at expired patents, too. Patents generally only last 17 to 20 years. Anyone can produce a product that has an expired patent. Sometimes an old idea is much more valuable when made from today’s materials. You may be able to file a new patent on an old idea by improving it in some way. Leverage your first idea into additional products as you develop your business. A unique design in one form can be expanded and manufactured in other forms. This will allow you to create an entire product line from a single idea or group of ideas.
It is important for your idea to serve a niche in the market. The smaller the niche the better, because a small niche allows you to concentrate on that market and that market only. Later, you may migrate into new niches as a way to expand your business.
My idea began one day on my job in 1995. I was employed at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station near the Kennedy Space Center in Central Florida. During a discussion with some co-workers the subject centered on our mutual dislike for wearing mandatory company identification badges. Just by chance a man from another company came by and gave us a lapel pin that his company was handing out for a promotion. After everyone left, I happened to attach my ID badge to the lapel pin by attaching the little alligator clip to the bottom of the pin. That’s when the idea hit me. I thought if I just put a little cutout at the bottom of a lapel pin, it could accommodate the alligator clip attached to any and all ID badges.
I set out to design a lapel pin with a cut-out space and a bar at the bottom. I wanted to make it possible to create custom designs from logos of corporations or to make stock pins with logos from several industries to keep on hand so they could be sold individually. It took me weeks to prefect the design. I drew designs on pieces of paper for many days. At night, I would wake up with another idea as to how it would look. I got to the point that I kept a pen and paper on my nightstand to write down ideas that came to me in the middle of the night. This is something I still do today, however, I have modernized a bit and now use a digital recorder.
Good ideas keep you awake at night. I would go so far as to state that if you do not stay awake night after night, you might not be passionate enough to pursue your idea.
Most ideas come to people on their day job. Many come while addressing problems that cannot be solved. Other ideas come to people while spending time working on a hobby. Your idea does not have to involve rocket science. You do not have to invent a new super computer. A simple idea is often best. An idea that inspires others to say, “Why didn’t I think of that?” can make millions of dollars.
Guest Blog Marketing by Deepak
Start slowly and develop the business one step at a time rather than borrowing money to start a home business. If possible, market your business from what you earn from it. Sell 100 units of your product and then buy 200 more. Sell the 200 and buy 400. Go slowly. See the story at: http://www.marketingbydeepak.com/?p=4362
