Archive for February, 2012
Are You a American Web Page Inventor?
Posted by admin in American Inventors, Internet and Businesses Online, Web Development on February 29, 2012
I’ve been watching the American Inventor lately and boy-howdy can you get some useful tips about marketing and presentation! If you haven’t seen the show, here’s a quick overview: The inventors get a 60 second shot at presenting their product to a panel of 4 Entrepreneurs, each are marketers and interested in promoting a new product. What’s at stake? A million dollars! And a chance to become famous!
What’s interesting about this process is that the judges ‘tell you’ that the ‘inventor’ (you)…how you present your case, even if your product is bad, is equally important to their decision when choosing a new inventor. NOT ONE INVENTOR HEARD THAT MESSAGE. Each person is so embedded, so over-focused in their own product, they aren’t paying attention to advice the panel just offered about what the panel wants to see, and as a result most seriously bomb because they design a presentation ‘they think’ the panel wants to see! As a result they can’t ‘convert’ the panel of judges to buy in on their idea!
The same thing happens with web page designs. Sites fail because they don’t pay close attention to the customers will want. We tend to build what WE think our customers want instead of researching exactly what they want. On the show the inventor gets 60 seconds to sell the panel on their product…a web page gets 2 seconds! Your challenge is far greater than the inventor. Where on the page do you think you’ll be able to grab someone’s attention and keep them focused on YOUR presentation? The headline…simply put. You see, ‘words’ sell not logos, or funny objects….words. Yes…I know you want to brand yourself…great go ahead and brand yourself, but listen up…branding doesn’t convert…read on.
The message should speak to your customer in a way that keeps them on your page as they continue to read your proposition. It doesn’t matter how great or poor your product is…if you instantly speak to your customer and provide them with what they want…they will most likely buy. Remember, people don’t buy because they need, they buy because the want, it’s up to you to create that emotional connection and convince them to want your product.
Here’s an exercise: Take a moment, step back and take a look at your pages and ask yourself: “do my headlines keep me on this page? Does this page compel me to buy?” If the answer is no…then you know what to do next, find a good copywriter that knows how to write pages that sell, don’t go to your web designer who knows nothing about writing copy, these are two distinctively different skills and you want to work with the one that will best suit your objectives.
American Science Surplus Auctions
Posted by admin in American Inventors, Auctions, Internet and Businesses Online on February 29, 2012
Are you looking for new parts for that circuit board? How about a new microscope to view your bug sample slides? Fortunately there are several websites out there that cater to all your surplus science equipment needs in this country. The government often sells American science surplus. That’s right, American science surplus is sold by the government for the benefit of teachers, crafters, hobbyists, artists, inventors, scientists (mad and otherwise), kids, and anyone with a taste for gadgets, gizmos and all science-related products.
For anyone who might not already know, a surplus store or auction is a place where excess goods are sold. These may be government-purchased science goods that once served a purpose but are no longer required or many times surplus can also be an excess of purchased science goods that were never used. These items may come from a multitude of places such as schools, state universities, hospitals, government laboratories, NASA, government funded projects, etc. Many of these scientific and medical goods are in excellent condition and are sold for a fraction of what was originally paid for them.
American science surplus auctions are basically auctions that offer a gadget heaven of surplus science goods. You can find just about anything and everything amid their unique mix of tools, hardware, surplus electronic parts, science kits, and military and educational supplies. American science surplus is also the perfect place to find everything for kids science projects. Whether it’s a chemistry, physics, biology or an electronics project, these have the parts and supplies you need for that A+ or blue ribbon.
I recently checked out several online websites that sold American science surplus goods and was amazed to see how incredibly diverse the surplus science equipment I found was. Items ranged from projectors, lab equipment, and stethoscopes to electric motors, oscilloscopes, and dental goods. Whatever scientific gadget or tchotchke you might crave, science surplus auctions have probably got it. And keep in mind: the best part about these auctions is that you end up paying a mere fraction of the original cost of the items. You could easily walk away with a 2-year-old microscope for $50 when some prominent university might have spent several hundred or thousand. Deals like this happen all the time!
There are several websites out there that offer information on auctions of American science surplus goods. You may purchase these surplus science items in them or you may venture to a live surplus auction. The choice is yours.
Become an Inventor
Posted by admin in Inventors, Inventors Help Inventors, New Inventors, Self Improvement, Success on February 18, 2012
Before you start your day, invent it! Program your mind for success before your feet hit the ground. Ask yourself what it is that you would like to accomplish this day. Who do you want to meet? What do you need to complete today in order to have a free mind? Then organize your day. Group all of the calls you need to make, all of the physical tasks you must complete, all of the errands you need to run, and any computer communications you must follow-up on. Look at your life and organize it first. Once you have organized your day you are ready to begin the exploration of inventive thinking.
So, as you begin your daily chores you will consciously look at life differently. You must begin to see everything around you as though it has been waiting for you to discover it., From your toothbrush to the hangers in your closet, into your kitchen, out through the yard and into your car you will begin to see the world around you with the eyes of an inventor. You will be listening to the problems people face in their daily lives too. You will listen intently when you hear someone frustrated with an item or a process, or their health.
An inventor looks at life differently than the average person. He or she looks past the solidified objects, or technology, or thought processes and quickly moves into the blueprint of creation. The blueprint of creation is what must come to be before anything becomes manifest. In order to become an inventor you will need to identify “something” that is not effective, costs too much, isn’t convenient, is made poorly, isn’t yet available as a product, or designed poorly. You can look at processes the same way. Think about how many steps it takes to accomplish a task at work, or what the cost to use the copier is versus sending paperless communication. Think about the elements that comprise a product and how changing even one element might improve it. Soon you will begin going through the inventive steps that will lead you to accomplish a “good idea.”
If you think about life in terms of cost savings, convenience, safety, saving time, comfort, being stronger, smaller, taller, left handed, lighter, heavier, etc. you will soon discover that most everything in our lives can be upgraded. And we can then move to eliminating the unnecessary and designing something better.
Time Magazine lists the best inventions of the year. In 2001 a remarkable invention saved the life of a 59 yr. old grandfather who was destined to die due to congestive heart failure. There were no hearts available for transplant, but thank God for the inventive minds at Abicors, in Massachusettes, they saved his life with an incredible invention; an artificial heart. The miracles in the medical field are becoming possible because of the minds of mechanical engineers that know little if anything about congestive heart failure. All they needed to know was how a heart functions, and the materials that would be most compatible with the human body. Certainly there are more improvements to come, but at last reading his heart was beating strongly…truly a miracle.
Seeing-eye buses are now being produced to help eliminate driver error. I f you saw Sandra Bullock’s hit movie, Speed, you will remember how that bus had a mind of its own because a bad guy had wired it to explode if it went below 50mph. Now in Las Vegas buses are really on autopilot. A camera mounted on the dashboard of the electric-powered Civis reads stripes painted on the road. If a bus strays even slightly from the markings, a motor on the steering wheel nudges the bus back in line. Human drivers, who control the brakes and accelerator, play only a bit part in this action flick.
Now take a look at your daily job. What is it that is mundane? Is there one task that is repeated over and over? Why? Do you see a need that hasn’t been met. Is anyone suffering? Begin to ask yourself why things may be the way they are. Then ask yourself if that is necessary. How might you improve just one element of your daily life? Give yourself a small goal. Start an inventor journal. Keep a spiral notebook handy and jot down ways to improve life around you for one week. You can look at tasks, toys, machines, cars, furniture, pet items, formulas, kitchen items, clothing, accessories and more. Just choose one idea from your journal after observing life for one full week.
Let go of your preconceived notions that you have to be an engineer, or a scientist, or a chef, or an attorney, or anything else, in order to improve upon life. The average person if often the answer to many of life’s improvements. But it is those with the inventive minds that perceive the problems by observing life differently that get paid for the inventions.
An inventor sees what everyone else in life sees but he/she thinks differently about it. You are already an inventor. No doubt you have come up with some inventive way of fixing something through your life. Maybe you taped something together, pounded a tool a different direction to fit a hard to reach screw, or designed a dress because you couldn’t find one you liked at the store.
Say these words to yourself, “I am an inventor waiting to happen.” Believe it because it is true. Now take the necessary steps to place yourself in the opportunity of moving your design to a prototype and then get it safely into the hands of a trusting patent attorney, or consultant. Never give up your ideas without having security documents in place. Be sure that anyone who sees your invention (outside of Mom, Dad, spouse,family…) signs a Non-disclosure form. You can obtain these on line or through your attorney’s office.
Sometimes inventions are snatched up before they are able to be protected. Sad, but true. I come from an inventive family, and I have worked closely with inventors in my life. Please take the necessary steps to protect your ideas. But don’t let the paperwork scare you, get your ideas flowing and when you are ready to talk with an attorney to find out what steps you need to take to secure your invention or ideas. There is free information on the United States Patent and Trademark Office website.