Learning is underrated. I'll be the first to tell you that I'm always learning on the fly, because that's always the best way to learn. Most people always try to act like they know it all, but no one really knows much. In fact, the irony is that the more someone thinks he knows everything, the less he actually knows. That's because his attitude prevents him from learning more.

One of the keys to being successful in this world is actually realizing how little you know, and using that to motivate you to learn more. That's a very valuable lesson to anyone, not just entrepreneurs, inventors, or worker bees.

And against a common misconception, you don't have to have an IQ of 160 to be successful. Unlike the classroom, an "E" for effort in the business world is better than an "A+". You just have to be willing to spend the time educating yourself, learning, testing, retesting, failing, and then succeeding. There is always too much to learn, so grab a hold of something you enjoy, keep digging . . . and don't stop. If you need an inspirational movie to get your started, go see the Pursuit of Happiness.

Bryan

It's very clear to anyone who has made an invention, or has tried and lives to try again. We want to know, how can we use the full power of the internet to help inventors? We need to hear your voices, help us help you.

We're only a couple weeks away from releasing our beta website, which will be an incredibly flexible & powerful tool. We've designed it to help inventors bring their products to market. But we're always open for suggestions . . . just because there are so many ways to help.

Business owners, entrepreneurs, and service providers, don't worry. We didn't forget about you. All of our forums are multi-directional. Our tools are designed to benefit you, as well as the inventor. And of course, we're open ears for any suggestions of how we can help you.

Remember, it will be completely FREE to register and use many of our tools, but only for a limited time. As always, early bird gets the worm.

Bryan

Save money, make more money. It sounds easy right, well good thing it is. I read an article this week about how start ups should spend as little as possible during their early stages. Big companies waste so much on overhead, trinkets, and doodads, it's amazing they're still profitable!

I thought this lesson would apply very well to inventors as well as entrepreneurs. It may require some creativity, but I trust if you're reading this, you can do it. All it takes is a little time using the right side of your brain.

I have heard that one place not to be cheap is with regard to intellectual property. I took that to heart, until I saw the first bill from my IP attorney - OUCH! I spent almost the same on my attorney as I did on my website development. There are alternative to paying hundreds an hour, and all you have to do is look a little harder. I was able to find an invaluable resource, at a university law clinic, that cost me nearly nothing. Check with friends, colleagues, and family, you may find someone willing to give you a good deal. Another alternative is to go to patent agents instead of attorneys. Now legally I'm not supposed to give any advice, but this is financial advice . . . patent agents are a fraction of the cost of attorneys. Okay, so they can't help you in court, but neither can most high-priced patent attorneys.

Remember when starting out, Profit = Revenue - Expenses. Learn how to decrease those expenses and take more profit to the bank.

Bryan

Invention ideas, business ideas, new product ideas, all at IdeaTango.com

Invention Trade Shows - they can be a wonderful way for both inventors and companies to find one another and initiate a dialogue. Hundreds of people with the same common interests in a single room, it's like 2000 people coming to your own personal pool party. But at what cost does this face to face contact come at?
For an inventor or company just to attend, your talking minimum 1-2 plane tickets (or more if you want to hit up all the booths), hotel, domestic brand mid-size rental car, employee time, and last but not least, the admission tickets. So you've spend well over several grand just to get you there, your work has just begun. I'm not going to even talk about the cost of hosting a booth and if you don't know what it costs . . . you don't want to know.
"Now why couldn't someone replicate the convention type feel, at a fraction of the cost" you ask inquisitively. Well my good friend, that's what we're doing here at IdeaTango.com. We're bringing the seedy underbelly of the invention convention world straight to your monitor.
When we release the full website here in the next few months, we'll have all the stuff you'd expect out of an invention convention, at a fraction of the cost and with the convenience of the internet.
Actually, we'll be completely FREE, but only for a limited time. So be sure to jump on our bandwagon early, take advantage of our tools, and join us in our quest to revolutionize invention conventions, Web 2.0 style.

Bryan


Inventors - submit your invention ideas to companies
Companies & Entrepreneurs - connect with our community members to generate new product ideas for your company

All at IdeaTango.com

Last week IdeaTango.com presented a 90 second elevator pitch at the Rice Alliance Information Technology Forum to 350 venture capitalists, investors, entrepreneurs, and others. According to the Rice Alliance blog, out of 40 companies, IdeaTango was a "notable standout" which was very exciting. We greatly enjoyed the opportunity to spread the word about our unique community where ideas are the currency, and everyone benefits. Several people came up to us after the event and expressed their interest in our idea . . . no pun intended.
Although the main purpose for the event was to garner interest from venture capitalists and investors, that was not our purpose. Although we will eventually need funding to spread the word about our innovative website and inventive members, this was more of an "hello, my name is" affair. We were also happy to speak with other thriving startups such as Tenant Market, OurTrueHome, and De Nova Labs, all of which have very cool products to be released in the next year.
We also had a booth at the event, which gave us an excellent opportunity to give some site demos, explain our vision in more detail, and hand out some of our marketing materials. The notable standout was the "100% Organic Innovation" bumper magnet. Speaking of which, if anyone wants to spread the word about ideatango.com through a bumper magnet, email us and we'll mail you one, free of charge. All in all it was a great event to introduce ourselves, communicate our vision, and meet other startups.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

During my travels I carried along some Entrepreneur and Inc. magazines I'd been meaning to read. I found one really interesting article for a startup company called Prosper.com. Like IdeaTango.com, it's a user-driven, collaborative community. But instead of ideas, the site is a peer-to-peer lending website. It's a pretty cool concept that can allow many cash-strapped entrepreneurs to get loans from essentially, next door neighbors. Here's the catch, you have to have good credit to get a decent interest rate. But the rates are lower than most credit cards, so if you're looking for some quick cash flow and have not been able to get a line of credit from the bank, then this would be a good source for you.

On the flipside, if you are looking to get more bang for your buck than a 5% interest savings account can give you, check out the site. Of course remember that with higher reward, comes higher risk.

We're prepping for our presentation tomorrow, and we'll let you know how it goes.

Bryan

IdeaTango.com - A user-driven, collaborative community where creative members provide businesses with innovative ideas for product and services, where both parties financially benefit.

This week I found out I'll be presenting at the Rice Alliance Information Technology Venture forum on December 6th & 7th. I'll be one of the 50 companies that gives a 90 second "elevator" pitch. 90 seconds is a long elevator ride, so I'm calling it my stairwell pitch. So I'm really excited about that opportunity to practice. And I'm really excited about our new message for IdeaTango.com. We're taking more of a online creative solution approach to our model. We always had the tools in development, it was just a matter of communicating the power. And I had an epiphany the other day that we'll be almost the same as an online graphics outsourcing firm that bands together graphic artists, except we'll band together creative & practical folks to provide companies with outside the box ideas for products and services. We've been getting a really good response with our new message so expect to hear more.
I hope everyone is going to have a nice, peaceful Thanksgiving with the fam. I'll be flying to Singapore with my girlfriend to visit my parents. We're also taking a side trip to Myanmar (previously Burma) and that should be incredibly interesting considering they only opened up to the outside world a couple years ago. Maybe North Korea will do the same thing China, Myanmar, and Vietnam have all done? Or maybe Kim Jong Il will be as crazy as usual and build his nuclear toy arsenal. I'll see everyone again in December.

Bryan