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Hi from Cape Town, South Africa !!

PaulB

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Hi,

First of all, thank you for an AMAZING book !! I am over half-way and love the "cut to the bone" content taking away all the smoke and mirrors that so many other writers flourish on.

Just a short intro about myself.....My name is Paul and I am 46 years old. After finishing my electro mechanical engineer I worked for a boss two years and then decided this is not for me. I have been self employed for more than 20 years and love the freedom that it brings. Yes, it also brings the responsibility to make things happen and make the money. Many times there was no money but I had no one else to blame and just had to make it go right :)

So I am an inventor by heart and have invented many things over the last 20 years. Early on in my career as an inventor I realized that no one is as passionate about my product as me and had to also learn early on how to create a company around my products. From my viewpoint the invention is the easy part and getting it to the market is the other 95%. With this comes staff, labour laws, office leases, admin, admin, admin, VAT, UIF, many new expenses and lots of "kindergarden" activities. This really takes the fun out of business for me.

When I invent something new or sell my products I am loving it. I have worked very hard the last 20 years and I am semi retired and live on an amazing wine farm just outside Cape Town.

After two years of relaxing a bit I realized that I have lost my passion for life and was really bored. I also want to travel more and drive that red Ferrari I always dreamed of. To do this I have to move to the next level. But I want to do this without becoming a slave to my own company again and working for my staff instead of them working for me. If you have or had a company I am sure you know what I am talking about. I also want to do it without selling out to investors. Done that before and learned my lesson....lol.

So, I invented this AMAZING new product that can literally change the world !! www.finebubblewater.com . On the website is just the tip of the iceberg. I have a provisional patent on it and have done several successful proof of concepts. I have started appointing distributors all over the world but it it is tedious process. What I am looking for and guidance on is how to take this product around the world ? If anyone on the forum has done this before successfully I would love to hear from you ?
 
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A

Anon1351z

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Hi Paul, welcome to the forum!

I spent a month in Cape Town last summer, it's an amazing place! I could easily see myself moving there in the future.

I'm sure you have considered this, but maybe reaching out to some of the other wineries in and around Cape Town would be a good idea since you have knowledge of their business and (based on a quick glance at your website) provide a solution to a common problem. If I remember correctly, there are hundreds of wineries in Stellenbosch alone.

Hopefully, someone around here with more experience in your field can provide you with advice. Good luck!
 

PaulB

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Hi Paul, welcome to the forum!

I spent a month in Cape Town last summer, it's an amazing place! I could easily see myself moving there in the future.

I'm sure you have considered this, but maybe reaching out to some of the other wineries in and around Cape Town would be a good idea since you have knowledge of their business and (based on a quick glance at your website) provide a solution to a common problem. If I remember correctly, there are hundreds of wineries in Stellenbosch alone.

Hopefully, someone around here with more experience in your field can provide you with advice. Good luck!

Hi GoodShakers,

Thank you very much for your reply. Yes there are over 900 wineries in the Western Cape and I am busy with putting a program together with two distributors in the field to reach and sell to these wineries. I also have an Agent in Italy doing the same and then also a guy in the USA. So I suppose it is happening and I should just be a bit more patient :)

Regards, Paul
 

David Young

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Welcome to the forum. Distributors is the common approach and one I am familiar with- we tend to find these at trade shows. The problem with distributors is that you are reliant on the skills/contacts and your product will be in competition with other products for the customer money. I can't claim to understand all the benefits your discuss on your site but my first impressions are that your product could provide value to millions of people and companies all over the world. If this is indeed the case then market will be the big focus ( that is to say, your have value to offer, you just need to make the right people aware of it). Marketing on a global scale can be expensive - the short cut in the modern word is to design a campaign that has a chance of becoming viral. In you circumstance I can see a big humanitarian / environmental element that can both help you move product and help others. I would therefore look at how you can leverage this particular aspect of the product value. Obviously, ignore all this if I have misinterpreted the application of the product.
 
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PaulB

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Mar 12, 2017
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Cape Town, South Africa
Welcome to the forum. Distributors is the common approach and one I am familiar with- we tend to find these at trade shows. The problem with distributors is that you are reliant on the skills/contacts and your product will be in competition with other products for the customer money. I can't claim to understand all the benefits your discuss on your site but my first impressions are that your product could provide value to millions of people and companies all over the world. If this is indeed the case then market will be the big focus ( that is to say, your have value to offer, you just need to make the right people aware of it). Marketing on a global scale can be expensive - the short cut in the modern word is to design a campaign that has a chance of becoming viral. In you circumstance I can see a big humanitarian / environmental element that can both help you move product and help others. I would therefore look at how you can leverage this particular aspect of the product value. Obviously, ignore all this if I have misinterpreted the application of the product.

Hi David,

Thank you for your reply and input. The benefit of distributors is that they have already got an established infrastructure and should be able to just "plug" my product right in. What is happening is that they already have relationships and experience with other products in the market and to now change their "habits" is pretty hard. It is a slow tedious process and everybody want to do trials which I can appreciate but it costs money and lots of time. The Trade Shows is also a good idea !

Yes, the technology has massive scope and I have only put a tip of the iceberg on the website. I am treating a bakeries water that normally produces 100 000 loaves of bread per day and after installing my water treatment technology they can now produce an extra 7% of loaves with the same quantity of ingredients. That is 7000 extra loaves in 24 hrs at no extra cost except energy.

Again just the tip of the iceberg. I have several other much larger applications already tested and proven. The question is how to get it out there in a controlled manner with min risk ?

I like your idea of the environmental/Humanitarian angle. My technology kills cyanobacteria which pollutes most of the water bodies around the world and kills animals and people. In South Africa our government and large cooperates talks about going "green" but in reality they are not willing to spend money on green technology especially if it is more expensive than what they are currently using even if it is not working. They try and fix everything with chemicals and the bigger the problem the more chemicals they add !! Obviously the petro chemical companies are behind this in a huge way. So I have to look at countries that are sincere about going green and have budget to do so.

Anyway I like your thought process. Tell me more about what you do pls ?

Rgs, Paul
 

David Young

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Hi David,

Thank you for your reply and input. The benefit of distributors is that they have already got an established infrastructure and should be able to just "plug" my product right in. What is happening is that they already have relationships and experience with other products in the market and to now change their "habits" is pretty hard. It is a slow tedious process and everybody want to do trials which I can appreciate but it costs money and lots of time. The Trade Shows is also a good idea !

Yes, the technology has massive scope and I have only put a tip of the iceberg on the website. I am treating a bakeries water that normally produces 100 000 loaves of bread per day and after installing my water treatment technology they can now produce an extra 7% of loaves with the same quantity of ingredients. That is 7000 extra loaves in 24 hrs at no extra cost except energy.

Again just the tip of the iceberg. I have several other much larger applications already tested and proven. The question is how to get it out there in a controlled manner with min risk ?

I like your idea of the environmental/Humanitarian angle. My technology kills cyanobacteria which pollutes most of the water bodies around the world and kills animals and people. In South Africa our government and large cooperates talks about going "green" but in reality they are not willing to spend money on green technology especially if it is more expensive than what they are currently using even if it is not working. They try and fix everything with chemicals and the bigger the problem the more chemicals they add !! Obviously the petro chemical companies are behind this in a huge way. So I have to look at countries that are sincere about going green and have budget to do so.

Anyway I like your thought process. Tell me more about what you do pls ?

Rgs, Paul
Hi Paul,
Currently I am the director of an engineering company; my background is in metallurgy. In this position I have visited a number of the main Steel plants in SA over the years. One of my principle responsibilities has been product development. As an engineering I was always reluctant to accept the importance of soft-skills such as marketing in the success a product- wrongly thinking that a good product would sell it's self. However, I have seen many examples where poor products make it and good products fall by the wayside because of the brand and marketing efforts. I now am fully on board with the importance of branding and marketing in positioning a product for success.
 

PaulB

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Mar 12, 2017
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Cape Town, South Africa
Hi Paul,
Currently I am the director of an engineering company; my background is in metallurgy. In this position I have visited a number of the main Steel plants in SA over the years. One of my principle responsibilities has been product development. As an engineering I was always reluctant to accept the importance of soft-skills such as marketing in the success a product- wrongly thinking that a good product would sell it's self. However, I have seen many examples where poor products make it and good products fall by the wayside because of the brand and marketing efforts. I now am fully on board with the importance of branding and marketing in positioning a product for success.
Hi David,
Very interesting field !!
Yes, even being an inventor I have come to the conclusion that the invention is 5% of the effort and the marketing and distribution system is the other 95%.

Where are you based ?
 
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David Young

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I am based in the UK. Unfortunately large parts of the manufacturing/engineering industries in the UK have been hit hard over the years. Which in part why I have engaged with the this forum. I have just had a look online and you are certain in the field at the right time a lot of opportunities.
 

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