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Greetings!
This issue has a special follow up article from our
last newsletter. It is about how to sell many
products and will discuss how to turn short shelf
life from a problem to a path to success.
Also this month we have a special feature about
sourcing your manufacturing. We had this guest
author, Edith Tolchin, before and had a very good
response from her articles. Now she is back with a
great new article that you won't want to miss.
We also have some inventor news, another inventor
story and a new article by the Packaging Diva.
Enjoy!
| Introducing Many Products |
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Last issue we discussed why today is the best time
to get into inventing. One of our reasons why today
is the best time for inventing is because products
now have a very short shelf life. This seems
detrimental for inventors since they can no longer
sell their product for years and years. But this
problem can easily turn into a long-term sustainable
business, if you only know how.
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| To Source or Not to Source |
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YOU HAVE A GREAT INVENTION. You?ve
done lots of research. You have a
patent or patent-pending status and a
working prototype. You have made
several unsuccessful attempts at licensing,
and have decided you might like to
consider manufacturing on your own
so you can have better control of sales
and marketing. Now, the big question
...SHOULD YOU SOURCE YOUR
PRODUCT IN ASIA?
Many factors should be considered
before sourcing in Asia. I always like
to end my articles on a positive note,
so I will list the cons first, and then
the pros!
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| Inventor Story: Chris Grenner |
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Chris Grenner's woods were being invaded by an
invasive plant called the bush honeysuckle. He
tried traditional methods of removing the plants,
but all methods were deficient.
As a tool-maker by trade, he thought that he could
probably invent a better tool for removing the
bushes that can reach 15' in height and 6' in
diameter. He began to study the honeysuckle so he
could devise the best tool.
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| Upcoming Events of Interest for Inventors |
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September 7-9, 2006 TGIFcon (Toy and Game
Conference and Expo. www.tgifcon.com
September 8-9, 2006
Annual USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark
Office) Independent Inventors Conference
PTO Campus, Alexandria, VA, Cathie.Kirik@USPTO.gov
October 19-21, 2006
Yankee Invention Expo.
Waterbury, CT 203-575-8322
www.yankeeinventionexp.com
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| Smart Consumer Vs Dumb Packaging |
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Smart, savvy, sophisticated, educated, intelligent
and informed
This is your consumer that will be buying your
product. (we hope).
Dumb, stupid, difficult, idiotic, overpackaged or
just plain dopey...
This is the package that is supposed to persuade
them to buy. Big gap between the two.
So how can your package ?Connect? with a smart
consumer? Let?s find out.
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| Read a review from Amazon.com about Don's New Book |
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The Risk-Free Entrepreneur a great read for me for
one major reason - I have several great ideas for
products and companies but I don't have resources
(mainly money) or the time to pull off the launch.
So the ideas remain tucked away in my desk drawer,
and I have never acted upon them.
But Debelak's book gives hope. By using Other
People's Money (he refers to this philosophy as
OPM), he immediately shifted my train of thought
from how can I launch my own company to what one
contact can I connect with at a company that gets me
on my way?
Better yet, Debelak lays out good, easy action steps
for the procrastinating entrepreneurs. He talks
about targeting sales people inside a company with
an idea or if you don't know where to turn, he
points out resources such as the Service Corps of
Retired Executives (SCORE). Upon reading, my initial
fear was that despite the idea of Debelak's OPM
philosophy, it still would make for a tough time
getting through corporate chains of command, but he
offers a great solution of suggesting a "market
test" to a potential partner, a pilot of sorts that
lowers the risk stakes. The Risk-Free Entrepreneur
also offers a good template for setting the
expectation of potential partners, as you can then
control whether a test market was a success or not.
Debelak gives many examples of real people who have
capitalized on the OPM philosophy and also takes you
from the idea stage to how to come up with the final
numbers for your contract. For those like me, who
might be still worried that sharing a product or
idea with another company to use "other people's
money" would only set yourself up to have an idea
stolen eventually, Debelak gives details on how to
avoid this. such as "path to market" presentations
on just how many complex details you are taking care
of and the value you provide a company to help give
them an edge in the marketplace. The book is a quick
read, and a good one. It shifted my mind to take my
ideas in a direction that I had no idea even really
existed.
Learn more...
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We would love to hear from you |
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Do you have any topics you want covered in our
newsletters? Let us know. We are always trying to
make this newsletter the most helpful for you so
please let us know how to improve.
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