Free Invent It, Sell It, Bank It!: Make Your Million-Dollar Idea Into a Reality by Lori Greiner Page B

possible.
    MAKE OPPORTUNITY WORK FOR YOU
    Before devoting myself full time to my organizer, I had worked with a woman named Georgia, and a day or so after finding out that there was polystyrene and injection molding somewhere in my future, Dan and I attended her son’s wedding. We didn’t know anyone there, but we looked forward to a fun evening. I was midway through my appetizer and deep in conversation with the neighbor to my right when I felt Dan firmly tap me on the hand. I turned to him to see him grinning broadly. Leaning in, he said, “You’re not going to believe this.”
    “What?” I replied.
    “Guess what every person at this table does?”
    “What?”
    “They’re all plastic injection molders.” He grinned with a Cheshire Cat smile. “That guy over there,” he pointed across the table, “is a toolmaker. And these other guys here? Also injection molders. But guess what? Georgia’s husband owns an injection molding factory about twenty minutes away from us.” Unbelievable! What we needed had just fallen into our laps.
    I love that anecdote because I’ve always believed in karma and destiny. I needed an injection molder, and there I was at a wedding where everyone at my table was in the plastic injection moldbusiness. Georgia and I had talked often, but her husband’s profession had simply never come up, so I had no idea what he did for a living! It was a brilliant stroke of luck, and I was grateful for it. But even if I had never gone to that wedding, I would have eventually found every person sitting at that table. I would have hunted them down and introduced myself and explained why they were going to want to do business with me. Success takes doggedness!
    A few days after the wedding, I visited the tool-making shop with my drawings and prototype in hand (we’ll cover what to look for in a manufacturer in Chapter 8 ). I wanted to get a general idea of what it would cost to make the earring organizer so that I could start to think about pricing. The owner took me on a tour of his shop, helped me understand how everything worked, explained to me what tools I would need to make my product, and gave me a quote. Then I went to the injection-molding factory and had the same tour and conversation there. I found out that it would cost me $120,000 to make the three molds necessary to manufacture my earring organizer in the United States.
    Ten thousand dollars had been a hefty sum to pay for my prototype. But $120,000 was eye-popping. And that was just for the tools. I knew I was still going to have to pay for graphic design, packaging, inventory, and other expenses; I was going to have to take out a bank loan to get this done. But I wasn’t daunted. I did what my dad always taught me to do—I thought, “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” Answer: It won’t work out. But I had a plan in place, and I was determined to make it work, so I forged ahead.
    Now, in the short amount of time it took my prototype to be made, I had created a questionnaire. And as soon as the prototype was ready, I had taken it and the questionnaire to the streets of Chicago to conduct some thorough market research. The results confirmed what my innate instinct was screaming at me, which was that I had hit upon an idea whose time had come.

PROTOTYPE TO-DO LIST:
Finalize the dimensions of your product.
Research the materials you will need to create it. Talk to industry professionals to get recommendations.
Contact at least two designers so you can compare bids for a CAD design.
Get the names and locations of at least two prototype makers so you can compare bids.
Confirm that your prototype maker will sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Learn from the advice these professionals give you along the way.

4
    RESEARCH YOUR MARKET
    “Forget mistakes. Forget failure. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it. Today is your lucky day.”
    —W ILL D URANT
    It’s so easy for inventors to get carried away in