New Fitness Glove Idea and I need some help!!!

[Xinister]

Hey it' X here and I have an idea that I believe would change the fitness market (Hoping) and I have a list of the materials I need to build a prototype for it but now Im a bit stuck.

Say i design the prototype on paper, should I try to find a manufacture to help me build it (which Im having a hard time doing) or try and product test it like in the 4HH?

And say it is wildly successful or its a good idea that need's some work, how can I protect myself from others taking the idea who can make it better than me seeing as how the the market for fitness is quite large?

Im also on a budget since Im only a college student paying all my bills, so any suggestion's or idea's would be great.

Would a provisional patent be the way to go? Honestly its driving me nuts due to my lack of experience or knowledge. :(

Sincerely
X

[BeerInAWineGlass]

Do you have the training (ie engineering) to manufacture the product yourself, or have colleagues which can help you? If you do , this would be the best path to avoid having any nifty ideas stolen. If you do not, I would suggest websites such as Elance or Thomasnet to find a company which can manufacture it for you, using only minimal information to describe what you would want before hiring someone to create the prototype for you. Remember, for these mechanical engineers and designers, they are generally not in the business of stealing ideas, since they make their money with projects such as yours.
My limited experience with patents has shown me that the process can be quite expensive - best to save this for after you have made headway with the design or plan on licensing the product to someone else... My brother was attempting to patent a 'revolutionary' smoking pipe, but was warned against doing so by the patent office. Although he had the money required (which was in the thousands), the man thought it was unwise to invest without having a marketable and mechanically sound enough idea.
Do like Mr Ferriss says - blitz google adwords and the like, brainstorm, do market research and try as much as you can for as little money as you can before spending your initial start-up dough. Elance costs 10$ to make an account, post a rough description of what you want, and start bargaining a fee to have your fitness glove.
Good luck!

[Xinister]

Hey thanks a lot for your quick response. Im still trying to figure out exactly how im gonna do it but I will update when i have a chance :D

Btw what are your thought on a provisional patent?

[Sven]

What have you learned from your own research so far?

[Xinister]

Well I have been talking to someone from the forums so I decided to screw the Patent and just go forward with my idea, all i really need to do is start market researching and Ill go from there. I also need to save up some money because of course It takes money to make money.

I was also looking into to click bank and thought that might be a nice way to start earning some income on the side. Any pointers out there to help me get started?

[Hectorgmontano]

Hey sounds like you have a lot of amazing ideas, but from experience I suggest you slow down a bit and put focus on the task that you want to achieve. I had a moment where I had a bunch of ideas and I wanted to work on all of them and ended up not finishing any of them. I suggest writing ideas down and keep focused.

Cheers

[Xinister]

Thank you for the insight Hector its greatly appreciated. Im about to start a new thread seeking some help maybe ill see you there!