Read Online Invent It, Sell It, Bank It!: Make Your Million-Dollar Idea Into a Reality by Lori Greiner - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Lori Greiner
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know what a market needs if you are the market. Of course, you can successfully create products for demographics beyond your own; you’ll just need to be extra careful with your market research and how you target that audience.
Stories abound of inventors using everyday materials from home, like cardboard, clay, foam, wood, and disassembled household products, to create precursors to prototypes—called mock-ups—that test their designs and ensure they actually work. Rick Hopper created models of his magnetized glasses holder by bending paper clips into various shapes and experimenting with different-strength magnets. The creators of the Drop Stop experimented with multiple types of stuffing and stitching before deciding upon the final design of their invention. I wanted to be sure my design would work the way I thought it would before committing to the expense of a prototype. How hard could it be? AllI needed to do was cut a few round rods and crossbars to size, drill a few holes, and my organizer would be complete. I even knew where I could get my hands on the right tools—a basement woodshop in rural Illinois that belonged to my husband’s grandfather. The problem was, being a city girl, though I had access to tools, I had no idea how to use them. I needed help. So I turned to my husband, Dan, who was extremely handy and had plenty of experience.
Do everything yourself, except when you absolutely can’t. Know when to ask for help or let the experts do their job.
I’ve gone on record saying that, in principle, inventors should do as much as possible themselves because it is cheaper than hiring everything out and, more important, the experience and expertise you gain sets you up much better for success later. With enough time, you can learn how to do anything. The problem is, of course, that some jobs are just out of our league; and when time is short, speed and efficiency sometimes need to take precedence over principle. In addition, if you’re going for the mass market, you’re eventually going to have to navigate certain rules regarding your industry. You’ll have to adhere to previously unknown safety regulations, and you have to learn about labeling for the American market, the European market, or whatever market you’re planning to sell to. Each has its own rules and regulations; they are not always one and the same. It’s unlikely you have the training to deal with that on your own. Even if you were capable of making your product on your own in large enough quantities to fulfill mass orders, you wouldn’t want to be forced to stop selling because you didn’t research and comply with the laws governing the manufacture or use of your product.
Whenever you do ask someone to take over a job, make sure to stay close to the process and learn as much as possible. Shadow the person you hire, if you can. Talk with the individual, watch, and listen so that by the time the person is done, you are on your way to becoming an expert in this area, too. As long as you take the opportunity to educate yourself, any money you spend on hiring experts to help or advise you will be well spent.
Dan and I drove to his grandfather’s woodshop together. I hovered nearby as he cut the wood according to my specifications. He was patient, taking my nerves in stride. Parts cut, we assembled the organizer, and then I spent a long time attaching earrings to the rods and moving all the parts around to make sure that each piece worked the way I thought it should. Much to Dan’s chagrin, it didn’t work exactly right. The panels didn’t slide smoothly and there wasn’t enough room for all the different types of earrings a woman might have in her collection. So we started over from scratch. Hours later, at the end of the day, I finally had a crude but functional earring organizer that worked exactly the way I had envisioned.
It worked, but it wasn’t pretty. What materials was I going to use? I wasn’t an artisan craftsman
Stories abound of inventors using everyday materials from home, like cardboard, clay, foam, wood, and disassembled household products, to create precursors to prototypes—called mock-ups—that test their designs and ensure they actually work. Rick Hopper created models of his magnetized glasses holder by bending paper clips into various shapes and experimenting with different-strength magnets. The creators of the Drop Stop experimented with multiple types of stuffing and stitching before deciding upon the final design of their invention. I wanted to be sure my design would work the way I thought it would before committing to the expense of a prototype. How hard could it be? AllI needed to do was cut a few round rods and crossbars to size, drill a few holes, and my organizer would be complete. I even knew where I could get my hands on the right tools—a basement woodshop in rural Illinois that belonged to my husband’s grandfather. The problem was, being a city girl, though I had access to tools, I had no idea how to use them. I needed help. So I turned to my husband, Dan, who was extremely handy and had plenty of experience.
Do everything yourself, except when you absolutely can’t. Know when to ask for help or let the experts do their job.
I’ve gone on record saying that, in principle, inventors should do as much as possible themselves because it is cheaper than hiring everything out and, more important, the experience and expertise you gain sets you up much better for success later. With enough time, you can learn how to do anything. The problem is, of course, that some jobs are just out of our league; and when time is short, speed and efficiency sometimes need to take precedence over principle. In addition, if you’re going for the mass market, you’re eventually going to have to navigate certain rules regarding your industry. You’ll have to adhere to previously unknown safety regulations, and you have to learn about labeling for the American market, the European market, or whatever market you’re planning to sell to. Each has its own rules and regulations; they are not always one and the same. It’s unlikely you have the training to deal with that on your own. Even if you were capable of making your product on your own in large enough quantities to fulfill mass orders, you wouldn’t want to be forced to stop selling because you didn’t research and comply with the laws governing the manufacture or use of your product.
Whenever you do ask someone to take over a job, make sure to stay close to the process and learn as much as possible. Shadow the person you hire, if you can. Talk with the individual, watch, and listen so that by the time the person is done, you are on your way to becoming an expert in this area, too. As long as you take the opportunity to educate yourself, any money you spend on hiring experts to help or advise you will be well spent.
Dan and I drove to his grandfather’s woodshop together. I hovered nearby as he cut the wood according to my specifications. He was patient, taking my nerves in stride. Parts cut, we assembled the organizer, and then I spent a long time attaching earrings to the rods and moving all the parts around to make sure that each piece worked the way I thought it should. Much to Dan’s chagrin, it didn’t work exactly right. The panels didn’t slide smoothly and there wasn’t enough room for all the different types of earrings a woman might have in her collection. So we started over from scratch. Hours later, at the end of the day, I finally had a crude but functional earring organizer that worked exactly the way I had envisioned.
It worked, but it wasn’t pretty. What materials was I going to use? I wasn’t an artisan craftsman
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