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AvocadoMan

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Hey guys,

I have the design of a product I have developed within the Electrical Industry. Engineering drawings are currently being developed for manufacturing and I am about to move on to the second half of the battle.

There is nothing else like my product yet - it is a simple innovation that solves a very annoying problem for many electricians. I have got feedback from people in the industry with 40+ yrs experience and they have seen nothing like it and love it. I jumped on the idea a couple months ago and have been working problems out of the design since, and I am just about finished.

I am not too worried about failure and don't mind if I lose all my money if it does not work - I will simply move on to the next project and re-build. But any advice would be really helpful on the next steps, because I am planning on going all in and doing whatever I can to get it into the hands of the people who will use it.

Regardless of if it works or not, I will outline the whole execution from start to finish and analyse what I did for anyone who is interested in learning about taking an idea from your mind and putting it into the hands of customers.

Thanks :)
 
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KLaw

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Hey guys,

I have the design of a product I have developed within the Electrical Industry. Engineering drawings are currently being developed for manufacturing and I am about to move on to the second half of the battle.

There is nothing else like my product yet - it is a simple innovation that solves a very annoying problem for many electricians. I have got feedback from people in the industry with 40+ yrs experience and they have seen nothing like it and love it. I jumped on the idea a couple months ago and have been working problems out of the design since, and I am just about finished.

I am not too worried about failure and don't mind if I lose all my money if it does not work - I will simply move on to the next project and re-build. But any advice would be really helpful on the next steps, because I am planning on going all in and doing whatever I can to get it into the hands of the people who will use it.

Regardless of if it works or not, I will outline the whole execution from start to finish and analyse what I did for anyone who is interested in learning about taking an idea from your mind and putting it into the hands of customers.

Thanks :)
Three words only. Paint. Brush. Cover.
 

AvocadoMan

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Three words only. Paint. Brush. Cover.
I saw those. Just noticed it was likwid Concepts who made them. I saw him on here earlier :)

However, I am unsure as to what you are trying to say mate..

Are you giving me an example of a final result to aim for?
 
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Roli

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Hey guys,

I have the design of a product I have developed within the Electrical Industry. Engineering drawings are currently being developed for manufacturing and I am about to move on to the second half of the battle.

There is nothing else like my product yet - it is a simple innovation that solves a very annoying problem for many electricians. I have got feedback from people in the industry with 40+ yrs experience and they have seen nothing like it and love it. I jumped on the idea a couple months ago and have been working problems out of the design since, and I am just about finished.

I am not too worried about failure and don't mind if I lose all my money if it does not work - I will simply move on to the next project and re-build. But any advice would be really helpful on the next steps, because I am planning on going all in and doing whatever I can to get it into the hands of the people who will use it.

Regardless of if it works or not, I will outline the whole execution from start to finish and analyse what I did for anyone who is interested in learning about taking an idea from your mind and putting it into the hands of customers.

Thanks :)

Awesome, I can't wait to read this progress thread. It sounds like your main challenge will be audience awareness and education. The need is there, however because there's nothing else like it, you'll need to educate that audience.

Exactly how you'll do this, I don't know; however I'm interested to find out, as I have a future idea in my head for building contractors, which will also need audience education. I'm trying to build capital for it as we speak.

Anyway, good luck, and I hope you get some killer advice with this one.
 
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AvocadoMan

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Awesome, I can't wait to read this progress thread. It sounds like your main challenge will be audience awareness and education. The need is there, however because there's nothing else like it, you'll need to educate that audience.

Exactly how you'll do this, I don't know; however I'm interested to find out, as I have a future idea in my head for building contractors, which will also need audience education. I'm trying to build capital for it as we speak.

Anyway, good luck, and I hope you get some killer advice with this one.
I have no idea how I will do it either. I don't even know how to launch a product. I know nothing. All I care about is being a sponge and having fun. Just gonna cruise along, inch by inch, learn along the way and maybe I might just get paid;)
 
Last edited:

KSR

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You've picked the right country too, trades are huge here and there's definitely a market. Considering tradesmen also get money from the government for tools annually.

How much have you put into bringing this to life (if you don't mind me asking)?
 

AvocadoMan

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You've picked the right country too, trades are huge here and there's definitely a market. Considering tradesmen also get money from the government for tools annually.

How much have you put into bringing this to life (if you don't mind me asking)?
Every spare second I have outside of my apprenticeship. Morning and night. All day on the weekends.

I just want to execute it completely, and as fast as possible, so I know I can do it - I want to be able to give the final product to everyone I work with and say I made this. I think that would fix my problem of having poor self belief and it would feel great :)
 
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AvocadoMan

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You've picked the right country too, trades are huge here and there's definitely a market. Considering tradesmen also get money from the government for tools annually.

How much have you put into bringing this to life (if you don't mind me asking)?
One thing I have found that really helps when you are new to this kind of thing, developing products etc, is to focus on what is right in front of you and give that one thing as much focus and effort as possible, instead of looking at everything that must done in the future for your project to work. If you do that you just overwhelm yourself and the doubts poor in. "This is too hard", "This is too complicated", "I will never figure out how to do all of that". Things like that. Especially when you have never done anything like this before.

As Felix Dennis said:

"Stick with me young brother or sister. You are suffering from nothing more than excusable confusion and a lack of experience, conditions that will pass with time, and whose passing can be expedited by fierce determination and application - believe me, I envy each and every one of you".
 

KSR

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One thing I have found that really helps when you are new to this kind of thing, developing products etc, is to focus on what is right in front of you and give that one thing as much focus and effort as possible, instead of looking at everything that must done in the future for your project to work. If you do that you just overwhelm yourself and the doubts poor in. "This is too hard", "This is too complicated", "I will never figure out how to do all of that". Things like that. Especially when you have never done anything like this before.

As Felix Dennis said:

"Stick with me young brother or sister. You are suffering from nothing more than excusable confusion and a lack of experience, conditions that will pass with time, and whose passing can be expedited by fierce determination and application - believe me, I envy each and every one of you".

Exactly, you've seen the need as you work in the field. The great thing is that your co-workers are already fans -- therefore you already have your first potential customers (look at a reduced price for them). From then on, they'll tell their other sparky mates, the word will get around and then buzz will grow increasing your chances to get into Bunnings Warehouse. It can be done if there really is a need like you're saying so.

How can you afford to fund this on apprentice wages?
 

AvocadoMan

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Exactly, you've seen the need as you work in the field. The great thing is that your co-workers are already fans -- therefore you already have your first potential customers (look at a reduced price for them). From then on, they'll tell their other sparky mates, the word will get around and then buzz will grow increasing your chances to get into Bunnings Warehouse. It can be done if there really is a need like you're saying so.

How can you afford to fund this on apprentice wages?
Yeah man. I will start with them. I'll most likely have a sales page that I can link to them and along with that I will be pitching it to wholesalers also.

I don't waste any of my money and I have been waiting for an opportunity to come up. Now I enough saved to get my product developed and out there fast - but it will probably empty my back account. Hence the title of this thread.
 
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SparksCW

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Sounds good but have you checked that it is something people will exchange their hard earned money for?

I'm a qualified spark by trade if you want to run it past me by PM. I've been in your position a few times and shelved the ideas as although they were great in my head they probably weren't commercially viable.

Forget trying to sell to electricians though. Your marketing costs will be 100x more to reach the same amount of people that you could do if your efforts were spent on selling to wholesalers & distribution instead.

Sell to wholesalers & distribution and then let them sell to the electricians....
 

AvocadoMan

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Sounds good but have you checked that it is something people will exchange their hard earned money for?

I'm a qualified spark by trade if you want to run it past me by PM. I've been in your position a few times and shelved the ideas as although they were great in my head they probably weren't commercially viable.

Forget trying to sell to electricians though. Your marketing costs will be 100x more to reach the same amount of people that you could do if your efforts were spent on selling to wholesalers & distribution instead.

Sell to wholesalers & distribution and then let them sell to the electricians....
I have gotten feedback from a few guys in the industry and they said they would buy it. My tafe teacher who has 40 + years experience and is extremely smart when it comes to Electrical work, loved it and all he said was "build it".

Will be in touch :)
 

PaulRobert

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But any advice would be really helpful on the next steps,

Be ready for multiple setbacks and results that are the complete opposite of your expectations. (Some things work for you and others don't go as planned.) This is the process of bringing a product to market.

Once you have the working prototype(s) give it to friends to try out but also more importantly strangers that have no friendship with you. Observe how they initially interact with the product and ask for their honest no bs comments when they actually use the product. See if there are any repeating statements, good or bad. This is where you have the ability to improve the product and make it even better.

Rep+ for taking action and putting an idea into a reality.

Sell to wholesalers & distribution and then let them sell to the electricians....

Or try out both and really capitalize on the market.
 
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AvocadoMan

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Be ready for multiple setbacks and results that are the complete opposite of your expectations. (Some things work for you and others don't go as planned.) This is the process of bringing a product to market.

Once you have the working prototype(s) give it to friends to try out but also more importantly strangers that have no friendship with you. Observe how they initially interact with the product and ask for their honest no bs comments when they actually use the product. See if there are any repeating statements, good or bad. This is where you have the ability to improve the product and make it even better.

Rep+ for taking action and putting an idea into a reality.



Or try out both and really capitalize on the market.
Much appreciated. I will do exactly that. There are plenty of Electricians around that I do not really know. I am not far off the prototype hopefully, I am trying to get the job done right the first time with the Engineer I am working with so it is taking some time.

Thanks again!
 

FeaRxUnLeAsHeD

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Going "all in" is not practical.

Keep food on the table to eat
Keep money in your wallet to pay for minimal expenses
Keep your kids bills paid (food in their mouthes, diapers, etc)
Keep your gym membership (health is important)

Go all in with what you can - but to create some fantasy that you must quit everything else is a fabrication and a lie - if you have enough money in the bank to sustain a minimal lifestyle to 'go all in' and pursue this, go for it.

If you're going for broke and if it doesnt work you're homeless and in bad health, that's not practical.
 
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AvocadoMan

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Going "all in" is not practical.

Keep food on the table to eat
Keep money in your wallet to pay for minimal expenses
Keep your kids bills paid (food in their mouthes, diapers, etc)
Keep your gym membership (health is important)

Go all in with what you can - but to create some fantasy that you must quit everything else is a fabrication and a lie - if you have enough money in the bank to sustain a minimal lifestyle to 'go all in' and pursue this, go for it.

If you're going for broke and if it doesnt work you're homeless and in bad health, that's not practical.

I do a lot of electrical troubleshooting and am always interested in tools. PM me if you want more feedback

Will do SteveO! Cheers :)
 

AvocadoMan

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Going "all in" is not practical.

Keep food on the table to eat
Keep money in your wallet to pay for minimal expenses
Keep your kids bills paid (food in their mouthes, diapers, etc)
Keep your gym membership (health is important)

Go all in with what you can - but to create some fantasy that you must quit everything else is a fabrication and a lie - if you have enough money in the bank to sustain a minimal lifestyle to 'go all in' and pursue this, go for it.

If you're going for broke and if it doesnt work you're homeless and in bad health, that's not practical.
Great point man!
 

SteveO

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I say it is F*cking awesome. Have you already planned out the monetary needs? You are not really asking a question. Your mind is already made up.

You got the goods and have solved a problem. The question is whether you have the money.
 
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AvocadoMan

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I say it is F*cking awesome. Have you already planned out the monetary needs? You are not really asking a question. Your mind is already made up.

You got the goods and have solved a problem. The question is whether you have the money.
I have enough to kick it off, get prototypes made and hopefully keep me running until this is all over - if I run out, I'll find more money somehow. I have $6000 worth of commercial gym equipment to sell so that might be handy, but hopefully it does not come to that because I really like my home gym haha :)
 

ArtRyumin

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If education and awareness are going to be big subjects since it's a new product. You can start this now to capture the people who experience the problem your product solves. Something as simple and can be put up in half a day is a single landing page that asks the question "do you get frustrated when...Do you hate it when...Do you wish there was a better way of doing...and ask them for their email to receive updates of this product that's about to launch and it will fix their problem - the one they gave you an email for to know when it's ready as clearly they can't keep living with the problem.

This will start building your audiance and early odopters, so when you do launch you can have some supporters spreading the good news. As well as build confidence having a virtual line forming outside your shop while you're building something.

You can then run facebook/instagram ads which will take people to that single page and test out different ways to market it. It's never to early to start getting a team of supporters.

From my past product developments, i learnt too late that "build it to see what happens" always worked, i got to see what happened. In that case it was that i built something i though was perfect but no one knew about or wanted to use it and when all the money is dry, it's hard to do marketing cause at that stage i needed to find something to pay the bills with and that project got left behind with lost confidence that people would use it and it could pay my bills and take of to the fastlane.
 

AvocadoMan

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If education and awareness are going to be big subjects since it's a new product. You can start this now to capture the people who experience the problem your product solves. Something as simple and can be put up in half a day is a single landing page that asks the question "do you get frustrated when...Do you hate it when...Do you wish there was a better way of doing...and ask them for their email to receive updates of this product that's about to launch and it will fix their problem - the one they gave you an email for to know when it's ready as clearly they can't keep living with the problem.

This will start building your audiance and early odopters, so when you do launch you can have some supporters spreading the good news. As well as build confidence having a virtual line forming outside your shop while you're building something.

You can then run facebook/instagram ads which will take people to that single page and test out different ways to market it. It's never to early to start getting a team of supporters.

From my past product developments, i learnt too late that "build it to see what happens" always worked, i got to see what happened. In that case it was that i built something i though was perfect but no one knew about or wanted to use it and when all the money is dry, it's hard to do marketing cause at that stage i needed to find something to pay the bills with and that project got left behind with lost confidence that people would use it and it could pay my bills and take of to the fastlane.
If education and awareness are going to be big subjects since it's a new product. You can start this now to capture the people who experience the problem your product solves. Something as simple and can be put up in half a day is a single landing page that asks the question "do you get frustrated when...Do you hate it when...Do you wish there was a better way of doing...and ask them for their email to receive updates of this product that's about to launch and it will fix their problem - the one they gave you an email for to know when it's ready as clearly they can't keep living with the problem.

This will start building your audiance and early odopters, so when you do launch you can have some supporters spreading the good news. As well as build confidence having a virtual line forming outside your shop while you're building something.

You can then run facebook/instagram ads which will take people to that single page and test out different ways to market it. It's never to early to start getting a team of supporters.

From my past product developments, i learnt too late that "build it to see what happens" always worked, i got to see what happened. In that case it was that i built something i though was perfect but no one knew about or wanted to use it and when all the money is dry, it's hard to do marketing cause at that stage i needed to find something to pay the bills with and that project got left behind with lost confidence that people would use it and it could pay my bills and take of to the fastlane.
Rep +.

Any recommended services for building good landing pages that are affordable?
 

ArtRyumin

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if you're anything like me and haven't come to this from being a developer/programmer, i started using Wordpress which when i get stuck i found a really good freelancer in the Phillipeans who i use, more than happy to PM you his contact details. There are lot's of great wordpress plug ins for this lead gen purpose here are a few to check out:
  • OptinMonster OptinMonster is a WordPress plugin that converts website visitors into subscribers and customers. ...
  • LeadBoxer ...
  • SumoMe
  • Leadin
  • Hello Bar
  • OptinSkin (
  • Scroll Triggered Boxes
  • WordPress Call to Action
There are simpler ways to build a landing page using services like Wix - i can't comment as haven't used it myself.

I do want to recommend Infusionsoft - this could be later on down the track for you or if you want to invest in it now it could be a huge kickstarter. It will build the landing pages there for you also once connected to a website. I've started to use it myself and it has already paid for it self 10x by helping me land a business process digitization gig and i haven't started marketing with it yet. Just it's possibilities helped me develop more solutions for the businesses i was already working with. Their onboarding process is great, you get partnered up with a coach who walks you through the set up and the coaching sessions themselves have tought me so much more.

Hope there's something useful in there for ya) Good luck with the hussle
 
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AvocadoMan

Bronze Contributor
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Apr 14, 2017
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Australia
if you're anything like me and haven't come to this from being a developer/programmer, i started using Wordpress which when i get stuck i found a really good freelancer in the Phillipeans who i use, more than happy to PM you his contact details. There are lot's of great wordpress plug ins for this lead gen purpose here are a few to check out:
  • OptinMonster OptinMonster is a WordPress plugin that converts website visitors into subscribers and customers. ...
  • LeadBoxer ...
  • SumoMe
  • Leadin
  • Hello Bar
  • OptinSkin (
  • Scroll Triggered Boxes
  • WordPress Call to Action
There are simpler ways to build a landing page using services like Wix - i can't comment as haven't used it myself.

I do want to recommend Infusionsoft - this could be later on down the track for you or if you want to invest in it now it could be a huge kickstarter. It will build the landing pages there for you also once connected to a website. I've started to use it myself and it has already paid for it self 10x by helping me land a business process digitization gig and i haven't started marketing with it yet. Just it's possibilities helped me develop more solutions for the businesses i was already working with. Their onboarding process is great, you get partnered up with a coach who walks you through the set up and the coaching sessions themselves have tought me so much more.

Hope there's something useful in there for ya) Good luck with the hussle
Would a landing page still be useful if I don't plan on manufacturing the product myself? The product is something that needs to be mass produced and tradesmen here would expect to buy it from electrical retailers...It would be sold in boxes of 10-20 units.

I could use the landing page just to create awareness of the product and maybe link it to the people selling it once I reach that stage..
 

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