I am very grateful to have the opportunity to be a guest blogger on the Womentorz blog. I was on Facebook one day and saw an interesting site geared toward women inventors. Being an inventor myself I was curious about this new community. I connected with Melinda and here I am.
I don't claim to be an expert but I have made my share of mistakes and ran down some rabbit holes in my pursuit of creating value with my ideas. I am always happy to share my experiences in the hope that others can learn.
"An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field."-Niels Bohr Physicist
Three key things every inventor needs to know
Get help
Helping people is what a a mentors do. Help is exactly what new and even experienced inventors need. It's not always easy to ask. When you think about getting help there are often even more questions. Who should I ask, what should I ask, what if I look dumb, and on and on. Fear can grip you and prevent you from taking the steps you so desperately need.
It's important to find a safe place to get the help you need. There are numerous scams out there with people just waiting to take your money. I met a man who was scammed out of $20,000 by a company promising to promote his invention and get it licenced by a big company. His story inspired me to start the InventionAddict blog and consulting business Inspiration2Innovation LLC.
Strength in numbers
I love the way Womentorz allows women to band together. By getting a group of inventors together it gives the site critical mass to attract a broader audience. Sure you can go it alone as an independent inventor and set up an on-line store for one product but you are narrowing you potential market. By offering a broad array of products you can get cross-over sales. Someone shopping for a gift may see a cute baby item they didn't know they needed.
Marketing matters
This is the area where I see the greatest need. A lot of people are good with the product but when it come to selling it they either have no idea where to start or they start and get in so deep on the wrong path they get discouraged and give up.
When pitching your invention think in terms of the benefit to the user, not the features of the product. Distill the benefit of your product into a single sentence. You have one sentence to get the attention of your prospective customer and if you don't hook them, they will move on.
The reason why I think Womentorz is such a great site it because it's on target with each of three of the key areas I've outlined.
Remember these things:
- Get help--you're in a good place for that!
- Keep in mind that one size does not fit all. Licensing is another way to get your product to market.
- Get started today, do something. Start small but start. Keep moving forward!
A little about me:
After working for almost 20 year as a mechanical design engineer and manager, I've made my first million. The trouble is that most of it is spent, in a 401(k), tied up in my home's equity. I'm now in pursuit of my second million. My goal is to work my out of my day job and work for myself.
My blog, InventionAddict.com, is centered on four things key things I am passionate about: reading, writing, learning, and teaching. By reading all sorts and sources of information and writing about on the blog, I continue to learn and it gives me the opportunity to teach people one-on-one via e-mail and webinars. I also just published my first inventing ebook, it's FREE!
Please visit the blog, my Facebook page, YouTube channel and Twitter. Feel free to send me an e-mail but don't disclose your invention until we get a NDA. I can help with CAD design, prototypes, tooling and a lot more.
Best of luck with you inventing endeavors.
