yep, i agree with snakehips, sell the idea... get a lawyer first.

honestly, i'm an entrepreneur of sorts. what would you be selling? the process in which it takes to create the beads? would you provide detailed instructions? would you breakdown the costs and time averages to produce the product? My ears are privately perked ... hehe
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Scott it all comes down to how you want to handle it. There are many BOTL on the board that would be happy to take it over from you. Some would even give you a kickback :-) There is businesses out there that are not bad to work with. I know cigar caddy is ran buy a very good guy (Jamie). So what do you have in mind so far?
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Man I'm glad I've got enough beads for my needs right now :-)

I like the idea of selling your beads to a BOTL. An accessory company like Xikar is a great idea, maybe try talking to Viper at Heartfelt too.
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Scott I have used and promoted your beads when ever I could, they are simply a great product. It sounds like your not to worried about the cash or fame for the beads. You have a drive in you that is special and you will make a great decision no mater what. Good luck with your quest and if you need some one to bounce ideas off pm me
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Seriously scott, shoot me a pm.
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Just piping in here briefly.

The easiest option is to stop making them altogether.

The next easiest is to sell it to a good company like HeartFelt (he is active in here isn't he). Either he can start making a second line of beads, or he can just "suppress the competition" so to speak.

Another option is to sell instructions on how to make the beads, accept that the information gets out there, but this isn't too bad if you divorce yourself of any emotional tethers to the beads.

Another interesting option (the one I was really wanting to write about), is to turn this community into a sort of diffuse factory. You could give your process, supplier names etc to a number of BOTLs on the board her that you can trust. Figure out a way of getting them the deals on materials and services you might have been able to develop. Then, you could collect the orders, push the production out to these BOTL to produce, and then push out the shipment information for them to then mail them out.

You would want to control materials, delivery methods, production methods and timelines.

Then have those BOTLs set up electronic bank accounts that allow you to transfer into. You collect the sales moneys, push out supply supply and shipping costs along with their wages/profit to the BOTL and then receive feedback from the original purchaser at time of reception.

The great benefit to this is that people could get involved as needed, bow out when need be and it would possibly open the door to helping out alot of BOTL that may have found things difficult with the new economic environment.

Further, this could also allow you to pursue new market directions with the product if you wanted (or not). For instance, I bet the musical instrument industry has a significant need for humidification products.

But that is just my thoughts on this. One of the benefits is it would keep you getting some satisfaction from the beads, get you some extra income to pursue other inventions, allow you to expand if you want and help fellow BOTLs down on their luck.

Cheers

John
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Another thing I just thought about:

is it possible for you to take a hard look at your production methods and see whether their might be new and novel ways to do it all?

You might find a means which to triple your production and half your time. Then, you could even run a surplus of product, stockpile and then take extended hiatus for that and still supply your market. All the while actually doing that with less time.

Just another thought.

John
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:-)

I would look hard at your production methods and see if there is a way to stream line them or at least increase the amount of beads you produce at one time.
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I did a lot of talking to a bunch of brothers, and as a result I came upon a bunch of workable solutions.
I just got in another 110 pounds of beads and a couple bolts of fabric, so it looks like I'll be sticking it out for the long run.
Thanks to everyone who had advice. I really took it all to heart and it was a huge help. :-)
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Glad to hear you decided to stick it out Scott :-)
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You really need to get this rolling so we can all get in on the IPO... :-)
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I got some beads from Scott about a week ago. They have completely stabilized my humidor, and also my overflow Tupperware. I was already using beads, but once I added his, everything was perfect in one day.
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I remodeled a room upstairs into "the bead factory".
Mark (n2adventure) gave me a lot of ideas on how to manage the whole mess, and make the whole affair less intrusive.
It's definately helped just to get the stuff out of my sight and put away where it belongs. I just have to do little more work on the "manufacturing area" and it'll all be good to go.
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Good to Hear Buddy!:-):-)


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I do want to see this chicken.


If I was you Scotty, I would entrust the business to someone here on CA, and have them pay you for whatever sells. It's a no-risk, nothing lost, nothing gained type of arrangment. If beads sell you both make money, if they don't.....oh well. The key is trust. If you got that, you're golden!! :-)


When I made an agreement with the pro angler (Randy Howell) I sponsor) to adorn my logo on his apparel and website we agreed I would pay when stuff sold. Easy enough. No contracts. No obligations. Just real simple. THat was 3 years ago.
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Glad to hear you are sticking with it Scott. I will be placing my order hopefully by the end of the month.
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Hooray for the cottage industry! :-)

This is good for me, because I feel closer to figuring out my final storage arrangements after much fussing... beads were always part of the plan.
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