Many of us come up with a invention ideas every so often. A few lucky people have many ideas over their lifetime, which is fantastic! However, they mean very little unless they’re acted upon.
Solving problems is where most of our invention ideas come from. To be an inventor, you need the mindset of an Entrepreneur, not one of entitlement or a hobbyist. Larry Cox, associate professor of entrepreneurship at Pepperdine University said “It’s impossible without passion,” he explains. “If it’s a problem that you really care about solving, and you think that you have a really good solution that no one else has, then your confidence goes way up. Your willingness to risk goes up.”
Sometimes, we can turn these Eureeka! moments into income producing realities. It’s important to keep level headed about your invention ideas. Quite often, in fact most of the time, the ideas people come up with never make them a single dime. In fact, it’s all too common for budding inventors to actually lose money on their invention ideas. Thing is, this doesn’t have to happen. And this is where doing things right can make all the difference in the world. It can take almost the same amount of time to do things wrong, however the results are drastically different.
What To Do When Invention Ideas Hit
Lots of people write to me and ask me what I do with my invention ideas. While the question isn’t necessarily a difficult one, it does have legs.
1. Think with your head and not with your heart. When invention ideas pop into your head, stop what you’re doing and write them down. Document anything that comes to mind.
2. If you have invention ideas often and think you’d like to try and make a serious living at this, I suggest brainstorming software. You won’t believe how much this helps until you use it. I use MindJet Mindmanager. I’ve tried many and this one works best for me.
3. When you can, use the brainstorming function in Mindmanager and transfer what you wrote down in #2. This is where I start rapid firing my ideas: who is my potential market, what is their age, is this idea something that is useful to them or is it something that’s just fadish, would people purchase this, what materials could it be made of, can I change something to encourage a broader market, do I want to sell my idea, do I just want to assign the patent rights, do I want to find investors to help me get it on the market… there are so many things I think about and you will too once you understand the process and what you can do with your invention ideas.
Why Get A Patent On Invention Ideas?
Patents are safeguards enacted by the government to make sure that a person’s intellectual property is under protection and monitoring. This means, once an idea or an invention is granted a non provisional patent, the owner is ensured compensation for the invention in the event that it is used by another. Also, it serves as a limitation for other inventors who may develop similar, if not identical, products or invention ideas that resemble that of the one already patented. Provisional patent applications carry a small amount of protection, I call it perceived protection. Go through my DIY Patent Pending Guide if you’re thinking of filing a provisional patent application on your invention ideas, it’s free.
Breach of Patent
When the object invention is reproduced unbeknown to the original owner, this is called a breach of patent. If this happens, the owner has the power to sue for both royalties and damage. Because there are so many valuable ideas and likewise, so many people who don’t regard the rules, it is necessary that a person protects his invention ideas.
How To Patent Invention Ideas
In understanding how to patent an idea, first realize you’re going to need to be able to thoroughly research, you must be able to write clearly, as detailed as possible, and with correct grammar, you need to be able to draw in some cases or at least have access to software or people who create patent application drawings, and understand that patenting invention ideas will take some money. I suggest going through my resource guide “Get It Patented 101″
What would you like to see as far as new invention ideas for food or drink?
I was thinking of something along the lines of a candy cane that’s also a thermometer?
That’s pretty cool! However, I’m hoping you weren’t planning on patenting it… maybe you’re thinking about invention ideas for kids? If you were thinking of patenting it, the first rule of thumb is keeping your invention ideas to yourself. The only downside of a candy cane thermometer would be if it tasted so good, kids bit into it and got mercury poisoning. Gotta work on that a little. — Abby ♥
I think I have come up with some great invention ideas but how do I know for sure?
At least I “think” it’s a good idea. How would I market it? Should you ever get an idea patented and then sell the idea? I’m really not sure what I should do.
Hi Woody. Sure you can patent and sell you’re idea. That’s mainly what I’ve done. I try not to get emotional about my new invention idea. It’s easier to sell this way and I can move on. Start here >> How To Patent An Idea.— Abby ♥
Inventions For Kids
Kids make some of the greatest inventors. You may not know it but kids come up with a invention ideas more frequently than adults. Most of them haven’t yet learned how to build walls of insecurity. We have a great (and growing section) of inventions for kids. This page shows some invention and craft ideas as shows parents how to help their children develop invention ideas on their own.
