5 things James Franco can teach you about licensing

Licensing is a difficult game... but James Franco can help you navigate those difficult waters. He and I were hanging out recently and he decided to give me some tips. These are things that are designed to help you, an inventor, sell your idea to an interested company.

So here they are, the five things James Franco can teach you about licensing:

1) Mr. Franco told me that he actually dropped out of UCLA after his first year. 

Failure is only bad if you allow it to be... use your past experiences to your benefit

2)  Stare down your enemies... with those half-sleepy James Franco eyes. His eyes look upon his opponents with the same steady gaze that is ready for bed. 

This one is a little bit of a stretch... I will admit. Look at companies and potential licensing partners the same as you would a friend or neighbor. Be nice and friendly with them. Over-professional inventor won't make the same impact as friendly inventor.

3) Keep working hard. James told me that his first attempt at a t.v. show went into the dumps. It was cancelled after the first year.

Keep working with different ideas and different companies to get your idea out there.

4) Try many different things. James Franco was an extra in a movie even after he "made it." James Franco went back to school to get his PhD after he had "made it" as a big Hollywood Star. 

Try different things with licensing. Don't be afraid to tread into new waters.

5) Keep smiling and having a good time. James Franco loves to smile and is known for his smile. 

Don't take yourself too seriously and keep trying.

I hope those tips were helpful... they sure were to me. Good luck on your invention journey and drop me a line about your struggles. Best comment will get to sit down and chat with James Franco!

Trying your best and failing

As you know, this blog is for inventors. Inventors that have an idea and want to go out into the world and pursue it.

What is important is going out into the world and falling on your face.

I have been pushing a certain device that one of my clients wants to license out. There is only one company that exists in the market that can sell this. I worked my butt off making phone calls and getting a hold of the company's right people.

And I did! Great success, right?

Not yet! As the company reviewed the project, they emailed back that they were not interested.
(Cue the sad music sob story)
That's unfortunate.

What does all this mean and why do you care?
This is why you should care... even though I failed in trying to get this invention licensed out, I had the biggest smile on my face. I at least tried! I tried my best and failed. That is alright. I know that in the future I can take what I learned here and apply it. I know that I am light-years ahead of any other inventor who is in the basement dreaming of big bucks.

This blog is about you and bringing success to your life.
How have you failed in the past? Were you happy that you at least tried?
Let me know by inputting your comment.

Power of Baby steps

With the New Year upon us, I bet you have set Resolutions that you wish to change in your life. The common ones are losing weight, getting a better job, and/or finding a significant other.
January 15th is a special day because that marks the day that 80% of people give up their New Year's Resolutions and go back to old habits. 80%!

How can we become the few and the proud who actually stick with our goals and see the positive results?
Baby steps

Although it may not be the sexy thing to do, baby steps are what keep you moving and motivated. While others are becoming hyper-motivated eventually to fail and regret making a resolution, you will be taking baby steps.
Let's apply this to an example.
Let's say you wanna lose weight... Great! Let's actually take that and move with it.
There's gonna be one guy who is sick and tired of being overweight and resolves to go to the gym 5 times a week at 5:30 AM! He won't last the entire week.
Now there's you who is gonna first start by getting to know the gym. Walk around the lockers and the weights to become familiar with everything. That is baby step number one.
Next time you go to the gym, you will do one workout.
Do you see how this works?

Post a comment below on how you plan to surpass all your friends and colleagues by taking baby steps.

Sustained effort and systems

I sometimes get very passionate about a subject and then put all my effort into it for a time. After a few weeks or so, I get bored with it or I just give up when I run into an obstacle.
Recently, I have begun using systems to achieve my goals. Systems are habits that happen without you thinking about them. For example, every morning when I wake up, I brush my teeth. I don't make a conscious decision every morning. I don't say, "I should brush my teeth this morning." It happens without me thinking about it.
Let's apply that to licensing. I spent the last few months getting excited about projects to license but GETTING NOWHERE! I rarely picked up the phone to talk to any companies!
For my business, I had to consciously decide to make phone calls to companies and it never happened....
Now I use a system. Every day at a specific time, I pick up the phone and make those calls. I don't have to think about it. I don't have to worry about. I am working towards my goal of retirement by utilizing a system.

What are some things that you have been struggling with that you could apply a system to?
Write your comment below...

Pushing till it hurts

I am tired... I have been working all day and still have some more work in front of me. Why am I excited to be working more when I am dead tired and want to quit?
It is because I know that if I keep pushing then I will make progress. The mind is like a muscle. In order for it to grow and develop, you must push it to its limit and then some. You must really stretch it out and work it out. When you go to the gym, don't give up when your muscles begin to get tired. No! When you go to the gym, give up when your body forces you to.
Let's apply this to the mind. Give up when your mind literally shuts down.
Let's this apply to licensing and inventorship. Keep calling and pushing your creative limits when you literally can't give any more. If you are tired of making phone calls to companies about your idea, then make one more. Push yourself and enjoy the fruits of your labor in the long-term.

Cheers!

Sleeping less and Accomplishing more

Today, I was setting up my sleep schedule for next month... weird, huh?
The reason I was doing that was because knew that I needed the extra time in my schedule in order to accomplish all the goals I had set for myself. My alternatives were to sacrifice something whether it be social life or sleep.
I then reread my notes that I had taken when I read 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss. At first, I was figuring ways that I would cope with less amounts of sleep. I had implicitly assumed that if I slept less then I would be feeling less functional. NOT THE CASE!
In the 4-Hour Body, Tim discusses a method to getting less sleep and feeling just as awake. It is called polyphasic sleeping. The system of sleeping allows you to sleep less and feel just as rested. More on this next time....

The Power of Learning

The difference between success and failure is often knowledge. It comes down to whether or not you know what to do next. Most inventors come up with an idea, but don't know what to do next. Then, they follow the common advice out there. It goes something like this:

1) Have an idea

2) Patent it

3) Prototype it (sometimes)

4-9) ????

10) Make Millions

The problem, as you can clearly see, is that there are a TON of steps missing. The inventor is by no means at fault for following the common advice. There are better ways to get your idea out to market.

If you want to learn more about this process, check out two books that I think will help you along the road to success.

• One Simple Idea by Stephen Key and
• Mom Inventor's Handbook by Tamara Monosoff