Will It Sell?TM
How to Determine If Your Invention Is Profitably Marketable
(Before Wasting Money on a Patent)

About Me

and Invention Marketing Consulting

Jim White has an undergraduate degree in business (1974), an MBA (1983) and an MS in Information Science (1982). Jim has been in the consulting industry to government and business since the early 1980s. In late 1989 he started moonlighting as James E. White & Assoc. and in 1991 he took the plunge and went totally independent. Most of the consulting until late 1994 centered around business processes, and used computers, forms, and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) to help clients realize productivity gains in excess of 1000% (no decimal point mistake). In 1995, however, Jim decided to drop the computer part of his consulting and concentrate on his first love, marketing. His basic marketing philosophy was that his services should NEVER cost his clients any money, only make them money. To achieve that he normally paid for his marketing efforts on behalf of a client and received a percentage of the profits. It also meant that only selected clients would be helped. In switching to assisting other inventors it became apparent that some mix of up-front fees and percentage of profits would be necessary to provide sound help to the most people without being inundated by lazy inventors seeking someone else to make their fortune for them from idiotic and/or old ideas.

In 1998 Mr. White happened upon a notice in the local paper about an Inventors Club meeting and decided to attend. Having an avid interest in technology, including a few of his own invented but unpatented and uncommercialized inventions, he joined the club and continued attending meetings. His outspoken advice at the meetings soon garnered him an invitation to speak to the group. The presentation was declared a success but it was quickly determined that the speech, which just outlined the principles for determining marketability and getting to market, had almost no apparent effect on the counterproductive behaviors of most of the club members. The net result of this observation was the decision to write a book detailing exactly what steps to take and what resources to use in getting an inventor's products to market. The book was carefully researched (hundreds of hours over 18 months) and draws on the experiences of numerous individuals, some with over 50 years as successful, independent inventors.

Most inventors, it seems, don't concern themselves with the fundamental issue of making a profit from their invention, they JUST ASSUME there will be a profit and it will (normally) be HUGE. You cannot be a commercial success if your product does not benefit somebody to a greater extent than it costs them to acquire your product. PERIOD!! The book is titled "Will It Sell? How to Determine If Your Invention Is Profitably Marketable (Before Wasting Money on a Patent)." Jim is taking his own advice and following the steps that the book advocates with an invention of his own. The product solves a problem that has existed for at least 600 years and may have existed for about 4000 years. There are patents for products that "solve" the problem technically but that have no chance of commercial success because they insist that the jewelry industry change to fit the product. Jim's product will let each buyer make their own decision and requires no adjustments to the industry. In fact, the product and marketing method are designed to benefit the retail stores that the product will depend on for success. Patent Pending status occurred in January 2000 and test marketing was done shortly thereafter. Sales were achieved and the decision was made to go full scale. Tooling is in the works and (not unusually) taking longer than expected. To date, many women who wear gold chain necklaces (the target market) that have seen the product have expressed an interest in buying one or more.

For more information on the inventing process, visit www.idearights.com, another of Mr. White's web sites. Or, if you would rather read on the subject, order or borrow a book from his BooksForInventors site.