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Inventors need more than one shot in their locker

Date: 10/02/2010

What do successful inventors have that unsuccessful inventors don’t? It may be as simple as this: more than one idea.

This thought was sparked by a conversation the other day at a meeting of the excellent Manchester Inventors’ Group. I was talking to an ex-patent attorney with wide experience of dealing with inventors. We were chewing over why it is that some inventors spend years working doggedly away at ideas that by any objective measure have no commercial prospects. And he came up with an insight that had never occurred to me before. ‘They’re reluctant to abandon their idea,’ he said, ‘because they're scared that they may not have another good one’.  

Thinking over the many encounters I’ve had with inventors, his conclusion rang horribly true. In fact, I suspect that nobody with experience of dealing  professionally with inventors would argue any differently.

From my own experience, the inventors who make the most headway are flexible enough and bloody-minded enough to accept that their idea may have to change significantly from the original concept, or even be abandoned altogether. This doesn’t bother them particularly because they usually have at least one other idea - often several ideas - on the stockpile.

They can afford to write one idea off without any loss of confidence or self-esteeem, because they have others.

They may even be impatient to draw a line under a struggling project if the next one in the pipeline has more attractions. Which is logical, as invention is a learning process and one might reasonably expect the quality of ideas to get better with time.

So there we (maybe) go. Be honest with yourself. If you only have one idea and are fixated on it, alarm bells should perhaps ring. If you put your inventive mind to work and occupy it with more ideas, there could be a real chance that your chances of eventual success will increase.

Replies

Reply From: Sharon Jones
Date: 12/02/2010
Hi, I have an invention that I think would sell. But I have no money to patent it. Is there anyone that can help me? I would greatly appreciate it. Please contact me at: Daviskiss49@yahoo.com(or) Call Me: 1-209-770-3242 Thank You So Much, Respectfully Yours, Sharon Jones

Reply From: munashe
Date: 16/02/2010
hi im thinking off doing this and im only 13 so do u think i should go a head with it


Hi Munashe

Difficult to advise without more detail, but at 13 you should have lots of ideas ahead of you. By all means go for it, but perhaps in partnership with an adult who can help you and whom you can trust. Talk to your mum and dad first!

Best wishes, Graham

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