Should I Give Up on My Product Invention?
Paul writes, “Thank you for responding. It’s rough when your idea isn’t moving, but it’s hell being ignored. You are one of the few people that takes the few minutes it takes to tell us what we need to hear. If I’m correct you are saying that I have been beating this horse for a long time and that might be the problem. I will decide whether or not to let it die, but I really do appreciate your honesty. Maybe you have the ability to show some of the people in the industry how to say no. It feels better than wondering if we might still hear something positive from them.”
Carrie Jeske responds, ”
Thanks. If you’d write that in a LinkedIn recommendation, I’d really appreciate it. It takes extra time to correspond but I believe that the key to success is not always in the first product idea. You’re creative and have other ideas. I’d like to train you to hit winner.
Regarding this idea…. there’s a fine line between tenacity and accepting failure as a lesson learned. Only you can decide the timing or fork on that one. If you do decide to move onward, the best approach is to gain sales growth with as little cash as possible.
You can get in catalogs and sell through online retailers as a drop ship item pretty easily, starting with a small production run and making sure you build in good margins. Save the profits in a separate account for re-orders and don’t pay yourself till it’s financially smart to do so. Keep your day job.
Inventing is a risky game so I always recommend saving cash. Which is why I love the Inventing For TV angle,
I’ll look at concepts so the only money you’re out is the cost of materials for an inventor “mock-up” prototype and the time it takes to make a homemade video to demo the value to me (under 2 minutes). See my blog How To Submit a Concept For TV.
Items that are low cost and solve everyday problems are best. See 7 Criteria For Successful TV Products.
Keep inventing,
Carrie Jeske
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