Episode #30: What Does It Take To Be a Successful and Happy Toy Inventor?
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Toy Inventors spend their days coming up with new ideas, tinkering with prototypes, and pitching their creations to potential licensees. But what exactly makes them successful? In today’s episode, The Toy Coach explains the necessary mindset behind these professionals as well as the best and worst parts of being a toy inventor.
Are you ready to know the most common challenges that Toy Inventors face and, most importantly, how to overcome them? Press play because this episode will give you a good insight into what it takes to Make It in The Toy Industry!
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This episode is brought to you by www.thetoycoach.com
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Azhelle 00:00 You're listening to Making It in The Toy Industry, Episode Number 30. Intro/Outro + Jingle 00:07 Welcome to Making It in The Toy Industry, a podcast for inventors and entrepreneurs like you. I'm now your host, Azhelle Wade. Azhelle 00:17 Hey there toy people Azhelle Wade here and welcome back to another episode of Making It in The Toy Industry. This is a weekly podcast brought to you by thetoycoach.com. Before jumping into today's episode, I want to tell you all about something super special that I've got in the works. Now, this is for you if you're in love with learning with me on this podcast, and you have an amazing toy or game idea that you want to create and monetize. In September I will be opening the doors for you to register for my online digital course Toy Creators Academy. Now if you've already joined the email list, then you are ahead of the game, and I can't wait to serve you when the doors open up. Toy Creators Academy is going to teach you how to develop your toy ideas and turn them into a toy business. So if you'd love a little more toy inspiration from me and a whole lot of guidance, then head over to toycreatorsacademy.com and join the early access list. If you're on that list, you are going to be among the first to know when the doors open. And to top it all off, you are going to get the opportunity to join the course at an incredible rate that no one else will get not even my regular toy code insiders. So if you've got a few great toy ideas inside of you, and you want to turn those ideas into a toy business, head over to toycreatorsacademy.com to learn even more. Okay, let's jump into the episode. Now with last week's episode I talked to you guys about the difference between being a toy inventor To toy entrepreneur, and we went over the value and opportunities that lie ahead for you, if you see yourself as both. Now I've gotten a lot of messages from you. And I am so glad that you enjoyed that episode and taught you a little bit about yourself. But this week, I want to focus on those of you that see yourselves specifically as toy inventors. Now what I want you to get out of this episode is an understanding of the types of personalities that thrive as inventors mindset that inventors have that are really different from the rest of people in the toy industry, the best parts of being an inventor, the worst parts, and then we'll talk about some of the unique challenges you might face. If this is a dream of yours to become an inventor. And of course, we'll talk about the ways that you can overcome Those. So to begin, let's just recap what is a toy inventor.
So a toy inventor, like you learned last week essentially is an idea machine. They spend their days coming up with new ideas, tinkering with prototypes, and pitching their concepts to potential licensees. So I took a look at what kind of personalities that really thrive as inventors. And I came up with a bunch of different personality traits that make somebody an excellent personality fit for the job or the freelance role of being an inventor. So the very first personality I found was obviously creative. As an inventor, you're always coming up with new ideas and you have to be that creative mind that constantly comes up with new ideas. So of course A true inventor is going to be creative. But you're also going to be analytical. Because you have to have a mindset that can see the world as it is, but figure out a new way that things could be. Another personality trait of an inventor is that they're curious. That's where that tinkering aspect comes in. And inventor is curious about the way things work and is always trying to figure out an alternative to current situations current everyday solutions to things or current situations. Now also, you'll notice that an inventor has a very problem solving focused mind and inventor will see the troubles of everyday life and automatically find themselves coming up with ways to do things better, differently, faster or Just more fun. Now in the toy industry, it's also extremely important that as an inventor, you are playful. A playful inventor that doesn't take things too seriously allows themselves to experiment with different materials and different electronic components and doesn't feel the need to get everything perfect the first time. Now being playful and having this a mind I have a child is what really helps inventors create something completely unique, but also something that engages the imagination of the kids that they're creating for. Another valuable personality trait of an inventor is somebody that is experimental. Now an inventor as you know comes up with new ideas, but it's not a one thing. For every new idea that an inventor comes up with, there is a testing phase, there is a phase where they're figuring out if this concept is even viable, or if it will even be seen as valuable to children and retail buyers. There is a phase that inventors go through. And it's important that you have a personality that enjoys this phase. And that's the testing and creation phase. And that's where this experimental personality trait really kicks into high gear. If you're the type of person that enjoys coming up with an idea and then testing out how to make it a reality, then you might be an excellent inventor, because inventors have to be comfortable with just testing experiment. Seeing what happens when and what happens if. So being experimental is an extremely important and valuable trait for a toy inventor. Now, aside from being experimental inventors are also adaptable. Now, their adaptability comes into play when let's say they have an opportunity to pitch a game idea to a company that maybe they weren't normally intending that their product or idea should be a fit for. So it's important that as an inventor, you are adaptable with your creative ideas and with your inventions, so that you can take a really clever invention that maybe was intended for one customer or for one toy company, and change it just the right ways to Make it the perfect fit for a completely different toy company in a completely different category of play. And if you want to be more adaptable, all you have to do is learn to put your ego aside and learn to understand that sometimes you're going to have to make changes even if you've been perfecting this invention or this prototype for a year. An opportunity could come along where the prototype that you've been developing just isn't the right fit and needs to be improved on or changed in some way even further to fit a new potential customer or a new potential licensee. Now, another super important trait for you to thrive as an inventor is that you need to have really thick skin and thick skin It is extremely important in this game because this is a game full of rejection. Now, when I talk to a number of agents in the industry, it's really clear that the rate of ideas and concepts that actually get accepted by toy companies is low. I'm talking one to 5% low. So there are hundreds of ideas coming in to inventor agents and inventor reps. And there are, you know, dozens and dozens of ideas from there that get actually seen by these two companies, and only a few are actually selected to move forward. And even from that, some maybe you find out that they can't be manufactured and they end up getting dropped. off or the toy company finds out that it just would be too expensive, or maybe buyers aren't interested. So, in this business, when you're going to be a toy inventor, you have to have incredibly thick skin. You have to understand that things could be going your way with a concept for months and months, and everyone could be giving you positive feedback and positive reviews. But like I've said time and time again, the toy industry is cyclical, and it's trend based. And something in the world could change suddenly, and all of a sudden your great toy or game idea that would have had dozens and dozens of friends and family gathering in a small space to play it would no longer go over so well in the advertising campaign that maybe a company you partnered with. was intending to release. So in this industry, and especially in this role of an inventor in the toy industry, you've really got to have thick skin and, and be ready to receive criticism. Be ready to be disappointed. Be ready to have to wait for your big break and just understand, you know it's not you. It's just a part of the game. Honestly, it's a numbers game. It's a timing game, and it has nothing to do with your value as an inventor or an innovator. It just has to do with timing. Okay, so the final personality trait that will benefit you and help you thrive as an inventor is being outspoken. And I say that because as an inventor, you are going to have to pitch your idea a lot and somebody that can be outside Spoken and can show up as comfortable when they're talking to a group of people or when they're pitching to a toy company is going to fare well. The worst possible pitch meetings to be in, are those when the person pitching is uncomfortable with their idea, or maybe just uncomfortable with themselves, because that feeling starts to extend toward the people that they're pitching to, and it makes the situation feel uncomfortable, even when it isn't. So if you're outspoken, and you're comfortable with talking to people and pitching your ideas, and sharing them, you are going to do well as a toy inventor. Now let's shift into talking about mindsets. And I've learned through the past months of doing this podcast that a lot of you struggle with mindset even more Before you get to the point where you're struggling to know what to do in the toy industry, you're actually struggling with the belief that you should be doing it at all. So first and foremost, just as a blanket, addressing of that thing that holds you back, you know, that mindset that's holding you guys back. You belong here. The fact that you have been following along with me, and listening to the details of this toy industry with joy and excitement, it all means that you belong here. Okay? And the industry needs people like you that really care about it and are really excited about it and interested in it and looking to learn more and be better to provide better products for our kids. Okay, so you belong here. First and foremost, I just wanted to get that off my chest. Now, there are specific mindsets that inventors have. And by mindsets, I'm going to talk to you about how inventors think. And if you want to be an inventor, this is also how you should train yourself to think so that you can be a successful and just a happy toy inventor. Now, toy inventors look at the world as a puzzle to solve. They naturally believe that there is a secret hidden way or solution to do pretty much everything. They believe just inherently that every new toy concept or every existing toy out there has a hidden mechanism to hide It works. And they are determined to figure out what that mechanism is. So if it's an existing toy, they want to understand how it works, how it came to be, and why it came to be. And usually, when discovering new concepts or new ideas, it's because inventors are exploring a hidden or secret way of doing things. They might be looking at how things function, let's say in the adult world, and be wondering, why is there not an option like that for the kid world? And they'll be searching and trying to figure out what secret or hidden way could what's going on in the adult world what's trending, be pared down and applied to the kid world. As I'm saying that what comes to mind is the new little tykes Toby watch the smartwatches for kids is such a brilliant idea bringing smartwatches to kids and giving them different more toy yedek features so that kids can you know communicate with each other would be a walkie talkies, so that there could be a fun little Tamagotchi like character. When I saw the Toby robot smartwatch come out, I thought, Oh, that is genius. You know, they've done it again. And they found new toy innovation by looking at where society is today and what is normal in our society today and creating play within that space. So the second mindset that inventors have, is they like to measure and just see the world very objectively So usually, a successful inventor is paying attention to trends, but they're doing so in a way that is more based in statistics. They're understanding what people are looking at right now, and why they're looking at it so that they can determine if a trend is something that's worth them putting their time into developing a concept around, or is it something that just won't really be around a few months later? additionally, because toy inventors are constantly measuring and, you know, understanding the world from an objective standpoint, they're doing the same thing with their inventions or twig is they are constantly analyzing them maybe to a fault, where nothing that they invent ever feels quite good enough or quite ready enough to show but uh, rate and successful inventor very similarly to the adaptability trait is constantly measuring and evaluating their toy or game product ideas, to make them better to make them fit in with industry trends or to fit in with the companies that they are pitching to. The third mindset of an inventor is somebody that is always looking to learn. They're always in this mindset of absorbing knowledge, taking in new ideas, because they understand that the more knowledge that they can take in themselves, is only going to benefit their toy invention process, whether they're learning a new way to think, or a new way to build things with their hands, or maybe even learning small simple electronics. They understand that all of these self taught skills are going to help have them be able to better prototype or mock up or breadboard their toy concepts as they come to them. The final mindset I want to go over that inventors or successful inventors have is that they love a good opportunity. And they love the chance to test out their ideas by pitching it to as many people as possible. So an inventor doesn't groan at the thought of Oh no, I got another toy company to pitch to, but they're excited about it. You know, they can't wait to show their idea to more and more people because they understand that it's a numbers and it's a timing game. And it's all about being in the right place at the right time. So that positive and excited energy around opportunities to pitch that is a mindset you want to hold very closely. If you want to be successful and happy toy inventor. Now I want to get into the best and the worst parts of being a toy inventor. Now the best parts of being a toy inventor, it's got to be the freedom. It's the freedom to work for yourself, and work at your own pace. Being a toy inventor or running into a studio means that you get to set the rules of when your day starts, how your day looks, and when your day ends. Now of course, there are requests from Toy companies for specific types of inventions. But you as the leader of your business, or of your invention studio gets to decide when and how you serve those requests. So if you are the type of personality that loves the idea Working for yourself, basically kind of working freelance, then, you know, you're gonna really love this part of being a toy inventor. The next best part of being a toy inventor, I think for sure is the networking. Now that could just be me that I think it's, you know, top Reason number two to be a toy inventor. But when you're a toy inventor, you get the opportunity to know and work with multiple toy companies and multiple people from within those toy companies at the same time, and I am telling you, no other full time creative job in the toy industry is like that. You will never get the flexibility to meet so many varied industry professionals all at once and be able to have serious in depth informative content. conversations with them about their current industry or market needs. When you're seen as a go to inventor for these companies, you're going to get insights that are just going to help you be a better toy person in this industry overall. Now, outside of the toy industry, you also have the opportunity to network with other freelancers and prototype or similar to yourself, because not every toy inventor can do everything. No one expects you to be jack of all trades. So you might have to hire out help. And when you do, you are forging new relationships with illustrators, animators, graphic designers, and you are going to have so much fun drawing creative inspiration from people of all of these varied disciplines. Okay, so the third best part part about being a toy inventor. I mean, it's that your job is to be creative. You get to think of concepts all day, every day, you focus on just cranking them out one after the other, making them real, making them work just enough to be functional as a mock up or breadboard. And you don't even have to worry about the long drawn out and honestly sometimes a little bit disappointing process of bringing toys to market. You don't have to get bogged down with overseas communication late at night. You don't have to stress out about cost reduction. You don't even have to get into packaging. You just get to focus on the most creative and innovative ideas that you see are missing in the market. And you get to play around with different mechanisms that will make those ideas real. Now the final best part of being a toy inventor and this is coming from an ex corporate girl, you get to focus. You get to focus on however many projects that you decide to come up with each and every year or each and every season. And whatever number of products you decide to develop and prototype and test, you get to just focus on just that. You don't have to be distracted by addressing new product opportunities that pop up day in and day out. You don't have to worry about the worries of product testing or the rest of the product development lifecycle because you get to focus on the very beginning the ideation concepting and testing phases that focus telling you is so hard to come by. In most roles in the toy industry, as most roles are very multifaceted, and most roles have people touching much longer points of the product development lifecycle. As a toy inventor as an independent inventor, being able to focus on just one narrow portion of the product development lifecycle allows you to gain momentum, that creative momentum once you get it, I mean it's so much easier to hold on to when you don't have to constantly be distracted with the you know, process of developing a product if that's what you had to do to bring it to market. Being a toy inventor and focusing on just the invention part keeps your mind at creative play, you know in Tinker mode in changing mode and in evolution mode. So, I think for sure, being able to focus on the projects that you are most passionate about is one of the best parts of being a toy inventor. So let's just recap really quick on the four best parts of being a toy inventor, because these are super important to know why you should do this today. Number one, the freedom you get for working for yourself. Number two, the networking opportunities to meet people inside of the toy industry, but also outside of it. Number three, your job is to be creative. Your job is to think about concepts all day, every day. And finally, number four, focus, you get the time to focus on one area of the product development lifecycle and build up creative momentum. Okay, so now that we talked about the absolute best parts of being a toy inventor, we've got to get real. And we've got to talk about the worst parts of being a toy inventor. I know, could there possibly be any worst parts? You don't believe it? I don't either. But there are, there are some downsides. There are things you have to look out for. But knowing what they are, is going to make sure that you're better prepared for them, that they don't come as a shock to you, and that you know how to handle the situations as they arise. So we've got four worst parts of being a twin Venter. Let's start with number one, which is no guaranteed steady income, especially in the beginning. Okay, so there's no secret here. If you're a toy inventor, you don't work for anyone. Therefore, you don't have a steady paycheck. So it's a Best part and it's also a worst part. When you don't have that steady income. You might be saying to yourself, Well, how am I going to invest in these toy parks products or how am I going to set up my inventor studio? Look like any freelance gig, you're gonna have to balance your money well to make it work. And being an inventor is even more tricky than a freelancer because you're not paid based on the projects you do. You're paid based on the sales that your products make. Okay, let's get into number two. The second worst part of being a toy inventor. It's rejection. Yeah, we've got to get real but because it's a numbers game, rejection is a huge part of the inventor experience. Remember, just one to 5% of products pitched actually get chosen. And not all of the products that are chosen, actually make it to market number three, no or low glory. Now your inventor studios name or your name can be on the box of the product that you've developed if you work it into The contract of course, but it's no secret that you're not going to get the world-renowned glory that you might initially hope for or dream of, because of your invention. People are let's say, if you license to Hasbro, people are going to say Did you see that great new game released by Hasbro. They might not necessarily say Did you see that great new game released by Hasbro by Ashley invents LLC, but still your glory within the toy industry within the people who it matters so that you can grow as an inventor and be known as a pro inventor. That glory can be pretty big and can be pretty great. You can become known and win awards for being a professional inventor. If you deliver hit after hit inventor product and start becoming known as a pro. Okay, finally Number four, the fourth-worst part about being a toy inventor. It's just the cost of developing your ideas. Now, the cost of developing your ideas or your game ideas can be very daunting, you know, but what you have to do is you have to go into being an inventor with a set amount in mind that you're willing to lose potentially each year. As you develop invention prototypes. You can never know if your inventions are going to hit this year. So you don't know if you'll get your money back. But you can keep repeating those concepts over and over again. But still, you have to be strategic every single year with the games or the toys that you choose to commit your money to. And you've got to be really smart and selective about which of those ideas you actually spend time and money developing into a prototype. So I want you to make sure that your performance trend research buyer surveys if you can, and play testing with friends and family to vet which of your products is really worth your time, energy and your finances. If you use these research methods wisely, you can save yourself a whole lot of time on non-marketable ideas. Okay, so now you know the best and the worst parts of being a toy inventor. Just to recap, the worst parts are definitely the no guaranteed steady income. One, two, the rejection, you're going to experience three, the potential for no or low glory within the industry. And for just the cost of developing your toy idea. It can always be daunting. Now there are three unique challenges within those worst parts that I really want to focus on. Because I think these are the most important challenges for you to overcome. Come to find success, monetary success, but also just to become known. Now number one, that is the challenge of becoming known in the industry as a go to source for innovation. Number two is finding the funding to start your inventor studio. And number three is getting used to dealing with an unstable income stream. Now, I want to go over how to overcome these situations because if you decide to be a toy inventor, I want you to be ready and I want you to have a game plan for how you'll be making money and how you'll become known. Now the first challenge becoming known as it goes to source for innovation. I hate to do this I know you must hate why I do this, but I do have to say go back to last week's episode because honestly, I covered this in depth. I'm gonna summarize pretty much what I told you then. But when you start off as a toy inventor, the hardest part is becoming known and becoming known is what's going to give you opportunities to invent for as many toy companies as possible. So what I want you to do is I want you to start seeing yourself as an innovative or as an inventive entrepreneur. So the toy industry, like I said last week has always operated by word of mouth. So what you want to do as an inventive entrepreneur, is market yourself, build a plan to advertise and share with the world, what you're doing and what you're accomplishing. So that your name or your inventor studio name becomes synonymous with amazing innovative ideas. Like I said, In last week's episode, you want a toy company to be having a meet weekly meeting and your name come up when they say we need to innovate some products this year. So I would suggest just starting to connect with people in the toy industry through platforms like LinkedIn and pushing yourself to the top of the mind of decision makers at these companies, you just want to share as much as you possibly can, what your abilities, skills and passions are. If your passion is to invent, people need to know that people can't invite you to invent for their company if they don't even know that that's something that you do. So again, to get more in depth about marketing yourself as an inventor, go back to last week's episode and I covered that a bit more. Okay, so now let's get into how to overcome the challenge of finding funding to start your first couple of inventions or build your invention studio. So what most inventors do They actually start inventing while they're working another job. But I do have to say here, do not do this if that other job is won in the toy industry. You know, you don't want to step outside of a non compete clause by offering invention services to a competitor toy company within the industry. Not even if you're an intern, like just don't do it. If you're working in the toy industry, wait till you're not or wait till your contract runs out to even begin embarking on this journey of being an inventor. So you should start saving up for your inventor studio, or at least saving up to fund your first 20 inventions while working another job outside of the toy industry. So that could be a part time job in college, or you could be outside of college and working a full time job and a completely different career. I would suggest that you start by creating an Excel document just to estimate the cost. of building those first few prototypes. And in that Excel, you want to consider the costs of illustrating or concepts. If you can't do that on your own, creating 3d models of them, if you can't do that on your own, printing them with a 3d printer, painting them, adding electronics or whatever you need to do to get them working in the way that you could pitch the concept to somebody else to take over. And I don't want you to forget to also include the cost of traveling to shows like to toy shows or to shy tag to present your toy concepts. And also consider the cost of shipping your toy concepts to buyers and agents that might be interested, especially in the time of COVID. A lot of people are shipping prototypes right now and because you can't be there in person, and guess you're also going to need multiple copies. Have your inventions. So make sure to research the most cost effective way to get that done. The third and final unique challenge that I want to show you, I want to talk about how to overcome is the unstable income stream. Now to overcome the unstable income stream, you just need to plan, plan, plan plan plan. First and foremost, you want to make sure that if you get a license deal that you negotiate for an advancement for your toy or your game. Now, depending on a variety of factors, who you are, the size of the company, you're pitching to the value of the idea you're bringing, that offer for an advancement could be $5,000 $10,000 or higher. Now when you get that advancement, if you need that money to pay the bills, you need to have it go directly to a high yield savings. Don't even let it get into your checking account right And then every two weeks, you want to pay yourself. Now, if you're an S corp, you're going to pay yourself via a payroll service. Or if you're an LLC, you'll be able to still just auto transfer money over to your bank account. But the point is that you should pay yourself as though you're an employee, you know, function with a mentality that you have this amount of money for this amount of time, and try your best to function on that income. And if you can't function on that income, make sure that you're planning for other sources of freelance income. I don't want you guys to feel like you have to get 100% of your income from your toy inventions all of the time, especially in the beginning. But honestly, even if you've been at it for a while, remember the industry is cyclical, it's based on trends. There are highs and lows. There is absolutely no shame. needing to find multiple sources of income. Quite frankly, the really wealthy people of this world always have multiple sources of income. I'm pretty sure a number I heard once upon a time was seven that you should have seven streams of income. So get creative. I mean, that's your job, isn't it? find other ways to pull in extra income. And that could be small freelance gigs here and there. In the toy industry, outside of the toy industry. If you have a hobby that is completely separate, I would say, and you can monetize it, I would say go in any way that you can feed your brain, your creativity, and your wallet at the same time, is really only going to come back and benefit you even more as a creative inventor. Okay, so we know that being an inventor means that if you make a licensing deal, you're still Going to have an unstable income source. But what does that really mean? Well, that means that you're going to likely get your first advance. And then from there, you're going to receive payments at a quarterly basis based on sales. So what you want to do is, once you get the deal, make sure you mark all of your quarterly payment schedules on your personal calendar so you know when they're coming, and I would suggest estimating that your manufacturer will sell through about 50% of the inventory they intend to buy. Completely low, completely low balling it here, but we want to calculate what you might expect to get a check check for and I know it's low, but the whole point is to be safe and to plan for unexpected income. So when you first get your very first quarter earnings, you can adjust that 50% on your Excel document to be closer to reality so that you can tenue to estimate for the next month, try your best to not use all of your earnings from one toy invention to develop the next because I want you to think big picture as a solo inventor, the dream it may be or should be, you know, however you look at it is to build an inventor studio to have a team of people inventing around the clock with you, for you, and for a ton of other companies. So you have to remember to set aside a percentage of your earnings toward that eventual dream and not immediately blow your earnings. Again on developing more product. This is a business here we've got to make a profit and we've got to think about saving. Okay toy people. That is all! I haveto share with you about what it takes to be a toy inventor. It was really important for me to have this episode today to follow up last week's episode, but hyper focus on those of you that see yourselves as toy inventors, I want you to know that the struggles you're going through, you're not going through alone. And if you're not an inventor yet, but you're aspiring to be, I want to warn you about what you have to worry about, but also inspire you and excite you about how powerful of a position it is to be an inventor and an innovator in this space. You can be successful at it. You do need to be strategic, and I hope that you choose if you are an innovative inventive creative mind. I hope that you choose to bring your creativity to the toy industry and innovate for us because we need it more the more diverse minds that we can have creating products for the next generation. Better we'll all be. And now for a quick listener spotlight. This review is from SS geeks and it's really punny, called toiyabe. As someone starting out in the toy world, this podcast has been my number one guide to navigating industry trends, utilizing resources and attending to the needs of the buyer upbeat and positive gels attitude and impressive approach to finding success in the toy industry or something I look forward to hearing every week. Thank you so much for that wonderful review SS geeks. If you also love this podcast and find the information delivered to be helpful, please head over to Apple podcasts and leave a review. Your review helps other toy people like you find this podcast. Plus Not to mention it puts a pretty big smile on my face. As always, thank you for joining me here. I know there are many people podcasts out there. So it means the world to me that you tune into this one. Until next week. I'll see you later toy people.
Intro/Outro + Jingle 44:11 Thanks for listening to Making It in The Toy Industry podcast with Azhelle Wade, head over to thetoycoach.com for more information, tips and advice
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