Product Genius, the Podcast for Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Startups
Honest advice for inventors—with obscure cultural references included at no extra charge.
Episode
227
Product Licensing with The Inventor Lady, Rita Crompton
Should you license your invention or build the company yourself? Noah and Steven welcome Rita Crompton—The Inventor Lady and host of Invent America—for a lively conversation about product licensing, patents, professional trade shows, crowdfunding, and the expensive mistakes inventors make when they follow the wrong advice too early. Rita explains what a licensing agent actually does, why inventors should protect their development budget, how B2B trade shows can open doors to real buyers, and why the best resource may be another inventor who has already traveled the road. If your business plan currently reads “have idea, get patent, make money,” this episode may save you a few painful detours.
Core Topics for this episode:
- Licensing
- Intellectual Property
Key Takeaways Include:
Listen here:
Episode Blog
Product Licensing: When You Want Someone Else to Do the Heavy Lifting
For many inventors, the dream sounds wonderfully simple:
Have idea. Get patent. Make money.
Unfortunately, there are a few missing steps in there.
In this episode of Product Genius, Noah McNeely and Steven Julian sit down with Rita Crompton—better known as The Inventor Lady—to talk about product licensing, patents, trade shows, inventor communities, and the expensive mistakes that can happen when good people follow bad advice in the wrong order.
Rita has spent years helping inventors navigate the path from idea to marketplace, including working as a licensing agent. Her philosophy also happens to sound very familiar around Product Genius: educate inventors early, help them avoid scams and unnecessary spending, and make sure they understand what they are getting into before the money disappears.
What Product Licensing Actually Means
Licensing is one of the major paths an inventor can take after developing an invention.
Instead of building a company that manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells the product, the inventor licenses the rights to another company.
That company does the heavy lifting.
If the arrangement succeeds, the inventor receives royalties.
That can be extremely attractive for someone who loves inventing but does not necessarily want to become an expert in manufacturing, inventory management, marketing, distribution, customer service, hiring, accounting, and every other job that comes with operating a product company.
Licensing does not mean zero work.
The invention still needs to be developed far enough that a potential licensee can understand the opportunity. Intellectual property may need to be established. The market needs to make sense. And someone still has to find and negotiate with the right licensing partner.
But the long-term role of the inventor can be dramatically different from the role of a founder building an operating company.
Licensing or Launching? Know Yourself
One of the most important decisions inventors face is whether they should license their invention or launch the product themselves.
Neither path is automatically better.
Launching can create greater upside and more control, but it also creates much greater responsibility.
If you build the business yourself, you may need competency in:
- Product development
- Manufacturing
- Marketing
- Sales
- Distribution
- Finance
- Operations
- Customer service
- Inventory management
Few people are experts in all of those areas.
That does not mean you cannot launch a company. It means you need to understand what you are signing up for and surround yourself with people who can fill the gaps.
Licensing can make sense when the inventor wants a more passive role, has limited capital, lacks the bandwidth to operate a company, or has technology that fits naturally into an established company’s product line.
The right choice depends as much on the inventor as it does on the invention.
Do Not Spend Your Entire Budget Too Early
Rita and Noah share a recurring frustration: inventors who spend enormous amounts of money before they understand the complete development process.
A patent can feel like the obvious first milestone.
That leads to the classic plan:
Idea → Patent → Money.
But a patent is only one component of a much larger process.
Inventors also need money for development, prototypes, testing, manufacturing preparation, market validation, packaging, trade shows, and other activities.
If the entire budget disappears into legal work before the product is mature, the inventor may end up owning intellectual property but having no resources left to move the invention forward.
The broader lesson is simple:
Understand the whole journey before spending heavily on any one stage.
Search Before You File
Rita strongly encourages inventors to conduct a comprehensive prior-art search before committing heavily to patent work.
The purpose is to learn whether similar ideas already exist and to better understand the intellectual-property landscape before paying for a full filing.
Just as importantly, the inventor should understand the search results well enough to have an informed conversation with a patent professional.
You do not need to become a patent attorney.
But you should understand what problem you are trying to protect, what makes your solution different, and where similar approaches already exist.
That knowledge helps you become an active participant in the process rather than simply handing over a credit card and hoping for the best.
A Patent Is Not a Business Model
Even a strong patent does not automatically create a market.
It does not manufacture the product.
It does not find customers.
It does not create distribution.
It does not guarantee that another company wants to license the technology.
This is why Product Genius repeatedly emphasizes product-market fit and commercial viability alongside intellectual property.
A patent can be extremely valuable.
But its value depends on what it protects and whether the protected invention has meaningful commercial potential.
Protecting an invention nobody wants is still protecting an invention nobody wants.
Be Careful With the Startup Fantasy
Entrepreneurship is frequently presented as an exciting sequence of funding rounds, growth, and eventual success.
Reality is less cinematic.
Building a product company often means repeatedly putting money into inventory, manufacturing, marketing, and operations long before the founder gets to take much money out.
Rita makes an important distinction between building a company and licensing.
With licensing, the goal is for another company to make and sell the product and then send the inventor a royalty payment.
With a startup, your trips to the bank may be deposits into the business rather than withdrawals for yourself.
Neither path is wrong.
But inventors should understand the financial reality before choosing.
And if the plan requires taking a second mortgage on the house to fund a highly uncertain product launch, that should trigger a very serious risk conversation.
Professional Trade Shows Are Different
Another major topic in the episode is trade shows.
Inventors often imagine trade shows as places where ordinary consumers wander around looking at interesting products.
Those events exist, but professional trade shows operate differently.
At a business-to-business trade show, attendees may include:
- Retail buyers
- Distributors
- Manufacturers
- Product-development professionals
- Wholesalers
- Industry representatives
A single conversation can therefore represent access to hundreds or thousands of potential customers.
Rita brings groups of inventors to major professional shows such as ASD Market Week, where they exhibit together in a large booth on the main show floor.
That distinction matters.
She specifically warns inventors about being isolated in an “inventor section,” where the audience may include more people trying to sell services to inventors than buyers interested in products.
Being on the main floor positions the inventor as what they actually are:
A business offering a product.
You Are a Business
Rita describes inventors arriving at ASD Market Week and reacting to the phrase “business to business.”
Their response is essentially:
“But this is for businesses.”
Exactly.
An inventor preparing to sell or license a product is operating a business.
That mental shift is important.
You are not simply a creative person carrying around an interesting object.
You are developing a commercial opportunity.
That means thinking about buyers, margins, wholesale pricing, distribution, intellectual property, manufacturing, and professional presentation.
The sooner an inventor begins thinking like a business owner—even if licensing is ultimately the goal—the better prepared they become for serious industry conversations.
Trade Shows Are Learning Opportunities
A professional trade show is not only about immediately landing a huge order or licensing deal.
It is also an intensive learning environment.
Inventors can:
- Practice their pitch
- Hear buyer objections
- Watch people interact with the product
- Learn industry terminology
- Study competitors
- Meet distributors
- Meet manufacturers
- Identify potential licensing partners
- Build confidence
That feedback can be enormously valuable.
An inventor may discover that buyers care about a feature they barely considered—or do not care about the feature the inventor thought was revolutionary.
That is information you want before investing heavily in the next stage.
Pay to Play—and Follow the Rules
Professional trade shows also have rules.
If you attend as a buyer, you are expected to behave as a buyer.
Walking around aggressively pitching your invention without being an exhibitor can get you removed or even jeopardize future attendance.
If your goal is to sell, pitch, or demonstrate a product, understand the exhibitor requirements.
Trade shows are commercial environments, not giant networking free-for-alls.
The correct strategy depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
Inventor Community Matters
One of Rita’s most valuable contributions may be the community she creates around inventors.
Inventing can be isolating.
Advice comes from attorneys, engineers, marketers, manufacturers, friends, family members, online groups, consultants, and occasionally a guy at a barbecue who once watched Shark Tank.
The advice frequently conflicts.
Talking with other inventors who have already traveled the path can provide an entirely different kind of education.
Rita’s Inventor Roundtable meetings give inventors a place to compare experiences, share service-provider recommendations, discuss mistakes, and help newcomers understand what lies ahead.
Sometimes the best person to warn you about a pothole is the inventor who just drove through it.
Choose Advisors Who Understand Inventing
Rita also cautions inventors about relying too heavily on generic small-business advice early in the process.
Her point is not that traditional business-development organizations are inherently bad.
It is that inventing follows a specialized sequence.
Opening a conventional local business and developing a new physical product are not the same process.
An inventor may still benefit from general business resources later.
But early product-development advice should ideally come from people who understand intellectual property, prototyping, manufacturing, licensing, and the unique risks of launching something that has never existed before.
The sequence matters.
Crowdfunding Is a Tool, Not Free Money
Crowdfunding is another area where inventors can get into serious trouble.
A campaign that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars looks like success.
But those dollars often represent obligations.
If customers have effectively prepaid for products, the inventor now has to manufacture and deliver them.
If the campaign did not raise enough money to actually complete tooling, production, packaging, shipping, fees, taxes, and inevitable surprises, the “successful” campaign can become a financial disaster.
Rita describes inventors who raised substantial amounts but could not fulfill their orders.
The lesson is not “never crowdfund.”
It is:
Do not use crowdfunding until you understand the economics and execution requirements well enough to know exactly what happens after the campaign succeeds.
Success Creates Responsibility
One of the most powerful stories in the episode involves a young inventor with early-onset Parkinson’s who had lived with a feeding tube for years.
The tube caused painful skin problems around the stoma.
She became a chemist and developed a solution to the problem herself.
Rita helped her navigate the intellectual-property process and eventually helped license the invention to a company already making products in that space.
That is product licensing at its best.
The inventor understood the problem because she lived it.
She created something valuable.
The invention found its way to an established company capable of bringing it to the people who needed it.
And the inventor did not have to build an entire medical-device company from scratch to make that happen.
The Product Genius Take
There is no single correct path for every inventor.
Some should license.
Some should launch.
Some should partner.
Some should keep developing.
And occasionally the smartest decision is to stop before spending more money.
The important thing is understanding the complete landscape before choosing your path.
Do your homework before filing patents.
Protect your development budget.
Treat professional trade shows professionally.
Use crowdfunding only when you understand the obligations.
Surround yourself with people who understand product development—and listen to inventors who have already made the mistakes you are trying to avoid.
Most importantly, do not confuse owning an invention with owning a business opportunity.
A great idea is the beginning.
The goal is to choose the path that gives that idea the best realistic chance to become something valuable.
Or, read the full transcript here:
Steven Julian
If you're a nerd like me, you read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and you know that the answer to life and everything in the universe is 42. Well, today, our guest, Rita Crompton, the inventor lady, focuses more importantly on the questions about licensing and about being an inventor entrepreneur and taking that journey. While at the end of the show, we won't be the podcast at the end of the universe, we'll get pretty close next on Product Genius.
Rita Crompton
Do you want to be a successful inventor entrepreneur? Struggling to get your product from idea to market? Well, you've come to the right place. Welcome to Product Genius, the down-to-earth podcast that explores important topics about inventing and launching new products. Noah McNeely is your trusted guide. With more than 20 years of product launch experience, he's here to help you on your journey to become a product genius. Let's get started. Here's your slightly annoying co-host, Steven Julian.
Noah McNeely
Hey, that's my line.
Steven Julian
Yes, it's your slightly annoying co-host, Steven Julian. Welcome to another, hopefully one day soon, award-winning edition of Product Genius. Coming to you from deep in the lair with the open door and the beautiful. spring weather behind us. Of the headquarters of Product Quick Start, it is the Product Genius podcast show. To my right, the intrepid producer, Jody Smith, across the table from me is the host, is the star of the show, is the partial genius who brings other geniuses to the table. It's Noah McNeely.
Noah McNeely
Half the reason I do this show is to get that intro because that makes me feel amazing. Yeah, thank you. And I appreciate that.
Steven Julian
Thank you. Well, listen, I did some coaching, coaching of basketball and baseball. Sometimes you got to break people down. Sometimes you got to get everybody ready to run through a brick wall.
Noah McNeely
You're good enough. And gosh, darn it. People love you.
Steven Julian
Oh, I love that. Stuart Smalley reference. We're starting off hot. I like it. And it's going to get even hotter. We have a fantastic guest. Before I do the official introduction, why don't you tell me who we've got at the table? How you met her.
Noah McNeely
Sure. So today we're talking to Rita Crompton, who is one of my favorite people because she has a passion for inventors and entrepreneurs just like I do. And she's out, you know, just like me, she wants to make sure people are not getting scammed. She wants to make sure people are doing the right things and not wasting their money on the wrong things to get their product to market. So she and I are kind of kindred spirits in that sense. Frankly, I don't remember exactly how Rita and I met. I think we were on this email exchange somehow, and we were both on this list, and I responded to it, and then she responded to me, and then we talked on the phone, and now we've known each other for a while.
Steven Julian
And here we are. And she also has a fantastic radio show and podcast called Invent America. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome Rita Crompton to Product Genius. Rita, welcome to the show.
Rita Crompton
Oh, gentlemen, thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here with you. Absolutely.
Steven Julian
So why don't we start with you talking about your show. Tell us about Invent America and what you do on your show.
Rita Crompton
Well, Invent America is the brainchild of another genius. He is Michael King with Home Talk USA and Home Talk USA has been on for. 20 years. It's one of the... Shortly, in a few months, we will be the longest running do-it-yourself talk radio program in history. So, you know, I'm really proud to be part of that. He asked me about a year and a half ago if I would come on and do the second hour, because it's a three-hour show, for inventors. Because I've been on several times and always bringing one of my inventors with me.
And so we started Invent America with the... Absolute dedication of helping inventors get from I have an idea to the marketplace and just passionate and dedicated and driven really is the better word probably for making sure that inventors have the best information out there. And so I had the... The opportunity to meet Noah when, you know, people would call me and I'd say, you know, they'd call me on a Saturday afternoon because that's when we were actually on the air. And I said, well, how did you hear about us? And he goes, I listen to you on the radio right now and I need somebody that can help me manufacture this product.
I was like, let me introduce you. to Noah. And so that's kind of how things all got started.
Steven Julian
I like it. I like it. Now, this show grew out of you being a guest on the Home Talk USA and your guest appearances. Was because of how you help inventors and entrepreneurs. And Noah has been on this show talking about how he helps kind of design the product and do prototypes. And he plays an engineer and helps people do that side of it. There are a lot of other aspects and you help with some of those other aspects. Talk about how you specifically have helped inventors and entrepreneurs in the business you do to help them with that.
Rita Crompton
Well, years ago, I met some... Older gentlemen, rocket scientists, and they got me started working in the area as a licensing agent. One of them was a licensing agent. He kind of took me under his wing. One of them was a registered patent attorney. And these gentlemen, you know, I always say, you know, somebody says, how did you get connected with this? And I, you know, joke and say, well, I shut up long enough to listen to what God was saying. to me. But, you know, I got connected with these guys, started going to the meetings.
The one mentored me and taught me how to be then a licensing agent, all the legalese and everything that goes into it. So when I, you know, spun off from him when he retired and we realized that if we could help inventors sooner do a good job, that we had a better chance of licensing on the end. And licensing is done after Noah creates these beautiful prototypes and the patents are filed and we're ready to start manufacturing some. Licensing is when the inventor wants someone else to make it, sell it, and send a royalty check.
And there are a lot of people that dabble in that area, but they all charge up front. We don't. We don't charge anything. We get paid when the inventor gets paid. And so that was a big deal. And, you know, like I said, the sooner we could help inventor make better choices, you know, when was it appropriate to file intellectual property? What did you have to do before that? You know, how do you get then that first prototype of duct? tape and cardboard? When do you go to someone like a Noah?
What's next? What are your options? What are the price points? When I get an inventor that tells me they paid $50,000 for a patent, it's like, oh my God, find a different patent. We know that the average cost should be somewhere around a grand for a complete utility filing. But I get inventors that tell me they spent $25,000, $30,000, $50,000, and it's like, holy cow. And I think some of it is that inventors at the early stage, they will have a budget. And they spend it too quickly not realizing that manufacturing, you know, getting those sexy manufacturers' prototypes and being able to even get a short run done, it's expensive.
Noah McNeely
I think you can start to see why Rita and I are kindred spirits because we complain about some of the same things about having met inventors that have just blown so much money doing the wrong things or the right things at the wrong times. At the wrong levels.
Steven Julian
And one of the questions I want to ask, and Noah, we have spent many episodes and in sometimes creative and sometimes not. so creative ways, which is all my fault. We kind of talk about... One of the things that's been your passion is also helping inventors and entrepreneurs avoid mistakes. What mistakes can they avoid? So I'm thinking, Rita, if I asked you the same question and I know if I say, hey, what mistakes are you helping people try and avoid? You could talk nonstop for probably three and a half hours with your experience and what you've seen.
Can you give a couple of the main mistakes you've seen over and over and over again around the areas you've been in in terms of licensing and patents? And I think we've already heard one of them, which is you should be very careful to not overpay and get under-delivered on the service of the actual patent. But what are some of the other mistakes you're trying to help people avoid on their journey to bring their product to market?
Rita Crompton
Well, the first one we frequently see is that the inventor's original business plan is have idea, get patent, make money. And so my job is to let them know that's not exactly the right steps and to encourage them. to get their own independent, comprehensive search done first. It's a conflict of interest for the attorney to do the search, but that is nine times out of ten, they, oh, my attorney did the search. It's like, no, don't have the attorney do the search. Get your own search done. A good comprehensive search is $500.
It searches the entire world because if your idea has been done anywhere in the world, you will not be granted a U.S. patent. Helping them really understand why that's true, what they do then with the patent so that they're able to frame the conversation with the attorney rather than the attorney framing the conversation with them. What should the price points be on certain stages? Really helping them understand the process. What are the first steps? And then understanding options, I think, is the big one because so many inventors get pushed into startup mode.
And I don't know how you guys feel about startup mode, but we laugh around here. Startup mode means you take someone else's money, you go bankrupt, and they still expect to be paid back. As opposed to growing organically if they want to be able. to manufacture and grow a business. But a lot of inventors don't realize that, you know, if they're going to go that route, you've got to be an expert at business. You've got to be an expert at marketing. You've got to be an expert at manufacturing. And rarely are they an expert on everything, although I've had a few things that they were.
Noah McNeely
Those are the worst ones, right? The ones who don't know anything but are absolutely convinced they know everything.
Rita Crompton
Oh, my God. I had a guy tell me, he goes, well, I'm the smartest guy I know. And it's like, our conversation is over.
Noah McNeely
You don't know a lot of people, do you, right?
Steven Julian
I know, right? Well, welcome to the counseling session of Noah and Rita. I'm your therapist, Steven, and my job is to listen. But I did want to reset the conversation. No, I'm sorry. That was good. That was very cathartic, I think, for both of you to go, oh, my God, do you remember? Oh, yes, that one guy. Okay. Anyway, go ahead. I interrupted you.
Rita Crompton
So, you know, it's just really helping inventors understand kind of the parameters, the reality. check. You know, when they tell me it's like, oh, you know, this is just going to make so many millions of dollars. And it's like, no, probably not. Here is the reality of this. And I always tell my husband, it's like, you know, well, you know, I can. I can, you know, think in fantasy land. I know there's a happy land and then there's the reality check. And if I can end up in happy land because, you know, we've balanced out, you know, fantasy and reality.
I can keep most of my inventors with both feet on the ground and realize, you know, licensing, somebody else does the heavy lifting, and you are going to have extra disposable income. But when you go into, you know, that business building mode, your trick to the bank is going to be generally to take money out or to see if you can find it somewhere. And that when you license it, you actually get a check you get to go and deposit. So, you know, those are just some of the reality checks.
Some of them have, you know, enough bandwidth and experience that they can start manufacturing. and build a business. And I had a few on the radio the last few weeks that are doing exactly that. And, you know, that's wonderful, more power to them. But for the inventors that say, you know, I need to take out a second mortgage on the house to do this, it's like, probably don't want to go there.
Noah McNeely
Yeah, that's a bad strategy generally. It's a very risky investment, no matter how you look at it. So you wouldn't take a second mortgage out. Well, you shouldn't take a second mortgage out to buy a hot stock, right?
Steven Julian
Yeah.
Noah McNeely
I'm asking the financial planner.
Steven Julian
Or buy cryptocurrency. That is not a good idea. So yeah, I'm with you there. So Rita, my tagline is I'm the Slightly Annoying co-host. And one of the benefits of acknowledging that I'm Slightly Annoying is I am allowed... I'm allowed one question on every show where if I ask it, people go, that's stupid. That's dumb. You should have never asked that. And that's annoying. And then I just quickly pivot to another question. So I believe this might be the slightly annoying. So if this is way off, you are allowed. to call me, you know, just nicely call me stupid and we'll move on.
So when I'm listening to all the things you do and you don't get paid until they. And that is almost at the end of the rainbow. So I'm beginning to wonder, all this other stuff you're adding in is a tremendous value add. Are there other services you provide that potentially someone would contract with you other than just at the very end at the licensing? Or is all this stuff you're doing to help them to get to the licensing so that both of you get paid?
Rita Crompton
Yeah.
Steven Julian
Great. See, that's a fantastic answer. I love it.
Rita Crompton
Well, you know, if I work with the inventors, not all of them go for licensing. Some of them actually go into startup mode. Well, you know, we've got, you know, sometimes I put them in touch with a good reseller. We've got one gentleman, if he can get his price down, and I sent him to Noah already. Then, you know, he's got all of these hardware stores want to carry his product. Well, there are some of those where I put them in touch with. that. And then, yes, I do get a piece of that, you know, when they're getting paid.
But again, I don't get paid till they get paid. So if I can help an inventor sooner rather than later make better decisions, you know, when it comes for licensing, they'll say, you know what, I trust her. I'm going to go back to her. So, yeah, we do sow a lot of seeds. And with the idea that we're going to get the products out there. But like when we go to ASD Market Week, when we go to the trade show, about half of the inventors there want a license, but about half of them there are taking orders, which is fine.
We don't care. We want good products in our booth. We want inventors to make progress. when they go to a show with us, whether we're acting as a licensing agent for them or we are just acting as... A booth space for them to come and get some exposure and enjoy the experience. You know, yeah, I get a lot of people say, oh, you know, you should charge up front. It's like, no, no, I need. to be able to sleep at night. And I can't guarantee that we'll get a deal done any better than the guys charging up front.
Steven Julian
Noah, I can see why you wanted to bring Rita on this show. First of all, we're speaking with Rita Crompton. She is the host of Invent America. And if you we don't want anyone to leave our show, but you just need to add on your list of shows to listen to. You need to be listening to Invent America and listen to all the people she brings on the show and the advice she's giving there. Because I am so hearing the kindred spirit and I see why you brought her on. And even being interviewed, she's a great host because she pivoted to a topic naturally that we wanted to make sure and cover.
Noah, you were telling me a little bit about this off air. So I'm going to let you introduce because you wanted to talk to her about this trade show.
Noah McNeely
Yeah. So Rita, I think we could probably have you back and do a whole episode just about the whole trade show experience. But it's something you do. that I've not seen anyone else really do. For the benefit of inventors, the way you do it in the sense that you go to this trade show and you actually coordinate having a very large area at the trade show and inventors come in and they have their booths and they get to demonstrate their wares. Tell me about that. How do inventors use that? How do you help them use that effectively and to what ends?
Rita Crompton
Well, most inventors, you know, if they go to a trade show, they sign up for the inventor space. Don't do that. All right. You get treated like you're in high school and the majority of the people you talk to are trying to sell you services.
Noah McNeely
It's like a science fair exhibit, right?
Rita Crompton
Exactly. Exactly. So we are out on the main floor. This last one, we had 800 square feet. We had 30 products. The inventors, I encourage them to go. They can talk better about their product than anybody else can. Although we've had some good deals come in on the products that couldn't be there. So, you know, if they can't be there, that's all right. I've got. staff that represents the products. But for a lot of the inventors, this is where they go and they learn. You know, they're able to have feet on the ground.
They're able to talk to people. They're able to practice their pitch. And they do it at a fraction of the cost as if they were going alone. So they can learn. They can learn about what it's like to be at a professional trade show, not a consumer-based trade show. And they tell me all the time, it's like, oh my God, this was so much fun. This was so cool. I learned so much. The ASD market people are wonderful to work with. They really, really... So we're encouraging to all of our products.
We did the Innovation Awards. So all of the people, all of the products in our booth were participated in the Innovation Award. And Leslie Holland was the first place winner on her jewelry product. She's called the Jewelry Closet. And we're looking at licensing that one. And so, you know, AST was wonderful because it was such a broad. Um, selection of consumer goods. We'd been to the National Hardware Show for several. years. And, you know, we had somebody say one time, it's like, well, you know, I keep Googling National Hardware Show and Inventor Lady is the only thing that comes up.
It's like, well, hello, we pay a lot of money for that. And, um, you know, part of it is, you know, when an inventor goes by themselves, they are looking at spending five to 10 grand to be able to do a lot of the things that we do, um, that's included in their price of 3000. And that includes all the materials and all of the advertising and the online, and it makes them look a lot bigger than if they had to go alone. So those are some of the things that we've learned. is, you know, for the inventor to learn, for their product to launch at a major show, those are all good things.
Noah McNeely
And you said something that you went through fairly quickly, but I want to draw attention to it, is you drew a distinction between professional or commercial trade shows and consumer trade shows. You know, maybe our average listener doesn't realize there is a difference. And I'm pretty sure I. know what you mean by that, but help us understand.
Rita Crompton
A consumer trade show is a show where the consumers come in to buy one at a time. You know, they're looking to see what's for sale and they're just, you know.
Noah McNeely
So like the boat show down at the local rec center or whatever it is. Right, right.
Rita Crompton
And a professional show, they have to have credentials to get in. So they've got to be buyers. They've got to be manufacturers. They've got to be in product development. So it's the show where a store owner is representing thousands of his buyers, his customers. And so he's going to order, you know, a case of something instead of one.
Noah McNeely
So you know it's a legit conversation you're having if you're having it at that kind of show like you go to.
Rita Crompton
Exactly. We really don't go to the consumer shows. Some of my inventors, they'll go to a local one if they've got inventory. But the other thing is for the inventors, a lot of times they don't realize they'll manage to get into a professional show and they will walk around. They've got to be so careful what. they say because if you want to be able to sell your product, you've got to pay to play, which means you've got to be an exhibitor and have an exhibitor badge on. If you're an attendee, you're expected to be there as a buyer.
And so when they start trying to sell their product, they can get escorted out and actually get blacklisted from attending another professional show.
Steven Julian
And so again, one of the ways you're giving back and also participating and helping. So when you've, you know, your area, you've created your own area and then allowed multiple inventors to be a part of what you've kind of etched out at this ASD show. Is that okay? So, and I, as you've been talking about it, so anyone can go and look for ASD. It looks like there's multiple, they do, they kind of host multiple shows throughout the year. They're kind of a trade show organization.
Rita Crompton
ASD Market Week is the largest business to business. And it was so funny because when, you know, my inventors were there and they were saying, well, this is business to business. And I go, and you are a business. And. they said, but it's, you know, it's, you know.
Noah McNeely
That's an epiphany for people, right? I'm not an inventor. I'm a business. Right. What's the difference?
Rita Crompton
But it's for wholesalers and you are wholesaling. Right. And it's like, oh, wow, it didn't get that. So, you know, yes, it is always fun to watch the, you know, the lights starting to go off and they start to get so excited. And so when we put, you know, a lot of inventors and products, they actually, you know, they go and they have each other's back. They start talking about each other's products. It's really exciting to see them get so excited. Somebody comes up and that inventor might be out on the floor and they're talking about the guy next to him.
They're talking about their product. It's like, oh, I know somebody. Because a lot of them, they're professionals and they know people in other areas. The staff that I had, they are professional trade show workers out there in Las Vegas. They would actually say, oh, I went to this show. You know, so let me go home tonight and I'll get you all those leads from another. show. So it makes a huge difference that, you know, we are able to be out there. We're able to get the inventors out there. It's a professional area.
ASD does two shows a year. 2024, we only went to the March show, but in 2025, we will start participating in both of their shows, the one in March and the one in August.
Noah McNeely
Wow. And are those both in Las Vegas? or where are those?
Rita Crompton
Those are both in Las Vegas. You know, there is a professional trade show for every industry, for every product. If the inventor looks around and there's not a central database for them to go really and look at, they're all over the country. But, you know, you can call, you know, if you call, you've got a hair product and you call a beauty salon and say, what is the professional trade show that your product sellers attend? The product rests. Where do they go? They can generally give them a pretty good idea.
I mean, I've been to the National Asphalt Show.
Steven Julian
Nice.
Noah McNeely
I'll bet that was really exciting. Yeah.
Rita Crompton
Oh, yeah. It was. Now, for the inventor, it truly was exciting. because, man, there were people after his product big time. But otherwise, you know, it was in a high school gymnasium, so it wasn't, you know, not a Las Vegas convention center.
Noah McNeely
Right, right.
Steven Julian
I was trying to think of a good hot and sticky reference, but all I could think of was sticky buns. But anyway, and it's funny, Rita, as you kind of started and we were asking, what are kind of the mistakes you're helping people avoid or the traps that have been set? And I think we've kind of come full circle. because part of this is if you're on the journey of becoming an inventor and entrepreneur and you want to bring your product to market, on the one hand, You and Noah and others are trying to help them avoid the bad players or the bad actors of overcharging for patents or overcharging for services that they don't quite yet deliver.
And yet, there is such a place and a need. That's, again, the part of this show is there need to be other geniuses at the table. You've got to know who to partner with, and you've got to find those good partners. to work with. Because you're helping them on the back end with the licensing, but there's all these other things you're trying to help entrepreneurs and inventors kind of find. And some of that is in how to conduct at a trade show and who you need to find and the right partnerships.
And so you can't do everything for these people. So is it just kind of helping them learn the ropes? Is it introducing them to the right people? Is it a combination of everything? Is it trial and error? I mean, goodness gracious, it seems incredibly daunting. Why are you still doing it? What gets you up in the morning? Where's your why? What gets you motivated other than I can't call you and do an introduction like I did for Noah on his show that we record here, but why do you keep doing it?
Rita Crompton
17 years I've been doing this. You know, it's that magic moment when I help somebody get that licensing deal in place. And I can't help but think that, you know, this is where God has brought me because there's somebody out there. He wants me to help that. I'm the. stepping stone. And that's just what I have always believed. I've explained it to my husband. He goes, man, he goes, I am not going to get in your way. Whatever you need, let me know because I got your back. And, you know, one of the things that we've learned is.
For a lot of inventors, their best resource is the inventor sitting next to them. And so we do the Inventor Roundtable meetings twice a month. We do Inventor Roundtable Virtual East, Inventor Roundtable Virtual West. It's free. All they've got to do is get out there and find the link. They're all over the place. Holy cow, we put them up everywhere. And, you know, they're all across the country, the inventors. They're talking about Noah. Imagine that.
Noah McNeely
Hopefully it's all good.
Rita Crompton
Oh, my God. The one lady thinks you walk on water. And it helps them when they say, no, you know, this was a service provider I use. This is where I got taken advantage. You know, you don't want to get caught up in this part. And, you know, they will trust other inventors. You know, who've been down the same path and the. other inventors, you know, take mercy on, you know, the new guy that's trying to get it done. So that's one of the things that, you know, that we do offer. that, you know, it's kind of the calling version of the radio show where they can talk to each other and ask for information.
So that's been a good piece. But, you know, like I said, it's that deal that gets done. We had a lady a few months ago that did. She had early onset Parkinson's. She was 25 years old. And her dad was footing the bill for the patent. She had a feeding tube for eight years, graduated from high school. Imagine going through high school with that. And then went to college, became a chemist. Solved her own problem because that feeding tube causes a horrible, horrible rash and pain because of the seepage. For everybody in the world that has to have a stoma.
This is a problem they have. And we ended up, we helped her with her intellectual property. And then I was the licensing agent that helped her get the deal done. And we licensed it to the company that makes. the stomas. And they knew, they had known for decades that it was a problem. She was the one who solved it. And so it's, you know, things like that that get me up in the morning. It's like, let's find a new deal.
Noah McNeely
That's a fantastic story. That should be a movie. That's an amazing story. I love that. One of the things you mentioned, I think it's the community you create is just fantastic. And I think that's one of those things that inventors really, I meet a lot of inventors who feel like they're very isolated. You know, they've gotten advice from here. They've gotten advice from there and et cetera, et cetera. None of it matches. And, you know, they follow this one person's advice and they get something different. But your community has people that can tell them, yeah, I did that because so-and-so told me it didn't work out.
So I did this instead.
Rita Crompton
A couple of tidbits. I want to, you know, make sure I get out there before we end this is stay away from SCORE and SBA. All right. They are business people. All right. Rarely are you talking to one. that's actually invented something totally different. There are steps involved in, you know, if you're opening a cleaners or starting a mechanic shop, you know, anything like that, you've got one set of steps you take. If you are an inventor, you have a very different set of steps you take. And oh my God, there are so many inventors, oh, well, I went to the SBA and they had me do a business plan.
No, you're just guessing at that point because you don't have anything yet. And so, you know, that's one of the big ones that we want to say, don't go there and don't do crowdfunding. You know? I've had people raise $500,000 in a six-week campaign and be bankrupt in two weeks because they didn't understand it. It's a tool when you know what's going on. Exactly.
Noah McNeely
It's not a tool for beginners. And people go out, I raised all this. We've had a show about this. I've raised all this money. Isn't that great? Yeah, but you raised a third of what you need to succeed. Now you're going to have to pay all that money back. You're going to be bankrupt or whatever. And yeah, absolutely. I have a soapbox about that, which I had to retire.
Rita Crompton
Got a guy that just got, he raised $200,000 two years ago. Hasn't filled a single order and he is obligated legally that he's got to fill those orders. and he just keeps kind of patting everybody on the head and saying, I'll get there, I'll get there.
Noah McNeely
He's got 2,000 angry people out there.
Rita Crompton
Yep, yep. And now he's calling me saying, okay, now what?
Steven Julian
Well, and it was funny, you mentioned it earlier and I think crowdfunding is one of the options. I think sometimes people think the end is to get the funding. And that's just the beginning. That's just a hurdle to the next opportunity. And I do want to clarify, and I think you said this very clearly, but you're not saying score and SBA are bad. You're saying they're not who inventors need to start with. That's more when you've got a full operating business, maybe there's a reason to go back there and talk to them.
But getting it off it, yeah, I like that. It's so interesting. There's an element of parenting. There's an element of coaching. There's. an element of my mom and dad both taught for over 30 years, and there's that teaching element of seeing your kids grow up, seeing the child in the class. Get the calculus concept that Noah and I were talking calculus before the show.
Noah McNeely
We're not nerds at all.
Steven Julian
No, not at all. Wait till I pull out my Legend of Nim reference. It's going to knock your socks off.
Noah McNeely
I love that movie.
Steven Julian
I knew you would. That's why I mentioned it.
Rita Crompton
I don't even know what you're talking about.
Steven Julian
So it's just my point being. Clearly, your passion comes through to seek to help people, to get people to that point of some level of success. And it's funny, Noah, on this show, we've talked about it. Sometimes that level of success is to know, you know, I don't think I'm going to be able to do this unless I throw all this money at it, kind of counting the cost ahead of time. And I'm hearing that a lot in what you're doing, kind of helping them count the cost from the other side of the licensing and the legal and the patent.
So I think the. only thing left to say, Rita, is how do people get more Rita in their life?
Rita Crompton
Well, go to inventorlady.com. That's my website. And people can download the Inventor's Galaxy Guide. It's free. It's about a 30-minute read where they can see what each phase is. And what each phase as the pendulum swings, what it costs. And sometimes a more expensive attorney isn't a better attorney. They're just driving a nicer car than everybody else. Exactly right. The inventor's galaxy.
Noah McNeely
Same is true of engineers too, by the way. Oh, man.
Rita Crompton
So it gives them some. It gives them a way of understanding what the steps are going to be and what the range of cost is. So that's easy. But Inventor Lady, my phone number is everywhere. They can call me. They can email me. Invent-America.com is the radio website where they can go and listen to different topics and hear different inventors. And we list all of the inventors' websites and everything. And then we're streaming on the platform. Yeah, I told my husband that, you know, that phone number that I give out to everybody, they're going to etch that on the side of my casket. because I'm taking it with me.
Steven Julian
And then there's also community groups to join and all that kind of stuff. By the way, man, nerd level confirmed by calling the free guide, Inventor Galaxy Guide. Well done. Well done. You probably thought it was pushing it if you put Hitchhiker in there. So I appreciate the, and that was probably an intellectual property thing. And you, yeah, I like that. Well done. Well done.
Rita Crompton
I think we just got done watching that movie when I needed a name for it. So, you know.
Steven Julian
Well, you were one of the, you were one of the blessed people to watch that movie. And I, of course, enjoyed the book. So anyway, Rita Crompton, inventor lady, go read the Inventor's Galaxy Guide. Go start listening to Invent America. And Rita, thank you so much for being on the show today.
Rita Crompton
Thanks, gentlemen, and have a great day.
Noah McNeely
Thank you, Rita.
Steven Julian
Holy cow.
Noah McNeely
I mean, all-star, MVP. You can see why she's one of my favorite people.
Steven Julian
Yeah. You surround yourself with people who are fighting the same causes. It's good to know you're not Don Quixote alone, yelling at windmills, here's someone else.
Noah McNeely
who's joining the fight. I do yell at the occasional inanimate object. Not windmills. I don't have any windmills near here, but I'll go find them. Oh, my gosh. Now I know what we're going to do another episode on. Okay. Yell at those all day for a variety of reasons. So I do want to point out to the nerd purists.
Steven Julian
Oh, man.
Noah McNeely
Hold on.
Steven Julian
Hold on. There should be a sounder for this. We need to come up with a nerd sounder.
Noah McNeely
For nerd purists in the audience, it is. technically the movie is the secret of Nim, not the legend of Nim. I knew it sounded wrong when I heard it. Yeah, you're right.
Steven Julian
You're right. And I will say to the nerds in the audience, he did not Google that. He thought it through. Yeah, you're right.
Noah McNeely
The little light bulb in my head went off like nerd violation, nerd violation.
Steven Julian
So it's the secret of NIMH.
Noah McNeely
The secret of NIMH, which if you've not seen it, the younger generation probably hasn't. It's worth a watch. Yeah, absolutely. Not even for nerd reasons. It's just a good, cute little movie.
Steven Julian
I was trying to, so I'm. wondering. So where did I get Legend? So of course there's. I Am Legend with Will Smith. That wasn't it.
Noah McNeely
Legend of Zelda, perhaps?
Steven Julian
Nah, I didn't play Legend of Zelda, believe it or not. That was kind of after my time.
Noah McNeely
I'm going to have to deduct some nerd plans.
Steven Julian
Listen, I was original Atari 2600 Adventure, okay? I found the secret. I did not do Legend of Zelda. I was probably playing Dungeons and Dragons at that point in time. Kind of hard, you know. Against my parents' wishes, by the way. That's another evangelical Christianity raised in the 80s. I wasn't doing Halloween either. Anyway, church festivals. So I'm trying to think where I got. So what was the movie with David Bowie? I'm trying to think.
Noah McNeely
It was just called Legend.
Steven Julian
That's what it was. Okay. So I mixed up Legend with David Bowie with Secret of Nim.
Noah McNeely
It all kind of runs together. Legend, Secret of Nim, Never Ending Story.
Steven Julian
Time Travelers?
Noah McNeely
Are you talking about Time Pirates? No. Oh, because that's another.
Steven Julian
Yeah, there's Time Pirates.
Noah McNeely
Yeah, yeah. That's a deep cut one. Yeah, yeah.
Steven Julian
Absolutely. I might be now. Dadgummit. My nerd card. is going to get revoked.
Noah McNeely
I'm pretty sure. Time Pirates only exists on VHS. Time Bandits.
Steven Julian
That's what I'm thinking of.
Noah McNeely
Jody just correct. Jody. Gets nerd points for the day. He corrected it. It's Time Bandits. That's what I was trying to say. And I confused that with Ice Pirates. Ice Pirates. Absolutely. Yes.
Steven Julian
With Robert Urich.
Rita Crompton
I was going to throw out Ice Pirates.
Steven Julian
I saw that movie with a friend of mine and I remember then seeing it a second time ago. That was a really crappy movie. Yes.
Noah McNeely
Tune into our new podcast, Obscure Movies from the 80s.
Steven Julian
That's right. Yeah. And I got to brush up my game because. I'm a little rusty. So that was good. Time Bandits, Ice Pirates, you can find them streaming free somewhere, I'm sure.
Noah McNeely
Or at Goodwill on a VHS cassette.
Steven Julian
So the best one, though, I will shout out. If you really want to get the full picture, and this is on YouTube for free, MST3K Space Mutiny. That's the best one of all. All right. So go watch Space.
Noah McNeely
I don't know that one.
Steven Julian
Oh, go find that. Yeah. My sons and I. Okay. Anyway, sorry. So. now, you know what I love about our audience? Normally in a regular podcast, we'd start riffing like that and a regular audience would leave us. But this audience.
Noah McNeely
All the regular people have already left. Yes. By the time we.
Steven Julian
And listen, people who are inventor entrepreneurs, there's a level of nerddom that they are very proud of. And they're screaming. Some of them are screaming. It's ice pirates and it's time bandits, just like Jody was. But he did it with a lot of aplomb. So anyway. Thank you guys for being here. We so appreciate it. Of course, you need to start listening to Rita while listening to our show. You can also go to productquickstart.com, fill out the, give him more information and Noah can help you out. Make sure you fill out the Contact Us form and give him more than just, I have an idea, call me.
So for the Legend of Zelda host and Level 7 expert, Noah McNeely, This is your Chopper Command King, Steven Julian, the old Activision game. And for Jody Smith, who wore the wrong shirt to the studio today, we will catch you next time on Product Genius.
Rita Crompton
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Steven Julian
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Rita Crompton
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