Product Genius, the Podcast for Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Startups

Steven Julian: Dear Diary, well, today it finally happened. After years of asking both Tiffany and Noah if we could do a show on goal setting in the new year, Noah finally agreed. Well, it’s not goal setting. It’s about good habits for inventors and entrepreneurs. But close enough. Next on Product Genius. 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. Hey, that’s my line, yes? It’s your Slightly Annoying co-host, Steven Julian. Welcome to another fantastic, amazing, some might say best in the world episode of Product Genius. We are coming to you from not so deep inside the layer of Product Quickstart. Seated to my right at this wonderful table is the intrepid producer, Jody Smith. Seated across the table is the man you all came to hear. from. You all want to sit at the feet and learn from one of the geniuses. He is Noah McNeely.

Noah McNeely: Well, hello. How are you doing?

Steven Julian: I’m doing better than I deserve. How are you?

Noah McNeely: That’s fantastic. I’m doing great too. So it’s fantastic to hear you’re doing well.

Steven Julian: It’s fantastic to be doing well. And I will say, I like the way you say hello. And now I’m going to make you self-conscious about it. It’s going to bother you. But I just, I like when you go, hello. You just, you have this great. Tone to your hello.

Noah McNeely: So anyway, that’ll be changing. Yeah.

Steven Julian: Hi, Ross from, hi. So, all right, Noah, I, man, tonight in my journal, Dear Diary. Today was the day that Noah finally let me do this episode on this certain topic, which came as a surprise to you. You forgot. I have brought this stuff. When you send out the now almost infamous email of, hey, here’s what I’m thinking, or here’s my topic. And at times you have said, hey, if you guys have any topics, let me know if you guys have anything you want to talk about. There’s one that. I always come back to. And that’s like, hey, we’re getting near the end of the year. Maybe we need to talk about goal setting. And you don’t remember it this way, but in my mind, you’re very kind about it. But it’s like, yeah, we’re not doing that. We’re not doing goals.

Noah McNeely: Apparently, when you say it, I think it sounds like a bad idea. But when I say it, it sounds fantastic. Sounds great.

Steven Julian: Now you know how the boss-employee relationship works, right? I’ve got this great idea. So you sent out this email, you sent out notes, and you said, hey, here’s what I’m thinking about for the topic. And if this episode had a title, Healthy Personal and Business Habits for Inventors and Entrepreneurs. So we’re talking about healthy habits, right? And one of those main things is Coming up with goals, and that’s a healthy habit, right? So we’re kind of talking about some of the goals. I mean, let me just get out of your way. What came out of your brain to send the notes that you sent me?

Noah McNeely: Well, first, no need to get out of my way, but by the time. this episode drops, I think we’re going to be getting close to the end of the year. All the things they thought about doing last year and they never got around to. So people are setting goals. They’re coming up with New Year’s resolutions, like not stuttering when they speak, for example. That’s a good one. They’re coming up with new habits they want to start that are good and some old habits they want to get rid of that were bad.

Steven Julian: So to be fair. So here’s how it works. I brought you, hey, we should do something about goal setting. We’re technically not talking about goal setting. We’re talking about healthy habits. You took, you basically changed the way we’re presenting the topic and that’s what makes it better. By the way, as a side note, Jody better be writing down a note that if this episode comes out in March of 2025, there’s going to be trouble, right? So hopefully I know when we’re recording this, but I have full, that’s why he’s the intrepid producer. This is going to be released at right about the right time. But if you’re listening to past episodes and it’s. not in January, February when you’re listening to this, well, fine. It still works.

Noah McNeely: Hopefully this drops sometime in December of 2024. Okay.

Steven Julian: December, not January. Well, okay. All right. Jody, make a note. December 2024. Okay. So you’ve got a few suggestions of good habits that people can adopt. And the other thing for longtime listeners of this show, I believe every single habit we talk about has a cultural reference.

Noah McNeely: Yeah, it does. Because I find that if I have some sort of analogy or cultural reference, then I can remember it better.

Steven Julian: That wasn’t stuttering. That was more mumbling the word. So now we’ve got stuttering and mumbling. Oh, I did it.

Noah McNeely: Cultural. It’s a very difficult word for me to pronounce.

Steven Julian: All right. What’s the first habit we should be working on?

Noah McNeely: Okay, so the very first habit is take time to be creative. And believe it or not, this is something—Oh, take. Oh, you’re writing it down. Okay, yeah.

Steven Julian: Because if you write it down, it helps you remember.

Noah McNeely: Absolutely. So believe it or not, this is something I even struggle with, despite what I do for a living. We’ll come back to that. in a little bit. And our cultural reference here is from the Bible. But if you’re not religious, you know, it kind of transcends, you know, human cultures that go back, you know, really to prehistory. So I’m going to pick a verse from the book of Genesis, and I’m going to paraphrase it here because I don’t have a Bible in front of me.

Steven Julian: And of course, this is—I could quote it if you want.

Noah McNeely: That would be fantastic. But this, of course, is common in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. But I think most world religions probably have some element of this. And again, even if you’re a humanist and not religious at all, you’ll see this in culture. My paraphrase is God created people in his own image. Do you want to give the exact…

Steven Julian: Well, God quoted as saying, let us make man in our image. Yes. I just was enjoying the… I was enjoying the…

Noah McNeely: The politically correct way.

Steven Julian: Yeah, all the disclosure. We’re not trying to offend anybody.

Noah McNeely: This is not meant to be.

Steven Julian: We’re not preaching. We’re not proselytizing. Whatever. Everybody’s got this version. Hey, take time to be creative and… The cultural. reference you refer to is where we both come from, which is in Christianity. It’s shown in the Bible, let us make man in our own image. And what does he mean by that?

Noah McNeely: So in that one verse, that one sentence, I think we learn a lot about human beings in the sense that, one, God made us to be in some way like him in his image. And two, God creates things. You put those two things together and we were made with an inclination to create things. Correct. And I think, of course, like I said, it’s cultural. I mean, it goes back to the earliest examples we have from prehistory, like the Lascaux Caves in France, where, you know, 17,000 years ago or so, they say that people were. Men or women or whoever were drawing these pictures on walls, which are actually really cool art. If they were done today, you’d think, oh, that’s some sort of, you know, kind of modern art or whatever, but they’re really cool documenting stuff. they saw around them in a very creative way. And then you’ve got Gobleki Tepe in Turkey, which was discovered like fairly recently, like. 20 years ago. And there you’ve got all these carvings that are, again, kind of this, it’s almost like a neo-modern kind of. Art aesthetic, but it was made 10,000 years ago, but it’s all these carvings of animals and things on these pillars. It’s fantastic. So the point there is people have always created things. It’s really an undercurrent of who we are, at least in my opinion. That’s why I’m talking about this. So what does this have to do, you might be asking. Yeah, I just did.

Steven Julian: Go ahead.

Noah McNeely: You asked by waving the hand at me saying, hey. Get on with it, dude.

Steven Julian: Monty Python, get on with it. All right.

Noah McNeely: So what does this have to do with being a good habit for, a healthy habit for inventors and entrepreneurs? Okay. So if you go back to that time when you first came up with your idea, it was probably really fun for you. It was, it was. Kind of filling this need you had to, it was a creative outlet for you. So you were, depending on how it was, you were drawing it out, you’re coming up with your logo, coming up with. your name, maybe making something in the garage. And that was a lot of fun. And then as you went through your process, maybe that became more of a chore. Then it was like, oh, got to call the patent guy today. Oh, got to call the trademark office today. Oh, I got to pick up pens today. Whatever it is. It becomes less of a creative outlet over time and more of something that you have to do. So my advice, which I need to do a better job of following myself, is if you find yourself in that spot where this thing that was a creative outlet is no longer that for you, take a day off. Take an afternoon. Take an hour. Whatever you can do and do something creative with that. Whatever that means to you. Maybe it’s gardening. Maybe it’s painting. Maybe it’s… Cooking a cool recipe, whatever is a creative outlet for you. And I can’t speak for everybody, but for myself, when I do that, when I take that step back and I work on something not related to the projects I’m working on at all, I find that when I come back. to them, I am much more efficient, much more, I have a much more open mind and can push them forward more effectively. Even though I may have given up four hours that I could have been working on the project, Those next few days are so much more effective.

Steven Julian: I think it’s also very important. I’d like to just add that I like your idea of kind of stepping back, unplugging, but don’t just sit and do nothing. So it’s really, you’re finding a different outlet for that creativity. And then as that creativity grows in that outlet, when you come back to the project, it’ll allow you possibly to just be refreshed if nothing else. But maybe the creative juices have flowed and then there may be something there that will help.

Noah McNeely: I think that’s an excellent point I hadn’t thought of because, yes, you could just unplug and watch TV.

Steven Julian: Notice that you’re slightly annoying co-host who immediately thought, hey, I don’t want to just unplug because maybe I struggle with just sitting and doing nothing.

Noah McNeely: This is a collaboration, so we’re good here. Just unplugging and watching TV. Sometimes you need that, too. Don’t hear me. wrong. I need that. Sometimes it’s just time to watch whatever the latest episode dropped. That’s not engaging your brain in quite the same way as doing something creative does. So I find that, yes, that helps me rest, and yes, I enjoy watching TV or playing a video game with my son or whatever it is, but I don’t come back with my mind recharged in quite the same way as I do if I take a day and do some landscaping or take a day and do some art with my daughter. You know, bake cookies with my family, whatever it is. that’s that creative outlet.

Steven Julian: Or start writing the sequel to Secret of Nim. All right, moving on to the next habit. Can I give the…

Noah McNeely: Well, I did promise people I would say about why I struggle with this. So people might think, oh, you’re creative all the time. It’s your job, right? You’re working on all these different projects. Same thing applies to me in the sense that I’ll be working on this project and all my projects are super fun in a way, especially at the beginning. But they always, it’s still a job. It’s still something that has to be done and it can still become one of these things that I have to break away from for a short period of time. Okay. So we all suffer from this, I think.

Steven Julian: I think so. Well, listen, anyone who says I never struggle with being creative might never be creative. That might be why they struggle with it. So, all right. So the second habit, can I give the title?

Noah McNeely: I wish you would.

Steven Julian: Oh, thank you. What do you mean by structure a routine?

Noah McNeely: So, let’s start with the cultural reference here. Please. Oh, I said it right that time. I didn’t even have to spread out the word.

Steven Julian: Your habits are beginning to, yeah.

Noah McNeely: So, a very famous inventor, and they called him a polymath because he was a statesman, a scientist, an inventor, an author, is Benjamin Franklin. And I don’t know how much they teach it in school these days, but he was well known for building himself a daily routine. And throughout his life, he changed what that was, but he would organize his routine, his day. He would plan it out, like before day planners existed, in. these time blocks. So he would mark out, okay, this time of day, I’m going to be doing work on this. This time of day, I’m going to be studying whatever it was. This time of day, I’m going to be doing proactive, there’s another one of those words, proactive reflection on things. And by structuring things in time blocks, I think it’s easier to not be distracted by all the little things because I’m guilty of this too. Everything on this list, I’m guilty of. I’m going to be honest.

Steven Julian: Which is why you did the episode.

Noah McNeely: I have to observe these habits myself. It’s so easy to get… Distracted by an email comes in, you know, a voicemail is left and then you’re, you were doing this, you know, I’m in the shop, I’m building this thing. I’ve got an hour left to go. I get that email 30 minutes in. It’s like, okay, gotta go deal with that. That’s the wrong way to do it. And I think these time block approaches is a better way to stay efficient.

Steven Julian: So when you talk about time blocks and, and I guess there’s probably no true hard and fast. rule, but, but the. The cultural reference is really a cultural lesson from Benjamin Franklin. So by time block, what you’re saying is this two hours is almost from 10 to 12 a.m This is almost sacred. that this is going to be when I’m accomplishing this one thing or this block of things that need to be done. And unless it’s a fire or a drastic emergency. Anything that interrupts, I push to the side and will deal with during this time.

Noah McNeely: Yeah, no, if your 14-year-old son is bleeding, then yeah, you deal with that. But inventors, you know, most of us, most of the people that are inventors that I meet, you know, inventing or developing their invention, that’s their side thing. They still have, they’re busy most of the rest of the time living life. They’ve got a job, they’re raising kids, they’re whatever it is, and the invention thing is just the extra thing. So I think that. Actually makes this even more important. So maybe you say, I’ve only got six hours a week to spend on my invention. Then make that time have a block for it. Make it sacred where you can, again, unless your kids are bleeding or whatever, and stick with that as best you can.

Steven Julian: And I think with that, this is one of those habits that if you’re involved in a family, if you’re a husband or a wife and you’ve got a spouse and kids, There may need to be discussion. Hey, I just want to ask, you know, Saturday nights from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. or 3 to 5 in the afternoon. I really need that time. I need to value that time or sometime on Saturday. And depending on the family schedule, I’ll do it early in the morning or whatever.

Noah McNeely: And that’s much healthier than yelling at your kids.

Steven Julian: Leave me alone. Yeah. Get out of here.

Noah McNeely: It’s also a little bit different than when mom and dad say you’re not allowed to come into the house between eight and nine on Saturday night.

Steven Julian: See, not everybody can have a layer the way you do here at Product Quick Start, but they can create. So, hey, I’ll make another biblical reference. There’s the prayer closet. So you need to have your invention closet and go, hey, during this time, you need to please. leave me alone. Proactive reflection. Sometimes in that. And that proactive reflection is a little bit different of being creative. And I’m not trying to stretch the analogy too much, but I think proactive reflection is part of this daily habit as well, or part of this habit, a good habit.

Noah McNeely: I think it is too. And another thing Benjamin Franklin would do, which I think relates to this, supposedly, now maybe you just wrote this in a book and didn’t actually do it, but he supposedly in the morning, he would ask, what good will I do today? Translate that into whatever you want. What am I going to do on my business today? What am I going to do today? And then at the end of the day, he would ask probably the more important question, what good have I done today? And this is relative to that proactive reflection because it helps you adjust your goals. And so, oh, I set aside two hours for this. It really needs to be more. So I’m going to make that a goal over a couple of weeks. But it also helps you celebrate your successes and digest those successes. And that helps inspire you to move forward on to the next. Next thing.

Steven Julian: So are you saying if I get to the end of my day and I say, and I started the day by saying, what good will I do today? And I get to the end of the day and I say, what good did I accomplish today? And the answer to that question is, well, I binge watched Press Your Luck circa 1987 for seven hours. That’s probably not a good, I didn’t do much good that day, did I?

Noah McNeely: Probably not. I mean, you know, I don’t know what your goal was that day, but.

Steven Julian: My goal is always no whammies.

Noah McNeely: Of course. So. Yes, that at the end of the day question might be a good time to reflect on, well, did I waste a lot of time today that I could have applied over here? And yeah, I was having fun just sitting on the couch watching Press Your Luck, but I’d probably be a little happier now if I had taken one of those hours and put toward drawing a logo or whatever.

Steven Julian: I tried to break him again, Jody, and he. is the unbreakable Noah McNeely.

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Noah McNeely: Yeah.

Steven Julian: One of your favorite, your cultural reference here.

Noah McNeely: Yes. So you pointed out that I’ve already used this reference.

Steven Julian: I think you have. I think you have. I’ve not fact-checked myself. No, I think you’ve mentioned it.

Noah McNeely: It is possible that I’m getting to an age where I don’t remember everything I’ve said.

Steven Julian: I know I am. In the past.

Noah McNeely: But the cultural reference here is Apollo 13. And that was one of the last moon missions. And just to be clear, I’m not old enough to remember it. People are not old enough. to remember it. Most people, you know, it was a long, long time ago. But they made a really cool movie of it. It had Tom Hanks in it, so it’s a good movie. You should watch it.

Steven Julian: Ron Howard film.

Noah McNeely: Yeah, Ron Howard film. And the story is, you know, they were on the way to the moon and they had these failures, these equipment failures. I guess they were venting atmosphere into the space and, you know, all sorts of things that really they could have died easily enough. So they had to do a couple of things. One, they had to conserve what resources they had so they’d get back to Earth safely. And they had to take stock of what all they had on board that ship. Now, in their case, they had the people back at NASA helping them. It’s like, I’ll go through the manifest. Oh, they’ve got a roll of duct tape. They’ve got this, they’ve got that. And the people back at NASA were helping them, you know, put that all together. But hopefully in your life, you’re not on a spaceship about. It’s about to die. So you may not need. NASA’s help, but take stock of what you have resource-wise and guard those resources very carefully. So that could be resources of your time. It could be resources of your finances, whatever it is. And I would suggest build boundaries or develop boundaries around that. It’s like, okay, I’ve got this much money to invest in this. And don’t just let yourself cross that boundary haphazardly or without thinking about it. If you get close to that boundary, take a step back and reevaluate. Okay, have I really gotten the value out of this? And is this going somewhere? Should I reset that boundary and keep moving forward? It’s so easy. And I’ve seen people do this to just keep throwing money at something without, you know, like back on the Benjamin Franklin thing, without asking, what good has this done to this point?

Steven Julian: Is this one of those steps, and I don’t say this would be true all the time, but I wonder if when we’re in this step and we’re taking stock of what we have in our resources and guarding those things, that guarding, it might require having a conversation with someone else in your life. Here. again, and maybe it’s not a spouse, maybe it’s someone who knows your project, who knows you’ve talked about it, and just kind of go, hey. I need to talk to somebody else to make sure I’m not wasting my time or resources. I mean, this is kind of one of the things you do is help people with this.

Noah McNeely: Yeah, so guarding your resources is also having, as best you can, a realistic expectation of what resources it may ultimately take to get to your destination or to your goal. So if you’re sitting around like, I’ve got $300 to throw at this, and surely I can get a product on the market for that. Yeah. Guess what? You’re going to be out $300. And that’s what that is. But you can talk to people like me or you can do research, ask ChatGPT. I don’t know if you’ll get a straight answer or not, but you can do some research to at least understand, okay, what does it really take to make a prototype? What does it really take to manufacture a product? Or what does it really take to, if you’re just another type of entrepreneur, what? does it really take to get a business started?

Steven Julian: So if for no other reason, and again, the… We laugh a little about this topic is, hey, we’re getting near the end of the year and we’re talking about habits and we’re talking about goals. At least once a year, maybe, is a good reference point of we should take stock of and setting up guardrails and specific boundaries. So if it’s been a while since you’ve looked at the business plan, if it’s been a while since you’ve… Kind of sat down with somebody and talked through your project. This is one of those things of taking stock. Because to your cultural reference, it wasn’t one engineer in that room. It wasn’t one, hey, Billy, go work on this and let us know what you find. They put all the engineers in the room. They threw everything on the table. They said, you know, we got to make this fit into one of these using nothing but this. All right. And I love the first comment. And that was like, all right, let’s see what we got. Catalog it. You know, that was immediately they took stock of what. they had. So I like it. Before, so you started with the reference, I ended with the reference, which means it was a good reference. That is definitely one you can come back to.

Noah McNeely: We’ll do a whole episode on it in the future. Maybe.

Steven Julian: Maybe in the episode where we talk about screws. The fourth.

Noah McNeely: I wonder how many screws they had on the pilot.

Steven Julian: Oh, I know I saw them floating in space when the big thing came off and all the way up to the heat shield. All right. Habit number four. Network, network, network. Yes. And we’re not talking about the film from the 70s.

Noah McNeely: And we’re also not talking about picking your favorite TV station.

Steven Julian: That is true.

Noah McNeely: So.

Steven Julian: Do they have TV stations?

Noah McNeely: Oh, I don’t know. It’s all content providers. I just aged myself terribly then. What’s a TV station, Mom?

Steven Julian: They’re all content providers.

Noah McNeely: All right, go ahead. So most likely for you to get across the finish line with whatever business you’re trying to launch, especially Inventions, but really all sorts of businesses. It’s going to take more than just you to succeed. It’s going to take a village to use. a very overused phrase I don’t really care for. It’s going to take a village, not a village idiot, but a village.

Steven Julian: What about village people?

Noah McNeely: For certain products, perhaps. Yes. It’s going to take a village to get your product to success. Yes. Maybe that doesn’t mean people that officially join your team. It could be advisors. It could be people that you hire to do one little thing. It could be someone that’s like. You can call up and they’ll be honest with you and say, what are you, stupid? Don’t spend money on that. That’s not how I talk typically.

Steven Julian: No, no, not at all.

Noah McNeely: I have a much better bedside manner. It’s more along the lines of, what, are you stupid? No, I’m kidding. So the cultural reference here is a game that some people, most people may have heard of. that’s kind of fun to play on long road trips. And that is Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Now, when we play that with my kids, they don’t. Really remember who Kevin Bacon is, except that he showed up in the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas special. That’s their entire reference to him. So whenever. we play it and we try to use Kevin Bacon, they have to tie everything to Guardians of the Galaxy in the MCU.

Steven Julian: You have a clear advantage in that game.

Noah McNeely: Clearly. Which is why I like to play it. Exactly. So one of the things you’ll find if you do play this game. You go through it enough times. And you don’t always have to use Kevin Bacon. You just pick two celebrities and you try to connect them. It’s like, oh, well, so-and-so was in this movie and they were in this movie with over here. Look it up on the internet if you don’t know how to play. But you often find there’s one person that keeps showing up in the middle because that person connects a lot of people.

Steven Julian: Just like Kevin Bacon does. They’ve been in a lot of movies.

Noah McNeely: Again, if you’re playing with younger kids, they don’t know Kevin Bacon maybe. Kevin Bacon, if you’re listening, we love you. My kids haven’t seen a lot of movies that you’re in.

Steven Julian: Is Footloose still the greatest movie of all time? It never was.

Noah McNeely: So the person I use as sort of the big connector, the actor I like to use is Samuel L. Jackson because he’s been in so many different Like he was in Star Wars, of course, in the MCU, in Jurassic Park. I mean, everyone, you know, Pulp Fiction, probably some people have seen that. So the message there is as you network, you don’t necessarily have to find everybody. If you find one or two of those Samuel L. Jacksons. They can find everybody for you, or they already know everybody you need to know. So you find those two people that are like, hey, I know a bunch of people. You call that person and say, hey, do you know somebody that can help me figure out how to find a UPC code for my product? Oh, yeah. Call Fred. Call Frank at Frank’s Cheese Hammers. He’ll help you. There are some people that just naturally know a lot of people. And as you network, try to find those people first. I myself am kind of a natural introvert. I’ve overcome that. I’m a recovering introvert. So that has been a big part of how I have networked over the years, especially early in my career when I was. more introverted, you know, as engineers tend to be when they leave school because they’ve been, had it beaten into them. Just, you know, keep your head down and don’t say anything. That’s how I succeeded early in my career was finding those people that knew everybody.

Steven Julian: And I think there’s, so I’m going to, I would not have survived in that industry without being able to network. Networking is huge in sales. It’s huge in building your business. And some people would say I’m probably a natural extrovert. That’s why I’m slightly annoying. But I would say network Networking can be done. There’s two main things to develop this habit. Number one, you may have to step out of your comfort zone and find a specific thing to go network at. I’m going to join the chamber. I’m going to join this online group. I’m going to find something of. I could benefit from getting to know people who are going to be in this room or going to be in this online group or whatever. That’s number one. But I think secondly, as far as a habit goes, pay attention. Pay attention to who you’re meeting, who you’re. around as you just go through life. Now, I’m not going to say the super salesy line of write down every single person you’ve come in contact with and call them and try and sell them something. It’s more of as I’m going through life, just find the right opportunity and just be aware of somebody saying something that you go, oh, they have. that might be something that I want to talk to them more about.

Noah McNeely: Yeah. And a couple of things about that or a couple of things to respond there. One, find the thing about you that they’re going to remember. So, you know, if somebody meets you and they’re like, what do you do? And it’s like, well, I’m an accountant. Well, okay, that’s great. I’m an accountant, but I’m also working on this invention for, you know, people in wheelchairs. That’s what they’re going to remember. So then they may know somebody, oh, you should talk to. Noah, he helps people come up with a mention. So I’ve actually had people reach me that way. So find that thing that’s interesting, that’s really unique. The thing that you would need help with, if you can. find a way to work that into your networking, that may help create that connection for you. The other thing is be careful about the online networking. They’re good. Right.

Steven Julian: As with most things online.

Noah McNeely: Right. Exactly. So LinkedIn, yes, you can find people there. And that’s maybe a way to find someone that’s so far outside of your network. It’s not as powerful as talking to someone. And it’s not as powerful as actually communicating with people, at least personally via email or whatever. So just don’t take the lazy, easy way out and just say, oh, I built a LinkedIn network. I can find people that way. Yeah, maybe. Start building those relationships, even if it’s just by email and then see where it goes.

Steven Julian: You know what you accomplished in this show, Noah? No. Would you like to know? I would. So first of all, you took some time to be creative because you sat aside and you stepped away from a project probably and you kind of wrote out some notes and thought creatively about this. And then you structured those notes. You’ve gotten into a routine of sending an email, and so you stuck with. that routine. Now, these notes a

Steven Julian: Greetings and salutations. Steven Julian: I am your slightly annoying host, Steven Julian. Steven Julian: Welcome to a new edition of Product Genius. Steven Julian: This time… Without Tiffany Crumans, but what we do have is the fantastic Noah McNeely. Steven Julian: Noah, welcome back to the show. Noah McNeely: Yeah, it’s good to be back. Noah McNeely: I feel like it’s been an entire pandemic ago. Steven Julian: Almost. Steven Julian: It’s been at least, it’s been a year, but it does kind of feel like a whole pandemic ago. Steven Julian: So, Product Genius, this might sound a little bit different. Steven Julian: There are some differences. Steven Julian: Why don’t? Steven Julian: we cover all that stuff up front?

Steven Julian: Broadcasting this show almost live from the Plush Palatial Studios that is the worldwide headquarters of Product Quick Start. Steven Julian: Tell everybody about your new digs. Noah McNeely: Yes, so Product Quick Start, we were fortunate enough to move into a new facility, well, new to us facility that we’re renovating in what they call the Depot District of Lawrenceville, Georgia, which is this… Exciting little area where we have some breweries and we have a distillery going in. Noah McNeely: that I think is going to make tequila and I try to remain sober during the day when I’m working here. Steven Julian: Especially when you’re doing the show. Steven Julian: Well, maybe not as much when you do that. Noah McNeely: Probably more important that I remain sober when using the power equipment in the back. Steven Julian: Amen. Steven Julian: The other thing we want to talk about for those people who are coming upon this episode and have listened to past episodes. Steven Julian: In some respects, we’re the same, but in some respects, there are some differences. Steven Julian: This show was always known as Product Genius with Tiffany Krumans. Steven Julian: Tiffany is still with us, but she’s not with us in the studio. Steven Julian: So, Noah, I ask. Steven Julian: you, where in the world is Tiffany Krumans? Noah McNeely: Well, anyone that has listened to more recent shows probably knows Tiffany has a lot of ideas for businesses, and she also has… New children in her life, and she stays very, very busy. Noah McNeely: Her latest company is called Opu Probiotics, and it’s a fabulous product. Noah McNeely: I recommend you try it. Noah McNeely: I particularly like the mocha mint flavor. Noah McNeely: But anyway, we believe that Tiffany is scouring the world looking for the finest ingredients she can for that particular product. Noah McNeely: So you might find her in the Himalayas or the Amazon. Noah McNeely: Probably wearing a baby and a baby Bjorn and with three other kids following her around. Steven Julian: And everybody can go to opuprobiotics.com, opuprobiotics.com, and see all the latest things that Tiffany is doing with that product. Steven Julian: And therefore, she was the creator of Product Genius originally, and you were a fantastic partner and sponsor of the show and would come on and talk about… Developing products through your business, productquickstart.com. Steven Julian: And when Tiffany really launched Opu, she told all of us, Jody Smith, the producer of the show, and myself as the slightly annoying host, hey, I’m going to take a little. Steven Julian: bit of time off. Steven Julian: I got to launch this new business. Steven Julian: And then in the meantime, let me just fast forward a little bit. Steven Julian: And I don’t know how much behind the scenes and unplugged you want to get. Steven Julian: Why are you sitting across the table from me and why are you now kind of leading this ship that Tiffany built up to this point? Noah McNeely: Well, first, we’re going to hope that the Shipley is led in a good direction and not running aground. Steven Julian: Not yet, at least. Steven Julian: We’re five minutes in. Steven Julian: It’s so far so good. Noah McNeely: So, yeah, we’re doing great at the moment. Noah McNeely: Well, I always enjoyed doing the show. Noah McNeely: I mean, I had a lot of fun with you guys and it really hits one of my passions, which… I like talking about this stuff. Noah McNeely: I do what I love. Noah McNeely: I enjoy explaining it to people. Noah McNeely: I think the show is a good way to do that. Noah McNeely: I’ve actually met a number of people through the show. Noah McNeely: Those are all great conversations. Noah McNeely: My hope is as we move forward, Product Genius will be a show that’s useful for inventors, of course. Noah McNeely: Really, I think we’re going to. Noah McNeely: talk about things that relate to all entrepreneurs or most entrepreneurs. Noah McNeely: Even to people that work for bigger companies that want to think more like entrepreneurs. Steven Julian: So here we are after more than a year off. Steven Julian: We’re doing a new show. Steven Julian: Noah McNeely is sitting across the table from me. Steven Julian: Jody Smith from JodySmith.com is still our producer. Steven Julian: I’m still the slightly annoying host. Steven Julian: And here we are still talking about product development. Steven Julian: We’re going to talk about inventing. Steven Julian: And today we’re talking about help. Steven Julian: I’ve got too many ideas. Steven Julian: Which is definitely true of this show after not doing it for a year. Steven Julian: And people who are doing product development and kind of trying to bring their product to market, as they’re bringing one product to market, they have all these other ideas. Steven Julian: That’s the entrepreneurial, that’s the inventor. Steven Julian: There’s a lot of people listening who, number one, are going, okay, yeah, they’re talking about something I need to talk about. Steven Julian: And when you’re listening to this, you might also be thinking, Ooh, I know someone else that needs to hear this. Steven Julian: So listen to this one, invite them to hear the show because we’re going to be talking. Steven Julian: about, I got too many ideas. Steven Julian: So the title of the show, obviously I gave a little bit of a inkling of it.

Steven Julian: You are guilty of this just like anybody else, right? Noah McNeely: Oh, absolutely. Noah McNeely: In fact, the fact that I’m doing this podcast while writing a business and… Engaging in various other hobbies may be an example of where I’m guilty of this, but I’m trying to balance it well. Noah McNeely: And we thought this would be a really good topic for the first show because Tiffany is actually a great example of doing this well. Noah McNeely: She realized at some point that she had too many different things going on. Noah McNeely: So to be successful, she had to push some of them to the back, and that’s why. Noah McNeely: That’s why we’re here. Steven Julian: That’s why she’s out finding those great products or finding those great ingredients to go into the mint mocha. Noah McNeely: That’s why she’s in the Amazon today. Noah McNeely: Exactly. Noah McNeely: So, you know, this is a problem that doesn’t just affect inventors and entrepreneurs. Noah McNeely: It actually affects big companies as well. Noah McNeely: And back when I did a lot of big company work, this was a topic that would come up. Noah McNeely: The big. Noah McNeely: scary corporate name for this is portfolio management. Noah McNeely: As an inventor entrepreneur, you never need to use that phrase again, probably. Noah McNeely: But the idea is even big companies, they have so many things that they want to do or would love to do, but they can’t do them all. Noah McNeely: In a big company, like a Fortune 500 company, I almost said some names there, but I don’t want to be sued or anything by any of my clients from years ago. Noah McNeely: In a big company, you have entire teams of people in many cases. Noah McNeely: Their whole job is to manage and really to do the portfolio management role. Noah McNeely: They’ll have roadmaps of products that the company is going to develop for five, ten years out in some cases, and they have to prioritize those. Steven Julian: So let’s talk about the person who’s listening to this podcast who’s trying to bring one or a couple of products to market or are trying to build their business. Steven Julian: Go from idea to prototype to development.

Steven Julian: When you say, help, I’ve got too many ideas, can that be true of one product? Noah McNeely: It can be. Noah McNeely: It can be true of one product or it can. Noah McNeely: also just be the nature of the individual. Noah McNeely: So I’ve met people that clients have come in and they get really excited about their product. Noah McNeely: We go through that. Noah McNeely: And then a lot of times on the way out the door, they’re like, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Noah McNeely: I’ve got seven more I’m working on. Noah McNeely: We’re going to talk about them next time. Noah McNeely: And I think they tell me that to get me more excited about working with them, but that’s really often a red flag. Noah McNeely: So on the next meeting, you’re at the next meeting, I usually have to tamp that down a little bit and say, you know, look, that’s great. Noah McNeely: I love all these ideas, but let’s get one on the market first. Noah McNeely: And I think that can be a tough thing for entrepreneurs, even myself, because I have… I have so many things I want to accomplish and want to do, but it’s easy to want to spend all the time in the visionary stage. Noah McNeely: Hey, this is going to be fun. Noah McNeely: I’m going to spend all day thinking about this idea and jotting out what’s it going to be like when. Noah McNeely: I’m done. Noah McNeely: But the problem is there’s a lot of things that have to happen between now and achieving that vision. Steven Julian: And the ideas is the sexy part. Steven Julian: The ideas is the everybody’s. Steven Julian: Had at least one or two ideas. Steven Julian: I actually, I still don’t know why at times I’m the slightly annoying host of the show because I’ve had very few ideas of products. Steven Julian: I’ve never tried to develop anything, but I would relate it. Steven Julian: I, I love the world of comedy and I love listening to comedians, especially them talking about doing jokes. Steven Julian: And it’s one thing to have, Hey, Seinfeld had a book called, is this anything you start with an idea? Steven Julian: Hey, is this anything? Steven Julian: Is this potentially funny? Steven Julian: But from that point to getting it to where it’s a tight bit to be done on stage, there’s this huge, there’s a lot of work that goes in. Steven Julian: So you just mentioned it’s easy to do the ideas. Steven Julian: I got seven more, but they got all this work they got to do to just to get that one. Steven Julian: But I want to drill down and I want to kind of push back and ask even that. Steven Julian: person who’s on that one, I’ve got too many ideas. Steven Julian: Do they get sidetracked with too many things even in that one single idea? Steven Julian: That they’re bringing to market? Noah McNeely: Yeah, that can happen too.

Noah McNeely: I think we may have talked about this a long time ago, but there’s a concept I call minimum viable product or early viable product. Steven Julian: I remember that. Noah McNeely: Yes, it’s a classic. Noah McNeely: You should check it out. Noah McNeely: But the issue there is sometimes maybe it is just one product, but they have all these ideas for that one product. Noah McNeely: Oh, I want it to do this. Noah McNeely: I want it to do that. Noah McNeely: I want it to be Wi-Fi and I want it to levitate and I want it to glow in the dark. Noah McNeely: Sir, it’s a doorknob. Noah McNeely: It doesn’t need to necessarily do all that. Noah McNeely: Those are all great. Noah McNeely: Let’s get one on the market. Noah McNeely: because all that stuff you just talked about, that’s a two-year development program. Noah McNeely: If we just do your basic product, which is already cool and already different than anything out there, you can be on the market in six months. Noah McNeely: You can generate revenue. Noah McNeely: You’ve got a successful business at that. Noah McNeely: point. Noah McNeely: And more importantly, you’ve got money that you can now spend on Gen 2 and Gen 3 and Gen 4. Noah McNeely: But if we start down the path of developing, The super mega colossal product now, you’re never going to get there. Steven Julian: And we titled this show again, Help, but I think probably more often than not your job as the product development guru, as the genius who helps people bring their product to market, you have to tell them you really should be saying, Help, I have too many ideas in this super amazing, stupendous product. Steven Julian: Very rarely do they verbalize that. Steven Julian: You’re helping them verbalize. Noah McNeely: Right. Noah McNeely: Well, sometimes I have to help people realize it is a problem because, like I said, a lot of visionary people and a lot of entrepreneurs, like myself, we do tend to love that visionary phase. Noah McNeely: And we think that’s the most important thing. Noah McNeely: It’s not. Noah McNeely: It’s actually one of the least important and easiest parts of having a successful business.

Noah McNeely: So think about it this way. Noah McNeely: Think about all the little boys who dream about winning a Super Bowl as the quarterback. Noah McNeely: Now, you can’t just keep dreaming about winning a. Super Bowl. Noah McNeely: That’s great. Noah McNeely: That’s a wonderful vision. Noah McNeely: But if you don’t start exercising and training and learning the game, you’ll never play on a team, much less get to the Super Bowl. Steven Julian: So it’s a difference between being a Super Bowl quarterback and being Uncle Rico sitting on the front step saying, if Coach had put me in that game, we would have won the state that year. Noah McNeely: That’s exactly right. Noah McNeely: And there are no time machines that will get you back there. Steven Julian: Exactly. Steven Julian: So portfolio management, to use the term of the Fortune 500 companies, is really them kind of categorizing or siloing or insert other corporate term here. Steven Julian: But really, it’s checking boxes. Steven Julian: It’s laying it out in steps.

Steven Julian: Is that something that you, as the person with Product Quick Start, is trying to help people say, okay, here are the 17 steps that we’re going to have to take? Steven Julian: Or is it just getting them focused on creating the 17 steps? Steven Julian: Kind of talk through that process. Steven Julian: Someone’s got an idea, and then someone starts to spiral into too many ideas. Steven Julian: The portfolio management that you do, not for the Fortune 500, but for the individual. Steven Julian: entrepreneur and inventor, what do you try to bring to the table? Noah McNeely: Yeah, so it’s really launch your product in 375 easy steps. Noah McNeely: No, it’s not. Noah McNeely: There’s really only two questions. Steven Julian: I thought it was 367 steps. Noah McNeely: We revised it last year. Noah McNeely: Oh, okay. Noah McNeely: So there’s really only two. Noah McNeely: Two questions that I ask people to consider when they’re trying to prioritize the features of their product or which product to develop or which product to develop when. Noah McNeely: And with the assumption that inventor entrepreneurs, you probably don’t have five people or 20 people on a team that you’re paying to do all the analysis. Noah McNeely: And yeah, you go to a really big company and they’re going to ask a lot more than these two questions. Noah McNeely: At least they’re going to ask a lot more versions of these two questions. Noah McNeely: But the two questions I tell people to consider is, number one, what can I get to the market with my resources? Noah McNeely: And of course, I can help them try to figure that out. Noah McNeely: This is how much it’s going to take to develop this product, to make the tooling for it, to produce it. Noah McNeely: So we have to be. Noah McNeely: realistic about what resources you have to actually get that to the market. Noah McNeely: And that may mean you can’t launch five at a time. Noah McNeely: Now, I’ve had some clients that are just independently wealthy, and yeah, they can do it. Noah McNeely: They have the resources for that. Noah McNeely: It can still be a bad idea in those cases because a resource that people often overlook is their own time, their own focus, their own ability to strategize and think about their business. Noah McNeely: So the second question is, what can I sell? Noah McNeely: You know, what will I be able to sell? Noah McNeely: So, yeah, this is a great idea. Noah McNeely: I have the funds to develop it. Noah McNeely: I have the resources to develop it. Noah McNeely: But is there a market for it? Noah McNeely: And is it a market that I understand well enough to actually sell? Noah McNeely: And the answer to either of those questions is no. Noah McNeely: Then that’s probably not the product you should develop first. Noah McNeely: You need to focus on the product or the collection of features in your product. Noah McNeely: that both of those answers are yes. Steven Julian: And I know we’ve talked about variations of those questions over past episodes. Steven Julian: Encourage everybody to go back and. Steven Julian: listen to Noah’s past episodes on Product Genius. Noah McNeely: Product Genius is brought to you by Opu Probiotics. Noah McNeely: Pre and probiotics you can pour directly on your tongue in delicious mint and mocha flavors. Steven Julian: But the taste is just the beginning. Noah McNeely: With Opu, you can see improved digestive function, boosted immune system, easier weight management, improved mental health, and much more. Noah McNeely: Try today at GetOpu.com. Steven Julian: That’s GetOpu.com. Steven Julian: Let me focus in on the second question. Steven Julian: first, because I think… The typical inventor entrepreneur who sits down with you, especially with their first idea, and you ask them that question, you know, what can I sell? Steven Julian: Can this sell? Steven Julian: Their answer, bar none, is going to be, well, of course this is going to sell. Steven Julian: It’s a fantastic idea. Steven Julian: I came up with this. Steven Julian: It came in a bolt of lightning. Steven Julian: Everybody who brings you any idea is going to tell you, well, of course it’s going to sell. Steven Julian: It’s fantastic. Noah McNeely: Yeah, I’ve heard variations of, well, why wouldn’t you buy this if you could buy it? Noah McNeely: I’ve probably heard a hundred variations of that throughout the course of my career.

Steven Julian: You’re a communist pig if you don’t buy this, of course. Steven Julian: This is great. Steven Julian: Sorry, that was my insertion, not Noah’s. Steven Julian: My apologies. Noah McNeely: Yeah, so we’re going to remain politically apolitical here as best we can. Noah McNeely: Uh, yeah. Noah McNeely: So a lot of, um, a lot of inventor entrepreneurs, they’re so enamored by their idea. Noah McNeely: They just can’t imagine it not being successful. Noah McNeely: And then they’re like, well, as soon as people see this, they’re going to want it. Noah McNeely: That may be true. Noah McNeely: And that, that in some ways that for most people, that probably is true. Noah McNeely: The question becomes, how do you reach those people? Noah McNeely: And that’s also part of how do you sell it? Noah McNeely: Can you sell it? Noah McNeely: Uh, so if you’ve got a, it’s a product that, oh, everyone would use it. Noah McNeely: Well, that’s almost the worst kind of product for an inventor because. Noah McNeely: You don’t have the marketing budget to reach everybody. Noah McNeely: If it’s more focused, like, well, people that have teenage girls that want to learn how to play golf, you can reach that market a lot easier and in a more forceful way. Noah McNeely: So that’s also part of, you know, what’s it going to take to sell this? Noah McNeely: Not necessarily even, do I have the sales? Noah McNeely: skills? Noah McNeely: You can always hire someone to do that for you, but it’s got to be. Noah McNeely: Do I have the resources not only to design, develop, produce this product, but do I have the resources to sell it? Noah McNeely: What are those resources going to be? Steven Julian: And in your help in answering that question, because I was kind of pushing back against the question, the second question you asked there, what can I sell? Steven Julian: You have to drill down and you have to ask that question more specifically or they have to answer that question more specifically because really what you’re asking is, is there a market for this? Steven Julian: Can the person define the market? Steven Julian: Can you sell it? Steven Julian: Meaning the person who’s got the idea, how would you sell it? Steven Julian: So let me then ask this in helping them answer that question. Steven Julian: How much is it you trying to get them to have their eyes open to all the all that that’s going to entail of selling the product? Steven Julian: or and or how much is it you saying, if you’ll listen to me, I’ve had a lot of experience and I’ve done this for a long time and I’ve done. Steven Julian: this. Steven Julian: On corporate level and individual level, here’s what I believe and I know surrounding what you’ve just told me about this idea. Noah McNeely: It’s a little bit of both. Noah McNeely: It depends on who I’m talking to and how receptive they are. Steven Julian: Ah, there we go. Noah McNeely: Different people with different personalities. Noah McNeely: You know, it’s kind of like the old Aesop’s fables, the way he would teach very powerful people lessons without insulting them, as he would tell a story about someone else who was fictional. Noah McNeely: They would maybe learn a lesson about. Noah McNeely: So sometimes I have to do that. Noah McNeely: And it comes along as, you know, I have to say, you know, look, I’m not into sales. Noah McNeely: I’m not into marketing. Noah McNeely: I design, build, and create stuff. Noah McNeely: I can help you fill a warehouse full of product. Noah McNeely: That’s no problem. Noah McNeely: We got that. Noah McNeely: What I can’t help you do is I can’t help you sell. Noah McNeely: I can’t help you market. Noah McNeely: I can tell you what I’ve seen other people do and what that’s cost them. Noah McNeely: And oftentimes that loan and going through that process is enough to help them realize, oh, I hadn’t thought about that. Noah McNeely: I hadn’t thought about that. Noah McNeely: I am going to need a budget for that. Noah McNeely: And so sometimes I approach it that way. Noah McNeely: Sometimes people come in and they do have a lot of really good business savvy, business knowledge, business experience. Noah McNeely: They understand that right up front. Noah McNeely: I have to do a lot less in those cases. Noah McNeely: Sometimes in those cases, it’s more about explaining why it costs so much to make this product or that product or whatever it is. Steven Julian: So let me just ask Noah McNeely, the Product Quick Start CEO and the guy who’s done this for more than a few years, although you only look like you’ve been doing it for a few years. Noah McNeely: Well, hair dye goes a long way. Steven Julian: Exactly. Steven Julian: And flattery will get me everywhere. Steven Julian: Do you enjoy to an extent when someone who’s just starting out in this, it’s their first idea, they’ve never run a business, but they’re receptive to your kind of expertise and guidance. Steven Julian: There’s that that’s satisfying. Steven Julian: As well as the satisfying of kind of someone with some business savvy who knows the business stuff and you don’t have to spend as much time on that and you can really just focus on. Steven Julian: the product development. Steven Julian: Is there a preference one where this is just a personal question I’m asking at this point? Noah McNeely: That is a very difficult question. Noah McNeely: Exactly. Steven Julian: I’m slightly annoyed. Noah McNeely: It’s very individual based. Steven Julian: This is a relational thing for you, right? Steven Julian: This is a relational business, even for you and this. Noah McNeely: I’ll put you this way. Noah McNeely: I’m at a point in my career, I’ve done this long enough, I don’t usually have to work with people I dislike. Noah McNeely: Now, I will do my best to help anyone. Noah McNeely: Even if I dislike you, I will try to point you in a good direction, sometimes to someone I don’t like, but also. Noah McNeely: They don’t know that. Noah McNeely: Yeah, they don’t know that. Noah McNeely: No, but either can be good. Noah McNeely: I think it’s better for me to answer this from the standpoint of what’s the worst type of relationship. Steven Julian: Oh, there we go. Noah McNeely: That’s where someone comes in and they’ve never developed a product before. Noah McNeely: They don’t know anything about it, but they saw something on TV. Noah McNeely: So now they’re an expert or they stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Noah McNeely: So now they’re an expert and they come in and they’re like, this is how you’re going to do it. Noah McNeely: This is how you’re going to do it. Noah McNeely: And I’m like, well, why are you here? Noah McNeely: How am I supposed to help you? Noah McNeely: You know everything already. Noah McNeely: Even though everything you just told me is completely wrong. Noah McNeely: I know you’ve read a book about it that some idiot wrote who doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but that’s not how you do it. Noah McNeely: That’s not how the real world works. Noah McNeely: So those are not good relationships. Noah McNeely: Those usually end quickly. Noah McNeely: The other side of that is people that they just cannot accept what I’m telling them. Noah McNeely: So here’s the problem you have. Noah McNeely: And if you cannot solve this problem, You don’t have a business. Noah McNeely: Now, that’s just my opinion, but my opinion is based on a lot of experience, and some people just, they get really irritated about that, and I never hear from them again, and that’s probably for the best for me. Noah McNeely: But unfortunately, they then go out and they find an engineer who’s just happy to take their money, and they’ll spend a year. Noah McNeely: Dumping thousands of dollars into making something that they can never afford to produce or. Noah McNeely: that it’s never going to sell or it’s just the wrong market. Steven Julian: I like the way you answered that question. Steven Julian: Well done. Steven Julian: I asked a difficult question. Steven Julian: Noah gave a great answer to it. Steven Julian: So let me transition from the second question you asked of what can I sell. Steven Julian: And let’s kind of circle back real quick to that first question. Steven Julian: What can I get to the market with my resources? Steven Julian: This is a… Another way of kind of talking about minimum viable products. Steven Julian: So what do you need to know from the person that you’re talking to? Steven Julian: when it comes, because that word resources, let me unpack that just a little bit more. Steven Julian: You know, what can I get to the market with my resources? Steven Julian: You kind of need to know some things. Steven Julian: How much money do you have? Steven Julian: How much time do you have? Steven Julian: Kind of break that down. Noah McNeely: Yeah, I need them to be honest with themselves and with me.

Noah McNeely: Stuff costs what it costs. Noah McNeely: You know, I can’t work for free. Noah McNeely: Most people cannot. Noah McNeely: It doesn’t do you or me any good for you to come in and wear a fancy suit, pretend like you have. Noah McNeely: all this money, and then you don’t. Noah McNeely: Because then you and I are going to talk and go, hey, this is generally what this is going to cost. Noah McNeely: And you’re going to get one or two steps into that and say, oh, I can’t afford to go any further. Noah McNeely: Well, it’s like, well, why did you waste the money on the first two steps? Noah McNeely: I told you what it was going to cost to get this far. Noah McNeely: It’s like, I don’t know. Noah McNeely: Well. Noah McNeely: I can’t refund your money. Noah McNeely: All the work is done. Noah McNeely: The prototypes are built. Noah McNeely: Whatever it is, that’s done. Noah McNeely: I’m sorry you can’t take it any further, but I don’t know what you want me to do. Noah McNeely: Go out and raise some money and come back in a few years, I guess. Noah McNeely: So that’s kind of the worst scenario there. Noah McNeely: I think I do need to do my best to explain to them, and I try my very best to this where I can. Noah McNeely: This is generally what it’s going to take. Noah McNeely: Hear what they’re trying to do. Noah McNeely: I’ll lay out a scope. Noah McNeely: Okay, the first phase is to get us to a prototype. Noah McNeely: I can give. Noah McNeely: that a pretty tight number. Noah McNeely: If there’s stuff in there, I don’t know. Noah McNeely: Yeah, I don’t know. Noah McNeely: Are we going to end up in this material or that material? Noah McNeely: Beyond that, I have to give an estimated range. Noah McNeely: And then I can give my best guess at what the manufacturing is going to cost. Noah McNeely: But I can’t, you know, obviously on day one, nothing’s been designed. Noah McNeely: So I don’t know exactly what that is going to cost at the back end. Noah McNeely: So I do my best to open their eyes to what the costs are going to be. Noah McNeely: And also a little bit, you know, you’re going to have to have money for marketing. Noah McNeely: If you’re going to do a patent, I’ll send them to Brock, who you may know from other shows. Noah McNeely: All that’s going to take money. Noah McNeely: You may have to prioritize what you want to spend your money on and how you want to spend it. Noah McNeely: And I think actually in our next episode, we have some ideas about that. Steven Julian: Ooh, fellow with a tease. Noah McNeely: A slight tease, yes. Noah McNeely: I like that. Steven Julian: Well done. Noah McNeely: I am not a radio professional. Steven Julian: You just played one on this podcast. Steven Julian: So let me just, again, push back slightly on the word resources. Steven Julian: So we are talking about money. Steven Julian: There’s no question. Steven Julian: that is the main. Noah McNeely: Not just money. Steven Julian: Well, that was my question. Steven Julian: Don’t take my question away from me. Steven Julian: You definitely are not a professional when you did that. Noah McNeely: Clearly not. Steven Julian: So apart from money, what other resources can people bring to the table that you need to know about that will help you in helping them develop their products? Steven Julian: See how I did that? Steven Julian: Was that good? Steven Julian: All right. Noah McNeely: Thank you. Noah McNeely: So you may have other resources in terms of people in your network. Noah McNeely: You know, if you come in and say, I have this great idea and it’s for, you know, baseball players and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Noah McNeely: And okay, that’s great. Noah McNeely: But you don’t tell me, oh, and by the way, my cousin plays Major League Baseball. Noah McNeely: Well, you know, that’s a resource that we could know about. Noah McNeely: that can actually change my mind about how you would market this. Noah McNeely: Oh, well, maybe you don’t need all this money for marketing because your cousin can endorse it. Noah McNeely: Well, that may change what I advise you. Noah McNeely: on. Noah McNeely: