How to Turn Your Invention into Big Money

There are lots of people out there who are great at inventing products. Most inventions come out of a need. Plenty of inventions are just extensions of an already made product. So if you think you have a great idea for something new, or you have a way to improve an already made product this article is for you.

The first thing you need to do is make sure no one else has already invented the product. You can search your favorite search engine or you can visit the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office HERE! Take some time and make sure your research is thorough. You don't want any chances of someone suing you because you copied their design. You may also want to visit a few sites that sell inventions to see if anything looks similar to what you have designed.

Second, Create a plan. Make sure you include questions like, Who could use this product? What is the target market? Would anyone want to spend money on this item? How much would it cost to produce this product? How much would I need to sell the product for? Give yourself a timeline to test out the demand for the product. You can create surveys (or a questionnaire) to help you determine if this is something worth pursuing. If you created a kid's toy you may want to contact some schools or daycares and see if they could send home the survey for the parents to fill out. If you created a new shoe extender you would want to take your survey to shoe stores. You get the idea.

Third, if everything in the two paragraphs above is complete you will want to get a patent for your product. A one-year patent usually costs around $3,000 including the fees you would need to pay the attorney. If you don't have the money you may want to look in to getting a grant. You can always go back to the U.S. Patent and Trademark office to view some free seminars on obtaining a patent. If you don't want to see someone stealing your invention, getting all the money not to mention all the credit this is an important step.

Finally, you will need to find a company that can help you market your new invention. There are so many crooks out there that this might be difficult. Give yourself some time to research legit companies. Use the BBB to check out each company's reputation. I use the BBB daily. They are there to protect you.

If you take your time and go through all four of these steps you will be well on your way to making some big bucks with your new invention.