Three Positive Habits You Must Have To Take An Idea To Production

For almost 30 years I have been an IT consultant, database specialist, who wrote on the side for fun and a few self publishing earnings as well as writing down any idea that came to mind that would help people do everyday things better like tie downs and other means of securing loads without the strain. Pull, twist, done. I made a few prototypes but got busy with life so they didn’t go anywhere.

Now enter COVID19 lockdowns and the drying up of fruitful contracts. I know many people have had a terrible time with income and trying to keep the roof over their heads. I feel for these people and hope they are better prepared the next time something happens. This article is not about them. I am and was very blessed. I won’t go into the why except being prepared spiritually and physically to endure a lockdown. My family of six worked together and we had more than enough to get through. From the first day my contract finished I took my hobbies of writing and websites to a new level, creating and testing a site for Translators that has just gone live and finishing three different books and writing a ton of articles on whatever topic floats my boat on a daily basis.

Writing is in everything I do, even my programming is just writing programmed code in the right format for 100% peak performance.

Again I was blessed with a desire to contribute and change the world for the better and I never stopped having fun. Writing has always been fun and not work. So six hours or ten could go by and I never think of it as work.

Que one Friday evening when I turned on my favorite reality show, Gold Rush. I watch all the shows it contains and got incredibly excited for this season’s Gold Rush White Water.

This show is about two men, father and son with their teams who mine gold from the bottom of a fast moving river. The water is cold as ice as it melts from a glacier far above mixed with seasonal precipitation. Gold has been pulled from this area for centuries and was just sitting on the bedrock just under the water or deep beneath the rocks and sand above it. I watched every episode as they dove and sucked up gold or found it lying on the river bottom; something that was scarce for Fred and Dustin Hurt for many seasons. For Fred he was just enjoying his partial retirement. He worked for fun and he was my kind of guy. I love work vacations and had a few over my life that were rewarding.

Fred’s frustration with the underwater hole he called Trifecta was due to the fact that he spent all season digging one hole just to have the narrow walls start to come down anytime he started dredging. To each side was 18 feet of overburden with rocks big enough to kill him or his other divers. Fred had two close calls; one for him and another for his senior diver. After that they had to call it quits. It was the end of the season and Fred Hurt proved there was a mother load of gold waiting for him. Just before he said the words, “I wish I could get an excavator in there,” I had his clean excavator in my mind and ran to my inventor’s notebook.

The first positive habit is to “love the thing, the person, you are trying to help, is doing.”

I love that show so much I am always talking out loud and giving ideas which are usually seconded by people on the show. This was the one time no one had an idea what to do.

If you are enjoying the hell out of a show with people working and always coming up with ideas, write them down and think about what would help them. That love is also a passion for winning.

I want Fred to find his motherload. It’s not mine but if he uses a tool I create, that’s awesome and I will get paid something plus it’s my name associated with it.

So I opened my inventor’s notebook which is a large legal gray accounting journal to a clean page and sketched out my idea with as many crude drawings, initial dimensions, and views as possible. I slapped a name on it and signed and dated it. I also had my wife witness and date it as well. That’s all I needed to hold the idea as my own no matter who beats me to the patent office. I am not worried if anyone came before me. I just got it down and signed as quickly as possible.

This is where the second positive habit comes in: “Do not wait. Get your idea, no matter how silly or crude down as quickly as possible and start seeing it in action in your mind.”

Imagining your idea in action is so important. When you can see it working in the conditions it is supposed to work in, you just have to go from crude to clear drawings and continue imagining your invention being used.

Next you have to use social media for the idea it was conceived of: making contacts with decision makers or the people close to them who can get your idea to them. Everyone in the world is only six degrees from everyone else. Kevin Bacon proved that to us and it’s time to put it to work.

I knew who I wanted to work with on this and the players involved:

1. Fred Hurt
2. Dustin Hurt
3. Carlos
4. Freddy Dodge
5. Discovery channel
6. Lists of producers and technicians

I began finding and sending messages to everyone on that list on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. This is taking time because the people who are closely involved are also working their butts off. I am patient here and I continue to write about and refine my idea into 3D drawings and videos introducing the idea and explaining what I want.

Fiverr is your friend.

As I mentioned above I continue to write about my invention and further imagining the tool into better designs. As of this writing, I have engaged designers on Fiverr three different times for different stages with a total investment of less than $100 USD. Each time the design was made better, I was able to further refine the tool. So my current lack of communication is a blessing because the refinement process needs to be completed.

I am at a stage now where crowdfunding will be sought to take these clear drawings and have them made into manufacturing plans and realistic 3D renderings with AutoDesk with the money I raise.

After that I will asked for this to be made into a prototype and by then I will keep working to get it in front of the people at the #DiscoveryChannel

The final positive habit: “Invest a little at first so you do not quit.”

Put some money behind your idea to make it into your alpha drawing. There are plenty of people to clean up your scribbles. Now, If you hit a roadblock, you won’t drop your idea or plans. Just like a clean oversized roadmap helps you figure out where you are going, a clean design helps you figure out what you may be missing. Engage professionals who work within the industry you are in and keep going. So many professionals will give you feedback for a cup of coffee or lunch. Get with them and engage. It will take time to hear from the best because they are busy.

Do not take no for an answer but be respectful and patient.

I wish you all the best.