Monday, June 2, 2008

Steps to Kick Start your Idea or Invention

Here are a few things to help you move in a positive direction with your new idea or invention.

  1. Write down all of the immediate details of your idea. Grab a notepad or create a document on your computer and start with your name, date and time of the entry. You are starting an Idea Journal. Start listing every detail that comes to mind. Don't worry about any specific order or making your idea perfect just let the creative juices start flowing. Think of it as your personal brainstorming session. I suggest that if you came up with the idea as a team or group effort everyone should do there Idea Journal separately then reconviene for new sessions. You need to write down everything that comes to your mind without distractions. If you have a design in mind do a diagram. Even if you think you can't draw well don't judge yourself everything can be refined and organized later. The main purpose is to get information documented of your first thoughts. Understand that your idea will go through many changes along the way but those first thoughts will be the foundation that you will revisit for inspiration.

  2. Next, with a basic understanding and possibly a rough design it is time for some research. You want to check around for anything similar to what you have in mind. The Internet is a great place to start for this research. There are many search engines but these two sights will work well. First go to http://www.google.com/ and type in the specific search term (Description-be specific; remote lawnmower not just lawnmower) about your idea and scroll down the pages. You can't just rely on the first page for all the answers and try different word variations. Then you can do a free patent search at http://www.google.com/patents . Again, type in specific information about what your idea is and scroll down the pages. Remember this is not a guarantee no one has thought of your idea before but it is a great start.

( Design your Idea and Patent Referral list at http://www.inventionsupport.com/submit.aspx )


No comments: