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History is more or less bunk (Henry Ford)
If you are the guy who put every American with only the slightest means on the road, you can get away with a lot. So awestruck were folks in those days that every word Henry Ford spoke bore the veracity of a papal decree. "If he can do this, who am I to second guess his word? I've not seen anything like it in all my born days. He knows something I don't so I'm staying right here for the ride."
Now, all these years later, say you've acquired a patent or two yourself; sold a few products; made a few dollars - no big money - and you presume the audacity to correct the old man? You better have some compelling evidence young man, wouldn't you say? History is more or less bunk, he reminded us. Perhaps so, perhaps not. More than a decade has passed since the fledgling days of what eventually became the Nevada Inventors Association. Had I recently joined this group, I could be excused and granted the belief there is little historical significance to the organization, but I and a few others were there in the early days - vagabond days they were. We met in the Carson city library, the Governor's Mansion a half dozen times or more, occasionally in a member's home, and numerous times at the Costar residence.
Inventors are a rare breed as we are all wont to discover when they are finally rounded up and congregated into one place. As a matter of fact, there aren't a whole lot of them around to begin with. Secondarily, the 'fool' who attempts to collect them and their disruptive ideas into one place for some worthy purpose can attest to frustrations and spent energy the like of which could otherwise yield a half dozen patents or more! Why in the world engage in such futility? Don't we inventors get enough discouragement dealing with our own setbacks, disappointments, and endless challenges? In getting our own products protected, developed, and maybe some day into the market? Why the need for more aggravation? Sometimes the energy, the time to persist and go on, simply runs out. Isn't this the time to sit back, take a break, relax, and let somebody else take charge? Or, are there those people who posses dreams and resources which outreach us 'average' folks?
Let's not think for a minute that the Nevada Inventors Association acquired life and sustained itself through the years by some indwelling force. It didn't happen. But it does have a history. It has a beginning. It is alive, well, and operating today. None of this was accidental. None of it is bunk.
What isn't accidental is the dream that got it started, the persistence that kept it alive, the purpose that it seeks to serve, the special people it gathered together, the camaraderie it occasioned, the inspiration it evoked. It comes now to the time to make a proper tribute. It is a terrible thing to take for granted what has become commonplace. Oft times it is that very thing which is most missed when it disappears.
So, Don, we congratulate you and all your milestones to 75. We have been reticent to say it in words, but many times we've known exactly how and why it has come about. We've wondered some how you have been able to keep the fire alive when getting our own projects off the ground left us with little left over. We know who did it and how the newsletter started and kept coming. We've all fancied the thought "next issue I will write some thoughts" but it never quite happened. We were awed that you would speak before the D.C. crowd about the inventor's plight. You were the one to bring the national inventor show the Reno. You might think you are an ordinary guy but there are some of us who know you are extraordinary.
Don Costar, we are grateful.
Vince Chemist has very graciously consented to be the new editor of our newsletter The Nevada Inventor.
We all owe Vince a huge "Thanks." He has not only made a great internet web page for the Nevada Inventors Association, he is now agreeing to put the newsletter together for us.
The newsletter will be only as good as the information that goes into it, I think we all agree on that. So if the members of NIA don't give him something to print, he won't have any content to publish. Bryan Leipper will still make the same great format we enjoy now, but he and Vince can't make a newsletter out of nothing. Vince will need the support of all.
With sections of the newsletter spread out among several different people, the work will be lighter and probably more interesting. He'll need some volunteers to help with the chores too -- like folding, stamping and mailing.
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Here's another new volunteer -- Bud Heath has agreed to help Randy Sloan build and maintain a data base for the membership. You know how many times we get questions about who can do this or that in the organization... Once the data base is constructed we'll know something about each member. Things are looking up. Thank you Bud --- You are much appreciated.
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Now the need for a treasurer is more pressing than ever. Since this Treasurer is retiring in June, the checkbook has to pass to someone. Please let Don Evans, Don Costar or Vince Chemist know if you can help the club by doing the financial stuff.
It's not a big job. Collect the dues, count the coffee donations and put it in the bank. Pay the coffee bill each month, and whatever reimbursements to members, with the checkbook. Then report the money in and money out each month to the members.
Please step up and raise your hand somebody. The NIA needs you. Remember, it's no disgrace to help your fellow man.
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If there were inventor's ratings for trade shows, the Direct Response Television (DRTV) show in Long Reach in April would rate two thumbs up and four "Wows!!"
But my opinion didn't start out that way. In retrospect, I realize I didn't have an open mind when I first heard of it. At the time I was confused as to what exactly it could do for inventors. It sounded like just another idea for an inventors convention to me, so I was sort of luke warm about it.
As I found out later, I couldn't have been more wrong! The little press release I got from Carol Oldenburg (UIA/USA) about the show contained information that was different; things one usually doesn't see in brochures about inventors' shows. Words like "free" and "new product search" leaped off the page. Then I started to get more interested.
After a couple e-mails back and forth with Diane Stone, who had contacted me in the first place, I realized there was something really different about this one. All the years of wanting to answer inventors' questions about marketing, and now an opportunity for answers was being handed to us out of the blue.
Instead of the inventor having to pay for a booth and hope someone walks by that shows interest, here was a show where the producers and developers pay for the booth hoping to interest an inventor that has a product they both can use to make money. That was a marketing switch I hadn't seen before.
The analogy occurred to me of the "Job Fairs" at Universities and Colleges: The "student" doesn't buy the booth to wait for a prospective employer to walk by and check out his skills. The "employers" buy the booths and pass out information to the students who may become valuable employees. (Makes more sense)
Now obviously not all invented products are suited for DRTV, so the DRTV show would not be appropriate for them. But when an inventor has a product with mass market appeal, market ready or not, if it is demonstrable, patented, and the cost numbers are in place, it may be perfect for DRTV.
And lest someone thinks I'm knocking inventors' shows, that's not true. When an inventor has a product that is market ready, but best suited to a niche market, he will learn a lot about trade show exhibiting by attending inventors' shows like the "Invention Convention" produced by Stephen Gnass. In fact, the Invention Convention was also in Long Beach, the prior week, and Stephen and Diane swapped booths for each others' show. Because they are different, I envision a combined show like an inventors' show and a DRTV, or manufacturers show, where an inventor having products in any stage of development can attend with the hopes of making a fruitful contact. The attendance at a show like that would be enormous, not to mention beneficial to everyone.
Advanstar Productions were very generous with their brochures for our meetings, which helped a lot. As promised, they gave inventors free admission to the "Exhibit Hall" where the DRTV producers booths were set up. ($65.00 savings) And for the inventors who wanted to learn even more by attending the full three days of conference sessions, it was half price.
Six of us from the Reno/Tahoe area went and from the time we got there until we left for home on Friday, it was a learning experience I wish every inventor could have. I found myself wishing I had the motivating skills of a "Tony Robbins" because far too many did not believe in the benefits the show had to offer. And because they didn't go they missed one of the best marketing experiences of their life. I predict that next time three or four times as many will attend DRTV shows.
We got to meet and talk with Presidents and CEO's of marketing companies that would not even be accessible to us if we tried to reach them by ourselves, through regular channels. We heard the heavyweights of the industry tell about the right kind of product, the right media for a product, the right pricing strategies... A lot of stuff that takes years to learn, doing it the trial and error way.
Some products, of course, are not going to do as well as even the experts predict. Not every new idea is a Ginsu Knife or a Buckwheat Pillow, but every once in a while there are some that are real home runs. When that happens, everybody connected with that product makes a whole lot of money. It's obviously no place for an amateur to try it on his own. Like Marti Wolf (chief moderator and head honcho of the show) said, "Expertise is the name of the game. guy it, rent it, partner with it -- get it anyway you can." Marti also let us know that the inventor has more power than he thinks. The product is "King." It is far and away the most important element in TV selling. The right product, sold by the right people, is a success waiting to happen.
A show like the DRTV Conference is so full of experts and wisdom that it's like prospecting for gold. Every time you show your widget to an expert in the field and they say something like "Well, that's a pretty good widget, but..." You just found a nugget!! By listening to those "buts" you can see your product through the eyes of one who knows how it will look to a viewer on a 21 inch TV screen at home. That's pure gold. And those people who have that kind of knowledge are all over a DRTV show.
Now there are also some "Cautions" too. Just because I seem to be painting a picture of all roses with no thorns, doesn't mean there aren't some stickers waiting for the unwary. Fortunately I got to talk to some of the battled scarred veterans of the early TV infomercial wars, and their knowledge about who the real players are is even more golden.
Another caution: it is pretty easy for an inventor to get so pushy and talkative he can forget the primary law of the media: "The product is king!" When one of the experts is examining a new product he is using all his years of experience and wisdom to make a rather short term decision. If the inventor can't keep his mouth shut and listen at that critical point he may unwittingly talk his way out of the best deal he'll ever get. The guy may be on the verge of putting a million bucks into a product but decide the inventor will be so hard to work with it wouldn't be worth it to find out.
Sometimes by asking questions you can find a broker, or agent, who takes products to the right people for that product. They obviously can be your best friend in the "Business." They not only know who is naughty and who is nice, but by getting you set up properly to meet the right company they will earn their commission many times over. Brokers are hard to find, I'm told, so the chances are you will have to go in the ring and fight your own fight, at least for the first round or two. When it comes time to negotiate, make a friend out of your attorney. Once you've put a successful product on the air, the brokers and agents may suddenly appear, wanting to take you to lunch.
Then there's the Number Two concern of all the participants in TV selling: That is "KNOCK OFF'S." Maybe with some outfits it's number one. (Because they're the ones doing it.) Knockoffs are the risk one takes whenever a product is introduced to the public that looks like a "money maker." Especially if it's a quality product.
Sure as hell, if there is money to be made, someone will figure out a way to make it cheaper. Maybe they don't even have to manufacture it cheaper. If one company has already spend a couple hundred thousand dollars filming a production, buying air time, hiring expensive actors and stocking the products, the knock off only has to have the air time and a reasonable copy of the production to make the public think it is the same product. Usually, however, it is a cheap imitation of the real thing, but that powerful phrase: "As seen on TV" fixes the product in the public's mind, and they fall for it.
The way I found least expensive and most possible for an inventor, is the idea of knocking off yourself first. Before it goes on sale to the public. It is worth the effort for an inventor to really brainstorm the product to how it can be made cheaper, faster, better, or whatever... The point is, to make it so hard for anyone else to make a profit at the price you're selling it for, they don't want to try. (Not worth the effort)
So do you have that real home run? Maybe... It could make you very rich.
Remember, your product must be protected by a current, valid patent. It must not be encumbered by a lot of debt, or too many coinventor. It is imperative that you have a prototype, a presentation in writing, a video demo, if possible, and above all, it must appeal to the mass market, not a small niche market, which can be better covered by catalog anyway.
Again, the full article is to be published in the Inventors' Digest, next issue. This is just an excerpt, edited for the newsletter. If you're not yet a subscriber to I.D., you should be. The NATIONAL INVENTORS' MONTH is coming up in August.
Page done by Vince Chemist.
Created on May 19, 1998
Updated on November 29, 2005