As a Mom your work is never done. There’s always something you need to make, or pick up, or put away, or transfer to/from the car, and the laundry is never ending (...so much laundry). But amidst your overwhelming to-do list and the general chaos of mom-ing, there’s a phenomenal business opportunity. Some of the best inventions, most influential businesses, and greatest contributions to the arts in our time have been from stay-at-home Moms. Hardworking Moms are becoming entrepreneurs more often and contributing more to the landscape of American inventions than ever before. But Moms are doing more than just reinventing ordinary baby products - they’re also making life easier across the spectrum of life’s products.
So how can you get your inventor juices flowing while you’re pouring juice into sippy cups? Here are our top tips:
So how can you get your inventor juices flowing while you’re pouring juice into sippy cups? Here are our top tips:
Solve a Problem
Any good invention should solve a problem – the more annoying and dangerous the problem the better. This means that if your invention solves a minor problem that someone may only encounter every so often, it’s probably not going to be the next million-dollar idea. But if it solves a big problem or something that people face every day, it has the stuff needed to really take off. This is how people who invented things like a device to attach your keys to your purse or attach important paperwork to your fridge or tags to alert teachers and caretakers of kids’ food allergies have made a fortune. (Hint: As a Mom, you encounter a TON of annoying and difficult things everyday – now all you need to do is find a way to fix them.)
Get Feedback
Now, it’s possible that our invention sounds like a great idea to you but other people might think you’re crazy. This is why it’s so important to get feedback from friends and family. But don’t just stop there. The people closest to you are more likely to encourage you even if your idea isn’t necessarily the best or you haven’t thought it through enough. To overcome this bias, you should also seek input from impartial third parties. You can have people submit anonymous feedback through surveys or conduct informal focus groups. Whatever you do, just get others to help contribute to your idea in order to improve the concept and execution. If you have a prototype of your invention, this step will be even more helpful because you can have people use it and give very specific feedback about its usability.
Make it Accessible
The inventions that make it big have a few things in common – they’re inexpensive, they’re demonstrable, and they’re easy to use. I learned that from Billy Mays on the TV show Pitchmen that used to be on the air. If your invention requires a lengthy demonstration to understand or can’t be operated by the vast majority of the population, you need to go back to the drawing board. Furthermore, if it needs to be sold in some sort of specialty boutique, that isn’t as likely to take off as something that can be sold in any regular retail store.
Kate Pierce is the owner of LionShark Digital Marketing LLC, a West Michigan internet marketing company. Her areas of expertise include Paid Search, Search Engine Optimization, Business Blogging and Web Copywriting. She lives in the Grand Rapids area with her husband and son and enjoys cooking, watching sports, and spending time together as a family. Like a true digital marketing expert (i.e. geek), she loves talking about current marketing trends… so don’t say you weren’t warned!
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