9 Secrets to Inventing Stuff

If you find this article helpful, please share, tweet, and follow!

I have over 40 US patents. As a private inventor, I have launched numerous new products into the marketplace. The winning products were fun, but it was the products that lost millions of dollars that really caught my attention. As a private inventor, I couldn’t afford to fail. So I had to develop systems, methods and processes that would drive a higher level of success. After a quarter of a century, I have learned some secrets I’m going to share with you here. With my secrets, you’ll be inventing in no time. The biggest secret is…inventing stuff is easy! Most people think innovation is complicated, hard work. But as long as you follow a proven system that all the great inventors have used—from Edison to Henry Ford to Steve Jobs—to invent stuff.

Secret #1: The Most Important Secret 

This secret is the single most important secret of all. It’s that the key to being a successful inventor is your ability to become an “active observer.” What is an active observer, you ask? An active observer is a successful inventor that is always looking for ways to provide layered and dynamic value to a group of individuals big enough to be a market. That’s it! That’s my biggest secret of all. As a successful inventor myself, I have learned that the best way to discover solutions to people’s problems is by thinking and learning as much as I can about their problems and needs. Constantly remind yourself to observe everything, all the time.To be an active observer, you need to listen to what people say. Ask questions. And always reflect on what you learn and observe.

Let me give you a personal example. I decided to develop a line of gourmet kitchen tools. So, I created one of the coolest designs anyone could fathom. It looked like an amazing hand-tool. I invested half a million dollars into my first production, and then launched it into the marketplace. The good news was…I was right. I had created the coolest hand-tool on the planet. Butwomen purchased 95 percent of kitchen gadgets—this was my big problem. Oops. All I should have done was spend some quality time with my target market and I would have quickly discovered the flaw in my design from the perspective of my prospective customer base. I hadn’t designed my gadget with my actual consumer in mind.I wasn’t actively observing.

Another great example—a crayon manufacturer introduced colored bubbles into the marketplace. The product came out a few years back and was a fun idea. How fun are colored bubbles? What kid in his right mind wouldn’t like that? The problem was that those colored bubbles stained drapes, carpets, kids, hands and clothes. They were a mom’s natural nemesis. Within short time from the product’s release, the Internet was buzzing with upset moms about this product. Listening and observing can be helped with important practices like testing. In both of these examples, testing would have improved the active observation. But, you must always listen. No amount of testing will save your invention if you don’t listen!

Secret #2: Don’t Rush 

Hold on a second. Just when you think your invention is finished, it isn’t. Trust me. Most people come up with a big idea and then immediately begin to develop it. Not so fast! I made this mistake myself in order to compete in a hyper-competitive marketplace. Don’t get ahead of yourself. You should always deliver value that is both dynamic — meaning it’s always getting better — and layered — meaning it’s a lot more than they expected throughout their customer experience. Always spend time giving your invention a critical lookover to find new ways to improve. You must deliver exceptional levels of customer value before your invention is finished.

Good inventions, especially innovations, take time. This doesn’t happen over night. Always be patient and put the time into thinking of new ways to layer value. You never know when an opportunity to innovate might present itself. An opportunity you could easily miss if you moved too quickly.

For a bit of perspective remember that today, people want easy answers. Yet they never seem to be satisfied with what they get. Take the hundreds of fad diets constantly circulating. So don’t buy into the mad dash. Looking at innovation, we want to be thinking constantly about the creative, successful culture we create. That culture is what makesthe insanely cool products that deliver the ultimate value to our customers. Not quick fixes and fast tracking. You want ideas that have longevity. Not fads that fizzle out.

Secret #3: Focus On Your Customer 

You must have the mindset of an innovator. This isn’t something you have to be born with, but you must develop it. Inventors know that creating something that delivers values to others requires a very big commitment to time and risk. You must have the staying power. The other mindset you must adopt is focusing on your customers, not the bright, shiny object. All your focus should be directed on the layered value your invention provides. While this might seem counterintuitive, it is critical to understand. It’s not about the bright, shiny object. It’s about delivering, real proven value to customers. It’s about helping people and offering a solution to a problem or a need.

Remember the example of my failed kitchen tool and that company with the colored bubbles? These were both moments where the customer was forgotten or neglected. Paying careful attention to your customer and his or her needs will ensure your creation will transcend into innovation history. And don’t forget to use your innate creativity to focus on the customer in new ways. 

Secret #4: You Don’t Have to Do It Alone

It took me a long time to learn this secret. There are many people that I work with that will help me make my big ideas really cool. Successful inventors collaborate and co-create. They work together to push the boundaries and make their invention a home run. It’s amazing how small ideas can glob onto other small ideas. Before you know it, you’ve invented a multi-million dollar product or service with the help of fellow inventors.

I recently had a meeting with the vice president of research and development for one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. He readily admitted that research and development was the least creative—and for that matter innovative—department in the organization. Engineers that have very specialized training are often focused on the functionality of an invention, rather than the layered net customer value. That kind of focus can’t innovate alone. It needs a different perspective to help connect it to other ideas. This is why working with others is incredibly beneficial.

Such specialized focus can easily overlook the needs and desires of consumers. And typically, the more you specialize in one area, the narrower your focus becomes. You can be an expert in one field and completely blind to things less specialized individuals find obvious and apparent. Sometimes those new to a field can defy the impossible and make the unthinkable happen since they haven’t spent years being told otherwise.

Working with someone who has a different background will always provide more possibilities to see something new. And when you look at the statistics, one of the biggest causes of innovation failure is a hyper focus on features and benefits, rather than a keen connection to what the customer truly values. So a balance of perspectives, with a constant reflection on customer needs and value, is the best way to go.

Secret #5: Soul Search

Soul Searching is a very important first step. If you don’t have the right “why?” your inventing life is sure to result in failure. Connect your inventing to your own life’s passion. Then connect your life’s passion to an unyielding desire to add value to other people’s lives. If you can connect all these, you are guaranteed to win. So dig deep. Think hard. And make your passions connect to your invention and customers.

Passion goes a long way, a lot further than greed and any other possible motivating factor. Passion also works well to direct your creativity as well as inspire you in new ways. Working on an invention that you have great passion for is another way to make the long process of inventing more rewarding and less difficult. Don’t let this frighten you. Use it to innovate in ways you wouldn’t expect.

You don’t have to focus on STEM related passions. Try mixing and combining your other passions. You never know what you might come up with.

Secret #6: Don’t Invent To Get Rich

Getting rich might seem like a good motive to begin your inventing process. Unfortunately, in my experience inventors who focus on getting rich do not have the ability to focus on what is ultimately required—delivering layered and dynamic value to a market and to a customer. A self-focus, ironically, will do more to destroy your inventing than any other human motivator. Remember that inventing is the process of delivering exceptional value to others. Getting rich is a secondary byproduct.

If you begin the process of inventing stuff because you want to get rich, you will tend to get poor very fast. Conversely if you want to invent stuff because you want to produce something that is fantastic, delicious, and amazing, then you are heading in the right direction.

Remember, there is no easy way to get rich with a product invention. And I would suggest that anyone who tells you otherwise is probably getting ready to shake you down with some get-rich-quick scheme. Trust me on this one; there is no better way to lose money than to endeavor inventing as a way to get rich, quick.

The good news is that there are opportunities to become wealthy over a long period of time and you’ll have a really, really good time during the process. But it never happens fast, and it never happens without a lot of hard work and financial investment. Just use your passion and active observation skills to guide you and your journey is guaranteed to be a rewarding blast.

Secret #7: Fail Fast

Innovators will continue to work on a technology that consumes serious resources just because they don’t want to admit failure. But sometimes it’s okay to surrender. Failing fast let’s you give way and move forward. Instead of desperately clinging to something that does not work, failing fast lets you get back to developing technologies that provide real, meaningful value. So if your goose is cooked, don’t be stubborn. Just get the failure over with.

There is no one size fits all sequence to successful inventing. There is, however, a general grouping of events that must happen in order to reduce your risk of market failure by not having the proper market and customer insights as the foundation for your idea. So here’s my listing of the groupings of events in sequence:

1. 1. Listen, learn and collaborate with customers in order to invent products that address real needs, problems and opportunities.
2. 2. Test, test and test again your assumptions about the value proposition, competition and real market opportunity.
3. 3. No one’s coming to your rescue. As the axiom suggests: “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.” No one cares about your idea. Successful inventing is about perseverance and personal sacrifice. 
4. 4. Take the risk and take the profit. In order to benefit from your idea, you’ll have to take your product to market and you will have to take the risk. Frontload the process through testing and verifying, and then … commit to seeing it through.

Secret #8: Commit to Exceptionalism

Commitment means commitment. It means doing whatever is necessary to meet the promise of delivering holistic and dynamic customer experiences. A commitment to delivering exceptional products, technologies and customer experiences is the foundational element of Innovation Superstardom.Just connect to your passion and use it to commit. And commit to Exceptionalism while you’re at it.

Committing to Exceptionalism is refusing to let good be good enough. This kind of focus and direction will help push all of your inventions into the realm of fantastical innovations that will change the world. Just when you think you have a good idea, stop and think about how you can make it exceptional! You never know where this may lead you.

Thinking things out in great depth and detail is another part of dedicated active observation. Don’t be afraid to observe and listen to your ideas with the same amount of attention that you dedicate to the world around you. Critically observing yourself will only make you a stronger observer to the world and people around you.

So never settle for “good enough.”

 Secret #9: Layer Value!

Layering value goes beyond adding features and making a good invention. It’s about providing customers with unexpected value at every interaction. Just look at Apple. Their products are some of the most successful products on the planet. But you’ll probably notice that when you buy an Apple product, the box it is sold in is exquisite. In fact, studies show that Apple product buyers will keep their box on average six to eight months after the purchase. The box is the consumer delivery system. The quality of the box is so good that consumers viewed it as a valuable possession. Little things like this will guarantee your inventions are successes. Always keep in mind that you should be delivering exceptional experiences from the time the consumer purchases the product to the time the consumer uses it.

And there you have it. Nine secrets to a successful “inventing stuff’ process!

About the Author: I’m an Innovation consultant, author and professional speaker with over 25 years of experience in the fields of healthcare, innovation, and customer experience. I work with some of the top brands in the world including CIGNA, Verizon, Microsoft, Gatorade, and Johnson & Johnson just to name a few to help them lead their markets through innovation best practice.

For more articles visit my blog at www.Nickwebb.com; join me on Twitter @nickwebbcom; or send me an email to connect [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you.