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THE ONLINE INVENTOR – January 2008 issue

Editor: Paul Niemann

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Dear Inventor –

Here’s another brief, right-to-the-point issue for you. The first article explains how you can be seen AS AN EXPERT by many of the very companies that you want to pitch your invention to. Well worth reading.

You can read past issues of THE ONLINE INVENTOR at http://www.marketlaunchers.com/archives.html

ATTENTION WEBMASTERS & INVENTOR GROUPS: You may re-print any of these articles on your web site or newsletter for free, as long as you credit MarketLaunchers.com as the source. You don't even need to contact me to ask for my permission. And of course, I would appreciate a link to MarketLaunchers.com, either to this page or to the pages of any of these articles. Thank you.

Also, if you wish to reach more than 2,200 inventors by advertising in our humble little newsletter, please e-mail me at niemann7@aol.com or call (217) 224-8194 for details. Thanks.

Now, on with this week’s issue …

Best Regards,
Paul Niemann
Paul Niemann
http://www.MarketLaunchers.com
800-337-5758
217-224-8194

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Article # 1: “How to benefit by offering to be a speaker at your industry’s trade show” By Paul Niemann of MarketLaunchers.com

Article # 2: “3,900 Saturdays (The Marble Story)”

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Article # 1: “How to benefit by offering to be a speaker at your industry’s trade show”
By Paul Niemann of MarketLaunchers.com

Trade associations are always looking for guest speakers. Imagine having the undivided attention of many of YOUR potential licensees in the audience while you’re speaking on the stage or at the podium. Think of how much credibility that gives you!

Can you imagine anything that would give you a better way to meet 10, 20 or 30 potential licensees or distributors, in a setting in which they see YOU as the expert?

“But (insert your excuse here) …

“… but I don’t have any experience speaking in public”
“… but I get nervous speaking in public”
“… but they might think I’m not qualified to be their speaker”

Whatever your excuse is, just do it anyway. Trust me when I tell you that if you can get booked as one of the speakers, then you’re qualified to be one of the speakers. Plus, the audience will assume that if the conference organizers thought enough of you to book you as a speaker, then you’re qualified to be one of the speakers. Period.

Once you’ve decided to skip the excuses, here’s the good part: Trade associations always need guest speakers. (The bad part is that most of them do not pay you to speak; the exposure is your pay.)

I’ve spoken at a number of inventor conferences as well as conferences in other industries in which I was a vendor. For example, in my other business (the one that pays the bills), I sell my INVENTION MYSTERIES newspaper columns to newspapers, and I sell my INVENTION MYSTERIES books to homeschool families.

Both of these groups have annual trade association conferences in their states, and they always bring in guest speakers who have some expertise in the industry. YOU have some expertise in YOUR industry; after all, you’ve invented a product that belongs in their product line, right?

While you can’t make your speech a blatant pitch for your product, you can certainly include it in your byline and/or brochure or business card. You might even get a list of the conference attendees if you ask for it.

I’ll finish this article with the story of how I got a recent speaking engagement. The Chicago Toy & Game association had their recent CHITAG conference -- http://www.chitag.com -- and I noticed on their web site that it looked like they had their list of speakers already finalized. It is common for the roster to already be finalized by the time you find out about the conference, but I called anyway to ask if they wanted to have a backup speaker – you know, just in case one of the speakers cancels at the last minute.

It turns out that they had one more speaker spot available, and one of the association officers had heard of me, so she gave me a great recommendation. The Director liked my topic when I pitched it to her and, as a result, she booked me to speak. Everything worked out well in the end for me, and it can for you, too. Want more details? Call me at (217) 224-8194.

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Paul Niemann runs MarketLaunchers.com, building web pages for inventors. Having your own web page allows you to show your invention to companies when you’re unable to present it to them in person. It serves as your “online brochure.” Plus, it can be seen by companies who search MarketLaunchers.com’s invention database for new products.

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Article # 1: “3,900 Saturdays”
(The Marble Story)

Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the garage with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it:

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind; he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whom-ever he was talking with something about "a thousand marbles." I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say.

"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. It's too bad you missed your daughter's "dance recital" he continued. "Let me tell you something that has helped me keep my own priorities." And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles."

"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.

"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me, Tom, I'm getting to the important part.

It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail," he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays." "I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear."

Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life.

There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight."

"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time."

"It was nice to meet you. Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is a 75 Year old Man, K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!"

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter.

Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast." "What brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles.

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