I’m amazed at how many people believe complaints, reviews or complements they read online. It’s marketing, you know?

Remember when people used to think what they read in newspapers and magazines and saw on TV shows was real? Then we discovered the whole industry of Public Relations (PR) and realized for $5,000 a month a good PR company can have anyone on Good Morning America, as an expert.  I won’t pay that kind of extortion just to look like everyone likes me.  The truth is, not everyone does…. but MOST PEOPLE DO.

Coaches promote signed licensing agreements for product that were simply tested but failed; never making the inventor a dime.   Inventors should not believe everything written online for the good or the bad.   Use your common sense and intuition about people and soberly discern the right next steps for your product.

Most people who write bad reviews are just mad their product failed our test.   Please call or write me yourself before you decide your opinion.

Here’s how REAL PEOPLE review Carrie Jeske.  click  Carrie Jeske Profile

Related:  Inventing Home Run or Single Income Product

It’s the same thing with online reviews now. I recently read a list of very positive reviews for a company every industry insider knows is a scammer. They sounded wonderful. Five Stars. People loved them! There were glowing reviews starting with the initial call by an inventor and what great phone service was provided. Then another reviewer discussed the contracts and how simple to understand they were. I read on to find what fantastic customer service and order fulfillment processes this company had. Then, more about how satisfied and happy with the specific services (written keyword friendly, how convenient.), even sighting employee names, as if they were long lost friends, who’d been reunited.

Seriously? Do people really believe this? It’s a Social Networking Expert, you know. For $5,000 a month (or $5 on Fiverr), you can hire a company to write positive reviews and post them all over the internet. It’s just business. Specifically… it’s todays marketing. Lets go negative.

The Wild Wild West of Online Complaints & Reviews

Anyone can say anything, anytime. Do you think some people might actually be crazy, unbalance, manic? As a semi public figure who’s just posted a few educational videos online for inventors, in a pretty small market segment; I get hassled online all the time. People make all kinds of comments, tweets, reviews based on whatever popped into their head at the moment. True, untrue, fact, fiction, opinion, emotional response, bad hair day…. who knows why? I’ve been threatened by people I’ve never met or worked with in any capacity.

The sad thing is it hurts people and it hurts business. Back in the day, the Better Business Bureau used to be the gold standard of who’s who in the scammer company zoo. Business didn’t like them much because no one wants negative information shared, but at least they required a specific injustice be sited. They required a confirmed real person making a real complaint of a legitimate contractual infraction. Also offer a real opportunity to rebut or make restitution. They provided a true chance for customer satisfaction where parties could agree on how to make a situation right. It was an uncomfortable pain in the butt (as fixing all true
mistakes is), but it worked. Now, they are a relic.

More comments from real people I’ve worked with and helped.   Facebook Album of Testimonials.

Be Careful!

We have every manner of Rip Off Report, Pissed Customer, Consumer Advocate, Watch Dog, Social Network where anyone can post anything at anytime. What a great platform for disreputable competitors and the temporarily insane.

These sites will post anything, any time, by anyone. Real, anonymous or made up people with real or made up facts. That seems disreputable to me.

They promote slander under the disguise of public helps. Under the banner of justice. Once names of the accused are locked in, “never to be removed from the public domain”, the real scam begins. Many start an email campaign warning the accused that their company name or personal name may on the verge of “irreparable damage if you don’t act now!” For a small fee, they guarantee to bury or remove all negative information for a price. Hmmm, how convenient for them. The ole’ scammers scam. I hope all the class action law suits against these sites sort out the honest truth.

Are Some Inventors Temporarily Insane?

Lets discuss the “temporarily insane”.  That’s something I and most inventors have fallen victim to at one time or another. We love, love, love our own ideas and when we put money into them, the emotional connection borders on worship. (You know it’s true.) When others don’t value it or recognize it’s splendor, that makes no logical sense. Snap. Temporary insanity begins. It happens all the time and now there’s an internet where people can post…. WHAT? Anything, anytime, as anyone. Bottom line…. my grandma used to tell me to have Horse Sense? I’m not sure really how much sense that actually is, but if a company wants money to provide a service for your great new product and has no current product success stories, you might want to reconsider. It may be as simple as that.

Whatever you do you can count on me to tell you the truth, as my experience sees it. I’ll be candid and direct. You won’t always like my advice.

The Truth Hurts!

When you spend money on an invention, it’s a high risk, high return play. Most inventions fail. Most patents don’t produce a financial gain. Never spend more then you can afford to lose and realize sometimes it does take money, to make money. Show some Horse Sense about it. Whether you’re an independent inventor or a big company, the game is the same. Find and/or develop a product mass market consumers buy and get a small piece of the upside.

If you’re a fair minded, reasonable inventor, call or write me anytime. I value long term, honest relationships with real people. I hope we get lucky on a product together. If not, I guess I’ll skim past your posts online (whoever you are) and not let the door hit me in the back.

Onward & Upward,

Carrie Jeske

Related:  A Tale of Three ASOTV Licensing Discussions

Related:  Licensing – The Other Side Of The Table

RipOff Report Sept 23, 2016 Update

What a racket RipOff Report has going.  They post anonymous slander, then sell services to remove it.   Seriously, can a RipOff Report be posted on them?

From: RipOff Report – IMPORORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT <ripoffreportremovalservice@hotmail.com>
Organization: Ripoff Report Removal
Reply-To: “ripoffreportremovalservice@hotmail.com” <ripoffreportremovalservice@hotmail.com>
Date: Thursday, September 22, 2016 at 10:39 PM
To: Carrie Jeske <Carrie@willitlaunch.com>
Subject: A NEW Effective Way to REMOVE Your Ripoff Report

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Inventors Wanted

Inventors Wanted for tv shows, reality gigs, trade shows, crowdfunding and more.

There’s always someone calling your name.  The question is… whom will you follow.   More importantly, how much will you pay?

Guarding your cash and managing your time are two of the most important things every inventor should do.

Inventors often think going on Shark Tank or one of the zillion other reality tv or inventor help tv shows is the answer.   Often, this just exposes the inventor to the public before they are prepared to launch the product.    They welcome competitors to game before they have the funding to play well.

If you’ve tried everything else or your instincts say “Go on the show”, then do it.    Inventor instincts are the center of innovation.  No one has a magic answer or secret sauce recipe for success.    One thing is true in inventing… the right product with the right people at the right time is an elusive, but powerful combination!

So learn more about how to sell your ideas without a patent at the Inventors Corner with Carrie Jeske

http://www.willitlaunch.com/inventors-corner/

The post Inventors Wanted for New TV show appeared first on Inventive Ideas, LLC.

Should Inventors Split Royalties?

Hi Carrie,

Thanks for giving my contact information to Rose.  She has skills in marketing that I don’t have and need, and has suggested partnering in the endeavor of getting my baby coat to market.  She suggested a 50/50 split and I was wondering if this was normal?  I feel that I really need someone like her to help me, but also that the invention is mine and I intend to pay for the initial production of the coat.  I would appreciate your opinion on such a partnership.  Hope all is well with you and your family.

God’s Blessings

Jane

________________________

Jane, I’m glad to hear you’re making progress.  Here’s my thoughts.

Team Member Splits –

50/50.  There’s nothing wrong with that as long as you are both doing a fair amount of work.  Having the help of partners or a management team can be valuable.  The 50/50 should be out of the pure profit number, less expenses such as marketing, inventory, etc.   If she’s going to incur expenses for marketing she should pay for that from her own money since you’re paying for inventory and keep receipts for future reimbursement.

You keep control of inventory at your location, in case things ever go south, you don’t want to have to track down product.   That means you’ll have to do the shipping, which is a pain when volumes get higher.    However, the hope is that volumes do get high and that you either end up licensing the patent and just collecting royalties, or you continue to build the business with her, taking all revenue in and paying all expenses out of.

Whatever you do, keep track of every dime you spend on your own money.  You should account for money going in as a loan from shareholder (you).   Hopefully one day the company will pay you back, plus interest.    You can keep track of any money she spends as simple expense.  You are the owner and 100% equity shareholder of your company and patent, regardless of how you end up negotiating compensation for team members, partners, etc.

Standard Sales %

Straight commissioned only sales people normally make 10% of wholesale value.   Distributors usually want 30% gross margin.   Online retailer and brick and mortar retailers usually want 50% gross margin.   All these are on the Expense side of your accounting records, in one category or another.

Timeframes & Sales Goals

Also, there should be a goal set for sales with a timeframe attached. If the min sales are not made by x date then the agreement is void.

Intellectual Property

Finally, do not agree to any ownership of the patent.   You are the patent owner always.   You simply license the use of the patent to others for an agreed upon royalty.  In this case, it’s more of a management partnership for marketing purposes, but the patent should always remain yours.   What most people do is form a third company and have the inventor license the patent rights to that company.   The agreement for profit split is between her and the company you set up, less expenses.   There are other ways to do it and I’m not a fan of a lot of legal fees or corporate complications at the early stage.   You do want to be certain you’re comfortable with worst case scenarios though, by reducing the risk of them.

Having help is a good thing, if you have an intuition of integrity and get everything agreed to in writing without a lot of legal headache.   The agreement should be simple and easy to understand by you both.

Carrie Jeske Review, Testimonial, Free Resources

1)  Watch this video to learn how to earn up to $100,000 per product, as a product scout, while you sharpen your skills in our category. 

http://www.willitlaunch.com/how-to-make-330000-inventing-for-tv/

2)  For even more help read blogs and watch links: 

http://www.willitlaunch.com/inventors-corner/

3)  Here’s some NEXT Steps if you want to work on licensing outside ASOTV.

http://inventiveideas.com/when-as-seen-on-tv-wont-fly/

4)  Here’s some of my agents available for hire, to make connections for you.

http://inventiveideas.com/licensing/

5) Join me on social networks and keep learning and helping others.

FACEBOOK      LINKEDIN        YOUTUBE       TWITTER

Just takes 1 winner to earn millions.

Stay close,

Carrie Jeske

split royalties

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