For as long as I can remember, I’ve been creative.
I always wondered how an ordinary person like me could invent something and bring it to market. The only way I ever heard this was possible was to get a patent, build up inventory, create a website, and promote my product, hoping it would just happen — until I discovered inventRight in 2017.
Before inventRight, I Thought Starting a Business Was My Only Option
Before I found inventRight in 2017, I had never heard of licensing. I was even the president of our inventors’ group in Washington, DC. I had been through the wringer with patent attorneys, invention submission companies, and others who promised big payouts if I let them help me. I read books and listened to people who sounded like they knew what they were talking about.
But it just wasn’t working. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong.
I pursued turning my ideas into products selling on the market for 20 years, telling myself over and over that I was competent. I was physically and mentally capable of achieving my goal!
I had the energy and desire, I ran a successful tuxedo rental business, and I was a responsible adult who had accomplished many things in life. My mantra was ‘I can do this myself.’ I hired different people, read more books, and listened to more podcasts.
Then I Learned About Licensing From inventRight
Then, in early 2017, Stephen Key’s book One Simple Idea randomly popped up on my phone. After listening to it three times, I had to admit that I couldn’t do it alone. It was humbling to admit defeat and acknowledge that I needed help.
It was a lightbulb moment when I realized that, for 20 years, I had been listening to all the wrong people. Their advice sounded good, and they seemed knowledgeable. After all, they were perhaps smarter than me — so why shouldn’t I listen? However, not one of the people I had spoken to over those 20 years had done what I wanted to do. Then I found inventRight — a group of skilled inventors who had achieved exactly what I aspired to do.
I had finally found my people.
How inventRight Helped Me (Finally) License My Product
inventRight never promised me that I would license my ideas. I didn’t want promises — I had heard empty promises from people who took advantage of my dream for two decades. I wanted someone who would walk beside me and guide me through the unfamiliar territory of licensing.
That’s exactly what they did. I was able to do everything in the correct order, with the one-on-one guidance I desperately needed. I had someone personally invested in me and my product idea, someone to answer all my questions, hold me accountable, and keep me on track as I worked toward the goal of licensing my ideas. I didn’t realize it at the time, but after I licensed my idea, I understood that I hadn’t made any mistakes.
For 20 years, I had done a lot of busy work, but never the productive work needed to achieve my goal.
Within 11 weeks of becoming an inventRight member, I was reaching out to the right companies, the right people, and saying all the right things. I did finally license my idea with the guidance of a great mentor at inventRight, but I learned so much more.
Today, I know how to research companies to determine if they are a good fit, how to create effective marketing materials, how to find the right people to reach out to, and what to say. No one can ever take this knowledge away from me. I also found friends who think and dream the way I do.
That spring day in 2017, when I picked up the phone and called inventRight, was the best decision I ever made. It allowed me to stop dreaming and start doing.
Dana Knowles invented and licensed the Hanging Shower Caddy. As inventRight’s Director of Inventor Relations, she spearheads our Gateway program. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
Reach inventRight at 1-650-793-1477 to find out if our membership — Become a Professional Inventor — is a good fit for you.
