Inventors of just one product typically won't have a lot of luck selling it to mass merchants, because mass merchants don't want to buy from small, unknown companies that could be unreliable suppliers. But rather than accept defeat, inventors often turn to private labeling.

Bottled water just surpassed the sales of bottled cola in the last month. Who would have thunk it? Was bottled water on anyone?s mind 15 years ago? I, however, was not surprised to read this. It was only a matter of time.

Inventors with great ideas for new products often don't have great ideas for selling those products. Sometimes the most important thing for selling your product is to determine which market is best for your product. If you invented the product for a certain situation, people with a similar problem in a different situation might actually be your better customers. Let's look at Dan Grace and Jeff Polke and see how their product's sales increased after switching markets.

Find out what Don thinks about ABC's American Inventor. While the show is promising in its treatment of different types of inventors, Don thinks some of the judges only care about contestant's personalities.