I discovered my muse, now need some direction...

[SethB]

Hey guys, I have been reading this forum for a long time and am now venturing out to get some ideas and help. Anything you have to add and help is sincerely and greatly appreciated. Thank you ahead of time!

So, ever since I read 4HWW about 8 months ago I have been looking for my muse. I had tossed around a few ideas I had, but they fell more into the 80% of the work for 20% of the profit. Not quite what I, or anyone smart for that matter, is looking for. Then Friday at work, it hit me! Finally! I spent the weekend researching it and it got me more excited than ever, but also left me little more confused on where to start. So, what I am looking for is someone who has done what I am about to embark upon, or has any experience in that area.

My muse, without getting into specifics, is a simple electronic product. It is a product that already exists, a product I have worked with for the last 3 years, but with a little re-designing, can be made to tap into a new market. So, what I am looking for is how to find a manufacturer who can work with me to prototype this thing, and if that works out, get it rolling.

I am looking for the best way to do this without starting a company that I will be a slave to, which I can automate after I start it. I am new to this area, so what is the process? I have looked around at alibaba.com and I now have about 50 emails in my inbox that might as well be in chinese! Slightly confusing. But I want to make this happen, so, any help you can give is, again, very appreciated.

So, if you know the best, cheapest, most productive and efficient way to go about this, please, let me know! On how to go from idea to market. Anything helps!

[Vagabond]

Well the first thing I would look into is finding out who is manufacturing this product already. It it made by one company? Is it made by multiple companies? You might be able to contact them directly to see if theres a modification that they can make for you.

You'd probably have to look into protecting your idea somehow. I know patents take a lot of time and can cost thousands but I heard getting patent-pending protection is cheap, like a couple hundred bucks and could help make sure no one else takes your idea.

So I'd do some quick calculations and see how much its gonna cost to make, estimate how much you can sell it for (be conservative). And do some research to see if theres a market for it.

I don't think you should worry too much about the automation process yet as long as it can ultimately be automated.. You can't automate bringing a new product to market and as I'm learning it takes a lot of time.

To do it the TRUE 4HWW way you could get the website set up first and put up the sales page and all and see if people would really buy it. Throw some adwords PPC ads up.

Another really good book to read is The E-Myth Revisited. Its a really good companion book to the 4HWW.

[Drew Kime]

Think about licensing instead of manufacturing/sales. Like Vagabond said, find out who's making it now and contact them. Protect your idea first, of course. There was an interview on 4HWW a while back with a serial licenser. He said he never does the prototyping and manufacturing, he just comes up with the modification, applies for the patent, and brings a one-page sales sheet to the current manufacturer. Much easier than building your own supply chain.

Ahh, here it is. Read this before you try to build anything.
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/11/26/a-beginners-guide-how-to-rent-your-ideas-to-fortune-500-companies-plus-video/