The hardest part about beginning a startup company is coming up with an idea that not only fills an important void, but that no one else has already come upRead More
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]]>The hardest part about beginning a startup company is coming up with an idea that not only fills an important void, but that no one else has already come up with. It is exceedingly likely that the first idea you come up with will not be a success. As such, it is imperative to not let yourself become discouraged by initial disappointments and to keep on pushing.
These popular techniques will go a long way towards helping you create new business ideas:
The entrepreneur who successfully creates a new business and can withstand the test of time is the one who is able to peer into their crystal ball and predict the trends of the future. While this process does require just a smidgen of good luck, a great entrepreneur knows that luck is merely the residue of skill and hard work. Luck does not come to those who park themselves on the couch and wait for it to come along, it happens to those who get up, get out there and work for it.
A top notch idea for a business is one that is ahead of the curve and anticipates changes in the landscape. The person who is monitoring current trends instead of future trends is going to come up with ideas that are instantly outdated. A decent entrepreneur looks at what is going on now and thinks of a way to fit in with the current landscape.
On the other hand, a great entrepreneur thinks about the future and wonders how they can create the next big thing, rather than an inferior knockoff version of the current big thing. Monitoring the current trends in the business world can provide some help when it comes to developing new ideas, but you have to consider the amount of time it takes to start a new business.
An idea that seems fresh in the moment is often past its sell by date when you are finally able to get down to brass tacks and start the process of opening a business. Consider the future and what place your product will hold in that future.
I am willing to bet that there are many things in your everyday life that drive you crazy. One of my personal favorite ways to create new business ideas is by taking the time to consider the things about life that annoy you the most. If you hone in on the things that “piss you off,” you will be able to brainstorm real solutions to everyday problems. If you are are the type of person that feels like you have to “do things on your own,” this task brainstorming technique will come naturally to you. As I’ve come to learn from many authors on innovation, the best entrepreneurs are those who find out about what we lack most and discover a new way to provide the public with the needed item.
Invention is not a must in these scenarios, but it can help you to develop new ideas. Brainstorming about products that every human being would want, but have yet to be created is a great way to amplify the creative process and ensure that you remain ahead of the curve at all times.
Speak to people you know, as well. There are many instances where the things that annoy you and frustrate you will also annoy and frustrate them. Canvasing close friends and family can also provide you with important information about frustrations that they are having that you had failed to consider.
Consult with members of the opposite sex and ask them about their daily frustrations. A company that is able to consider a variety of concerns from various walks of life is one that will prosper in the long term. Having a narrow focus leads to a lack of creativity and should be avoided.
Most people prefer to avoid frustrating moments at all costs, but those who can train their mind to look deeper can find valuable business ideas that no one else has considered.
Just because you cannot create new business idea does not mean that you should give up on your entrepreneurial dreams. Some of the best and brightest entrepreneurs are those who analyzed the current marketplace, discovered inefficiencies that could easily be corrected and decided to do something about it.
This strategy is helpful for entrepreneurs who are struggling to come up with ideas of their own. Perhaps you are someone who enjoys a certain product, but finds it to be overpriced. This is your opportunity to research the product you enjoy and see if any changes can be made during any part of the process that can have a positive effect on the pricing structure.
Or, maybe you can take a closer look at what the major players in your desired niche are doing wrong. A company does not have to be the same size as the big boys to successfully compete with them. The playing field has never been more level and a person can learn a lot from what the major business in their field are doing wrong.
There are typically enough gaps in the industry that you seek to join that can be easily exploited. Perhaps there is a service that a major company should be offering that they have not thought of. By using this as your starting point, you can start a business that already has built in clientele.
Some larger businesses are no longer in the business of innovation, they are more focused on maintaining their current piece of the pie. If so, this also provides an opportunity to come up with an idea that takes a product that is already available to the next level.
The Dream Cafe by Geoff Crook
Seeing What Others Don’t by Gary Klein
The Myths of Creativity by David Burkus
One Simple Idea by Stephen Key
A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger
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]]>A summary of things you should know about Sell Your Ideas With or Without a Patent according to Stephen Key: Introduction In this episode bestselling author Stephen Key reveals hisRead More
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]]>In this episode bestselling author Stephen Key reveals his insights on his book, Sell Your Ideas With or Without a Patent, where he shares his secrets to making profits of product ideas.
In his book Key reveals many stories, tactics, and tips on how to effectively protect an invention idea in order to earn royalties from it in the future. The goal of the book is to teach you how to fill out a patent application for the USPTO, save large amounts of money on the legal expenses that come with patenting, find an excellent patent attorney, and win over a licensing contract.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs who have innovative mindsets and want to know the inside secrets of making money off new inventions with or without patents.
A book like this has never been written anywhere, ever because it’s from the business perspective, not the legal perspective.
This book is written in such a way that if you have a simple idea you can read a few chapters and be ready to start immediately. And then I go in from a different perspective if you have a big idea and show you what exactly you need to do.
You can do this and do it with confidence!
This book is for the listeners that have ideas but not sure what to do with it in fear that someone else might take it. If you dig into this book you will learn to understand how to use the tools provided and they are very inexpensive but you’ll learn how to write this information down that has value in that perceived ownership. This book is written in such a way that it gives you ownership.
You will find throughout this book that it is a very technical book but it’s very easy to read and understand. I took a topic that was complicated and
I brought it down to a level that anybody can understand and be able to use these tools that are provided for us. So this book strips away the fear, it shows you how to take a small idea for $65 and have that perceived ownership. It talks about how to structure a licensing agreement even if you don’t have any ownership. It’s time for us to take advantage of our size, to be quick, to be small, to be smart, and take these tools that the USPTO provide anyone in the world, to play the largest game in the world. But you have to understand how to leverage those tools and that’s why this book is very different.
NOTE: That was just a summary. To get the full deep dive, play the audio clip at 09:11
“There is no such thing as ownership, it’s only perceived ownership.” – Stephen Key
I have been bringing my simple ideas to market and collecting royalties for each and every one that is sold. I am here to show you how to save money and protect those ideas when you bring them to market.
A few years ago I was in federal court suing a small toy company Legos which took three years and through that whole process I realized that we never really own anything, even if we have patents. We have this fear that we have to have patents to go forward with our ideas and that’s just not true. This book was written from a business perspective about how to take our ideas, bring them to market, and use the tools from the USPTO to our advantage.
The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday
Buy Sell Your Ideas With or Without a Patent by Stephen Key on Amazon today
Visit InventRight.com to learn more about Stephen, his books, and YouTube channel
Visit Entrepreneur.com and Inc.com to read more articles by Stephen Key
Follow Stephen Key on Facebook and Twitter
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books:
One Simple Idea by Stephen Key
The Dream Cafe by Geoff Crook
The Maker Movement Manifesto by Mark Hatch
Related advice:
5 Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Stephen Key
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]]>Who is Stephen Key and what you can learn from him: As an award-winning inventor and author, Stephen Key and his runaway success serves as a motivator to all otherRead More
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]]>As an award-winning inventor and author, Stephen Key and his runaway success serves as a motivator to all other entrepreneurs. His belief that all a person needs is a well-executed idea in order to be truly successful provides hope to those who lack it. Key is determined to show budding entrepreneurs the ropes and give them the lessons they need to turn their fortunes around. Here are five of the most important ones.
Key teaches his followers to trust in their gut and believe in their instincts. He achieved his success by trusting in his instincts and you can too. Key preaches the importance of accepting when something does not have the right look or feel to it. When a situation does not feel right to you, there is typically a very good reason for that.
If you are looking into something that does not sit well in your gut, it is time to do your homework and take a long look into whatever aspect concerns you the most. We tend to minimize our own intelligence in these sorts of scenarios, but Key teaches us that we are much smarter than we believe.
The old saying that if something walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it’s probably a duck holds true here. There is no need to over think a situation to death. Trust your instincts and go with the choice that makes the most sense to you.
Rushing into a decision due to time constraints goes against every principle that Key attempts to teach. He is not afraid to talk about times that he made a decision hastily and how it did not benefit him to do so. Since he makes it so easy to learn from his mistakes, it becomes easier to make the right choice in our own lives.
One of the most important lessons Key teaches is that hastiness has no place in the world of business. When a deal is being made, there is no reason why the other side of the negotiation table should be pushing for a fast decision. If they do, this should serve as a gigantic red flag.
In order to come to the right decision, a person needs time to think it through. While others will try to convince you that there are great reasons for urgent behavior, Key preaches the importance of not buying into such a mind state.
Key has experienced a great deal of aggravation by trying to convince businesses to change their ways and try something new. By spending time selling his inventions, he has been able to get an insider’s view as to how business is done and is not shy about sharing all of his revelations.
As such, he has learned the importance of tailoring your products towards the people who actually need them, as opposed to selling to someone who has no need for your product. When you waste valuable time trying to pitch to someone whose mind is already made up, that is time that you cannot get back.
Most people have a comfort zone that they like to remain inside of and pitching to those is a hopeless endeavor. Even the best idea of all has little to no value when it is being wasted on someone who has no interest, so plan accordingly.
Just because we want something badly does not mean that we are meant to have it. Key teaches us that things not going our way is not always a cue to work harder. Sometimes, we must accept that a situation will not turn out in a way that is favorable to us. Instead of continuing to battle, it is preferable to cut our losses and live to fight another day.
While having a great deal of willpower is great, it does not always serve us well. Stubbornness and the ability to fight are great, but they are not always the most useful tools we have at our disposal. Letting things go is often the best course of action, whether we want to admit it or not.
Pushing too hard to make something happen that is not meant to be can lead to regrets. One of the hardest lessons in life is knowing when to push harder and when to let something go. Navigating this difficult divide takes time and no one should be expected to fully grasp this concept overnight.
In a world where more and more communication takes place over e-mail and text message, lack of proper communication is bound to happen from time to time. When you are in doubt as to whether your message is being communicated in the manner you prefer, do not hesitate to pick up the phone.
Key teaches that e-mail and text message are convenient, but do not have the personal touch needed to properly convey a message. When a person is unable to witness or hear the intent behind your words, this leads to issues that can be tough to solve.
Picking up the phone can be inconvenient, but it also nips minor problems in the bud before they have a chance to become major ones. By making the call and/or taking the time to meet someone in person, you demonstrate a far greater level of commitment, giving you an advantage over your competition.
Preview One Simple Idea with Stephen Key himself
Buy One Simple Idea by Stephen Key on Amazon today
Visit Licensing Lifestyle on Inc. to read more of Stephen’s content
Visit InventRight.com to learn more about Stephen’s company
Follow Stephen Key on Twitter
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]]>A summary of things you should know about The Myths of Creativity according to David Burkus: Introduction In this episode David Burkus shares his book, The Myths of Creativity whereRead More
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]]>In this episode David Burkus shares his book, The Myths of Creativity where he reveals the truth about how companies and people generate great ideas.
In his book, Burkus highlights the mistaken ideas that hold you back and shows you how anyone can embrace a practical approach to finding the best new ideas, processes, and programs. The goal of the book is to teach you what causes you to be creative, what makes someone more creative than others, and how you can develop a consistent flash of creativity.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs who struggle with being creative or makes excuses for not coming up with ideas and needs help overcoming the obstacles of brainstorming new ideas.
Most creativity books are about how to have more great ideas. In my book I take a step further back and explain that none of that stuff matters unless we address some of the fundamental beliefs that you or people on your team have about their way to tap into their creative side. If you just read a bunch of books about technique but you don’t change your world view about the role creativity and innovation plays and building a company or leading a great team, than all those books and technique are going to be useless.
You could jump in and out of it but only if you read the first chapter first.
The number one myth that I would want the reader to takeaway would be the mousetrap myth. The second myth I would want the reader to takeaway is what I call the Eureka Myth which is exactly that it just came to me idea.
The stories that we tell ourselves are true even if they are not true. The more you tell yourself that story, the more it becomes true and in psychology this is called conformation bias. Conformation theory says that we selectively filter in and filter out information depending on how it confirms our preexisting way of looking at the world. There are some stories that we are telling ourselves that need to be rewritten and I take aim at 10 of them in the book.
As far as for entrepreneurs there are a lot of stories or myths that I think are really damaging if you believe in them. One of probably the most prevalent is what I call the lone creator myth. The lone creator myth is this idea that prolifically creative people were totally lonely people too. Psychology shows that creativity is a team sport, the more minds we have functioning well the better we are. Somewhere along the line the people who make a dent in the world we love to rewrite their history and make it look like they did it all by themselves. This is really damaging because when we are trying to make our dent in the world we feel like we are failing if we end up needing help. But in reality everybody who ever made a significant enough impact in the world to have their collaborators forgotten, have collaborators. So it’s important that we tell the story in a way that lets you know that if you have to partner with people you are not failing but rather you are doing everything everyone important ever did.
Another more damaging myth as far as entrepreneurship is concerned is the one that I close out the book with which I call the mousetrap myth. The term mousetrap comes from this phrase that if you build a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door. Great ideas get rejected all the time and we like to joke about this now but it’s a real issue. In times of uncertainty we are more likely to say we want creative ideas but when we are presented with them we reject them in favor of tried and true stuff that we know. This can create a problem because as an entrepreneur you can be launching your product or service and facing some initial resistance and instantly feel like that means your idea doesn’t have merit. In reality your idea may very well have merit but you are just facing this cognitive bias. If you have a groundbreaking idea and it really does have promise but you’re struggling to get the world to see it, take heart and keeping working.
These are just 2 or 10 stories in the book that all begin with this premise that the stories that we are telling ourselves are true even if they are not true. There are a lot of stories about how creativity works, how innovation happens in big companies, and startups that need to be rewritten if we are going to reach our innovation potential.
“Creativity is a team sport.” – David Burkus
“Creativity thrives under constraints.” – David Burkus
I am the husband to one wife and father to two kids but I’m also the father of a third kid, The Myths of Creativity. When I’m not in airport lounges on my way to talk about the book I am in the classroom where I teach at Oral Roberts University.
I did not set out to write a book about creativity and innovation. I have a Master’s degree in Organizational psychology and a Graduate degree in strategy and leadership, and my background is in leadership. I wanted to know what the leaders of those creative companies do differently than leaders of non-creative companies. The inspiration for the book was me wanting to explore where the differences and perception were around the role of creativity in organizations. I also wanted to know what the psychology research said and where those discrepancies really made a difference.
The Opposable Mind by Roger Martin
Buy The Myths of Creativity by David Burkus on Amazon today
Visit DavidBurkus.com to learn more about David, his book, and more exclusive content
Follow David Burkus on Twitter and Facebook
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books: Rhythm: How To Make Great Things Happen by Micah Yost | One Simple Idea by Stephen Key | The Seven Sins of Innovation by Dave Richards
Relevant advice and tips: 5 Steps to Promote Innovation in the Workplace
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]]>Introduction In this episode Mark Hatch shares his book, The Maker Movement Manifesto, where he describes remarkable technologies accessible today and shares stories of how ordinary people have created extraordinaryRead More
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]]>In this episode Mark Hatch shares his book, The Maker Movement Manifesto, where he describes remarkable technologies accessible today and shares stories of how ordinary people have created extraordinary products from those tools.
In his book, Hatch explains and shows you how to create, innovate, and make a profit with nothing more than your own creativity, hard work, and a desire to make some change. The goal of this book is to help entrepreneurs take part in a new age of manufacturing tools which were once impossible to afford.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs who are very creative and innovative, but need an all-in-one resource for manufacturing new product ideas on a minimal budget.
Everything I thought I knew about innovation in launching a hardware company has fundamentally changed in the last decade. I had not seen anybody writing about the impact that it was going to have on the startup world. There is this confluence of trends that have come together in the last decade that nobody had really wrapped together in a single volume. So I felt that somebody needed to write it and given my position in the industry it made sense for me to do it.
Each of the chapter pretty much stands on its own. It is a fairly easy read in that I do a lot of stories to back up the reality that is occurring. There is nothing like giving examples that have already happened to convince the reader.
You no longer have to be a professional to change the world.
I start with my first day at a TechShop. It was very early on, we had only been open for a year when I ran into Jim Newton the founder of TechShop. Jim convinced me to come by and take a look at the place and given my background I was intrigued with this new retail platform that he had developed. I had talked to three entrepreneurs back to back and each of them had said they had saved 98% of their development cost and each are now worth millions. At the end of that day I realized I was standing in the future and because of the potential economic impact this would have in unleashing the creativity of the creative class there needed to be one of these in every single city on the planet. As I moved through my experience over the first three years I realized that this was having an impact everywhere. Then I also realized there was a gap on the current availability of books and discussion about the movement itself. I set about to capture the gestalt of the movement itself. So I came up with nine principals that basically makeup the manifesto itself.
The first principle is to make. Humans were designed to make, we have that opposable thumb and it’s ingrained in who we are. Just making things is a fundamental activity that humans get enjoyment out of. One of the things that makes making whole is the ability to share it and that’s the second principle. Often there is a giving component which gives meaning to these projects that are completely different than what you get when you buy something off the shelf. There is a play principle as well. A lot of the best projects turn in to the best projects because somebody comes at the project from a different angle. And then there are some really important things around participation that I am seeing emerge in a collaborative community. It is a lot more fun and affective to work in a space that has a lot of other people working away on their projects rather than doing it in your garage. The last two principles are support and change. Support is the call to action and why I call it a manifesto is that this platform is creating an environment where we can do innovation and change the world at price points that we’ve never seen before. And the last principle is to change. When you embrace this activity making it will change you in positive ways and its import to embrace that and encourage other people to change as well.
The reason we call this a manifesto and movement is because we are anticipating and expecting a significant portion of the population to change their consumer behavior, behavior around gift giving and attitudes around trade skills.
I am a former Green Beret, quite a while ago, but it feeds a little bit into the book. I was trained on how to participate and/or run a revolution. From there I did a startup and went back to school. I worked for about eight years at Avery Dennison manufacturing company and a year at Kinkos. All of this was before I began at TechShop as the CEO and Co-Founder.
I saw early on after I joined that there were small companies that were launching hardware startups for the lowest cost I had seen in my career. The average member there saved 98% of their developmental cost which fundamentally changes the access to be able to create hardware startups. A friend of mine, Chris Anderson, wrote an article called The New Industrial Revolution which inspired me. Chris took one angle at it and I wanted to write a book that would be open more to makers as well as a fairly easy read for policy analyst and startup junkies.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker
Buy The Maker Movement Manifesto by Mark Hatch on Amazon today
Visit MarkRHatch.com to learn more about Mark and his book.
Follow Mark Hatch on Twitter and Facebook
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books: One Simple Idea by Stephen Key | The Business Idea Factory by Serguei Netessine | The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur by Mike Michalowicz
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]]>A summary of things you should know about One Simple Idea according to Stephen Key Introduction In this episode Stephen Key shares his book One Simple Idea where he showsRead More
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]]>A summary of things you should know about One Simple Idea according to Stephen Key
In this episode Stephen Key shares his book One Simple Idea where he shows you how to come up with ideas and license them to companies.
In his book, Key provides you with a step-by-step guide into bringing your ideas to market while helping you understand the ins and outs of licensing ideas. The goal of the book is teach you how to keep your ideas safe, be your own boss, see your product go to market, and make big money without quitting your job.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs who already love what they are doing, but have multiple ideas that could benefit other companies and provide themselves with smart passive income.
I think most entrepreneurs think that the only way to create an idea is to start a company and my book is really the exact opposite of starting a company. It’s about coming up with ideas and licensing those ideas to companies.
It’s written in such a way that you can get through it very, very fast and you can jump in and out if you want.
I want the reader to walk away knowing that they can do this!
This book is about how you can take an idea and bring it to market through licensing. It sounds complicated but it’s not. You are going to show a company your idea and if they like it they will bring it to market for you and pay you a royalty on everyone they sell. It’s the best partnership you could possibly have because those companies who are looking for ideas need you and your ideas.
The benefits of licensing are that you can live anywhere in the world. But the point of licensing is that you don’t have to take risks, start a company and spend your hard earned money.
This book is broken up in eight parts. The first part talks about the benefits, open innovation and why companies need you.
Part two of my book talks about how to find that million dollar idea. This is about making small improvements on existing ideas. This takes away the risks and there are three games in the book that help you come up with these small improvements.
You don’t have to be creative to do this. You just need to understand the steps of licensing.
In part two of my book I talk about how to pick the ideas that are going to be truly profitable. Ideas that are profitable really solve a problem. You also want to figure out if there is a large market for your idea. You don’t want to work on an idea that has a small market because it’s just a waste of time and you won’t make any money. You also want to find an idea that can be manufactured. There is a process in the book about how you can contact a company and get quotes to make sure it can be manufactured that way you are eliminating the risks. Also, ideas that are winners are easy to demonstrate.
Some wonder if it’s necessary to build a prototype and I am here to tell you that you don’t have to do that. You can go and have someone create a 3d computer generated drawling of your idea and that’s all you really need.
In part five of the book I talk about creating a Sales sheet. It’s one page explaining what your idea is, a picture of your idea, the benefit of it and your contact information.
Part six is about protecting yourself. Everyone is fearful and thinks that the company is going to steal your idea and I talk about how to kick that fear to the curb. Companies need you so there is no reason for them to take your ideas.
In the book I also talk about how it’s not cold calling but rather finding a home for your idea. I tell you how to reach those companies and what to say.
The last part of the book I talk about every step you make to cut the deal.
“If you can dream it you can do it.” Walt Disney
I am just a regular guy that wants to be creative. In college I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do so I ended up taking an art class and realized I wanted to be creative and sell my creativity. For the last 30 years I have been coming up with little ideas and show them to companies and if they like them they license those ideas from me.
I have been bringing my own ideas to market through licensing and I have been educating students for the last 12 years on this same process. So when McGraw Hill had contacted me to write a book I agreed because a lot of people just don’t understand what licensing is.
Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
Buy One Simple Idea by Stephen Key on Amazon today
Visit Licensing Lifestyle on Inc. to read more of Stephen’s content
Visit InventRight.com to learn more about Stephen’s company
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books: Invent It, Sell It, Bank It! by Lori Greiner | The Independent Inventor’s Handbook by Louis Foreman | One Simple Idea for Startups and Entrepreneurs by Stephen Key
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