The Key to Licensing

The Key to Licensing - Hosted by Sylvia Pomazak. Featuring inventRight Alumni Taryn and Shy Omran

“I win or I learn, but I never lose."

“Play to your strengths and find others to complement you. The no’s are discouraging, but be kind to yourself and push through the hard part, and know that every single thing is not going to be what you love doing.” — inventRight student Taryn

Taryn and her husband Shy would always come up with ideas. As their family grew, so did their ideas for more and more practical products.

Taryn found our cofounder Stephen Key’s book One Simple Idea and read it a couple of times. Needing more, she decided to enroll in our Bootcamp coaching program, which she describes today as “the best decision she made.” One of the ideas they were working on was a product for their daughter who has Down’s Syndrome. After filing a provisional patent application (PPA) and submitting their sell sheet, Taryn and Shy got interest from a company within just a couple a months. With the help of their coaches Amy Jo and Paul Sorenson, they signed their first licensing contract for this product shortly thereafter. It will hit the market this spring.

Taryn and her husband Shy work together as a team of inventors on licensing their products.

Congratulations on licensing your product Taryn and Shy! Teams of inventors get the job done.

The Key to Licensing - Hosted by Sylvia Pomazak. Featuring inventRight Alumni Arkady Grigoryan

“I win or I learn, but I never lose."

After quitting smoking cigarettes, Arkady started to smoke, well, marijuana. Being a natural “clean freak,” he needed a way of storing his half-smoked joints, but no sanitary packaging or storage devices existed for joints that met his needs. He decided to bring his own product to market. Not knowing any better, he ended up spending $15,000 with an invention promotion company. Unfortunately, this company didn’t even teach him about the steps of the licensing process or discuss whether his product would be able to be manufactured. After going nowhere, and truly believing in the quote, “I win or I learn, but I never lose,” he decided to educate himself on what to do next.

In total, he ended up investing about $82,000 trying to venture his product. He was losing trust, getting frustrated, and was about to pay for tooling when he found inventRight and made a list of the pros and cons of venturing versus licensing. He decided to license his product and learn the process. He binged watched all of the inventRightTV YouTube videos and read inventRight cofounder Stephen Key’s book One Simple Idea.

Soon he became a student in the inventRight coaching program and began working with their coaches. By this time, he had two non-provisional patents and was working with engineers to make sure his product was manufacturable. Arkady states that the process “is not easy and it is not hard, but you have to commit, stay consistent, and be persistent.”

He approached everything with a willingness to learn. While in the program and reaching out to companies, one of the engineers he had worked with previously started a new job in the cannabis packaging industry, and ultimately connected Arkady to the company he ended up licensing his product to. RoachPack was displayed at the Marijuana Business Convention in 2019 and is planned for distribution in March and he is continuing to work on other ideas as well!

The Key to Licensing - Hosted by Sylvia Pomazak. Featuring inventRight Alumni Mike Van Horst

Michael Van Horst was working in real estate when he noticed that no one ever actually hung up their pictures on their walls; instead, they were always left on the floor. Why? He decided to come up with a solution to this all-too-common problem and started building prototypes of his idea from his home until he came up with a product that worked. Then he needed to figure out how to get it out into the world.

Like many inventors, he was trying to figure things out on his own. He started by taking his prototype to trade shows and setting it up to be displayed in a booth, where he thought a lot of buyers would walk by, but that did not happen. Then he competed in a pitch competition and his invention was actually picked up by a DRTV company for licensing. At the time although he didn’t know what licensing was, he agreed to move forward with them. However, the product did not move forward due to price point.

After spending a lot of time and money doing more trade shows, more pitch competitions, trying to venture through kickstarting, he signed up for the inventRight coaching program and began learning the process of licensing. After following the inventRight 10-steps process and getting a lot of NO’s, he received a Yes from one company and licensed his product.

The Push-n-Hang is now selling at Ace Hardware, The Grommet, and on Amazon!

And for his next product idea? He now knows how to save a lot of time and money by learning the process, getting help, and not giving up.

The Key to Licensing - Hosted by Sylvia Pomazak. Featuring inventRight Alumni Kirk & Brian

Kirk Hyust and Brian Halasinski – “Build a team, be resourceful, learn as much as you can”

When Kirk was renovating Brian’s house, he would show and talk about all his product ideas with Brian, one of which was a wrench he created. Kirk was in the process of venturing his product and was frustrated and burnt out with the amount of time and money he was spending.

He decided to partner with Brian on another product called the Smokestak and gave Brian the book “One Simple Idea” by inventRight cofounder Stephen Key to read. Together they formed a partnership and decided to follow the process of licensing instead of venturing. They dove deep into watching inventRight TV videos on YouTube and following the steps while keeping their expenses low.

Kirk and Brian decided to attend the Michigan Inventors Coalition Expo this year, where they won a free Bootcamp coaching membership. They immediately began working with coach Paul Sorenson because they already had interest for the Kirk Wrench and were needing assistance on how to move the deal forward. Paul also reviewed their marketing materials on all of their products and taught them how to properly market their ideas to companies as well as negotiate their deal!

They have the process down to a science now. Typically, they can come up with an idea, file a provisional patent application, complete their sell sheet, and be pitching to companies within 45 days. They have successfully licensed the Kirk Wrench and are now pitching three BBQ products that already have interest!

The Key to Licensing - Hosted by Sylvia Pomazak. Featuring inventRight Alumni Michelle Morrison

Michelle Morrison “Do it for yourself”

While Michelle was working in the healthcare industry, she would always be coming up with ideas. “I’m a problem solver,” she explains. It’s a trait she inherited from her family.

However, she didn’t know what to do with her ideas for products. Her roadblock was getting a patent, which was expensive. She wondered if there was “a different way.” Reading the 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss led her to inventRight cofounder Stephen Key. She began watching the inventRight TV videos on YouTube and finally read Stephen’s book “One Simple Idea.”

She began working on a guitar pick product with her brother at the time, but she knew that she always wanted to go the direction of licensing her own ideas. Sadly, her brother passed away from cancer. However, during that time, she gained a lot of experience in the music industry and discovered how open and receptive people were to helping her fulfill her mission.

After she launched the unique guitar picks, she decided to jump into the inventRight coaching program. She felt as though it was her “security blanket.”

“The process is simple but it is not easy. It’s overcoming the areas you have setbacks and limitations.” Working with a coach increased her confidence and success — a product she licensed is currently selling on Amazon and getting a lot of industry press!

The Key to Licensing - Hosted by Sylvia Pomazak. Featuring inventRight Coach Matthew Palmer

“Some of the greatest challenges reap the greatest rewards”

Matthew Palmer loved to take apart toys when he was younger. Learning how to put things back together naturally developed into a desire to learn how to create new things. Matthew has worked in many different trades throughout his life — something he developed for a company he was working with later made the company millions of dollars!

He was motivated to start trying to bring his own inventions to market, but he did not know where to go, so he started watching a YouTube channel with two funny guys called inventRightTV. He watched our channel for two years; there was so much information being provided that he didn’t think he really needed to join the inventRight coaching program.

Changing his thinking is what resulted in him finally becoming an inventRight student. He realized that watching videos and reading books were fundamentally a one-way interaction. Becoming a student meant having a team, being part of a community, and real-life conversations where he was sharing his enthusiasm for inventing. It was a natural fit for him. His goal evolved to becoming a full-time inventor and helping others.

Learning the process helped increase his confidence level. “Be humble, but be confident and persistent,” Matthew encourages. Incredibly, he licensed the first invention idea he applied our 10 steps to. He liked always having someone with him every step of the way and now, as a coach, enjoys providing the same care and support for his students.

Through his work experience he developed a natural ability to diffuse high stress situations and solve problems. His desire to help others and love for inventing makes him an awesome inventing coach!

The Key to Licensing - Hosted by Sylvia Pomazak. Featuring inventRight Coach Brayton Bushby

Brayton Bushby – “Focus on the process and be open to learning and growth”

Brayton grew up always having ideas so when it came time to decide between a degree in business or engineering he chose mechanical engineering. However, after working as a Wall Street trader for two years, he realized that being creative is what really made him happy.

He learned about the inventRight coaching program for licensing ideas after reading the book "The 4-Hour Work Week" by Tim Ferris, one of our cofounder Stephen Key's first students. So, Brayton quit his job and decided to become a student of the program. It was important to him to get the education he needed.

"Licensing is not a one-shot, one-kill. You have to focus on the process and pay attention to people’s actions.” Being a naturally results and goal oriented individual, Brayton knew that if he stayed with the process long enough he would license his ideas. He took some time off, decided to return as a student again, and ended up licensing two products!

Brayton has now been coaching and mentoring students for the past year and continues to teach inventors to focus on the process and be open to growth.

The Key to Licensing - Hosted by Sylvia Pomazak. Featuring inventRight Coach April Mitchell

April Mitchell - “Be Ready to Learn and Be Ready to Change”

A mom of boys, April created a product to keep towels off the bathroom floor. She licensed her idea to a company but with poor advice from an attorney and no licensing experience she signed a bad contract and unfortunately her product did not make it to market.

She then began watching inventRightTV on YouTube and following the iR 10-step process to license an idea and was getting interest from dozens of companies on another product concept. Not wanting to make the same mistake again, she signed up to become a student of the inventRight Boot Camp program.

There, she learned the details of exactly what to say and do at every step in the development process. Through the accountability of her coach and feedback and guidance, she signed a licensing deal with a housewares company. This year, her product the Right Height Adjustable Heights Over-the-Door Hook was displayed at the International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago. It will be distributed online and at retail very soon.

After achieving repeat success as an inventor, she found others asking her for guidance and direction. She took advantage of the opportunity to become an inventRight coach and help others through their journey.

Her message is “be ready to learn and be ready to change."

The Key to Licensing - Hosted by Sylvia Pomazak. Featuring inventRight Student Eric Van Dalen

Eric’s only wish for his birthday present one year was to start the InventRight coaching program, and so he did.

As a small business owner in a very small town in Montana, Eric always found himself being creative and constantly coming up with ideas. He decided to pursue getting the products to market by licensing them to companies.

Having both a creative and analytical mind, he used both to move through the licensing process with the help of his inventRight team. With hard work, effort, persistence and determination Eric was able to license his first product.

The Key to Licensing - Hosted by Sylvia Pomazak. Featuring inventRight Student Garth Patchen.

Garth Patchen, a man who has worn many hat’s throughout his career, decided he wanted to start brining his ideas to market through licensing.

He worked on his idea for five years, before finding and reading the book One Simple Idea and saying to himself “I can do this, this is the way.”

He soon became an inventRIght student, and with the help of his coach Ryan Diez and the IR team he licensed his first product the Bottle Cap Back Scratcher, which is now selling in Walmart stores today.

Garth is 58 years old and licensing his ideas plans to be his retirement.

You can be any age, invest in yourself, work with a coach and license your ideas.