How To Not Fall For Bad Invention Advice.
How Not To Fall For Bad Invention Advice.
If you have an idea for an invention, there is a lot of bad invention advice out there. But who’s invention advice should you take? In this article, we will go over how not to fall for bad invention advice.
The first thing to remember about the people that give invention advice, is it usually doesn’t cost them anything if you fail. You are the one that has time and money on the line and something to lose. Not only could their advice be the reason your invention fails, it could also be how you get taken advantage of.
Protecting yourself from bad advice starts with understanding the 4 different types of people who give the advice.
- Parrot Advisors
- Partial Advisors
- Experienced Advisors
- What-Not-To-Do Advisors
Parrot Advisors
Parrot Advisors are people who just repeat the advice they have heard, even though they have never succeeded using the advice themselves.
About them:
They almost always have good intentions, but they have never personally succeeded using the advice they repeat. They often think the advice they give is good, only because it sounds right to them.
Though a Parrot Advisor could be correct in their advice; they are far more likely to just be repeating bad advice or just advice that doesn’t apply to your specific invention. This is most often friends and family, and also other new inventors in groups and forums who are in the same boat you are in.
When learning how not to fall for bad invention advice, the parrot advisor is who you want to be most skeptical of.
Motivation:
It’s human nature to crave feeling valued and helpful. Though they usually have good intentions, it is that validation they are actually seeking. Simply taking their advice is the validation they seek.
What advice not to take from them:
They don’t know the idea-to-market process themselves, so be wary of taking advice on how to proceed.
It’s also common for this type of advisor to tell you what they think you want to hear. Itis human nature to want to make people happy, especially if they are your friends and family. Telling you they like your invention idea will make you happy.
Be very careful with this and be sure to read our blog on the Validation Process. Positive feedback is specifically not Validation and can cost you a lot of money.
What advice to take from them:
Parrot advisors, who are friends or family, know what kind of person you are on a personal level. Your invention idea itself is a very small part of your chance of success. If you are going to succeed at all, it will be because you are the right person to execute the idea. When any of them question this, that is something you should take into consideration.
If your loved ones don’t think you have it in you to bring a product to market, then there is a decent chance you don’t. That is something you should address early on and try to become the person that everyone around you thinks has it in them to bring a product to market.
Partial Advisors
Partial Advisors are people who make their living selling services to inventors to help them through one or more steps in the idea-to-market process.
About them:
Partial Advisors have some sort of business offering Invention help or Invention Services of some kind. They might help you patent your idea, build a prototype for your invention, Design your invention, etc. They make money if you hire them to help bring your idea to market.
When learning how not to fall for bad invention advice, the partial advisor is who you want to be most cautious of.
Motivation:
Make no mistake about it, their motivation is primarily to make money as this is often how they earn their living. Which naturally means that it is in their best interest that you hire them to perform the service.
Even if they know it isn’t them you would hire anyway and you are just seeking advice, it is still their profession. They are still less likely to tell anyone that what they do for a living, isn’t actually needed. That would be them almost questioning their own existence.
What advice not to take from them:
Though there is nothing inherently wrong about being motivated by making money as a provider of legitimate services. You need to be careful about what advice you take from them. You should never let a service provider tell you that you need a service that they offer. They are partial by definition.
There is no possible way they could know all the information they would need to know about you or your idea to be able to tell you if proceeding is a good idea or not. Only you have that information.
You should only hire them once you have determined that you indeed need the services they offer. The best way to do that is based on the advice of Invention consultants who don’t make any extra money if you take their advice or not. An Invention Consultant is a great place to start.
What advice to take from them:
Especially the more established their business, the greater their knowledge base on the topic at hand. They can be an incredible wealth of information that can end up being vital to your success.
Also, though it’s common for inventors to be able to learn and perform ANY step in the idea-to-market process themselves, it is a very bad idea to learn and perform ALL of them. Spreading yourself that thin is a very common reason inventors fail. You have way too much on your plate to waste time learning a new skill that takes professionals years of school and experience to do right.
There just isn’t any way anyone can be good at everything, and sometimes being good isn’t good enough. Partial Advisors can be a wealth of information on the subject matter of their profession. You have a higher chance of getting your patent approved if you use a licensed patent attorney.
Take their advice on anything having to do with their step in the process. Our Directory of Inventor Friendly Service Providers is a great way to find the
Invention Consultants We Recommend
Experienced Advisors
Experienced Advisors are people who have a great deal of first hand working knowledge on the topic of how to proceed with your invention.
About them:
They are usually either people who have succeeded as an inventor themselves, or have studied the topic in great detail. Oftentimes, Invention Coaches are successful inventors themselves. Other times, they just have a lot of professional experience bringing products to market maybe through a company or firm. There is nothing wrong with that, as some people personally enjoy teaching and coaching more than practicing the skill themselves. Also don’t forget that the idea-to-market process is very similar regardless if it is a new invention or an existing product.
When learning how not to fall for bad invention advice, the experienced advisor is who you want to listen too the most.
Motivation:
Their motivation is usually to help other people learn from their mistakes and their successes. No one succeeds at anything without making some mistakes along the way. But more importantly, they saw first-hand what worked for them. Because of their unbiased and in depth experiences navigating the idea-to-market process or some portion of it, they feel they have a lot to offer first time inventors.
If they are an Invention Coach, then their motivations still are to make money. If they are simply a successful inventor, then their motivations are usually just to help as some sort of mentor. Though that sort of means they are also a coach as well.
What advice not to take from them:
There is actually very little advice by default that you shouldn’t take from Invention Consultants. But because they are a business trying to make money, you might want to refrain from paying for services form them other than coaching.
Some coaches have meshed their Coaching business with also offering to perform various specific steps within the process. Essentially up-selling you. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this, it just flirts dangerously close to why you don’t want Partial Advisors helping you make decisions on what services you need. You want people telling you how to proceed who don’t make extra money if you do. You want unbiased opinions on that.
What advice to take from them:
It’s their job to understand not only the idea-to-market process, but how your particular idea might fit into it. Other than you, they would likely have the most intimate knowledge of your idea as far as a business goes. If they make a suggestion, which is literally why you hired or are talking to them, then it’s best to listen.
What-Not-To-Do Advisors
What-Not-To-Do Advisors have experience learning the hard way how not to bring an idea to market. Oftentimes these advisors were not successful in bringing their product to market, but learned a lot of valuable lessons along the way.
About them:
There are a lot of practical and valuable lessons that come with failure. These types of advisors though might not have succeeded themselves, often know why they didn’t succeed. This can be almost as valuable as advice on how to succeed. You will often find these people in Inventor Groups and Inventor Forums.
When learning how not to fall for bad invention advice, the what-not-to-do advisor is who you most want to hear out.
Motivation:
Their motivation is usually feeling good about helping inventors not make the same expensive mistakes they did. In any type of business, lessons learned from failure are incredibly valuable. Those who failed and learned their lesson often have something valuable to say. Assuming they learned the right lessons anyway.
What advice not to take from them:
It’s not so much what advice not to take from What Not-To-Do Advisors, it’s about identifying if they indeed know what they are talking about, or if they are simply well spoken Parrot Advisors. This is often very hard to decipher for new Inventors. Viewing their comment history is a good way to get an idea where they are actually coming from. Also taking note of anyone who pushes back on the advice they give.
What advice to take from them:
To bring a product to market, you have to do a lot of things right, and very few things wrong. People that don’t know what they are talking about like to tell people how to do things.
Generally, people usually only tell you what not to do if they have made the mistake before, or have a deeper understanding of the topic. If there is something specific people tell you not to do, don’t take the advice blindly. But you should research the topic from that perspective to see if they might be right.
What it all really boils down to is that you need to understand that there is a lot of really bad advice out there for Inventors. Some of it is just wrong no matter what, others are just bad because it applied to one person’s invention idea but maybe not apply to yours. The more you learn about the actual idea-to-market process from people who know it, the better off you will be.
If you don’t have successful inventors in your life to mentor you, the next best thing you can do is hire an Invention Consultants from our Directory if only for an hour or two just to talk about your idea. Especially before you spend any money on your idea. This consultation can be the single best investment you make for your Invention and ultimately your future as an Inventor.
