There are so many ways for anybody to achieve fame and fortune. You could start a business, write an award winning book, or become a world-famous sports personality. Another way is to invent something: a product that is used by millions of people around the world and makes their lives a little bit better.
Everything around you has been invented, from the phone you’re currently holding in your hands to the cutlery you ate your breakfast with this morning. And the best part is that literally anyone can be an inventor. Sure, some of the most famous inventors in history, such as Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, were scientists and businessmen, but there have been plenty of inventions over the years created by everyday people just like you. All you need is a great idea and the motivation to bring it to fruition.
If you’d like to follow in the footsteps of the great inventors, you will need to design and create your own product. To get you started on your journey of ingenuity, here are a few tips for inventing a product and bringing it to market.
Solve a problem
All great products have been designed to solve a problem. Light bulbs were designed to help people find their way in the dark and the telephone was created to facilitate communication between people who lived miles apart. Your product doesn’t have to change the world, but it should help its audience to improve their lives. Think about your own life and the problems you face on a day to day basis. Are there products out there that can eradicate them? And if so, how could you make them better? And if not, what’s stopping you from inventing them?
Do some market research
Once you have come up with your great idea, you should conduct some research to make sure it’s as good as you think it is. Do some digging into the market and find out if anything similar exists. If it does, then what advantage will your product have over the existing ones? Is there some feature you could add to make it unique and special? You should also get other people’s opinions, particularly from the type of person who would use such a product. You could ask your friends and family for their views, or get impartial feedback by conducting focus groups.
Create a prototype
Once you have your idea finalised, it’s time to create a prototype. Depending on your skillset, you might be able to build it yourself or you might need to have it professionally manufactured. Put it through product concept testing and try it out yourself to see if it really does solve the problem.
Protect your idea
The last thing you want is someone stealing your great idea, or for other companies to bring out poor-quality imitations. That’s why it’s so important to protect your product with patents and copyrights. This way, you have complete control and ownership over your intellectual property.
It’s now time to manufacture your product in bulk and share it with the world. It may take time for it to achieve its full potential, but if it truly solves an important need then it will find its audiences eventually.
