While watching “The American Inventor”, my son Davis looked up with those wide, curious, blue eyes and said “Dad, we can invent something WAY better.”  I have to admit, I was thinking the same thing.  Some of the inventions on the show seemed like a complete waste of time, money, and energy.  Disposable bed sheets?  A bicycle with a seat on the handle bars?  A bib to wear in the car when you are eating?  Come on!  “Okay son, let’s do it”, I said half heartedly.   Soon after that, ideas began to float around at the dinner table or in the car.  How about an electric matt to keep the dogs off of the furniture? Or a folding backpack equipped with everything you need for school, etc.  We quickly realized that coming up with a viable product was harder than it looked.  Either it was already in the marketplace or it was just a bad idea! 

Our invention ideas went into the back of my brain and laid there swirling around for awhile. Then, it was a late night trip to the bathroom that began to set the real wheels in motion.  As I pulled myself out of bed in a sleeping stupor and shuffled off to do my business, I had to flip on our Bright as the SUN, overhead bathroom light!  I was immediately shocked into a fully awake, and ticked-off, state.  I felt like I was in the psycho movie with the blaring screechy music ringing in my ears! I decided that I did not want to ever be awakened or shocked by blinding light again.  So the next night I did away with the lights altogether.   After going to the bathroom by brail for the next several weeks, my wife indicated that this was not going to be a good long term solution unless I would like to start cleaning the bathroom on a daily basis!   

I then started to look for nightlights of any kind to help solve my little problem.  Unsightly, socket sucking, and cheesy were the only things I could find.  So I went about building my own.  I went to Target and bought a $7 LED lamp and started to use it.  Because my toilet is in a room without any electrical outlets, I attached an extension cord to the light and ran it into the bathroom.  Functional, but not very nice to look at.  Lets just say, my wife was not pleased with this solution either.

It occurred to me that the light needed to be portable; battery operated and have some motion activation to make it right.  I researched on the web and found components that would allow me to modify the $7 Target light and make it what I envisioned as the perfect solution.  It was the first time since I left college in 1987 that I actually used my electrical engineering degree.  I found my old electronics tackle box with test equipment and went about designing the circuitry for my “smart” light.  It was about this time, I told the family.

After the laughter died down, they were enthusiastic and very supportive.  We started brainstorming on a name for the product – the “bowls-eye” and the “p-light” were the top contenders.  We unofficially started calling it the p-light because, yes, it helps you see when you go for a pee!  And thus began my obsession with building the best ”p-light” known to mankind!

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Shipping costs can make or break your business. Strong statement, I know, but its true. I worked very hard to minimize manufacturing costs – why give up margin on high shipping costs? There are many articles relating to how much you should charge customers for shipping. Should it be the true pass through expense, which is more for customers farther away OR should it be a flat rate that averages the shipping expense for everyone, OR should shipping be free to entice customers to buy? Obviously each option will affect your bottom line and your retail pricing. I’ll leave that for you to research, I chose the average shipping option.

However, there hasn’t been much discussion on which shipper is best – Fedex, UPS, United States Post Office OR some of the considerations on weight and sizing. It doesn’t take a degree in Newtonian physics to know that a lighter package results in less cost. But did you know that if you ship to certain zones (areas of the country), that package sizing trumps weight? So size does matter! Also, did you know that the shippers round the weight UP to the nearest pound? So if you have a package that is 1 lb and 1 oz, it is considered a 2 lb package! This rounding can easily double your costs!

I’ve found that retail pricing for Fedex and UPS to be significantly more than that of the United States post office. And that the price breaks I negotiated with postal annexes and these shippers are still more than post office priority mail. I’ve also examined my box type, sizing and packaging material to minimize size and weight. I’ve replaced my corrugated boxes with lighter types and am using paper or airbags instead of peanuts. I may pay a little more for the type of box or packaging material just to keep the weight down. So keep your packages light and as small as possible and use the post office to minimize your expense and maximize profits.

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Step 1. Build a prototype.

Step 2. Test it with family and friends – hopefully that like it.  Determine the target market, figure out the pricing and opportunity.

Step 3. Hire an Industrial Designer to produce realistic renderings.

Step 4. Develop the engineering and design specifications.

Step 5. Protect idea – Patent, Trademark, Non-disclosure agreements.

Step 6. Find a manufacturer, determine costs, see if you can make a profit.  Examine every aspect of costs – from COGS, duties, sales referrals, etc.

Step 7. Develop branding and company messaging.

Step 8. Hire webdesigner, graphics expert to build website and preliminary marketing material. 

Step 9. Find a buyer.  Order some products.  Plan the sales campaign.  Have your order forms, pricing and distribution plans nailed down.

Step 10. Hire expert in marketing.  Build video and other materials to support campaign.

Step 11. Sell and monitor. Assess success, quality, customer satisfaction. 

Those are the main steps, with a million tasks inbetween.

Technorati Tags: design, invention, night light, prototype

All the best,

Tom

this also shows on the left column and is the Invention Resources selection from the category check box below.

• responsible for packaging design and marketing materials (illustrations, brochures)
• Bio from website: Little Black Umbrella was started in 2005 by Kevin Segedi, a web and graphic designer with over 10 years experience to provide creative design, web development, photography, copy writing, and voice talent to small businesses. They are located in New Zealand.

Steve Schraer – www.steveschraer.com

• responsible for flash intro and flash website.
• Bio from website: Creative design solutions. Webmaster, web developer and video production. Art director and graphics designer. Located in Florida.

Zsolt Kovacs

• responsible for industrial design.
• Bio – to come. Waiting for him to write.

Kristin Ewald

• responsible for providing copy edits for the website.
• A former journalist and Senior Editor at Time Warner’s PEOPLE Magazine in New York, Kristin has also held positions at Microsoft (Executive Producer of MSN/Sidewalk.com), Gateway Corporation (Director of Web Content and Portal Services) and Intuit, where she led a team of editors assigned to make TurboTax software products the ultimate in user-friendly

Mike Mcelroy – videoAdmaster – www.videoadmaster.com

• responsible for development of video advertising.
• Custom video productions.

I’ve employed a young engineer, with a masters degree to look at the prototype circuit and produce a schematic so i can include it when I file the patent. I intend to alter the design so as to make it my own. After working with him until late in the evening, I received the schematic tonight. He is very bright, maybe too bright. He has offered to do the work in exchange for me buying him a development kit from Texas Instruments to build a wireless car finder

Inspirations from flipping the on switch

While watching “The American Inventor”, my son Davis looked up with those wide, curious, blue eyes and said “Dad, we can invent something way better.” I have to admit, I was thinking the same thing. Some of the inventions on the show seemed like a complete waste of time, money, and energy. Disposable bed sheets? A bicycle with a seat on the handle bars? A bib to wear in the car when you are eating? Come on! “Okay son, let’s do it”, I said half heartedly. Soon after that, ideas began to float around at the dinner table or in the car. How about an electric matt to keep the dogs off of the furniture? Or a folding backpack equipped with everything you need for school, etc. We quickly realized that coming up with a viable product was harder than it looked. Either it was already in the marketplace or it was just a bad idea!

Listening and paying attention to your own needs or problems can lead to invention.

Our invention ideas went into the back of my brain and laid there swirling around for awhile. Then, it was a late night trip to the bathroom that began to set the real wheels in motion. As I pulled myself out of bed in a sleeping stupor and shuffled off to do my business, I had to flip on our bright as the sun, overhead bathroom light. I was immediately shocked into a fully awake, and ticked-off, state. I felt like I was in the psycho movie with the blaring screechy music ringing in my ears! It was so disturbing. I decided that I did not want to ever be awakened or shocked by blinding light again. So the next night I did away with the lights altogether. After going to the bathroom by brail for the next several weeks, my wife indicated that this was not going to be a good long term solution unless I would like to start cleaning the bathroom on a daily basis!

Started looking for a solution to my problem other than wearing sunglasses at nite.

I then started to look for nightlights of any kind to help solve my little problem. Unsightly, socket sucking, and cheesy were the only things I could find. So I went about building my own. I went to Target and bought a $7 LED lamp and started to use it. Because my toilet is in a room without any electrical outlets, I attached an extension cord to the light and ran it into the bathroom. Functional, but not very nice to look at. Lets just say, my wife was not pleased with this solution either.

Cutting the cords = Out of need comes invention

It occurred to me that the light needed to be portable; battery operated and have some motion activation to make it right. I researched on the web and found components that would allow me to modify the $7 Target light and make it what I envisioned as the perfect solution. It was the first time since I left college in 1987 that I actually used my electrical engineering degree. I found my old electronics tackle box with test equipment and went about designing the circuitry for my “smart” light. It was about this time, I told the family.

First think tank meeting of the board (aka family) at the kitchen table

After the laughter died down, they were enthusiastic and very supportive. We started brainstorming on a name for the product – the “bowls-eye” and the “p-light” were the top contenders. We unofficially started calling it the p-light because, yes, it helps you see when you go for a pee! And thus began my obsession with building the best “p-light” known to mankind!

Technorati Tags: inventor, led night light, nite trip