There are a lot of normal people who come up with new ideas for products that offer better and more efficient ways to accomplish tasks ways to do things, but a lot of those ideas are never acted on or get to market because of the difficulty in getting your idea sold and produced. There are a lot of scams out there offer alleged means for inventors to get their ideas to market, but almost always come with no results.
Most of the invention services which are complete rip-offs operate in a three step process. First they offer a free “evaluation” of the product or idea. Secondly they’ll ask for $500 or so to fund additional “research” on the product to determine whether or not its market ready, and finally, they’ll ask for an additional $5,000 or $6,000 for additional market research, only to tell you that your idea isn’t suitable. Everyone who submits a product for evaluation will be responded to as if they had invented the light-bulb for the first time. Almost no products will actually come to market from these rip-off services. One company that does this was forced to disclosed that less than 1% of the ideas submitted ever make it to market.
Don’t ever give any up-front money to these type of invention companies that claim they will research your product and get it on the market. Your best bet is to do thorough research on how to invent and patent an idea yourself. You can read books such as David Pressman’s “Patent It Yourself” and Richard Levy’s “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Cashing in on Your Inventions.” The Library of Congress has some good information on how to apply for a patent if you’re so inclined. There are lots of local not-for-profit inventors clubs which are a great resource for sharing ideas and getting some encouragement.
After you’ve done all of your research and have a plan to market your product, chances are your best bet is to find an invention broker that will propose your idea to companies. It’s also important to create a working prototype of your invention. Companies will not buy ideas from the sketches that you have. It’ll take some work, but it’s well worth doing.
Getting your idea for a new invention patented and on the market will be a time-consuming activity and will require a lot of hard work. Even if you have the best idea since the microchip, you’re still going to have to go through the effort of patenting your invention and getting your idea pitched to companies. It’s a lot of hard work, but can be very lucrative if you have truly come up with a new unique invention which would save people time, effort, or money.