County fairs, Renaissance fairs, craft shows, home and garden shows, sports shows and auto shows are just a few of the events inventors can attend to sell their products, make some instant cash and test-market a new innovation. Your presence at a trade show might even be the launching pad for landing new investors or setting up a distribution network. All you have to do is pack up the van, drive to the show, set up a booth and start selling. You control everything, and substantial sales success can point the way to a big future market. However, your success at the show depends largely on how well you present yourself and sell others on your ideas.

Patent Agent and former Patent Examiner discusses low cost patent strategies. This is the first of five articles by Al Davis dealing with patents. Make sure not to miss any of them!

Women make or influence 85% of the purchasing decisions in today's marketplace. Consumer goods companies are finally waking up to that fact. Unfortunately, just taking the man off the box and replacing it with a woman is not the answer. Nor is it to use pink or other traditionally feminine colors for the packaging.

Unless you plan on manufacturing your product yourself, or plan on licensing your product, you will need to find a quality manufacturer to handle production of your product. So whether you are contract manufacturing, private-label selling, or forming partnerships, you will need to find someone who can cheaply and effectively make your product. But what do you look for in a manufacturer? There are a few important things that you need to check on before you hire or form a partnership with any manufacturer.