2007:
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THE
ONLINE INVENTOR –
(c) 2007 Market Launchers, Inc.
http://www.marketlaunchers.com
Editor: Paul Niemann
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Article # 1: “There’s Gold in Them There Hills … If You Know Where to Look” by Paul Niemann of MarketLaunchers.com
Article # 2:
“Finding Additional Markets for Your Inventions,” by Paul Niemann of
MarketLaunchers.com
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“There’s Gold in Them
There Hills … If You Know Where to Look”
By Paul Niemann of MarketLaunchers.com
Today
we take a look at a very successful inventor – AND MARKETER – whose work
would make Jeff Foxworthy proud. This inventor’s products have been sold all
over the world, even though you’ve probably never heard of him.
He
chose to have the product manufactured himself and sell it himself, instead of
choosing the less expensive route of licensing. As a result of his work, things
have have worked out very well.
His
first product, the Billy Bob Teeth, has sold more than 14 million units, and
counting, over the past 11 years. His second product has already sold more than
1 million units, and counting. And he did not have a marketing background; he
was a biology major in college.
His
name is Jonah White and I met him through a mutual friend recently, after having
seen his product in stores many times over the past 10 years. His story is one
of opportunity – an opportunity that Jonah saw while 20,000 other people who
were there missed it.
On
a fall Saturday afternoon back in 1994, Jonah was watching a football game at
his alma mater,
Everyone
in the stands saw an obnoxious fan with bad teeth, while Jonah saw what he
described as “a goldmine.” After halftime, the fan – after getting rid of
his bad teeth – introduced himself to Jonah. It turns out that the fan was a
dental student named Rich Bailey. Rich was a friend of Jonah’s college
roommate, and he created a false set of teeth to wear to the game just for fun.
He also made a set for Jonah, who then suggested that the two go into business
together to mass market the new novelty item.
So
in 1996, 26-year-old Jonah White and his friend incorporated their Billy-Bob
Teeth Company, in Jonah’s hometown of Hardin, Illinois, which is located about
60 miles south of my hometown of Quincy in rural Illinois. In fact, you would
have to drive through a creek to get to their original headquarters.
Despite
the occasional setback – such as the day when they lost phone service because
a ram sheep got its horns stuck in the phone line outside the building and
caused an outage – they have sold more than 14 million sets of teeth, and
counting. He’s made numerous appearances on TV shows, such as The
Today Show and many others.
As
is the case with most successful products, Jonah’s company (he bought out his
partner years ago) has faced numerous imitators who have tried to copy his
product. He said there have been more than 20 knock-offs, and he decides which
ones are worth taking to court.
He’s
currently developing additional products. His latest product is called Dr.
Bailey’s Secure Smile and, like the Billy-Bob teeth, this product is also a
fake set of teeth. Unlike the Billy-Bob teeth, though, this product provides
people who have bad teeth with a great-looking set of teeth – like a poor
man’s denture. Since it is just the opposite of the Billy-Bob teeth, he has
established a separate company to make and sell it. Naturally, that company’s
name is the William Robert Teeth Company (since “William” and “Robert”
are the formal names of “Billy” and “Bob”).
His
other new product on the market is the Billy-Bob pacifier, which is as obnoxious
and entertaining as the Billy-Bob teeth. He figures that as long as people need
pacifiers, they might as well have pacifiers that make you laugh. Jonah has
already sold several million pacifiers.
Jonah’s
company also created the teeth that actor Mike Meyers wears in the Austin Powers
movies, although they’re much different than the Billy-Bob teeth that
Jonah’s company makes.
I thing there are at least 4
lessons that we can learn from Jonah’s story …
1.
There is opportunity all around us – we have to be able to recognize it
when it’s there. (I know I’ve passed up plenty of opportunities that were
staring me right in the face – if only I had been looking for it.)
2.
Once you have a product on the market, start developing your second and
third products. There are no one-product companies that survive long-term.
3.
If you have a product that would lessen your image or credibility if
people knew that your company makes it, then consider forming a separate company
for that product. In this case, the Billy Bob Teeth company would not be a good
name for a company that sells products that IMPROVE the appearance of your
teeth. That’s why Jonah created the William Robert Teeth Company.
4.
You don’t have to create a brand-new product idea. With Jonah’s
Billy-Bob pacifier, all he did was take a product that MILLIONS of people buy
every year, and turn it into a fun and humorous version of the same product. It
does the same thing as a regular pacifier, except that it does in a fun way.
If you want to see what the Billy
Bob teeth and pacifiers look like, click here: http://www.billybobteeth.biz
#
# #
Paul
Niemann runs MarketLaunchers.com, building web pages for inventors. Having your
own web page allows you to show your invention to companies when you’re unable
to present it to them in person, serving as your own “online brochure.”
Plus, there are companies who search the MarketLaunchers.com invention database
for new products. Visit http://www.marketlaunchers.com/forms.html
for details and pricing.
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"These are the 5 greatest inventions of all time" by Paul Niemann of MarketLaunchers.com
The age-old question, “What's
the greatest invention of all time?” has been debated for many years without
any kind of consensus, so there’s probably not a perfect answer.
Instead, let’s select the five
greatest inventions of all time. First, let’s establish some criteria:
1.
The number of people who use it or benefit from it.
2.
Its impact on society. For example, does it save lives?
3.
Its place on the historical timeline: Would this invention be possible
without a previous invention?
We won’t consider developments
such as fire, the wheel, the alphabet or the spoken language because these are
considered to be “discoveries” rather than “inventions.” Electricity
could be classified as a discovery, too, but we include it in this column
because of the subsequent electrical inventions that harnessed the power of
electricity.
The top contenders, in no
particular order, are:
· Johannes
Gutenberg’s printing press (invented in the mid-1400’s)
· The
discovery and use of electricity
· Indoor
plumbing (early records place its origin between 2,500 B.C. -- 1,700 B.C.)
· Alexander
Graham
· Thomas
Edison’s incandescent light bulb (1879)
· Sir
Alexander Fleming’s penicillin (1928)
· The
mass-produced automobile
· Computers
· The
Internet
Using a process of elimination,
Criteria # 3 (its place on the historical timeline) eliminates the Internet
because it would not exist without the discovery of electricity, the invention
of the telephone and computers. Computers cannot be considered the most
important invention of all time because they depend on electricity.
While the light bulb and the
telephone have each been considered by many to be the greatest invention ever,
neither one would have been invented without electricity. So these two get voted
off the island for the same reason as computers and the Internet.
So what are the five most
important inventions in history?
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In my opinion, they are: The
printing press, electricity, indoor plumbing, the automobile and penicillin.
These have all impacted millions of lives in a positive way, and none of them
required the use of a previous invention.
Penicillin has saved millions of
lives since Sir Alexander Fleming discovered it by accident in 1928. It
also plays a major role in treating illnesses such as pneumonia, rheumatic fever
and scarlet fever. In addition, it was the foundation for discovering many other
antibiotics that are used today.
"This
story is part of the INVENTION MYSTERIES book by author Paul Niemann. The
Invention Mysteries book reveals the little-known true stories behind 47 well-known
inventions. To order a signed copy of the Invention Mysteries book, please visit
www.InventionMysteries.com "
“Finding
Additional Markets for Your Inventions,” by Paul Niemann of
MarketLaunchers.com
As regular readers of this
newsletter know, I began writing my own syndicated newspaper column called Invention
Mysteries about 3 years ago. Since that time, I’ve turned the column into
other products – books, educational material, etc. – and begun selling it to
additional markets. The purpose of this article is to get you to figure out how
to find additional markets for YOUR invention.
I’ll start by explaining how I found
additional markets for my product (the
invention stories that I’ve been writing for the newspapers), then YOU can
figure out how to adapt this to YOUR situation, meaning that you can – AND
SHOULD – find additional markets for your invention. One you start doing it,
it will probably become the part of the whole inventing / marketing process that
you enjoy the most.
Market for Product # 1:
Newspaper editors. I started out with 5 newspaper editors that pay me for
the right to run the column each week; now there are 22 newspapers that carry it
(and their readers love it!).
Format of Product # 1:
Weekly newspaper columns. This product became profitable in Year 3.
Market for Product # 2:
Book buyers, which are found at bookstores, other retail stores, and the
Invention Mysteries web site and the UIA web site. This market became profitable
in Year 1 (barely).
Format of Product # 2:
The first Invention Mysteries
book.
Market for Product # 3:
The Newspapers In Education coordinators at various newspapers. These are
different newspapers than the ones that run the syndicated columns, although the
stories are EXACTLY the same. This product became profitable early in Year 2.
Format of Product # 3:
Sets of 10 stories that I adapt to fit the format
of Newspapers In Education. The stories are placed into the newspapers that
Newspapers In Education coordinators give to classrooms each week. Since this
version has illustrations with the stories, they pay me a higher rate than the
newspapers that buy my syndicated newspaper column.
Market for Product # 4:
The educational market. This includes private schools, public schools and
families that homeschool their kids. I will enter this market for the first time
at the end of March, and I expect this market to become profitable immediately,
because most of the costs and time involved in creating and marketing the
product have already been covered.
Format of Product # 4:
The original Invention Mysteries book, except that’s it’s now being offered
to schools. The only additional expense is in creating an activity guide for
students, and in attending various trade shows for families that homeschool.
Market for Product # 5:
Radio stations. I began this in June of 2005 and have not haven’t made
any money from this market yet, but it will become profitable if / when we get
an advertiser to sponsor it.
Format of Product # 5:
The weekly radio version of the Invention
Mysteries stories, syndicated to radio stations. Each spot is 90 seconds
long. There’s no additional cost involved in transferring the format to radio;
and only a minimal amount of time involved.
Market for Product # 6:
TV stations. I haven’t made any money from this one yet, but will as
soon as we get a sponsor to get an advertiser to sponsor it (just as in radio).
Format of Product # 6:
The weekly TV version of the Invention
Mysteries stories, which I will begin syndicating to TV stations this
summer. Each spot will be 90 seconds long. There’s some additional cost
involved in transferring the format to TV, as well as a significant amount of
time involved.
In addition, I will be publishing
the second Invention Mysteries book
this Spring, and the third book this Fall. The bookstore and other retail stores
that carried the first book will also carry the second and third books.
So we have 6 different markets
for the Invention Mysteries stories,
and I’m still coming up with more markets as we speak. Each time I found a new
market to sell my stories to, I have to adapt the format a little bit. Yes,
selling to additional markets also requires that I pick up the phone and make A
LOT of sales calls, but there is nothing more gratifying than seeing my product
on the market, and hearing people tell me how much they enjoy it.
So how does this affect YOU? You
can get the same results, assuming there’s a market for your product AND you
are willing to make the sales effort to get people to buy it.
Just as you have to decide
between manufacturing your invention yourself, or licensing it to an existing
company, I chose to self-publish my books rather than sell the rights to a
publisher. (Books are simple to manufacture, with no expensive molds or
prototypes to make. Plus, I would rather keep control rather than give it up.)
In closing this issue, I have a
request of you: I’m looking for
success stories of what you’ve done RIGHT in the invention or marketing
process – which led to you profiting from your invention. Send me your story,
and if I use it in a future issue, then you’ll receive a free, autographed
copy of the Invention Mysteries book.
(If you want to preview the book, it is at www.InventionMysteries.com).
Three people will receive free copies, so send in your stories now. Thanks!
#
# #
Paul
Niemann runs MarketLaunchers.com, building web pages for inventors. Having your
own web page allows you to show your invention to companies when you’re unable
to present it to them in person. It can serve as your “online brochure.”
Plus, there are companies who search the MarketLaunchers.com Invention Database
for new products.
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