Turn Your Idea into the Next Big Thing

You can’t just sit in a room, come up with an idea and expect it to become the next big thing. To come up with a successful idea, you need to understand the marketplace and various steps are necessary if you want to benefit from your idea.  

Some people succeed in generating money and fame from their ideas but others may have a good idea that fails and wonder what went wrong. Focusing not only on product creation but thinking like a business person from the start can make the difference. Otherwise, you may end up devoting time and money to developing what isn’t the creative, money-generating new product you expected it to be. 

Some awesome new resources offer more opportunities than ever before for inventive product entrepreneurs to develop, manufacture, sell and distribute their products. The journey is unique for everyone but here are some common steps most successful inventors have to go through.  

Validate your market

Creative individuals are often so absorbed with their ideas that they ignore some basic business principles. For instance, it’s important to know your market size and your competition. Design and production costs, selling price, and profit potential are other factors to consider before you spend your money on bringing a product to market.   

Document your idea

It helps with the process of filing a patent if you keep an inventor’s journal and document everything about your idea, from what it is to how it works. The journal should contain concurrent numbered pages that you can’t remove or reinsert and must be signed by a witness. 

Build a prototype

Start with a basic concept that you can refine over time. It does not have to be fancy or expensive. The purpose is to help you figure out how to make your idea work. Only once you have worked out all the kinks and fully tested your concept, can you start thinking about developing a fully-functional prototype. Inventors will find a manufacturer to develop a final prototype for them.   

File a patent

If you want patent protection for your idea, you need to do your due diligence and find out first whether anyone else has patented it. It’s worthwhile to do a search at www.uspto.gov before you even try to find a patent attorney.  

InventHelp can refer you to a patent attorney when you’re ready to take the next step and want to patent your idea. If you don’t have a strong patent written by a patent attorney, competitors may find a loophole so they can copy your idea. 

Learn how to handle setbacks

Setbacks are unavoidable and will help you to eventually come up with the best possible product. You only know how to make improvements when you test something and find its flaws.  

You may be able to fix them or you may find the seed of another even better idea in the process of trying to do so. Testing a product on the people who will use it is one of the best ways to find flaws and fix them.  

Create a marketing plan

One of the biggest challenges for inventors is often in figuring out how to bring a product to the market. You need to decide if you’ll create and sell your products yourself or whether you’ll sell another company the rights to make, use and sell your products in exchange for a license fee and royalty payments. 

IP Watchdog has more information for you about the pros and cons of these two methods, so you can decide which method suits you best.