"I am writing this email in behalf of my husband. He runs a renovating company and since 2007, he has been having a bit of a harder time keeping things going really well... What I am interested in is helping him to be able to work smarter, not harder at his earning a living for our family. He has 3 or 4 ideas for things that he would like to either market or sell that would help people in the construction and renovating fields. I believe they are really good ideas, and want to help him to get them started, but we do not know where to go to do this.
If you can offer us some help in the area of finding people who may aid us and possibly manufacturing companies etc, we would greatly appreciate it. We are not rich, but want to change our situation. At least 2 or 3 of these ideas would be good as they are for safety in the workplace for these trades. He has told me that he wants to change the direction he is going in and I want to help him to achieve this. Thank you for your time!" -- Dianne
Hello Dianne,
I get a lot of requests like yours so let me warn you, encourage you and maybe open a door for you.
The distance is far and obstacles many between having a good idea and reaping an income from it. To be avoided are most web based or other heavily advertised "invention promotion" companies. Most of them take your money, do very little and end up telling you that it just didn't sell.
Probably the biggest hurdle is a psychological one: you think your idea is great, but will the world buy it and will they buy it over what is already there in the same field, which you of course know to be infinitely inferior to your new invention? For some reason yours is a better idea but theirs is a better product. The second problem is that an inventor always thinks they deserve more out of the "development and marketing" chain than they are offered -- they under evaluate the value of someone that can open a door someplace -- an invention that cannot get through a buyer's door is no better than an invention that stayed in the basement. Not to mention that inventors rarely budget for as much or more for marketing as it already cost them to create the concept, prototype and product.
Actually there is a long, rigorous but well defined path from idea to success, with of course notable exceptions all the time that make you want to be the exception and skip from idea to retirement. Although I am sure that there are several legitimate operations that will actually help you and not rip you off, the only one that I can confidently recommend to anyone in Canada is the Canadian Innovation Centre: www.InnovationCentre.ca.
Check out their web site and you will see new things coming soon that specifically address your questions such as First Steps Seminar. These guys and gals are both good and honest -- but tough. They won't goad you into spending money if they don't think you can actually make more than you spend.
I hope this lead helps you. By the way, some of the most successful teams that I have seen have been a Man inventing his things and his Wife taking them to market. Just be ready for the stress of having to convince your husband to share profits with someone or perhaps even having to convince him that this particular idea will not lead to retirement. On the other hand, it is only the convinced and stubborn who do get to the end of the tunnel. It is not always easy to keep one's balance between those two realities.
Good luck
jon