Thread: Inventions: You Snooze, You Lose!

I was just watching Mj's youtube video entitled "Have An Awesome Idea? Great, Now STFU and Act!" about someone's next big idea being shared with others and acting on it so your not the one saying "i had that idea". Well, dammit, right now I'm sitting here saying "I was working on that idea!" because someone solved something critical before I could.

An army of greasy guys complaining about this and that throughout the day are bound to gripe about a problem that can be fixed. About a year ago, one of the guys was hanging out at his shop when he said how great it would be if he didn't have to use a drop light (which is a light bulb in a plastic or metal half-cocoon-like protection thing with a hook on the end that you hang on anything you can find underneath the car) every time he needed to look underneath the car. All of a sudden, boom, problem solved! How about a durable floor mat to place underneath the car with LED lights shedding their light on the whole belly of a car! YES!

I did a little research on the web a while back and couldn't find anything out there like it. Started to take notes on the size, the weight it should sustain, liquids it will endure, and I also began coming up with a list of raw materials to make a prototype. Just recently, out of nowhere as I'm checking to see if the coast is still clear and no one has beat me to it, I found a website that was just launched featuring a product similar to the idea. My heart fell out of my chest and was collecting dust as I read about the product. Damn, should have acted quick but this has been a pretty sweet lesson.

It's funny that this all happened today when I got the motivation for pushing the product after getting on this forum.

Thanks for reading.

Drew

If you come up with anything else, make sure you write it down, date it and have two witnesses sign it. The witnesses can be anyone you know. You do not need an expert witness to sign nor does it need to be notarized. Anyone time you add to the invention or change it, make note of the changes and have the witnesses sign again. This will show proof that you came up the idea if you decided to pursue it but someone else does it. It won't fully protect you but if you have proof to show the USPTO (Patent Office) that you came up with the idea first, you might be awarded the patent for it. If you do decide to pursue it then at least apply for a provisional patent which is fairly cheap and can be done on your own or for a little more you can go to Legalzoom.com. It is true though, if you snooze, you lose. There are billions of people in this world and probably a decent amount that have the same exact idea as you. The problem is 99% of people either don't act on it, don't think they can do it, don't think they have the money for it, think people will magically pay for their idea, don't know how to market it, etc... The list goes on and on. My advice is do lots of research, know the invention process inside out and don't give up! Just because it's out there doesn't mean it can't be improved or marketed better! I suggest a book called "The Inventor's Bible", by Ronald Louis Docie, SR. Good Luck!

Oh and one more thing - Who you know can be big in this industry. Companies would rather work with someone they know rather than a complete stranger. Hopefully your father kept a good relationship going with Steck. I'm going to be spending the next several months trying to meet as many key players in my industry as I can.

Good story! But just because you weren't first to market, doesn't mean you missed out completely - so few products / niches are server entirely by a single product or company!

Maybe your mat does not all light up at once?? Maybe you set your mat up so when a mechanic taps a section, only that section lights up. The whole mat lit up might be blinding and wastes energy. Just a thought on how to make it different. Look at his product and find a problem with it and make it better. Maybe you can build a radio into yours so he can listen to music as he works. Or an intercom so he can talk to another mechanic in another room?

Make a better one and market it better. Unless you have another idea you want to work on, then do that.