Every great business starts with either an idea or an invention. However, not every invention turns into a business because it is hard developing your idea into an invention and then turning all that into a profitable business. Some inventors spend their whole lives patenting invention after invention without ever running a successful business or actually profiting from their hard work.
Well, since that kind of bothers us, we wanted to give some tips and create a step-by-step guide that’s going to help inventors turn their inventions into successful, profitable businesses. On that note, we went out, did some research, and here’s what we’ve found out.
Start With An Idea
Obviously, you’re going to set this whole thing in motion with an idea that could become a useful invention that could then blossom into a profitable product or a business. Now, this is a lot easier said than done, which is something you, as an inventor, most certainly know.
But then again, that’s the harsh truth. Without a good idea or an invention, you won’t have a foundation to build your business upon, so before you start working on your business plan – deal with this first.
Brace Yourself For Failure
Failure is a big part of business, as well as inventing. Not every invention is going to be good or useful, and some of them are just going to end up collecting dust in a box up in the attic.
The same thing applies to business, too. You will definitely fail multiple times before you manage to create something profitable. And, the sooner you accept this – the sooner you’ll be able to start a business.
Prepare Your Invention For A Patent
Creating an invention will be the easiest part for you. However, simply inventing something isn’t good enough. You will have to document every step of the way if you want to get approved for a patent.
Getting approved for a patent is not optional if you want to start a business. It will be one of the most important steps towards building a business and protecting your interests and intellectual property. Without a patent, you’re risking someone else swooping in and taking it from you, and believe us – this happens a lot more than you’d like to believe.
So, what you’ll want to do is make a note and document every single thing related to your invention – from the moment you’ve thought about it to the moment you’ve finished it. You’re going to need all of those documents in the relatively near future.
Create A Prototype Of An Invention
Of course, you’re going to need a prototype of your invention. This will allow you to maybe pitch your invention to certain investors, but also, you do actually need to create whatever it is that you’ve invented if you want to make a profit from it. Once you do this – you’re almost halfway there.
File For A Patent
Once everything’s done on the inventing side of things, you’re going to waltz over to the USPTO (figuratively speaking) and file for a patent. This process is going to protect your intellectual property, as well as protect you from ending up like the guys that actually invented what we nowadays know as Google Earth.
As we’ve said, this is not optional if you’re serious about starting a business. You probably could make some money without it, but your chances of creating a serious, profitable business without a patent are slim to none.
Develop A Business Plan
While you’re waiting on a patent, you should begin developing your business plan – or at least a general idea of what you want to do with it. As soon as you receive your patent, you’re going to want to go out and look for investors, and you’re not going to get a single penny if you don’t have a solid plan in mind.
Obtain Funds For Your New Businesс
You should start marketing your invention to potential investors as soon as you obtain a patent. By market, we mean go out there and pitch your business idea to the guys with deeper pockets. If you have stage fright or you don’t know how to pitch or market your invention – don’t worry. Someone else can do it for you.
Companies like InventHelp can market and pitch your idea for you. Now, if you want to know what you’d even want to collaborate with a company like that one in the first place, the answer to that, and several other questions, can be found at https://inventhelp.com/inventhelp-faq.
Set Up Shop
Before you start your new business venture, you’ll need to decide what kind of entity it is. Sometimes, this decision will be affected by the way you’ve acquired the funding, but if you’ve negotiated a good deal – you should be the one that’s making this decision. Either way, you have a few options – sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation or LLC.
All of these options come with their own advantages and disadvantages, and we strongly advise you to consult with someone with extensive knowledge on the matter before you register your company. This decision will greatly impact the path of your business, so choose wisely.
Once you make your decision, it is just a matter of setting up shop and finishing up some paperwork. By paperwork, we mean registering your company with the government and the IRS. This part of the journey will be the most tedious and boring, but you have to get through it. Everything needs to be set up just right if you don’t want to experience any inconvenience or problems down the road.
Get Insurance
Finally, the last step before you launch your new business is getting an insurance policy for that same business. You might think of this as something optional, but it really isn’t. You need to protect your business, and one of the ways to do that is by buying an insurance policy, so make sure you do it before you launch.
Final Step – Make Money
Once you do all of this and you launch your new business, all that is left to do is run it well and make some money from it. Sounds rather simple, doesn’t it?
Well, simple or not, this is one of the ways to do it. Hopefully, you’ve found this helpful. Good luck.
