Inside every person is a great idea, and if you believe you have a great new product, there’s plenty to do on the road to success. From logistics to marketing, there are countless factors to be aware of, with no clear, correct answers. There are, however, established practices that will give you the best chance to take yourself all the way.
Be Quick Off The Mark
One of the most essential moves is getting your product out to market as soon as possible. The last thing you want is to be beaten to the punch by the competition. The moment you have a working prototype, it’s good to get some units out to market to see the general reaction.
By yourself, it’s easy to get caught up in refining minor elements. However, once your product is out in the world, the amount of uncontrollable variables increases drastically. By getting yours out early, you get a head start in tackling these issues. You might find that some rough edges prove to be an advantage, or equally, factors you were proud of might be unsuitable for the market. Either way, taking your lead from public response will lead to a better, more marketable product.
Get Protected
Another critical element is to protect your idea. Whether you’ve successfully re-invented the wheel, made a groundbreaking step forward in your industry or found your place in a niche, the worst possible outcome is if your idea is stolen, leaving you with nothing. The solution is patenting. If you have a unique product, the best form of protection is to secure a patent for what makes your creation ‘yours’. Registering a patent for your product eliminates the risk of others contesting who came up with it first.
The procedure can be long and arduous, taking roughly two and a half years in most cases. However, there’s a good reason for this timeline. It’s necessary for the patenting process to be thorough to ensure your intellectual property is entirely original. The whole reason for a patent is to keep original ideas from replication, so steps need to be made to ensure people aren’t patenting something already created.
These two and a half years are to rigorously check people haven’t accidentally re-created something that already exists but, for example, has been forgotten. What matters, in the end, is that once you have claimed ownership of what makes your product original, no one can take that away from you.
Prepare To Work Hard Along The Way
Of course, there’s a lot more to take into account on the road to success. If you believe in your idea, then the time and energy required will be worth it. This can be seen in the story of every significant business today – rarely will any leading industry figure say they found it easy to reach the top. However, while trial and error can play an important role in their career, there are ways to streamline the process and reduce wasted time, effort and capital. The book Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat by Michael Masterson is a great place to start when looking to succeed as an entrepreneur.