Stand Alone, Inventor!: And Make Money with Your New Product Ideas! - Softcover

Merrick, Robert G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0964383209 ISBN 13: 9780964383203

Publisher: Lee Publishing, 1997

Synopsis

From the creator of four successful inventions, each posting sales in the millions, these step-by-step lessons and real-life experiences will help aspiring inventors move ahead and succeed with a new product idea. Beginning with the basics of what to invent, how to test it cheaply to see if it will sell, and how to protect and distribute it, "Stand Alone, Inventor!" also offers guidelines on manufacturing and merchandising products from the ground up. Advice on gaining store acceptance, writing a press release and sales material, and getting services for less than what the big guys pay make this book a valuable reference for anyone who wants to turn a simple idea into a million-dollar seller.

About this title

About the Author

Robert G. Merrick is living the American dream. Literally starting off his kitchen table he built a successful company based on his own simple inventions. For over 25 years he followed a strict formula he devised for choosing the "right" idea to develop and market. He is a past president of the California Inventors Council and a frequent presenter at government-sponsored workshops and seminars on inventing. He is a past delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business. He is a popular speaker on the subjects of inventing, entrepreneurship, and new product development. He may be contacted via e-mail: bobmerrick@aol.com, of by phone: 408-738-2200 or fax 408-739-4351, or mail: PO Box 2277, Sunnyvale CA 94087.

From the Back Cover

Why you should invest in this book: During his career as an independent inventor/entrepreneur, the author followed ten self-imposed rules that he writes about in this book. For him these rules paid off in a series of four winning inventions-each posting sales in the million. He characterizes these four innovations as "almost laughably simple," but because they proved useful, they produced serious sales and profits for long periods. In this book the author shares marketing secrets and insider know-how that will help you move ahead and succeed with your new product idea. Whether you plan to sell your idea, or venture it yourself, your should read this book!

Reviews

Written by one of the most savvy guys I know on the subject of entrepreneurial inventing, Bob Merrick's book does a terrific job of verbalizing inside information on how to succeed with simple inventions.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

A sampling of Robert's Rules for Successful Inventing:
1. Invent products that are physically small. The primary advantage of physically small products is their ease of storage and handling, which makes them relatively inexpensive to keep in inventory. My first inventory of 5000 items was kept at home in our hall closet! Keep in mind, also, that it's much easier to carry a small product to a potential buyer for a demonstration. People always want to see the actual product; not just a catalog sheet or a video. I am never without a few samples of my inventions in my coat pocket or in my brief case. I recall making a substantial product sale at 30,000 feet to the guy sitting next to me on a business flight to the East Coast.
2. Develop Products That Offer Repeat Sales. If your product won't wear out, go out of date, get used up, or spoil after your customer buys it, you may never hear from him again. This is why you should try to invent something that will need to be replaced. If possible, try to deal in consumable or disposable products. One of my million-dollar ideas was a transparent calendar for the crystal of a watch. I learned that nothing goes out of date with more reliability than a calendar! One corporate buyer set his computer so that every year it issued me a re-order for 100,000 sets these calendars for use in his Christmas mailings. His orders kept coming for more than a decade!
3. Keep Your Initial Cash Investment Small. Invent products you can afford to develop by yourself. Stay away from partners and venture capital firms. Beware of those expensive marketing scams that advertise on the radio. Keep in mind that it's common for new products to fail. Unless you have a sizable cash surplus, it's prudent to start out playing with small chips. Don't mortgage the farm! Work off your kitchen table, and keep your costs down. By being conservative in this way, if your new product fails, the financial hit will not wipe you out. And, you will have left the way open to try another invention later.
4. Have others do your manufacturing. Too many novice inventors rush out to purchase machinery so they can go into production. Usually the equipment they want is quite costly in terms of initial outlay, operation, overhead and maintenance. Avoid this approach in the beginning, because there is a much cheaper and less-risky way to go. The best solution to getting your invention manufactured is to sub-contract (or outsource) the work to a qualified vendor. No matter what you invent there is a company somewhere that can produce it for you. You keep your risk low, by not putting cash into machinery that you may not need all the time. You can find dozens of companies that can make your product. Let one of them do your manufacturing, so you can concentrate on the more important job of marketing it.

Edition details

• Publisher: Lee Publishing
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0964383209
• ISBN 13: 9780964383203
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 303