The World's Best Job:
- Can receive a 6-figure income
- Job can last 10 years or more
- If the company makes more money, so do you
- No specific experience required
- No boss or supervisor looking over your shoulder
- Work from home or ski slopes and still get paid
- Contracted, no layoffs
Who wants to apply?
The most amazing thing is that very few people apply for the job.
So, what is this dream job that everyone would love to have yet few ever apply? The answer: the lifestyle an inventor can expect if he or she closes a successful licensing agreement for their invention with a major manufacturer.
In a successful licensing situation, the licensee will manufacture, package and get your product distributed into hundreds or perhaps thousands of retail stores – in exchange they will pay you a small royalty percentage for the use of your intellectual property. If the product sells successfully for the licensee, your small royalty could amount to lucrative payments to you every quarter – for which you must do nothing except check your mailbox and cash the royalty checks. In fact, your licensing contract means you will have freedom to use your time however you like – to develop other products, to vacation and travel, etc.
Of course, there are caveats. Your product must have clear value to consumers so they will choose to buy it over competitive products. It must be competitively priced so it is solidly profitable for wholesalers, retailers, catalogs, home shopping and other venues. Also, it must provide a concrete market advantages for your licensee with minimal risk; otherwise, they wouldn't bother licensing the product.
Given all of the above, why do so few inventors apply for the dream job of a solid licensing agreement for their product?
Licensing is hard work: it takes a great deal of persistence, follow up, due diligence and a clear understanding of the marketplace and the business needs of the licensee. In many cases, the inventor may spend months or even years attempting to license a product before anyone signs on the dotted line of a licensing agreement. There is no guarantee that a licensing agreement might be obtained for any given product.
To put this into perspective, many people invest 4, 6, 8 or more years in college to obtain advanced degrees so they can land not the world's best job, but rather a good job in their career of interest. Once they obtain credentials and experience to land that great corporate job, the career victory could be Pyrrhic if corporate downsizing sends them home to look for a new job.
Business decisions are made on the basis of risk versus reward. When it comes to licensing your product to a manufacturer; the risk – not landing a deal – is minimal, whereas the reward – landing the world's best job and being paid handsomely for years – is maximal.
Think about it.
In the next blog, I will give some guidelines to increasing your chances of landing a lucrative licensing deal for your product.
Stay tuned!
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