Licensing Library
Newsletter
29 articles in this category.
Newsletter
How I Started Writing For Forbes
People ask me all the time how I started writing for online magazines. I’ve had articles published on Forbes , Inc. , Entrepreneur , and many others over the years. We’ve actually written over 1,000 articles, and yes, that’s over...
Newsletter
When Should You Walk Away From Your Product Ideas?
You’ve been working extremely hard to license your product idea, but you’re not having any success. You’re not quite sure what you’re doing wrong. To determine if you should move on, you need feedback. Without receiving any type of feedback...
Newsletter
Stay Motivated to Achieve Your Goals With These Books
It’s important to continue being a student and never stop learning. Here are a few books that have helped me achieve my goals. The Obstacle Is The Way -Ryan Holiday This is a wonderful book because there are obstacles we...
Newsletter
How I Stay Motivated Through The Ups & Downs Of Inventing
In any business venture, there are going to be many ups and downs. How do you stay motivated? How do you stay on track? Here’s what has helped me reach my goal of licensing my product ideas. Feedback. I think...
Newsletter
How Do You Win At Product Licensing?
Simple: You don’t give up, and you keep submitting ideas. When I was in the toy industry, I submitted a lot of toy ideas. I got rejected by some of the biggest and best companies. Including Playskool, Mattel, Fisher-Price, Hasbro,...
Newsletter
How I Cut A Licensing Deal With Taylor Swift
I remember it like it was yesterday. At noon, I left for lunch. James, my office manager, stayed in the office to answer the phone. When I came back from lunch, James said, “Guess who just called!” “Who?” “Scott Swift,”...
Newsletter
How I Got Hot Picks Featured On National TV
When I started writing articles many years ago for AllBusiness.com, I decided it would be interesting to write one about how to get on national television. I remember explaining my plan to my daughter Madeleine, who was my Managing Editor...
Newsletter
Promoting a New Product? Start Locally!
Do you have a new product on the market? That’s news worth celebrating! When it’s time to tell the media about your invention, I recommend starting locally. The local news stations will be interested in your story, and it’s a...
Newsletter
How My Company Hot Picks Landed Walmart!
Last week, I told you about how my guitar pick company, Hot Picks, expanded beyond our own ideas and became Alchemy, Disney, and Taylor Swift licensees. Would the music industry love our new direction as much as consumers did? Yes....
Newsletter
How I Became a Disney Licensee
Selling guitar picks to fans of heavy metal was going well. Eventually, though, I started running out of ideas for Hot Picks. It was time to expand our audience. Why not license a well-known brand, I thought. What did I...
Newsletter
Tips for Attending Your First Trade Show as an Exhibitor
For most of my career, I attended trade shows as a visitor. I was developing and licensing my own product ideas, so I would walk up and down the halls of the show floors to connect with as many companies...
Newsletter
How I Used Myspace to Grow Hot Picks
We started selling Hot Picks in local music stores across the Central Valley and the Bay Area. The process was extremely slow-going, because there were only a couple of large chain retailers. Meaning, we had to call independent music stores...
Newsletter
Why Guitar Picks?
People ask me all the time, why did I start a business selling guitar picks? That's a great question because I don't even play guitar. It was purely by accident, is the truth. A local gentleman in my hometown was...
Newsletter
How It All Started!
It doesn’t matter how you get started — only that you do. Here are a few images from my offices throughout the years. Before I began working at the toy startup Worlds of Wonder, I designed life-sized animals for the...
Newsletter
Someone Stole My Idea?
I had a master licensing agreement with the company CCL for my rotating label, Spinformation. We shared the sub-licensing rights. Soon, a company in Dublin, Ireland called Kinelworth licensed our technology to provide to their customers. Before you know it,...
Newsletter
My Very First Ideas For New Products
I have not shared these before. When I first started trying to license my ideas, they were, well, let’s say…OK. I’ve learned over time that when you stick with an industry long enough, your ideas do get better. Check out...
Newsletter
A Few Of My Favorite Things
I’ve been collecting things all my life. Even as a young child, my room was filled with things I collected. Things that matter to me, and today is no different. On my mantle, a fake grenade. This was a joke...
Newsletter
How I Turned Rejection Into Opportunity
This wasn't the first time I got rejected, and I remember this like it was just yesterday. A new inventing TV show was produced by Simon Cowell and was called American Inventor . I had received a call from one...
Newsletter
Writing Your First Book Is Like Your First Kiss, You Never Forget It!
When I received a call from a vice-president at publisher McGraw-Hill’s San Francisco office, I was a little surprised that they wanted me to write a book. What did I know about writing a book? Absolutely nothing. But I had...
Newsletter
Never Underestimate Yourself If You Want To Become Truly Successful
You can do anything. I’m living proof! I barely passed second grade. Reading and spelling are nearly impossible for me, because I have auditory dyslexia. Nonetheless, I’ve been publishing articles online since 2008 and have written five books. How? With...
Newsletter
How To Take Your Prototype To Production
Of all my ideas, my packaging innovation, Spinformation, was the most difficult to commercialize. A tremendous amount of effort was required, but it was well worth it. I made my first prototypes of the spin label out of paper, which...
Newsletter
Never Count Yourself Out
Never count anyone out, including yourself. I was 28 years old and everyone I knew thought I was failing. I was barely getting by selling my soft sculpture creations at street fairs, but loving every minute of it. Still, I...
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The Importance Of Having A Partner When Inventing
I knew early on that I didn’t have all of the skills necessary to license my ideas — that I needed someone to bring my product ideas to life for me. When I first started out, I was very fortunate...
Newsletter
The Key To Successful Inventing Is Building Relationships
Growing up as a child and experiencing the magic of Disney was impactful. I've been in love with everything Disney for years. When I had the chance to be part of that world, I jumped on it. It all began...
Newsletter
Timing Can Make Or Break Your Invention's Success
Once upon a time, I became a Disney licensee so I could sell my guitar picks with images of their brands on them. I met with the Disney team to discuss future plans for the product. Licensing Agreement Disney Characters...
Newsletter
I Just Licensed My Invention, Now What?
Now the work begins. I know it has taken a long time for you to get the licensing deal, but now you need to help your licensee sell product. It's not hard to do. Being in front of the media...
Newsletter
Licensing The Same Idea To Multiple Companies!
This is the ultimate dream for most inventors - licensing your idea to multiple companies to increase your revenue stream. Can it be done? Yes! Let me show you how. I was able to take something I did not even...
Newsletter
What I Learned By Launching A New Beverage
I’ve never shared this story before. I told someone the other day that just because you can doesn’t mean you should. This was definitely the case when I tried launching a new beverage in the New York City school system....
Newsletter
When To Walk Away From Your Invention Idea
I get this question all the time. Inventors will tell me they've been working on their idea for a long time and nothing has happened. They're getting tired, frustrated, and wondering if they should give up. One of my most...
