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May 2022!

Whether you are an experienced inventor or a newbie who just came up with your first big idea, the Inventor Smart Monthly newsletter is for you! You will find valuable tips, useful resources and words of wisdom that can help you move your invention forward!

From Inspiration to Success
Kerry Cooke

Congrats to Kerry Cooke on her issued patent and invention winning Best Dog Product of the Year!

From Kerry: “Our highlight this month is getting our Patent granted April 19th 2022! We launched while patent pending and have had our product on the market for the past year.  We won best Dog Travel Product of the Year by Pet Business Magazine too!”

Spleash® set out to make walking your dog more comfortable and stress-free with this brand new, innovative dog leash accessory. This all-in-one tool easily attaches to your favorite leather, rope, or nylon leash using its patented design. Now you can quickly refresh your pet on long walks, runs, and hikes – WITHOUT the need for a water bottle and bowl. https://spleash.com/ 

Spotlight on Learning
Do you have what it takes to achieve success?

To take a great idea or concept from brain wave to prototype to marketplace, it takes more than dedication, determination and drive. To do your due diligence, to research and refine, to educate and inform, to overcome setbacks, to protect your work, to form partnerships and leverage your success takes more than perseverance and people skills.

Whether you’re inventive and imaginative; whether you brainstorm or work alone; whether you’re still thinking about taking that first step or you’re already working on your big idea, the one quality you have to have in order to succeed as an inventor is patience with the process.

Bright Idea:
Inventor Tip from Brian Fried

Quick tips to get you started on your invention idea

  • Keep That Idea Close – Capture that idea immediately by writing it down, sending yourself a text message, an email or leaving yourself a voice message describing your idea.
  • Visualize Your Idea – Draw what you envision your idea looks to the best of your artistic ability and think about how it would be made.
  • Your Idea Used By Others – You may be emotionally attached to your idea, however you should think about how others would feel about it and if they would use it. Why would someone buy it? What do you think it would cost in retail? Who is your target audience? Is your idea for the masses or limited to a select group of potential clients or customers?
  • Is it Your Idea or Someone Else’s? – Perform a search to reveal if your invention idea already exists by checking online stores, going to local boutiques, watching home shopping channels during your product category airing, looking through popular print or online catalogs, visiting specialty or big box brick and mortar retailers where you think your product may be sold.
  • Track Your Facts – Keep a log of what you find by jotting down the stores that had similar or the same type of products, the brand names, patent numbers, was that and your thoughts to compare and research relative to your idea Moving Forward or
  • Moving on With Your Idea – Did you find your idea out in the market already? Is there a big enough difference from what you were thinking to what already exists? Did you not find anything at all that looks like or describes your idea?
  • Claiming Your Idea – This may require professional help by a patent attorney or agent for them to read through the patent records and review the products you found.

Source: Inventing Secrets Revealed Book by Brian Fried

Question: 

What advice would you give for an aspiring inventor with a limited budget?

Answer:

First, you must establish that the idea you’ve come up with is truly your own. Take advantage of search engines like Google to do this, and run multiple searches to ensure your idea is, in fact, original.  Make sure you run multiple searches for different keyword variations, and use both the web and image search features.  You should be searching as if you wanted to find a product identical to your invention idea.  It’s a good idea to keep a log of what you find, referencing the images or URLs of the products similar to your idea.

Once you’ve done thorough research on Google and you’re confident that your product hasn’t been created yet, the next logical step is to perform a patent search.

Alternatively, you can reach out to a patent attorney or a patent agent; they can perform a patent search and provide you with a professional opinion about whether or not your idea could be protected.

Once you’ve found information on existing products that are similar to yours, you can take these findings and present them to a patent attorney or a patent agent to determine whether or not your idea could be protected.

Keep in mind, if a patent search and evaluation are not done properly before you attempt to license your product, there could be negative consequences in the future, as you may find out that your invention is infringing on someone else’s intellectual property.

Next, you’ll want to create a mock-up, also known as a prototype.  Creating a prototype of your invention is another critical step for making your idea a reality.  Prototype creation can cost as little as $50 and up for a basic concept, depending on the features and materials your prototype will require.  

There are many options for making a prototype these days, including CAD (computer-aided drawing) models and 3D printing, but the goal is to produce a prototype that looks, feels, and functions like the finished product you’re envisioning.

You’ll want to make sure your prototype serves as a high-quality model, as this is what you’ll be presenting to potential licensees, investors, and partners.

9 times out of 10, inventors on a limited budget will find that licensing their product is the best way to bring it to market.  When you license your invention, this means you are working with another company, also known as a licensee, who is renting out the rights to your intellectual property.  Most of the time, the licensee you work with will cover the cost of manufacturing and distribution, ultimately limiting the amount of money you’ll need to spend on your idea.

When you work with a licensee, your total investment may not go beyond the costs of your patent search, patent filing, design preparation, and prototype creation/ presentation.  Not only can working with a licensee allow you to minimize your costs, but you will be able to sit back and collect royalty checks without having to do much additional work. – Brian Fried

We had an interesting NIC April 2022 meeting, Our NIC Guest Speaker Ken Rosenfield is a tax expert, CPA that helped us answer tax related questions for our business and inventions. 

He answered questions such as, is your Invention or startup a tax write off? Can the research and development expenses, patents you file, prototypes created, production of your product or time you spend working on your business or invention be considered a tax write off?

Also, we learned what the differences are between various corporate structures, like LLC’s, C and S Corps, Sole Proprietor in order to prepare your business for future earnings!
Ken also shared stories of products and service businesses that he’s worked with that started off in the garage and now running thriving businesses.

We also heard some upcoming events of the USPTO shared by Albert Wong from USPTO, introductions from new members and our featured inventor in our Inventor Spotlight.

The National Inventor Club provides an opportunity for networking and open Q & A sessions with speaker, founder and moderator, Brian Fried. All premium members meet in the NIC after-meeting networking event to discuss the meeting topic and various topics.

National Inventor Club is one of the largest communities for inventors, innovation, and service providers that support invention and continues to provide a nationwide platform for great guest speakers, networking and connections founded and moderated by Brian Fried, who has been running inventors clubs for over 15+ years.

To become a member, free or paid for inventors and service providers, please join us National Inventor Club: https://nationalinventorclub.com

In case you missed the April 2022 NIC meeting or you’d like to hear it again, visit this link: 

The Got Invention Show

The Got Invention Show features 30-minute interviews where an inventor promotes an invention, seeks a licensing deal or looks for distribution opportunities. Host Brian Fried focuses on his guest’s challenges and solutions. He asks about their journey, where they are right now and what will come next. He invites guests to offer words of wisdom to the audience.

For the Got Invention Show, Brian interviewed the Post-it Note inventor, Alan Amron. Alan Amron is a prolific inventor and creator of new, novel, and unique ideas. From products to negotiations, he has a unique gift. His father Herman Amron used to tell his friends, “Μy son Alan could put his finger in a glass of water, and it would turn into Seltzer.” And his father’s predictions came true. Today, Alan has 40 United States patents issued. Some of his inventions include the battery-operated water guns for Larami, Blue Box, LJN, Tyco, Buddy L, Coleco, and Remco toys, Air pressurized water guns for Trendmaster, Bubbles and water sprinkler for Fisher-Price. Of course, let’s not forget the Photo wallet for Nikon Camera, the First Down Laser Line for football, and the Press-on Memo sticky notes today known to the whole world as Post-it notes by 3M.

To schedule your interview on the Got Invention Show, please visit
www.gotinventionshow.com

**Congratulations to Got Invention Show, now seen on Amazon Fire, RokuTV and YoutubeTV and the podcast can be heard on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Google and Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music.! Inventors can schedule their interview on www.GotInventionShow.com

From the Inventor Community
Samantha Jane St. Raymond

Entrepreneurs don’t finish when we are tired. We finish when we are done. ~ Robert T. Kiyosaki

“Every entrepreneur has hit a wall along their path (probably more than one, right?).

While some people see a wall and turn around to walk back, we (entrepreneurs) look up to see if we can scale it. We visualize the other side to see if we can punch through it. We look at the sides of the wall to see if we can walk around it.  We look at the wall and think, “Can my product work with this wall?” We do what it takes to remove that wall because the one thing we know we can’t do is turn around. We do not walk back. We are finished until we are done.  And that is the true spirit and grit of an entrepreneur. 

Wherever you are in your product’s process, you are not alone in the twists and turns of your seed level thought to mass production. It is not a straight path, but the winding road will lead you to networking, unique opportunities, and necessary changes to your original plan that will allow you to toast your success.  So here we are to let you know today: Keep going. You aren’t alone. You aren’t finished until you are done.” 
–Samantha J. St. Raymond
My Business: www.yellowdogtable.com
My Philanthropic Endeavors: www.playitforwardstl.org 

News from the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO)

Trademark Basics

Do you have a name or logo you’re using to advertise your business? You might have a trademark. Learn how to protect it through the federal registration process.

About Brian Fried 

Brian Fried, serial inventor, is an award-winning authority in the invention industry, a sought- after celebrity guest speaker and an advocate for the invention community. As Chief Invention Officer of Inventor Smart and Expert Inventor Coach, Brian represents inventors at every stage of the invention process, project managing new up-and-coming inventions from idea to manufacturing or as an invention licensing agent to secure deals with major brands and earn royalties for inventors.

Brian is the founder of the National Inventor Club where guest speakers focus on topics of interest to the inventor community. 

He is a 2x author and his 3rd book is expected to be published in March 2022. He also hosts Got Invention Show and Radio where you can watch on RokuTV, Amazon Fire, YouTube TV, and you can hear his podcasts on Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music Google and Apple Podcasts. Brian recently launched a new merch line with various designs for inventors, InventorMart.com

You can visit Brian’s personal website at BrianFried.com

Inventor MasterClass is now available! If you want to evaluate your invention, find out if licensing or manufacturing is the right decision for you, sign up for an eLearning course at InventorClass.com. National Inventor Club Members receive a discount. For inventor resources, more information and additional tips visit Inventor Smart

Copyright © 2022 *INVENTOR SMART*, All rights reserved.

Past Newsletters

September 2023

September 2023 Whether you’re an experienced inventor or a newbie who just came up with your first big idea, the Inventor Smart Monthly Newsletter is

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