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Innovator's Pursuit:
How One Man's Quest After Retirement
Turned His Innovation into an
American Icon
© By Stephen Paul Gnass
Imagine a man who's 65 years old, and at an age when
most people retire, begins a new 25-year career that
ultimately makes him a multi-millionaire!
But he didn't quite know this when he started out in
1952, took his first social security check of $105, and
hit the road to sell his secret recipe door to door
to restaurants.
In fact, I think most people would have thought that he
was kind of "crazy". After all, he was rejected by the
first 1008 restaurants that he approached with his offer
of getting paid 5 cents for every chicken the restaurant
sold using his secret chicken recipe. Yet he kept on
going.
And after two years of being on the road and traveling
across the country, he had only signed up five [5]
restaurants.
It's hard to imagine this man's persistence, determination,
and drive! But finally 12 years after he started, he had
more than 600 restaurants using his secret chicken recipe
in the United States and Canada. Many people don't
realize that he was also a pioneer in the concept of
establishing "franchises".
His hard work and dedication paid off. He was making
$300,000 yearly at the time that he cashed out for $2
million dollars when he sold his interest to a group of
investors in 1964. Then he continued as a spokesperson
for the company until his death at age 90 in 1980.
His name was Colonel Harland Sanders, the founder of
the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant franchise, also
known as KFC.
What's even more amazing, is that he went on the road to
sell his chicken recipe to restaurants, after being dealt
a bad blow by fate. You see, in his middle-aged years,
Colonel Sanders had a gas service station on a main road,
and started cooking meals for travelers who stopped by
to get gas.
Because his food was so popular, he then bought and
operated the Sanders Court & Cafe restaurant and motel
in Corbin, Kentucky, across the highway from his former
service station, serving his delicious and popular chicken.
But a major highway was planned away from his town,
which would divert travelers, and stop traffic to his
restaurant/motel business, so he was forced to close
it down and ended up broke. Most people would have
quit and resigned themselves to their fate.
However, instead of being crushed by defeat, and
letting this negative situation break his spirit,
Colonel Sanders made lemonade out of lemons, or rather,
he created the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise out
of his popular fried chicken recipe, made of 11 herbs
and spices, that he had perfected over many years
while owning his restaurant.
Interesting tidbit: His original chicken recipe took a
little too long to cook in an iron skillet since it
took about 30 minutes. It was when an invention, the
pressure cooker, was introduced in 1939 that Sanders
started using it in his restaurant and experimented
to come up with his ultimate "Original Recipe" in 1940
which considerably cut down the cooking time and
blended the flavors in a unique way. Today, KFC chicken
is still cooked in large pressure cookers.
So how is Colonel Sanders story related to inventing?
Patents are one area that most people are familiar with,
of an area that is called "Intellectual Property".
The KFC secret chicken recipe falls under another
area of "Intellectual Property" called a "trade secret".
This means that the recipe must be closely guarded,
for example, only a few executives at KFC ever know what
the full recipe is, and their names and titles are also
kept secret. For 20 years, the KFC recipe was kept in
a filing cabinet with two combination locks, behind a
door with three locks, inside a vault.
The vendors that provide the ingredients, as well as
the plant that puts all the ingredients together, only
know bits and parts of the full recipe.
According to KFC, Colonel Sanders once said, "It boggles
the mind just to think of all the procedures and
precautions the company takes to protect my recipe,
especially when I think how Claudia (his wife) and I
used to operate. She was my packing girl, my warehouse
supervisor, my delivery person-you name it. Our garage
was the warehouse."
The value of this "trade secret" recipe is staggering,
resulting in 14,892 restaurants worldwide (end of 2007)
and U.S. sales of 5.3 billion (2007).
On September 9, 2008, Colonel Sander's 68-year-old
original, yellowed, handwritten recipe made the news
when it was moved from KFC's corporate offices for
the first time in decades because KFC was increasing
the security for the secret recipe.
Amidst an army of security guards and hired off-duty
police officers, the original recipe was put inside a
briefcase, handcuffed to a security expert, and taken
in an armored car to a temporary secret location while
the security upgrades were made at the company head-
quarters. In February 2009 it was returned to the
upgraded vault.
This story shows us the value of "Intellectual Property"
in commercializing ideas. First we have the "trade
secret" process to ensure that the KFC secret chicken
recipe stayed secret.
You may wonder, what's the difference between a "trade
secret" and a patent? With a patent, inventors are in
essence rewarded with a 20 year monopoly in exchange
for revealing the secrets of how the product works.
After the 20 years, the invention goes into the "public
domain" and anybody can manufacture and sell it.
TIP: This is why I always emphasize that inventors
shouldn't rush to get a patent right away. Getting a
PPA or applying for a regular patent too soon starts
the clock ticking on the 20 year duration of the patent.
Additionally, it's important to know your options. This
is a great example of what I mean when I say that I
help people see their "options". I've seen too many
people blindly rush out to get a patent, and as you
can see in this story, it may not be the best form of
protection for certain products.
With a trade secret, an inventor or company can maintain
the rights of a formula, or the inner workings of a
product indefinitely, beyond the 20 years of a patent
grant. So there are some circumstances where secrecy,
that is, keeping it a "trade secret", is a better option.
According to KFC, "The Secret Recipe's new high-tech home
is like something out of a Hollywood movie. The custom-
built, digital FireKing safe protecting the Secret Recipe
weighs more than 770 lbs and has a 1/2" thick steel door.
The computerized safe also boasts a dual-opening system
that requires both a smart key and a personal identifi-
cation number (PIN). A built-in silent alarm and time
lock feature provide additional layers of safekeeping,
which will alert the security team of any attempted
intrusion and allow access to the safe only during pre-
set periods of time.
But the new safeguards don't end with the safe. The
vault housing the new safe is reinforced with two feet
of concrete in the ceiling, walls and floor to ensure
that no one can tunnel or drill into the vault.
Additionally, the vault and safe are now under 24-hour
video and motion-detection surveillance."
Second, another area of "Intellectual Property" was
utilized, called "trademarks". Trademarks are the
special brand names that identify a product. The
names "Kentucky Fried Chicken" and "KFC" were trade-
marked to establish a special branding and identity
for his secret chicken recipe.
But perhaps the most important part of this story is
Colonel Sanders himself. Many beginning inventors
believe that their invention idea will sell itself and
make them a millionaire from one day to the next, if
they can just find that one magic contact. I'm always
getting requests for the magic "list" of contacts.
By the way, there's no such thing, it takes some work
to dig out the right list for your specific product,
and make a note, I can guide you through this process.
What people with new ideas don't seem to understand, is
that the success of any idea, no matter how good it is,
rests with the individual him/herself. I often tell
inventors that to succeed, inventors usually have to
push and pull the invention through the process. This
is what Colonel Sanders did, he kept at it, until he
succeeded. That's why the following quote is one that
I often use.
"Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your
ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down
people's throats."
--------Howard Aiken (1900-1973)
Co-Inventor of the Computer
You can see this with Colonel Sanders. Obviously, his
secret recipe had value from the very beginning. But
why did the first 1008 restaurants he approached refuse
it, and only 5 restaurants signed on in the first two
year period? We don't know, but without his personal
drive, persistence, dedication, and perseverance,
nothing would have happened, no matter how good his
chicken recipe was.
So in the final analysis, no matter how good an
invention is, what inventors usually don't factor
into the inventing process, is that the success of
an invention ultimately depends on the inventor's
personal traits and qualities, skills, drive, motivation,
and willingness to do whatever it takes to succeed.
Even if an inventor has a truly great product, if
the inventor has traits such as being a procrastinator,
always starts and stops on projects, is looking for
the easy way out, or is rude, aggressive and
unprofessional on calls, etc., these negative traits
will affect his invention's potential.
Once a person with an idea has an attitudinal shift from:
[Doomed to Failure] "I've got a million dollar idea
and I'm looking for the easy way where someone else
can do the work for me, and I'll reap the results"
to
[Increasing the Odds of Success] "I've got a million
dollar idea and I'm willing to do whatever it takes,
and I'm looking for guidance and help on making the
right decisions and learning the process, and realize
that there isn't any amount of money that I can pay
to anybody else to make me successful, I need to be
involved in the process",
then he/she will be on the right path.
If Colonel Sanders had hired someone else to hit the
road for him, how many failed attempts do you think it
would have taken before that person quit - 100, 200,
300, 400, 500, 600, etc.? Probably just two or three!
I don't think they would have survived 1008 rejections
and making only five sales in 2 years! Without Colonel
Sanders doing it himself, I don't think the recipe
would have stood a chance.
So like the Colonel, the main point in this story is
that you, the inventor, are the key determining factor
in your own success.
Inventing is NOT a cookie cutter process. It's different
for every person, depending on the individual type of
product, the person's experience with business, his/her
determination and personal qualities, and knowledge
about the inventing process.
And "success" also doesn't mean the same thing to everyone,
it's specific to the individual's life goals, the product,
etc. It's not an overnight process, there are a thousand
incremental successes before finally hitting pay dirt,
along with years of dedication, and then again, success
is never guaranteed.
That's not to say that you won't need to use some services
along the way, because you will definitely need other
services. But they should be bought on an a-la-carte
basis. What does "a-la-carte" mean? It means that
instead of going to a company that offers to do the
whole process of invention development for you, that
you go through the process yourself and hire any service
on a piecemeal basis, only "when" they're needed and
"if" it's determined by you that they're needed.
I know that it can be complicated trying to figure out
what services are needed, and which aren't, on your
inventing journey, and which services are actually
legitimate. Most services you'll need can be had for
little money, and sometimes for no money. So you'll
most likely need education, guidance, help, and coaching,
and this is where I believe that I can help you.
Bottom line, the most successful athletes, business
people, and professionals use the guidance and personal
help from trainers, coaches, mentors, and advisors all
the time, it's very common in the business and sports
worlds. My consulting service is unique, based upon my
experiences with thousands of inventors over several
decades.
As more inventors understand that they must be responsible
for their own invention's success, and take the approach
of studying, learning, and going through the process
themselves, I believe that more and more inventions
will begin to be successful in the marketplace.
How I Can Help You with this Process
Along the inventing path, questions always come up,
unexpected problems surface, confusing decisions need
to be taken.
I'm an inventor's coach, a tutor, an advisor who helps
inventors by working with them one-on-one, showing them
the best strategies and approaches with their specific
inventions, to fit their budget. Because I'm an
impartial guide, I'm objective with my solutions.
From the beginning stages of the inventing process, to
the final signing of a deal, I have a wealth of infor-
mation gathered throughout decades in this field, that
provide inventors with many shortcuts, alternatives,
and cost-saving techniques that they often don't know
about.
My Coaching Supplements Anything Else You May Be Doing
What I do in my coaching is unique and supports any other
service you may be using and can often save you money
with those services and enhance those services. Sometimes
you may even find out that you don't need some of those
services. For example, I can help you evaluate any
products or services that you may need such as prototypes,
infomercials, industry trade shows, etc. For example,
as an entrepreneur, do you need to have your product
made in the U.S. or Asia?
Some examples of how I help through my consultation
service are:
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Review and feedback on emails, letters and help writing
letters:
I review email inquiries, or letters expressing interest or
rejection from companies and give you my feedback on
what to do next as well as guidance in drafting a reply
letter which I'll also review and provide feedback on.
I do this all the time with clients that who use my
consulting service on an hourly basis as well as cyber-
exhibitors who are on the InventionConnection.com
cybershow.
Review and analyze licensing agreements:
I review and analyze licensing agent agreements, licensing
agreements or other agreements and provide recommendations
for making sure it's beneficial to the inventor, not a
lop-sided deal.
Personal introductions and referrals:
If I happen to have personal contacts that I know at a
company related to the inventor's product, I may provide
an introduction and referral to the specific person who
might be able to help or work with the inventor, or at
least give him some valuable feedback. This could be
a patent attorney, a prototype maker, a lawyer, an
engineer, or on occasion even a famous inventor or
author that I may know, etc.
Organizations and resources:
Or I may point you to an organization that offers the
technical expertise that you need for your specific
invention, an organization that you would never have
thought of going to on their own.
Filling in missing pieces:
Very often, there are missing pieces that inventors have
overlooked, and I help them backtrack and fill in these
necessary parts.
Help focus and guide inventor:
If the inventor is going in a lot of different directions,
I help them determine what they want to accomplish, and
then help steer them in the right direction. Most of
the time inventors are failing because they don't know
what they want, and are doing the wrong things.
Suggestions for books, organizations, companies, etc.
Depending on where the inventor is at in the process, I
provide direct resources and book recommendations that
he needs. This may be an association, or a company, or
person, etc.
Solutions for problems:
If an inventor is experiencing problems like in getting
a patent issued, or making a prototype that works, I
offers alternatives and solutions that very often solve
the problem. With infringement problems, I put them
in touch with contacts I have, or guide them on how to
make sure they're protected.
Empowering You to "Do-It-Yourself" with My Support,
Guidance and Help
My consulting service is unique, based upon my experiences
with thousands of inventors over several decades.
It's available in one hour increments, at my hourly rate
of $99/hr but I also have packages of hours at discount
rates. Packages over 5 hours include unlimited "Quick
Questions" (questions that can be answered by email or
phone in under 10 minutes). Note: This is a guidance
service and I do not take any percentages.
www.businessofinventing.com/consulting.html
You can use me for an hour at a time for $99/hr. Or
you can get a lower hourly rate with the purchase of
a discount package of hours i.e. 3 hours, 5 hours,
10 hours, etc.
There's no retainer, no minimums, and no obligation
on any amount of hours. You can get hours on an as-
needed basis, as you go along. They can be used anytime,
they don't expire. They are utilized in 15 minute
increments, they don't need to be used all at once.
There's no surprise billing, you approve all hours
ahead of time.
I often supplement the phone consultations by sending
you support follow-up information related to our call.
I also allow recording the call so that you can listen
to it again after the call, and pick up anything that
you don't remember.
There's no timetable on my part, you set the pace
depending on your needs, I'll work around your
schedule and I'll help you develop a plan and strategy
on tackling this project. Here's a link to "Frequently
Asked Questions" on how this works.
Click Here
Subscriber Special: 10 Hours for $750 ($75/hr)
Good for 5 days from this email
For those of you with projects who need some ongoing
feedback and guidance, we have a Subscriber
Special of 10 hours for $750, bringing the hourly rate
down to $75/hr ($99/hr retail).
You can utilize these packages of hours for guidance
with any aspect of the inventing process. If you have
specific projects, I can always give you a quote on
any project you need assistance with. This can be
for analyzing a proposal or agreement, helping you
with negotiations, etc.
You can secure a package of 10 hours for only $750,
a package that's normally $999 retail. As a bonus, it includes
Unlimited Quick Questions which are questions that
can be answered in under 10 minutes by email or phone.
Just email us to secure this special rate. If you need us
to hold it for you for a short time, or need to make a
couple of payments, no problem, just email us at
gnass@businessofinventing.com.
Or, take a look at these special package rates for
3 to 30 hours:
Click here
Note1: packages over 5 hours include unlimited "Quick
Questions" that can be answered by email or phone
in under 10 minutes.
Note2: There are some cases where package rates don't
apply.
---- TESTIMONIAL ----
You Zeroed in on What We Needed to Do and Showed Us
Exactly How to Move Towards Bringing Our Dreams
to Fruition
"Mr. Gnass, You gave me contacts, priceless
suggestions on manufacturing, licensing approaches,
insights into the inner workings of the toy industry,
the importance of keeping daily logs, having the logs
notarized and so much more. My sister immediately visited
one of your suggested contacts in New York... My partners
and I, are still amazed at how you were able to give
us so much important and productive information in such a
short period of time. You zeroed in on what we needed to do
and showed us exactly how to move towards bringing our
dreams to fruition."
---Eileen Morris
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More Testimonials:
www.businessofinventing.com/testimonials.html
Subscriber Special: Double-Up CyberExhibiting
Package for $745 - 2 yrs CyberExhibiting with 4 Hours
of Phone Consultations
Good for 5 days from the date of this email
-----------------------------------------------------
I say that there are two ways to attempt to find potential
licensees: one is through a proactive personal submission
process, and the other is through passive advertising
venues like the InventionConnection.com online showcase
which is a web page advertisement to help you get potential
leads and prospects. I believe that both are necessary in
order to help increase the odds of finding a potential
licensee.
The cyber show gives you a "passive" venue for showcasing
your invention so that interested parties can find your
licensing opportunity, we get five million hits a year
and 150,000 unique visitors a year. The cyber-show
exhibiting is 2 years (1 year plus 1 year bonus) from
the date that it goes online. In addition, I guide you
with one-on-one help to assist you through the process
of taking a pro-active approach and submitting yourself.
www.businessofinventing.com/cybershow.html
Four hours of phone consultations (2 hours plus 2 hours
bonus) are included with a cyber-exhibiting package.
Additionally, Unlimited Quick Questions that can be
answered in under 10 minutes by email or phone
24/7/365, are included with the cyber-exhibiting package.
You can use these phone consultations for help in
qualifying whether the companies that contact you are
legitimate, or if you need me to review any proposals,
agreements, or help you with making the contacts, I
can assist you through the process with one-on-one
phone consultations and follow it up with any necessary
back-up info, whether resources, references, etc.
You can secure a discount price of $745 for a Double-Up
Cyber-Exhibiting package which doubles the cyber-
exhibiting time from 1 year to 2 years; the consulting
time from 2 hours to 4 hours; and doubles the Quick
Questions from 1 years to two years.. Normally, this
package is $845 for just 1 year of cyber-exhibiting with
2 hours of consulting.
Our "Double Up" CyberExhibiting package right now is
only $745 and includes:
www.businessofinventing.com/cybershow.html
--2 years of cyber-exhibiting (1 year with a 1 year bonus)
--4 hours of phone consultations --valued at $400 (2 hours
with 2 hours bonus),
--unlimited "Quick Questions" (questions that can be
answered by email or phone in under 10 minutes.
This is an advertising/guidance program, basically tools for
you to utilize in your process of inventing. Remember that
you're going through the process yourself with my guidance,
I do "not" act as a licensing agent, nor take any
percentages nor ownership of the invention. This is "not"
an upfront fee, you are specifically paying for an advertising
web page, to advertise and showcase your opportunity,
which also includes phone consultations.
Whether or not you're ready to cyber-exhibit right now,
you can secure the following discount that I am extending
to you, and start using the 4 hours of consultations right
away regarding any current follow up you need to do.
The 2 years of exhibiting will start after you approve
the cyber-booth and it goes online.
Just email us to secure either special rate. If you need us
to hold it for you for a short time, or need to make a couple
of payments, no problem, just email us at:
gnass@businessofinventing.com to make your reservation.
If you have any questions, send me an email at gnass@
businessofinventing.com or let's schedule an appointment,
and let's see what I can do to help you keep moving
along with your invention path. I look forward to touching
base soon. As always, wishing you the best with your
invention's success.
Best regards,
Stephen Gnass
*****************************************
"Don't just sit there, invent something.
And if you invented something, don't just
sit there."
....................Stephen Gnass
*****************************************
ABOUT STEPHEN GNASS:
Stephen Paul Gnass is founder of InventionConvention.com,
Executive Director of the National Congress of Inventor
Organizations [NCIO] and an inventors advocate. Mr.
Gnass speaks on the subject of the "Business of
Inventing"[tm] and has had his articles reprinted in
various magazines. As Senior Consultant with the Gnass
Group, he consults independent inventors and small
businesses. He can be emailed at
mailto:gnass@businessofinventing.com or visit
http://www.businessofinventing.com.
***************************************
COMPLIMENTARY BRAINSTORM:
If you're further along the path of inventing and are
ready to launch your product, and need assistance in
determining whether to license your idea or build a
company around your invention, I'll be more than happy
to offer you a Complimentary Brainstorm, no obligation.
For a Complimentary Brainstorm, please be sure to
include your phone number with area code and your
time zone [continental U.S.] with the best times to
call you back in your email. If you're in Canada
or another country, email us for special instructions.
Sincerely,
Stephen Paul Gnass
mailto:gnass@businessofinventing.com
P.S. I offer 2 hours of brainstorming as part of the
cyber-exhibiting program. Or, if you have special
projects or problems and you need some brainstorming,
I also offer a-la-carte consulting sessions with a
special rate for inventors.
***************************************
Disclaimer: Situations like these, that I describe in
these articles, are snapshots at the time that I write
them. Things may change, for example, the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office rules or laws may change, etc.
This article is for general information purposes only
and is not a substitute for legal counsel or financial
services. The information provided is accurate to the
best of our knowledge, and we are not liable for any
omissions or incorrect information. It is the responsi-
bility of the reader to verify any legal information
with appropriate professionals. If you need specific
legal assistance, we recommend that you contact an
attorney or accountant.
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