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Article Check - How To Get Started With Your First Invention
The Austin Business Journal reported about a firm that ”buys and resells merchandise that has been closed out, overstocked or discontinued…to a wide range of retail outlets, from mom-and-pop shops to multinational chains such as Wal-Mart..”.Businesses everywhere struggle with changing buying habits, business costs and government regulations.Fads in clothing, toys, electronics, computers, furniture styles and eating habits change. Consequently, new unsold merchandise takes up warehouse space and ties up capitol.Surplus liquidators buy inventories of unwanted, obsolete or excess merchandise, often as low at .10 on the dollar, providing a cash injection for the seller. This merchandise is then resold at prices substantially below wholesale. One way to source surplus merchandise is to search the Directory of U.S. Importers and Exporters, available in many public libraries.Purchased in small quantities these products can be retailed or sold at auctions for substantial profit. And for the savvy surplus finder a substantial payday can result.Dr. B James C BrunoAll Rights Reserved 2003
The above example clearly illustrates the following – focus on your original idea and ignore additional, superfluous features that might muddle your vision. Extra features will come into play later, once you clearly described and shaped your invention.
Step 2 Exploratory Stages – Determine if your idea is unique
Once you’ve documented your idea, you should start thinking about the following – how unique is my idea? In order to answer these questions, you will have to do some legwork and hit your local library and internet. Unless you allocated a large amount of your budget to Patent Lawyers, who will do t
Running a successful business takes a lot of energy and there are so many areas that as a business owner you need to pay attention too.It's not enough to spend heaps of time, money and resources into getting buyers for your goods and services and then leaving those clients/customers to their own devices.If you want to work less, have more time and make more money one very important aspect you have to take care of on an ongoing basis is nurturing those people who are prepared to spend their money with you.You cannot afford to take their money, sell the goods or perform the services and then hope they will call you when they need too.The HairdresserA couple of weeks ago I visited my hairdresser for my regular appointment. Now I have been loyally going to this hairdresser for at least 2 years, approximately every six weeks.On this particular occasion there were a couple of clients having their hair coloured and the owner and another assistant were fawning over three kittens which had kindly been supplied by the local vet.Apparently the vet was looking for a good home for the kittens and John,the owner and another staff member were going to take them home. The kittens were staying the afternoon at the salon for the benefit of their new owners (my hairdresser and his assistant).So here we were in an upmarket salon, with three kittens running around and the staff paying more attention to them than the clients.The second incident that occurred happened after I had my hair washed. I was left sitting in a chair waiting whilst John who is my hairdresser casually took his time looking at another client's holiday photos. That wasted at least 5 minutes. (Some people may not be bothered about having their time wasted, but unfortunately for John, I wasn't one of them).When he finally comes over, instead of asking me ho
Before we proceed with the discussion, I would like to offer a few words of wisdom. While working on your idea you will encounter people who will criticize your work and try to discourage you from forging ahead. Some of the criticism will be deserved and should be taken into account. If you see that a valid point is raised that you never thought of before - the better off you are. It gives you opportunity to pause and view your idea from another perspective (or angle). However, you may also encounter a so-called destructive criticism that is not based on any facts.
When you learn how to separate these two, you will be better of. My advice to you -
- Don't be afraid to question professionals, because most experts are one-track minded and oblivious to other things
- Don't be afraid to challenge other people's ideas, stand by your principles and be firm
- Don't be afraid to discover that your own idea is faulty. Pause, make corrections, re-analyze and move ahead
When you are ready to market your idea, you will have to deal with large corporations. Keep in mind that the bigger the company is, the more bureaucratic it is. Many big companies lose focus and often hire employees who are either not qualified for the job, or just not interested in what they are doing. If you come across these folks who are trying to make you feel insignificant (and your idea unimportant and impractical) don't get discouraged by this - chances are you will be better off dealing with smaller company that is more focused and willing to take risks!
Step 1 - Stay Focused and Clearly Document Your Idea
This step has huge benefits, because –
1. You will clearly define your idea/invention 2. While documenting your idea, you may find ways on how to expand your invention
Always try to put on paper what it is that you invented - precisely define your idea, its purpose, limitations and target audience. If you cannot precisely define your idea, then this means that you should take a step back, re-analyze your thinking and simplify things. The most common error that people make at this stage is over-complicating their idea. A quick example will clarify this point:
Case Study 1
John K. has an idea on how to improve Automatic Knife Mechanism. While laboring hard on his invention, John K. produces technical drawings and decides that his future product will benefit from the addition of extra items – a scissor and a screw driver. However, the addition of these items makes the final product larger and heavier. In order to make knife lighter, John K. goes back to the drawing board – he compromises his original, Automatic Push/Pull mechanism design in attempt to accommodate unnecessary extra features that have nothing to do with his unique design. By taking away features from his original design, John K. makes his final design very pedestrian and it lacks in originality.
In the final analysis, John K. should have stopped right before making any changes to his original Automatic Knife Mechanism and asked himself the following – am I better off with the original mechanism or with pedestrian mechanism which has extra features? Are the extra features even necessary?
The above example clearly illustrates the following – focus on your original idea and ignore additional, superfluous features that might muddle your vision. Extra features will come into play later, once you clearly described and shaped your invention.
Step 2 Exploratory Stages – Determine if your idea is unique
Once you’ve documented your idea, you should start thinking about the following – how unique is my idea? In order to answer these questions, you will have to do some legwork and hit your local library and internet. Unless you allocated a large amount of your budget to Patent Lawyers, who will do th
Ever since my kids can remember, I’ve worked from home. Sometimes I have to remind them that I’m not sitting home playing with their toys or eating bon-bons when they’re at the babysitter or at school, but for the most part they “get it”. As they get older and are able to comprehend dinner table conversations, they are developing a business vocabulary: tax write-off, clients, firing clients, blogs, podcasts, etc. Now I’m starting to get hammered with questions like, “Why do you have clients and Daddy has co-workers? Why does Daddy work in an office and you work at home?”At 4 and 6 years old, my sons are already noticing the differences between employees and entrepreneurs. I can’t help but wonder if they too will become entrepreneurs several years from now. Certainly they see some of the benefits–more flexible schedules (Mommy can get them on and off the bus in the morning and afternoon), no commuting costs (mommy doesn’t complain about the price of gas), mommy can watch school plays, help with kidwriting at kindergarten, chauffer them to doctor appointments and speech therapy sessions, and stay home with them if they’re sick without it being a major inconvenience.I hope that as they grow up, they’ll be able to see the hard work and rewards that come with being an entrepreneur. I’d like them to be able to spend more time doing activities they enjoy, spendi time with their family and friends and spend their working hours doing something they love. So how do we, as entrepreneurs, encourage our children to take the path of entrepreneurial freedom?Entrepreneurial Lesson Number One: Have Your Kids Help with Your Business: Even young kids can help you with very simple business tasks. A 3 or 4 year old can put some outgoing letters in the mailbox and raise the flag. A
When you learn how to separate these two, you will be better of. My advice to you -
- Don't be afraid to question professionals, because most experts are one-track minded and oblivious to other things
- Don't be afraid to challenge other people's ideas, stand by your principles and be firm
- Don't be afraid to discover that your own idea is faulty. Pause, make corrections, re-analyze and move ahead
When you are ready to market your idea, you will have to deal with large corporations. Keep in mind that the bigger the company is, the more bureaucratic it is. Many big companies lose focus and often hire employees who are either not qualified for the job, or just not interested in what they are doing. If you come across these folks who are trying to make you feel insignificant (and your idea unimportant and impractical) don't get discouraged by this - chances are you will be better off dealing with smaller company that is more focused and willing to take risks!
Step 1 - Stay Focused and Clearly Document Your Idea
This step has huge benefits, because –
1. You will clearly define your idea/invention 2. While documenting your idea, you may find ways on how to expand your invention
Always try to put on paper what it is that you invented - precisely define your idea, its purpose, limitations and target audience. If you cannot precisely define your idea, then this means that you should take a step back, re-analyze your thinking and simplify things. The most common error that people make at this stage is over-complicating their idea. A quick example will clarify this point:
Case Study 1
John K. has an idea on how to improve Automatic Knife Mechanism. While laboring hard on his invention, John K. produces technical drawings and decides that his future product will benefit from the addition of extra items – a scissor and a screw driver. However, the addition of these items makes the final product larger and heavier. In order to make knife lighter, John K. goes back to the drawing board – he compromises his original, Automatic Push/Pull mechanism design in attempt to accommodate unnecessary extra features that have nothing to do with his unique design. By taking away features from his original design, John K. makes his final design very pedestrian and it lacks in originality.
In the final analysis, John K. should have stopped right before making any changes to his original Automatic Knife Mechanism and asked himself the following – am I better off with the original mechanism or with pedestrian mechanism which has extra features? Are the extra features even necessary?
The above example clearly illustrates the following – focus on your original idea and ignore additional, superfluous features that might muddle your vision. Extra features will come into play later, once you clearly described and shaped your invention.
Step 2 Exploratory Stages – Determine if your idea is unique
Once you’ve documented your idea, you should start thinking about the following – how unique is my idea? In order to answer these questions, you will have to do some legwork and hit your local library and internet. Unless you allocated a large amount of your budget to Patent Lawyers, who will do t
As the parent of two school-aged children, it seems like every other day I get requests for contributions for art supplies, computer supplies, pencils and paper, ink cartridges, raffles, special events, teacher appreciation, club uniforms or church donations for the poor. The list goes on and on. If you gave every time you were asked, you are either rich, or are embarrassed to say NO! There must be a better way to raise small amounts of funds for these kinds of requests. Well there is another alternative, Garage Sales. Everyone has items stacked up in their garages, attics and closets that they no longer use or want. These items can be sold at a garage sale usually with a minimum of effort. Some or all of the proceeds of these sales can then be contributed to the causes mentioned above. Garage sales are fairly common across the country. In addition to individuals, many homeowner associations, apartment buildings and even small businesses periodically hold garage sales. The problem that most people have with garage sales is getting people to show up for them. The sellers must usually promote their garage sales in the newspaper, community papers or newsletters. For this they usually have to pay listing fee, sometimes costing $30 or more. There are now many Internet sites that will allow sellers to list their sales or items. Most of these are free to register and allow the seller to list several items in a classified ad format. These sites are mainly focused on selling single items. What if there was a way to list your garage sale and as many items as you wanted on a website for a small flat fee. The fee is less than the cost of a typical ad in a publication. And what if your school, club or other organization that needs to raise funds could split these flat fees. The group wanting to raise funds coul
Step 1 - Stay Focused and Clearly Document Your Idea
This step has huge benefits, because –
1. You will clearly define your idea/invention 2. While documenting your idea, you may find ways on how to expand your invention
Always try to put on paper what it is that you invented - precisely define your idea, its purpose, limitations and target audience. If you cannot precisely define your idea, then this means that you should take a step back, re-analyze your thinking and simplify things. The most common error that people make at this stage is over-complicating their idea. A quick example will clarify this point:
Case Study 1
John K. has an idea on how to improve Automatic Knife Mechanism. While laboring hard on his invention, John K. produces technical drawings and decides that his future product will benefit from the addition of extra items – a scissor and a screw driver. However, the addition of these items makes the final product larger and heavier. In order to make knife lighter, John K. goes back to the drawing board – he compromises his original, Automatic Push/Pull mechanism design in attempt to accommodate unnecessary extra features that have nothing to do with his unique design. By taking away features from his original design, John K. makes his final design very pedestrian and it lacks in originality.
In the final analysis, John K. should have stopped right before making any changes to his original Automatic Knife Mechanism and asked himself the following – am I better off with the original mechanism or with pedestrian mechanism which has extra features? Are the extra features even necessary?
The above example clearly illustrates the following – focus on your original idea and ignore additional, superfluous features that might muddle your vision. Extra features will come into play later, once you clearly described and shaped your invention.
Step 2 Exploratory Stages – Determine if your idea is unique
Once you’ve documented your idea, you should start thinking about the following – how unique is my idea? In order to answer these questions, you will have to do some legwork and hit your local library and internet. Unless you allocated a large amount of your budget to Patent Lawyers, who will do t
The human resource function has gone from the traditional hire and fire role to a strategic partner at the table with finance, operations and other business centers that are not centers of profit for the organization. The job of HR, as is the job of all such departments, is to ensure that the business gets the most out of its employees. Another way to put this is that the human resource management needs to provide a high return on the business’s investment in its people. This makes it a highly complex function – because it deals with not just management issues but human ones as well.These 2 polarities are not always easy to balance and the human resource managers specifically try to maximize output from employees by instituting various schemes and policies. The following are some of the functions handled by the human resources team.Handle compensation and rewards:– Human resources are responsible for tying incentives and rewards to certain positions and roles in order to maximize performance levels. This is a strategic thinking task because it affects every single person in the organization and has to be planned separately for each position, depending on level, department and goals. Some jobs need to be more goal driven, such as sales so salary can be basic but commission can form the bulk of the remuneration, leading to more incentive to work effectively and close sales. Some firms tie top management’s salary to stock price but this can be risky. It is up to human resources to structure this important aspect to everyone’s satisfaction.Recruitment:– Another important task handled by the human resource function is the selection and retention of employees. If the right type of employees does not enter the organization, its days are numbered, because people drive almost any type of organization towards success.Performance management:–
Case Study 1
John K. has an idea on how to improve Automatic Knife Mechanism. While laboring hard on his invention, John K. produces technical drawings and decides that his future product will benefit from the addition of extra items – a scissor and a screw driver. However, the addition of these items makes the final product larger and heavier. In order to make knife lighter, John K. goes back to the drawing board – he compromises his original, Automatic Push/Pull mechanism design in attempt to accommodate unnecessary extra features that have nothing to do with his unique design. By taking away features from his original design, John K. makes his final design very pedestrian and it lacks in originality.
In the final analysis, John K. should have stopped right before making any changes to his original Automatic Knife Mechanism and asked himself the following – am I better off with the original mechanism or with pedestrian mechanism which has extra features? Are the extra features even necessary?
The above example clearly illustrates the following – focus on your original idea and ignore additional, superfluous features that might muddle your vision. Extra features will come into play later, once you clearly described and shaped your invention.
Step 2 Exploratory Stages – Determine if your idea is unique
Once you’ve documented your idea, you should start thinking about the following – how unique is my idea? In order to answer these questions, you will have to do some legwork and hit your local library and internet. Unless you allocated a large amount of your budget to Patent Lawyers, who will do t
Are you looking to give a Valentine Day gift basket to that special someone? If you are, you may be wondering exactly how you can go about getting a Valentine Day gift basket to give, especially if this is your first time giving the gift of a gift basket. You may be pleased to know that you have a number of different options.One of the most popular ways to give a Valentine Day gift basket as a gift is by buying a pre-made one. What is nice about many pre-made gift baskets is that are many professionally made. In the United States and all around the world, there are a large number of professional gift baskets makers, many of which also make Valentine’s Day gift baskets. What is nice about a professionally made Valentine Day gift basket is that it is easy for you. If you place your order online, you simply just have to choose a gift basket, enter in your payment information, the delivery information, and you should be good to go.Another one of the many reasons why many choose to give professionally made Valentine’s Day gift baskets is because of their beauty. As previously mentioned, most gift basket business owners have experience with creating professional and beautiful looking gift baskets. It can be difficult, if not completely impossible, for you to recreate that work yourself, should you be interested in making your own Valentine Day gift basket.Speaking of making your own Valentine Day gift basket, it may be a little bit difficult to do, but it is more than possible. In fact, if you find yourself to be a crafty or a creative person, you may actually be able to create a nice looking Valentine Day gift basket. If you are unable to do so, it is important that you remember it is usually just the thought that counts.One of the many reasons why some choose to make their own Valentine’s Day gift baskets to give to that special someone is b
The above example clearly illustrates the following – focus on your original idea and ignore additional, superfluous features that might muddle your vision. Extra features will come into play later, once you clearly described and shaped your invention.
Step 2 Exploratory Stages – Determine if your idea is unique
Once you’ve documented your idea, you should start thinking about the following – how unique is my idea? In order to answer these questions, you will have to do some legwork and hit your local library and internet. Unless you allocated a large amount of your budget to Patent Lawyers, who will do the research for you, you will be better off doing initial research by yourself. Why? Because you may discover during your exploratory searches that your design is not unique and save yourself from paying Big Lawyer fees. A note of caution – don’t get discouraged if you determine that the idea similar to yours already exists and already patented. The fact that someone came to the similar conclusions as you, just a little bit earlier is good – you have a competition! Competition is good, competition is healthy! Carefully examine competing product, even take it apart, if necessary. Determine what differentiates your idea from competitor’s, its limitations and how successful was another person (or a company) with marketing it. As you can see, you can actually learn from mistakes of others, avoid their mistakes and forge ahead fully aware of competition and their limitations.
Step 3 - Product Safety Considerations
Whether you decided to produce a baby product or some type of household appliance, a special care should be taken in describing potential hazards associated with the use of your product. For example, if you invented a new toy designed for small children, try to come up with the list of parts that can potentially harm your little customers. Keep in mind that many people, unfortunately, disregard exploitation manuals. Determine what can or may go wrong with the operation of your product and determine ways on how to improve product safety. The questions that you may ask yourself are the following –
1. Am I using proper materials? 2. Maybe the part that contains the most hazards should be redesigned?
Try to come up with a thorough list of parts that can be potentially hazardous and fix your design before you start marketing your product. You may think of this step as unnecessary, but let me warn you – most marketing companies will require you to describe all Safety features of your idea, and you might save yourself some time by doing preparations ahead of time.
Step 4 - Demographics and Determining who will Use Your Product
Ones you have a clear picture of your product and you worked out all nuances of product design, try to determine who will use your product, when and where. Try to ask yourself the following questions –
1. What is the age bracket of target audience? 2. Is my product designed for Men, Women, or Both? 3. Where and when can it be used?
Correctly answering these questions will help you properly market your product and stay abreast of the competition. In addition, knowing answers to the above mentioned questions will help you in putting finishing touches on your product. How? If your product is designed for children, then it should be bright and colorful. In addition, if your product is designed for cold climate, you should avoid marketing it in areas where it’s hot all year long.
It is very likely that your product is tailored for certain industry (for example, agricultural); then think of those who will benefit the most from your invention! If your product is designed to work with specific soil or crops, then you should target geographical region rich with desired characteristics. As one can see, this step requires a thorough research, planning and leg work; the benefits, on the other hand, will be payoff rewarding!
Step 5 – Produce Full or Small Scale Model of Your Product
It is extremely important to create a working model off of your idea. Why? By having a real-life model of your idea (or a scaled-down version
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