0816_TOEFL-Test-and-Score-Manual-1997

116 ● 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business
family and friends to print 40,000 copies of the first issue. It was a flop.
Magazine dealers sent 34,000 back. Undeterred, he worked on the second
issue. The magazine is still around and kicking ass.
In this chapter, you’ll meet the cab driver/composer who invented
Magnetic Poetry as a way to overcome writer’s block. You’ll learn how
Frieda Caplan, a mom who wanted to spend more time with her baby,
pioneered the importation of exotic fruits and vegetables, bringing new
tastes to the American table.
With tens of thousands of practical and zany ideas floating around out
there, it’s no wonder the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is overburdened
with applications. The backlog is estimated to be 700,000. It can take up to
three years to obtain full patent protection, prompting David Kappos, the
patent agency’s director, to admit at a public hearing that “we are currently
operating the most senseless system of delayed and delinquent examination
imaginable.”
Congress is supposedly trying to speed up the patent process, including
a fee for “fast-tracking” an application. Although the fees for small
companies are modest, it can cost about $10,000 or more to hire a patent
attorney to navigate the complicated process.
Small business owners and inventors are launching and promoting new
products every day. They push products on eBay and buy ads on Google.
They line up to pitch their products to QVC and other popular shopping
channels. It’s tough to land a spot and even tougher to be invited back. If
you are selling beauty products, you need to sell thousands of dollars’ worth
of products a minute, according to entrepreneurs who gave it a try. Direct
selling is tricky and you have to be prepared to fill orders quickly.
Don’t be discouraged. Bringing your vision to reality is easier than
ever. If you’ve ever designed a piece of jewelry, picture frame, napkin ring,
or flower vase, you can buy software for about $100 and design a 3-D
model. That digital file can be e-mailed to a company like Shapeways (see
Great Idea #87) for “rapid manufacturing,” or 3-D printing, as it is known.
Within a day or so, you can post the product for sale in the Shapeways’
online store.
Read on to learn how to license your product to a bigger company
or make a distribution deal with an industry leader. You’ll meet
two women from New Jersey who fell in love with handmade Italian