One Simple Idea: Turn Your Dreams into a Licensing Goldmine While Letting Others Do the Work [ハードカバー]

I bought this book based on all the great reviews here on Amazon, and I took several others out of my library (this one wasn't available at the library). I was excited to read it and became more and more disappointed as I went on. He wasn't saying very much. Instead he kept repeating the same things over and over. "You can DO this!" Rah rah ree. Tell me MORE. Instead, the information that I really wanted to know is only available on his website... and while some of it is free, some of it is not. Disappointing.

I found How to License Your Million Dollar Idea: Everything You Need To Know To Turn a Simple Idea into a Million Dollar Payday, 2nd Edition by Harvey Reese to be a much better book overall. So much better in fact, that I'm back on Amazon today to buy it. I don't want to give it back to the library. It's FULL of the information that I found lacking in One Simple Idea. And much of his advice is contrary to One Simple Idea (such as what types of innovations are easiest to sell). I can't say for certain who's right about this, but I can tell you who's reasoning makes more sense to me: Harvey Reese's.

Buy this book if you want, but do yourself a favor and check out the other one, too. I think you'll see that's it's a much better resource, if not the same "cheerleader".

I really like this book because it has opened up a whole new avenue for me, and showed me with simple descriptions all the areas where I was doing it wrong. I almost felt stupid that I did not know about provisional patents. I thought the only way to protect your ideas was the traditional patent route, and the 10-20 thousand dollars that route can cost. I did not know that a simple provisional patent, that can be filed for $110 would give me even more protection than a patent the first year I filed it. And that I could get a company to pay for my patent when they license my idea! How can you not love this book?

Stephen Key walks you through the steps of taking your idea from birth all the way through getting some company to send you royalty checks every quarter. You come up with the idea, then follow the steps laid out to getting paid for that idea. You do not need to have really brilliant ideas either. A simple product improvement can be licensed. A manufacturing change can be licensed. A procedure change can be licensed. The list is pretty endless in regards to what you can do. Can you take an existing product, change it slightly, and use it for some other non-related use? Yes you can, and you can get paid to do it!

Here is how this book will help me. I started writing ideas down in a small five inch notebook on may 4, 2004. I date all the ideas, my memory is not that good. I have 7 of these notebooks filled with ideas, changes, upgrades, etc. I take notes on a voice recorder in my car because ideas always pop in my head while I am driving. I know a lot of people get ideas in the shower, but I was on a nuclear submarine a long time ago and got in the habit of taking very fast showers because we can't waste water. So my shower time is very fast and focused, no time for ideas, but driving really works well for me. The positive side of that experience is that many of my ideas relate to saving resources.

I looked through all 7 books this week. My old thinking told me many of these ideas need an expensive, and time consuming patent. Now that I know about provisional patents I am looking at these ideas in a whole new light. I came across 19 ideas that I can follow up with right now. Then there are many more that need some more thought, and quite a few that are already on the market. Someone that knew how to market them beat me to the punch. That will not happen again.

According to Stephen, licensing is a numbers game. You will not get every idea licensed, it is better to be prolific. With the details he gives in this book I am confident I can research the market, protect my idea, target specific companies, create a "sell sheet" and benefits statement, and approach my targeted companies to start discussing a licensing partnership.

If you have ideas that you think can make money, you need to read this book. I normally read a book once, but I have read and reread many chapters in this book. It is an excellent guide which I am positive will make a difference in my life. I look forward to one day meeting with Stephen and thanking him in person.

One Simple Idea is a practical, real-world guide that will help you take your ideas and get them to market with minimum investment of time and money. It is a great read that motivates the creative genius inside to think outside of the box, dream big, and get paid for it. One Simple Idea is a 5 star book and a steal for anyone interested in turning ideas into cash.

Part 1 focuses on how nice it will be once your ideas pay off and you are earning extra income.

"Find Your Million-Dollar Idea" (Part 2) really kicks off the valuable information in the book. This section offers great advice on what makes an idea valuable and marketable. Key emphasizes simplicity and how small ideas can make big money. While this part is good, I think it's also the weakest section in the book. Key only offers three creative thinking methods to come up with ideas . . . each just a paragraph long. He focuses on other idea generation methods that are simpler, but creative thinking techniques can unlock tons of great ideas in my experience. Going in depth here would make this book too long, but it would have been nice to include some additional recommendations for idea generation. For a book that is really strong in this area, check out Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques (2nd Edition). It makes a great companion to One Simple Idea: Turn Your Dreams into a Licensing Goldmine While Letting Others Do the Work

Also in Part 2, Key gives an "idea litmus test" (70-73) to measure the ideas that you dream up. This is a great tool and a step that could be easily missed.

"Prove Your Idea" (Part 3) offers real world techniques to prove the viability of your idea. The information in this section is easily worth the price of ten copies of the book. Key's thoughts on prototype development (105-110) remove financial and fear barriers from the inventor's equation. Using his methods anyone can test markets with a little research and create great prototypes of their invention with minimal investment.

"Protect Your Idea" (Part 4) is the most valuable section in the book. If Part 3 saves the price of ten copies, Part 4 could save the price of a thousand copies. The first chapter details Key's method of protection through patents. His thoughts on this (not to mention the additional information on StephenKey.com) could save an inventor thousands of dollars, if not tens of thousands. Getting advice like this from an entrepreneur is more valuable than advice from a patent attorney.

The second chapter in this section details the best method to protect yourself when presenting your idea to others. Again, the advice is not just theoretical. Key spells out exactly what to look for and what to add to your agreements (133-134).

"Prepare to Pitch Your Idea" (Part 5) details how Key has licensed his products. His two-step method is simple, easy-to-follow, and a great idea. Anyone who has evaluated products of any kind will appreciate his approach. It will give you success more frequently and limit your failures to substance, not style.

"Submit Your Idea to Potential Licensees" (Part 6) details methods to do just that. Key gives techniques to narrow down your list of companies and even includes access to a part of his site that will give you the names of more than 1,300 companies that license products through open innovation (see page 173). Chapter 17 then details what to do once you narrow your list of companies down. Key's advice on cold-calling is practical and very helpful. This section could easily be applied to a wide variety of businesses. Key has obviously made many thousands of calls over the years and presents methods that will help you secure a licensing agreement.

"Bring Your Ideas to Market" (Part 7) gives a brief overview of how to negotiate and cut your first licensing deal. While there is not enough information in this section to answer all your questions, it is a great start. It is helpful to know what the going rate for royalties on inventions is, and Key does not hold back any information.

Be sure and check out the last two pages of the book for Key's 10 Steps from Idea to Market (222-223). He references the steps a couple of times throughout his book, and finally gives them all in one place at the very end.

"Appendix: Valuable Resources" is the last part of the book. The only thing better than a great book is a great book that points you in the right direction to learn more. Most of the resources on this page direct you to a section of Key's website. The advice is valuable, though the page on his site could be better organized and indexed with hyperlinks. Also, the recommended business book section is weak with only two books recommended. However, this could all be updated quickly and the resources themselves are very valuable.

*Pros
- Excellent advice. Real-world help, not conceptual theory.
- Will help you take your ideas to the marketplace
- Additional resources and the value added from this book outweigh the cost of the book a thousand times over
*Cons
- Weak on the creative thinking & idea generation sections
- References other chapters throughout the book. Helpful if you read a chapter here and there, annoying if read cover to cover
- Uses same examples too often. I know much more than I want to about Michael Jordan's Wall Ball now.

If you are interested in a book that can actually deliver on its promise to make you money with minimal investment, this is a great one. It is refreshing to read a book that gives real advice, has very little theoretical filler, and clocks in at less than 240 pages. It is a book you will read through once and refer too often when you come across a great idea that has market potential. Buy it and, as two of Key's students say on page 151, "Invent yourself out of a day job one idea at a time."