Many people have products that they have thought about and never pursued because of one primary reason — fright. As product dreamers we are afraid of someone stealing our inventions, not having the funds to pursue the dream or not having the time to move forward. The same people that sit on their ideas look up one day and see the very product that they thought of is currently on the market.

Why is this? The reason this happens is because if you can dream of an easier way to get something done someone else can have that very same idea. What makes you and another person that has the same idea any different? Whomever obtains patent protection first has all the rights to the product idea.

I have 10 preliminary tips for all dreamers that have ideas they would like to pursue…

1. Get moving on your dream today! Do something towards bringing your dream into reality every single day.

2. Write down everything about your product idea. Get a friend or pay someone to draw the product.

3. Save your money and maintain good credit. Most have to put a substantial amount of money towards their dream even if they get bank backing. However, some do get venture capital and angel investors to fund their product inventions. This is a matter of preference. With pursuing the venture capitalist and angel investor avenue get ready to hand over much of your profits.

4. Require any individual that you would like to disclose information about your product sign a non-disclosure agreement. In summary this agreement allows both parties to sign a document stating the product inventor is disclosing pertinent information about their product and the company will not share this information with any third party. This agreement will allow you to talk to very important people that you will need to in order to get moving on your project.

5. Get a Professional to do a Product Search with the United States Patent Office. This can be a Patent agent or an Attorney. You want to be sure that what you are dreaming of is not already out there on the market. Also do your own search in search engines online or within various online stores.

6. File a Provisional Patent. I did my own provisional patent but it does require a lot of time. You must research other patents first on the United States Patent Office site to find another patented product that may be a bit similar to yours and change what is pertinent to your product. You can also hire an attorney to do the provisional patent. The Provisional patent lasts one year. It was ideal for me to do a provisional patent because I gauged the market to determine if it was something I really wanted to pursue before filing the more costly non-provisional patent.

7. Surround yourself with others who have been through the process before or those who are currently pursuing their invention endeavors. I met a SCORE counselor who has a product invention background. He counseled me on pertinent issues and provided great contacts for me so that I would not have to reinvent the wheel. I also joined an inventors organization.

8. Get a prototype. You must have a working prototype that you can show potential buyers to garner interest.

9. Conduct market research on your product. I am not talking about just speaking to family and friends about their opinion of your product. I am talking about paying for a professional focus group to talk about all the pertinent information you need to know from would be consumers about your product. You can also do mall interceptions and surveys online.

10. If you decide after your research you would like to pursue your dream full force, get your full non-provisional patent filed. The non-provisional patent will provide you with protection for over 20 years after the United States Patent Office have accepted it. You want to contact an attorney that someone has referred to you. I negotiated with an attorney that does not work off of an hourly rate. I strongly suggest you getting a fixed rate attorney.

About the Author

The Author of this article, Twanda Mobley, CEO of the Mobley's Gate Garbage, Inc. has a new home and office product on the market known as the Glam Can, http://www.theglamcan.com She's an advocate for litter and trash free environments. She can be reached by email at contactuor by phone at (773) 934-0796 for media kit or press release requests.