Way too many inventors believe that all you need is a great idea and the world will beat a path to their door. Didn’t they ever hear the famous Thomas Edison quote, ” Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration”? It is called product development for a reason. You must Develop the product. 

The most successful product developers are big companies like Procter and Gamble or Black and Decker. They put together a team of experts to work on a project. Designers, engineers, prototypers, marketing, but do you know who they consider the most important element? Market Research. The Voice Of the Consumer or Customer, what they call the VOC. They use that information to develop a product that their demographic will buy. 

Jennifer Dale of  www.insideheads.com is a market research junky. She is addicted to finding answers to questions that most other people would never even think to ask. As a practicing researchaholic myself, I found this woman to be a fountain of knowledge with incredible focus.          

She will show you how to define your demographic, conduct a number of different information gathering-techniques, use that information to create a profile or define additional issues that need to be addressed, the difference between quantitative and qualitative analysis, etc., etc.. What you will learn in one afternoon will astound you but it doesn’t stop there. Through her website she can help you do it yourself or do the research for you.

One of the most important things any professional and inventor needs to do is evolve with their field of expertise. Ms. Dale has done so with a vengeance. She worked with Amy Yoffie at Research Connections to develop two of the first web-based online platforms for conducting surveys and focus groups. Jennifer also co-authored Qual-Online, the Essential Guide and published innumerable articles regarding the subject. 

If you ever watched Shark Tank you know that the make or break question always is, What are your sales? You can’t have sales without product but doing even a short run is costly. I know or know of a lot of inventors who really believed in their invention and now have a garage full of product with very little sales. 

Professional Help

Every inventor that I know, at some point, needs Professional Help. No, I don’t mean that they have mental complications. Even if you are handy and can do your own prototypes or CAD drawings, there comes a time when you may need an engineer to work out some technical issues or need “real” machinery to accomplish your vision.

Nicholas Tamborello just might be your guy. He started out working for a machine shop in high school. Then worked his way up to a CNC machinist / programmer. He went on to get his mechanical engineering degree. This lead to various jobs including production engineering.

In 2019, he opened his own company IntelliTrace Solutions https://intellitracesolutions.com/  and started working with inventors / entrepreneurs. Then things got really interesting. Some may just need some design for manufacturability or a 3D printed prototype. Some may have an idea of what they want it to do but haven’t a clue as to how to even get started.

Nicholas is very customer orientated. He tries to build a relationship by educating his clients. I spent some serious time on the phone with him and I was impressed by his knowledge as well as his experience but I was equally impressed with his interest in inventors.

I believe you will be impressed as well which is why I decided to start the year off by bringing him in as a speaker. You will learn how to plan a project from start to finish, what to watch out for, and so much more.

2021 was a tough year for everyone and I’ve seen so many people lose their motivation. We need to jump start that motivation. We need to adopt a Can Do Attitude for 2022. 

Patent Searching Made Easy

The easiest way to do a patent search … is to hire Patent Search International (PSI) to do it for you. At $250.00, including a patentability opinion by a patent attorney and a FREE Trademark search, it doesn’t pay to do it yourself. 

Of course, there is always a catch. The quality of the search will depend on how well you answer the questioner. On the other hand, even if you made a weak disclosure, you can use this search to expand your own search.     

Ronald Brown founded PSI http://patentsearchinternational.com/  in 1974 and mainly worked for attorneys and businesses. In 1985, he expanded his clientele to independent inventors. He felt, that the inventors were getting cheated because the attorneys would mark up his work by $800.00 to over $1000.00. He also worked with his state attorney offices to put Invention Promotion Companies out of business because he cares about independent inventors.

He will go over how to do a patent search as well as what a good search entails. He will also share some of the tricks of the trade that he learned along the way. This will make a good primer if you want to do your own search.

However, most inventors that I know, Hate patent searching with a vengeance. Consequently, do a horrible job or spend an hour or two and are convinced that there is nothing out there like their invention. This could turn out to be a costly mistake because the examiner Will find something and every time they do, your attorney will have to answer the rejection. The more they find, the more it will cost you.

Worst case scenario, PSI does your search and finds your invention is unpatentable. You can decide to move on to something else without incurring all the cost of prosecution or use their search to expand your own to learn more about the art. This is how the patent system is suppose to work. By learning from other patents, you may just find that gold nugget that inspires that ah-ha moment that will bring you to commercial success.

Successful Inventor Stories

Don Debelak knows more about inventing than just about anyone I know. He writes articles on every facet of the subject including marketing, development, research, you name it. He is even a patent agent so he can answer questions related to patent procedures. So picking a topic for his presentation was not going to be easy. 

He suggested, Inventors Who Made It Big (How You Can Duplicate Their Success) and I said WOW !!! When I saw the slides I knew this is going to be fantastic. 

The USPTO tells us that 97% of all issued patents never make back the money spent on their development. That means only 3% are doing something right and I want to know what they are doing that I’m not doing so I can start doing something right. Don’t you?  

The inventions that he picked to be in the presentation cover a variety market agendas from sports to cleaning products, consumer goods to music software. So you will be able to identify with the issues these inventors faced.

He will then bring it all home by pointing out specific areas of research and development such as;

• The importance of Trade shows, magazines and organizations.
• Early research marketing and production
• Key attitudes you Must have to succeed
• Quick start tactics
• Where to find help

If you have any desire to get a product to market, you cannot miss this presentation. It will give you the foundation from which your creativity can flourish.

Holy Poo !

You Won’t Believe This!

I have been writing about this invention since the days of our monthly newsletter because it embodies and the story behind it shows how to create the perfect invention. First, it fills a long felt need with a simple inexpensive solution based on a ton of research.

Judy and Bill Edwards are going to tell us the story behind how Squatty Potty, a simple little stool, went from a way to help with Mom’s elimination issues to a Multi Million Dollar product.

Back in 2010, Judy was having problems with constipation and hemorrhoids. She consulted a therapist who suggested that she try using a step stool to imitate a squatting position. Subsequent research uncovered that people in the Middle East who still use the squatting method as they did for centuries have very little to no bowl issues. Colon cancer is almost unheard of.

Unfortunately, Judy tried everything from piles of books to various stools and couldn’t find anything that worked with our western toilets. So her son, Bobby, a successful designer and contractor, started making prototypes in the family garage. Finally, he came up with a design that worked.

They started giving them to fiends and family as Christmas gifts, who found them very useful. Then the family got serious. They developed a name, a sales pitch, a website, got a patent, and 2000 units from China. As you might expect, they were met with skepticism. Undaunted, Bobby started sending them out for FREE to Doctors, health bloggers and other people with influence. The company grossed over a Million Dollars in their first year.

Doctor Oz had them on his show. Howard Stern, became a fan. Then they hit a wall and sales started to fall. That is when, after 2 tries, they got on Shark Tank and the product exploded into a Ship Load of associated products, which you can buy here https://www.squattypotty.com/

As you all know, the devil is in the details. The family’s bathroom humor is definitely part of the charm and success of the product. They even put out a commercial with a Unicorn that poops rainbow colored ice cream. This is your opportunity to meet the folks and learn how you can adapt their methods to your projects.