A Good Woman and the Nine Day Work Week
How hard are you really working to call yourself an inventor? Do you work on your inventions every day? Is inventing your job, or is it just a hobby? My point is this. About five years ago my wife said to me, “your’e a good inventor, what if you invented full-time?” God, I love this woman! It was on, and I ran with it all-out. I was so excited, I only slept about four to five hours a day. On the third or fourth day, I realized that every two days that I slept only 5 hours, I would pick up an extra half a day of inventing. So, for every week of sleeping four to five hours per night, I picked up two full days of working on prototypes. I turned a normal week into a nine day work week.
I have been working a nine day work week for about four years. Yet, this post is not about the time I have invested in inventing, it’s about a woman that invested in me. How can you let someone down that believes in you like that? YOU CAN’T.
I wish every inventor had a wife just like mine. Dorothy is truly AMAZING! She is my biggest fan sent from above, and all those PB&J’s were so special because we ate them together. Thanks for believing I could do it. I love you babe, InventorMan.
Read MoreFinding the Trade Shows in 2012 that are Just Right for Your Products
Let’s talk about one very important thing all inventors should do when considering trades hows in 2012.
When your idea is protected and ready to present to the world, find all the shows that are Just Right for your Product, and then go to as many as you can. Go to all of them. Here you will find a cross-section and positive opinions from people who may be interested in your product, and also some pretty honest criticism from those that aren’t. Trade shows are the starting point when you have something to show.
Don’t fill your garage or warehouse with your product in advance of taking orders. (Trust me on this…) Find out FIRST if consumers will buy your product, and THEN crank up manufacturing. This might sound funny to go to trade shows without any product to sell, but you have to do it this way. Make sure there is a need, and then fill it. At the trade shows, shake as many hands as you can, pass out lots of business cards and give away as many samples as possible.
Don’t be afraid to attend the same trade show more than once. Here’s why:
Orgill is one of the nation’s largest distributors of hardware related products. At the time of this writing, Orgill has eight distribution centers thast service over 6500 stores – Orgill is important to us! Results from our first Orgill trade show were not our best. We shook hands, got lots of positive feedback, but not much happened. But, we knew we had to try it again. The second Orgill trade show we attended was nothing short of AMAZING! We landed some CRAZY deals with the BIGGEST names in the US and Canada!
Like me, you’ll probably discover your love for marketing your products is almost equal to inventing them. For me, the ideas come easy and often, the marketing is really a different animal all together.
Invent on my fellow inventors, invent on.
Tim.
Read MoreSurround Yourself with the Best People
Did you know that if you surround yourself with the BEST people, you will be at your BEST?
If you surround yourself with a bunch of crack heads, well, you can see where this is going. Find people that will work as hard as you, and who also want the same things out of life. I work everyday with my brother Drew. His position at Just Right Products is Vice President. Yet, he is so much more than that. He’s a 50/50 partner, inventor, web master, bookkeeper, deal-writing expert, etc… and the list goes on and on. The most important thing is he is my brother and he wants the same thing out of life that I want: ALL OF IT!!!
As a team, we want more than most people do because we hate the “9 to 5 schedule”, working for someone else. Instead, we prefer the “5 to 9 schedule”, working for ourselves.
Read MoreAre you Inventing for Life?
Inventors sure are different people. In all my travels to different inventors clubs and talking to inventors on the phone or emails, I can honestly say, we are somewhat crazy. We are different than most because we look at things that are out there and try to make them better, or we think about things that are not out there yet. Never seen before products. This is what I love about inventing one of a kind products. Knowing when I show someone a new product that no one as seen before, there eyes get big and they say, “that is really cool, can I buy one?”
I truly love inventing so much that I can’t stop. I eat, sleep, breath, thinking about new products. So this goes out to all inventors. Keep inventing, and keep thinking that you will come up with the next big thing, if you haven’t already. A true inventor never gives up!!!!
Invent for life,
Tim
Read MoreEdison Inventors Association Ready to “Change things up”
Good day to all. I just wanted to say to all inventors out there, never, never, never give up. If you have to hear the word “NO” 999 times to get to just one “YES”, well, that “YES” is coming in March from the Edison Inventors Association. Inventors have long been the brunt of scam artists and shady characters looking to make a quick buck. The Edison Inventors Association is about to change all that by creating a place inventors can truly call “HOME”. One word describes it best – “AMAZING!!!”
Our hearts go out to the companies who’ve been making a living charging unsuspecting inventors ridiculous fees for services never completed. This is not a threat, it’s a promise.
Thanks, and keep inventing.
Tim
Read MoreMarch 21, 2012 – Things Are About to Change for Inventors
Back in 2004, when I really got serious about inventing, I really had no idea what I was in for. I think back to that time and look at what is different today for inventors,”NOTHING”. Our next invention is going to change everything for inventors all over the world. 3/21/2012 is going to be the date to remember. The Edison Inventors Association is going to ROCK the inventing world. Invent on my friends, invent on…
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