I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?
The bad news? Okay, here it is:
- Did you know that over 80% of all new products fail?
- Also, less than 5% of patent holders profit from their inventions.
Ready for some good news? In spite of the above sad statistics, thousands of inventors have made money (including me) and some have become wealthy from their inventions – including my friend Josh Malone.
How? They used creative marketing techniques to beat the odds.
Click the blue button to grab your FREE copy of – 4 More Recent Popular Blog Posts – Now.
Three Ways to Make Money with Your Invention
OPM #1 – License Your Invention
What if you have very little money for your invention? No problem – then use OPM – Other People's Money.
One of the simplest and most effective ways use OPM is to license your invention to a company – that manufactures similar products – in exchange for a small royalty percentage of each sale. Under a licensing deal, you license your patent(s) to a company and agree to provide them with broad powers to manufacture, package, and sell your product using their discretion to optimize sales.
Product licensing is widely misunderstood – many people assume the inventor gets paid almost nothing while the manufacturer makes out like a bandit. This is simply not true.
If your product sells well in the marketplace, a small royalty on each sale can add up to a lucrative income for you as the inventor – $100,000/year or more in some cases. The best news is you can license your invention at very little cost or risk to you. Roger Brown rarely spends more than $100 on an invention idea, for example.
Of course, there is no guarantee that your invention will have lucrative sales in the marketplace (or any sales), but a manufacturer is unlikely to license your product unless they feel confident the product may sell well. For more details on licensing, grab your copy of 4 More Recent Popular Blogs or check out my new online course Land Your License Deal.
OPM #2 – Market Test Your Invention with Kickstarter
I manufactured my first invention, the Savvy Caddy thin wallet, for over 8 years in China. I can assure you that, even with an inexpensive item like mine, venturing any product is challenging and quite risky. There are many things that can go wrong and every mistake costs you money, sometimes thousands of dollars.
Instead of taking the plunge to venture your product full time, why not use OPM and test market it for free?
Kickstarter and Indiegogo are great resources for inventors to do just that.
Of course there is some cost, you must shoot a great video (or pay an expert to do it for you). Also, there is no guarantee that your 30-day campaign (typical length) will achieve its funding goal. But my friend, inventor Josh Malone, literally kickstarted his $200 million Bunch O Balloons product sales with a Kickstarter campaign.
So, you'll never know if you don't try.
Turn Your Invention Into a Side Hustle
Millions of people work full time, but have a side hustle for a bit of extra income.
Maybe you have a great invention that your friends and relatives keep buying from you, but when you go to retail buyers or marketers – not so much. Frustrating, isn't it? Does the thought of spending thousands of dollars (you can't really afford) hoping to ‘hit it big' make you nervous?
Guess what? There is another path that doesn't cost much. Go small time – turn it into a side hustle.
If you can manufacture your product (ideally in the US) inexpensively and there seems to be a market for it, why not give it a try?
If your goal is to make a $500 to a few thousand per month, then why bother risking $5,000+ to patent your product? Just start making some copies of your invention, selling them on Amazon or your website, at festivals, anywhere you like. You can put as little or as much effort into it as you'd like. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a side hustle that makes you additional money every month – and it's possible you could turn it into a full time job. Wouldn't that be great?
One piece of advice: don't be shocked if, at some point, you receive a threatening “cease and desist” letter from an attorney for someone who has a patent on a similar product. Worst case, you might have to sell off your inventory and shut down your side hustle.
But you can always find another side hustle.
Make sure to grab your free PDF – 4 More Recent Popular Blogs – Cheat Sheet below now.
Stay tuned.