Making 2 Lists Can Help Determine Factors In The Invention Process That May Be In Your Way, By April Mitchell
DO YOU ever feel like you aren’t in control of what’s happening—and wondering if you are doing everything you can to help your odds of getting your product licensed?
Sometimes, I have to remind myself of what it is that I can control in my product licensing journey. I need to think about what is in my power and what I can do myself, versus what I don’t have control over or the power to do.
To help with this, I made a list of inventingrelated factors in both these totally opposite categories. I encourage you to take a look at both lists and see if there is anything you can add.
What I can control, or what is in my power:
• How much time I am spending creating new products
• How much time I am spending pitching or following up
• The amount of research I do before and during working on a project
• How I choose to spend my time
• What project/s I choose to work on
• Who I choose to pitch to (as long as I can gain access to the company)
• What I spend my money on (prototypes, trade shows, etc.)
• How I act or react to things (my attitude)
• Helping the companies I work with
• How much work I put into things
• How far I take a project (Does it look OK or pitch ready?)
• Who I choose to work with and who I choose to walk away from
What I cannot control, or not in my power:
• Whether a person/company chooses to take my meeting request
• Whether a person/company responds to my email/s
• Whether or not a person/company reviews, tests, or playtests a product or game when they say they will
• Whether I get feedback (even after I may ask)
• If the product will actually come out on the market when it is supposed to—or at all
• If a company will send my prototype/sample back (even asking for it multiple times)
• Whether or not I get offered a licensing deal from a company
Evaluate your reactions
After reading through this list, try thinking about the things that may be bringing you down as aninventor or designer.
If they are on the list of things that you don’t have control over or not in your power, I encourage you to let them go and concentrate your energy and time on the first list.
If this still is not enough control over the outcome of your product, perhaps it may be time to consider having your product manufactured—or, if your product is a game, to self-publish.
Of course, with manufacturing your own product comes a new set of outside factors such as different people meeting timelines, juggling shipping, and whether or not buyers are interested in your product—to name a few.
Whether going the licensing or manufacturing route, there will always be things outside our control. Work on the things you can control and plan extra time for the things you can’t.
Keep doing your part. In time, things will hopefully work out with the desired result.