Do you every wonder, “Why does it take so long to make forward progress with my invention?”

I'll bet this query enters your mind just about every day, doesn't it?

Why does it take so long to get from an initial to a finalized prototype? Why does It take so long to get a filed patent fully prosecuted and issued (about 3 years)? Last but not least, why does it take so long to get your product commercialized and on retail store shelves?

The answer is “because it just does.” Not very satisfying, is it?

Would you like to know one tactic that can accelerate your progress faster than any other I know?

Read on.

__________________________________________________________

Have you thought about building your inventor's team? You should – you can't do it all yourself.

Just click on the blue button below to grab your FREE copy of – Building Your Inventor's Team – cheat sheet now.

Would you like to learn how to make money from your invention? Tired of just spending money?

Attend the next FREE live webinar – How to License Your Invention for Royalties.

All you need is your cell phone, laptop or computer to attend this LIVE webinar. Get all your questions answered.

Just click on the orange button below to sign up for the next FREE live webinar – License Your Invention for Royalties.

<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><script src="//static.leadpages.net/leadboxes/current/embed.js" async defer></script> <button data-leadbox-popup="TURyRS63E9GJdfGkMu9EAV" data-leadbox-domain="alanbeckley.lpages.co" style="background: rgb(42, 57, 163);border-color: rgb(42, 57, 163);border-radius: 17px;color: #FFFFFF;display: inline-block;vertical-align: middle;padding: 16px 32px;min-width: 192px;border: 1px solid rgb(42, 57, 163);font-size: 1rem;font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;text-align: center;outline: 0;line-height: 1;cursor: pointer;-webkit-transition: background 0.3s, color 0.3s, border 0.3s;transition: background 0.3s, color 0.3s, border 0.3s; box-shadow: 0px 2px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);">Send My FREE - Building Your Inventor's Team - Cheat Sheet Now</button> <!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->
<script src="//static.leadpages.net/leadboxes/current/embed.js" async defer></script> <button data-leadbox-popup="QoE8PF84eaiE5w4Wc5e2JH" data-leadbox-domain="alanbeckley.lpages.co" style="background: rgb(255, 85, 0);border-color: rgb(255, 85, 0);border-radius: 18px;color: #FFFFFF;display: inline-block;vertical-align: middle;padding: 16px 32px;min-width: 192px;border: 1px solid rgb(255, 85, 0);font-size: 1rem;font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;text-align: center;outline: 0;line-height: 1;cursor: pointer;-webkit-transition: background 0.3s, color 0.3s, border 0.3s;transition: background 0.3s, color 0.3s, border 0.3s; box-shadow: 0px 2px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);">Sign Me Up! - FREE License Your Invention for Royalties Webinar - Now</button> <!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->

Pick your path… and I'll pray*  

*Sorry, I couldn't avoid a shameless Fleetwood Mac reference!

There are many paths for your invention to move forward, including:

  1. Venturing Your Product – DIY (Do it Yourself) – building a business around it
  2. Kickstarter or Indiegogo – see if it will fly
  3. Licensing Your Invention

The mistake I made that back in 2004 cost me at least 5 years – I simply didn't pick my path – and stick to it!

I always knew that I wanted to license my invention – have someone else commercialize it so I could collect royalties and work on other things. But, after 3 years of chasing major wallet manufacturers, receiving little more than ho-hum interest, I got annoyed and restless.

I thought, “Fine, I'll just make some myself and see if I can sell them.” I changed paths from licensing to venturing (DIY) and I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

Flash forward to 2015. I was finally able to commercialize my thin wallet invention as the Wonder Wallet by licensing to Allstar Products. My mistake was that I got frustrated and distracted (sound familiar?) and decided to chase another direction. Unfortunately, there was no Kickstarter or Indiegogo in 2004 for me to simply test market my product. Live and learn.

My suggestion to you to avoid my dilemma – is to do your research early for your invention on which path forward is likely to be most productive for you, and more importantly, which path is compatible with your career and family obligations and goals.

Then, stick to it!

So, let's take a brief look at each of the 3 paths above and see what they offer you.

Venturing Your Product

Almost every inventor in the beginning, wants to venture or DIY his or her product.

Why? Because they have heard they will make much more money by venturing than by licensing it. Don't believe that!

I've done both and I can assure you that if you get a strong license agreement with a large company, you can make much more money licensing it than by venturing it.

Here is a simple venturing example.

Let's say you have a $25 consumer product that solves an annoying problem for buyers. Congratulations! You have the makings of a very successful invention. Surely it won't be that expensive to venture it and have it made in China… will it?

Well, your landed cost for each item should be about 20% of retail price so you are solidly profitable at every step of the sales chain – or about $5 in this case. Let's say you are able to get onto nationwide store shelves in Target. Yay! There are about 1,800 U.S. Target stores. So, you just need to order about 1,800 of your product to fulfill that order, so 1,800 at $5 is $9,000.

That doesn't seem too bad, right?

Here's the problem: 1,800 just handles the initial stock. Your order turnaround time with the Chinese factory is likely to be at least 3 months – possibly 4 months. So, you really need to order probably 3,600 – 5,000. Now you are closer to $25,000 initial costs to supply Target.

But wait, there's more!

You must have molds designed for your product and that may easily cost $30,000 (one time expense) in China (and dramatically more if you manufactured in the U.S.) So, you are now looking at $55,000 – $60,000 and that is just to handle Target stores. Also, you have warehousing expenses, labor costs, lots of other overhead costs. Soon your “little” product-based business has you accessing or borrowing $80,000 or more in capital. Sounds fun, doesn't it? Just make sure this is what you really want to do.

To be fair, if you are able to manage all of this and keep it moving forward, you may indeed make a lot of money. But, you will work long hours and have lots of financial obligations.

Kickstarter or Indiegogo – Venture Light

Another option is simply to “test the waters” with your product by doing a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign.

If you meet or exceed your campaign goal, you will be using OPM – other people's money – to pay for your initial manufacturing and distribution of the product. That is not a bad deal. Just make sure you have factored in all the costs to pay Kickstarter or Indiegogo their portion of the deal, to cover all shipping costs to your donors and then have a bit of profit left over for yourself.

After you have successfully manufactured and shipped out to all your donors, then you have a decision to make. Do you want to continue down this path? I said you should stick to your path. But, a Kickstarter campaign is by definition is something you do only once. This is what I mean by “venture light.”

So, in this case, it could be a good initial step even if your long-term path is to venture your product.

Licensing Your Invention

Licensing is my favored path. There are a lot of benefits to licensing your invention:

  • You have time freedom – to keep your full-time job or work on other inventions
  • Someone else is taking on all the financial burdens and risks – and they are better at it than you
  • You get a royalty every quarter as long as your product sells well in the marketplace

It may take you some time to find a company that is willing to license your invention – and there is no guarantee that anyone will choose to license your invention. New products and, especially, new inventions are risky – most new products of any kind fail within the first year.

Also, you must be willing to compromise on your invention.

The company that licenses your invention probably will have a different vision for your product than you do. They may want to use cheaper materials to make the product to preserve profit margins. They will probably choose to market it under a different brand name than you have used. They may then own the rights to that trademark (you will still control the patent).

But, compromise is not all bad.

In many cases, your licensee's choices will do very well in the marketplace. My trademark name for my wallets was Savvy Caddy – I liked it but no one else did. Allstar Products chose the Wonder Wallet name instead and it resonated very well with buyers – over 2.5 million were sold – not such a bad compromise.

So, carefully consider the paths for your product. Then pick a path that makes sense for you and stick to it!

Stay tuned.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Have you thought about building your inventor's team? You should – you can't do it all yourself.

Just click on the blue button below to grab your FREE copy of – Building Your Inventor's Team – cheat sheet now.

Would you like to learn how to make money from your invention? Tired of just spending money?

Attend the next FREE live webinar – How to License Your Invention for Royalties.

All you need is your cell phone, laptop or computer to attend this LIVE webinar. Get all your questions answered.

Just click on the orange button below to sign up for the next FREE live webinar – License Your Invention for Royalties.

<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><script src="//static.leadpages.net/leadboxes/current/embed.js" async defer></script> <button data-leadbox-popup="TURyRS63E9GJdfGkMu9EAV" data-leadbox-domain="alanbeckley.lpages.co" style="background: rgb(42, 57, 163);border-color: rgb(42, 57, 163);border-radius: 17px;color: #FFFFFF;display: inline-block;vertical-align: middle;padding: 16px 32px;min-width: 192px;border: 1px solid rgb(42, 57, 163);font-size: 1rem;font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;text-align: center;outline: 0;line-height: 1;cursor: pointer;-webkit-transition: background 0.3s, color 0.3s, border 0.3s;transition: background 0.3s, color 0.3s, border 0.3s; box-shadow: 0px 2px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);">Send My FREE - Building Your Inventor's Team - Cheat Sheet Now</button> <!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->
<script src="//static.leadpages.net/leadboxes/current/embed.js" async defer></script> <button data-leadbox-popup="QoE8PF84eaiE5w4Wc5e2JH" data-leadbox-domain="alanbeckley.lpages.co" style="background: rgb(255, 85, 0);border-color: rgb(255, 85, 0);border-radius: 18px;color: #FFFFFF;display: inline-block;vertical-align: middle;padding: 16px 32px;min-width: 192px;border: 1px solid rgb(255, 85, 0);font-size: 1rem;font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;text-align: center;outline: 0;line-height: 1;cursor: pointer;-webkit-transition: background 0.3s, color 0.3s, border 0.3s;transition: background 0.3s, color 0.3s, border 0.3s; box-shadow: 0px 2px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);">Sign Me Up! - FREE License Your Invention for Royalties Webinar - Now</button> <!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->