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Best Inventions of 2009November 20th, 2009Our blogging has really gone down hill! Sorry about that. We will work harder in the upcoming months to get more information out there for you. Here is an interesting take on a new invention. http://www.business-opportunities.biz/2009/11/19/best-inventions-of-2009-edible-race-car/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BusinessOpportunitiesWeblog+%28Business+Opportunities+Weblog%29 NEW PRODUCT SEARCH!September 18th, 2009Edison Nation Live Search: BestSweet BestSweet is looking for your product concept ideas in sweet new flavors and in any shape or size. Whether its minis or bite-size squares, consider the whole package concept and your buyer. What new candy would grab the hard-to-catch attention of ‘tweens? Deadline: September 21, 2009 Edison Nation Live Search: O-Cedar O-Cedar, manufacturer of household cleaning products, seeks floor care product innovations. O-Cedar is interested in mop and broom innovations which: modernize cleaning, work better and/or easier than products currently on the market and that provide solutions not already thought of by one of its competitors. Deadline: September 28, 2009 Edison Nation Live Search: Bed Bath & Beyond Deadline: September 30, 2009 References: united inventors association newsletter; weekly industry update 9/18/09 Hemming My Way Update…August 27th, 2009I just received this link from our clients and creators of Hemmingmyway.com. They are getting some great press and very positive feedback on the launch of their new product. To read the latest press, please click this link: http://www.stylelist.com/blog/2009/08/25/instant-hem-say-goodbye-to-jeans-that-drag-or-worse-you-ca/  www.hemmingmyway.com Virtual Prototype - 3D Realistic RenderingAugust 21st, 2009This product is in our prototype department right now, and we will add a picture of the prototype when finished. This is one of our High Quality virtual renderings we did for a new product going to market. This is a trash can cooler specifically designed to hold Kegs of beer. The trash can is actuall shaped like a can. Pretty cool stuff. As you can see from the generic nature on the outside of the trash can, it would be very easy to add logos & printing for branding opportunities.  Virtual (Computer-Generated) Prototype Prototype - Part 1August 12th, 2009As part of a new blog series (Prototype Part 1-10), our goal is to fully identify to our readers every step of a prototype, the advantages and disadvantages of each so you can make informed decisions about why a prototype may be necessary for your product success Part 1: Why Prototypes are Crucial! There are several reasons that prototypes are crucial when developing a new product. In our opinion, it is important for first understand what a prototype is defined as. The definition of a prototype is a form of something original or new. It is unique in itself and has never been created. When creating a prototype, it is very important for inventors and entrepreneurs to understand that since their product has never been created before, it will be crucial to build a prototype of the device to ensure that the product does look, function and react as intended to perform the necessary function. Prototypes are everywhere, including product development (what we do), software development, and new companies often launch a prototype model in business. You may be making or building a prototype and don’t even know it. For example, think about cooking. How many of you have formulated your own recipe when cooking and added ingredients to a certain meal that the recipe didn’t call for. Was it original, new, unique? Sure it was, you have just created a prototype in your kitchen and didn’t know it. Or, think about anything around the house that you have modified to work in a certain way because you couldn’t find a product on the shelf to perform the necessary function. That contraption is also known as a prototype! In product development, we use prototypes as a crucial step in the development of a product. Not only do we have very skilled Engineers to provide the best 3D CAD drawings of a product, but it becomes important to then take the design and build a Prototype to test all of the dimensions, tolerances and function of the device. Having a prototype is a great advantage because we can build the parts within hours on our Equipment and literally have a design fully verified and ready for production in a matter of hours or days rather than weeks or months. It has been said in various articles for product development that having a prototype and addressing any problems with the design initially can save hundreds or thousands of dollars in production by ensuring the product is perfect with a prototype before production begins. In closing, a prototype is a crucial and inexpensive design element that should never be overlooked or taken lightly. Going to production without a prototype would be a crazy thing to do unless you just like living on the edge! Read more about our prototype process at: http://www.creativeprototyping.com/prototyping.htm Vacuum Forming VideoAugust 6th, 2009We just did some vacuum forming for a current product we are developing for the market, and took a video of the process. Pretty cool stuff. Click this link to view the video! Online Marketing!August 5th, 2009Marketing is a huge part of product development. The point is that if you can’t sell your product, then what is the point of developing it. Many people still do not realize the power of selling your product online. There are many ways to market online, but one of my favorites is still with online keyword campaigns through Google, yahoo and MSN, or now I belive it’s Bing. The point is this. If you have created and manufactured a new Divot Tool for the golf industry, it is very easy for you to specifically target that market by using an adwords campaign in Google. The thing I love about this is that you can actually specify your daily budget on how much you want to spend, and you can specifically target the keywords that consumers are putting into their search engine. The bonus of having a Google Adwords account is that you are able to set up analytics within google that will allow you to see how your ads are performing, and how your clicks are converting into sales. It’s also important to note that you can even see detailed information like how long they are staying on a certain page, what location of the country they are coming from, etc… It’s very robust, and very easy to implement. The only thing you need is a product that solves a problem, an e-commerce website, and a little marketing money to get started. For more information and to see how we can help you with these processes, please contact me direct to learn more: tyler@creativeprototyping.com Tyler Harrell Companies Looking for New ProductsAugust 3rd, 2009National Live Product Searches! A Global Consumer Products Company is looking for new pet hair technologies, products or devices that are easy to use and remove pet hair from soft surfaces, such as upholstered furniture, drapes and fabrics found in the home or in the car. Amazon.com seeks home innovations that save time, money or energy.Deadline: Monday, September 14, 2009 11:59PM PSTFor more information: www.edisonnation.com/amazon This information was found in a recent E-mail Newsletter. Never hurts to learn more about what companies are wanting to license and sell! Tyler Harrell - President References: United Inventors Association Newsletter - August 2009 Hemming-My-Way Launches into the Market!July 24th, 2009We are very pleased to announce that Hemming My Way “The worlds first Snap Hem” has launched into the market and is now available for sale! I would like to thank the Entrepreneurs who brought this project to us. I like to call these people our “Hollywood Clients”. Our company had the honor to design, engineering, develop, prototype & manufacture this product from day one. Actress Melissa George and Writer Kara Harshbarger have been the best clients a company could ask for. We have been through multiple revisions and 14 months of development to bring this product to reality, and we’re finally here! Please visit the website to learn more and buy it now. www.hemmingmyway.com Licensing vs. EntrepreneurJuly 8th, 2009I am often asked the question of forming a business around a product rather than licensing the product. I don’t have a crystal ball on new products, and very seldom see new products go to market the same way, so I will lay out some details of why I personally like the Entrepreneur option over Licensing. There are two basic ways a product goes to market. One is through licensing. Think of professional sports. When we buy a t-shirt of our favorite sports team, a percentage of the proceeds of that shirt goes back to the team on the shirt. This is the same way a product works, but with products, the inventor will get on average 2%-10% of the manufacturing price. If you have a product that will retail for $20.00, then the average manufacturing price will be $4.00, of which the invetor would receive $0.02-$0.40 per unit sold. That is not very much on a $20 item, but inventors are paid on the manufacturing price, not the wholesale or retail price. The advantage of licensing is that typically the manufacturer will front the money for any tooling costs, advertising costs, etc… As for being an entrepreneur, we will set up our clients up with a custom manufacturer who can build the product in volume. The client is responsible for all of the tooling costs, setting up their own advertising, etc… The differnce in price is that the inventor gets to keep the profits from the $20 retail price. And on the example above, works out to be $16 per unit that you will keep when becomming an entrepreneur. Even on the high end of licensing, $0.40 per unit is not even close to the $16 per unit profit margin being the entrepreneur, but you do have up front costs for tooling and inventory. Some products are best for licensing based on volume sold, but as the entrepreneurs, I will let you make the call. Personally, I’ll be an entrepreneur every day of the week. Tyler Harrell | ||||||||||||||||||||||
