A few years ago I invented a plastic toy that makes building Hot Wheels tracks more fun. Occasionally, I get feedback that my TrackJack is too expensive. In fact, the first ever Amazon review I got said it was a clever, useful, and well-made product ... but too expensive — so they gave it 2 stars. The price was $24.99 (currently it's $29.99 and 4.4 ⭐s) Now, you may know that there's not a lot of room between $0 and $25 ... because ... math 😊 Of course I realize that most people are not aware of the costs of bringing a product to market. Some think the inventor pockets the entire selling price. The reality is that we might profit a few dollars per sale if everything goes perfectly well. Here's a list of all the costs to bring my TrackJack from idea to customer. 🟢 PREPARING INVENTORY - Manufacturing (sample, make, assemble) - Packaging (make, ship, assemble) - Barcode Fees - Shipping to Warehouse in USA - Shipping to Warehouse in Canada - Customs Brokerage Fees and Tariffs - Inventory Receiving Fee - Storage Fees (recurring) 🟢 SELLING - Reseller Listing Fee (Amazon, Walmart, Etsy) - Reseller Sales Fee (per order) - Shipping Materials - Order Fulfillment Fee - Shipping to Customer 🟢 BUSINESS OPERATIONS - Refund Risk and Costs - Marketing Costs and Risk - Business Operation Costs - Foreign Exchange Fees - Insurance Costs - Accounting Costs 🟢 INVENTING - Idea & Market Research - 3D Modeling - Prototyping - Testing - Find Manufacturer - Manufacturing Mold (limited lifespan) - Safety Testing - Product Naming - Product Photography - Brand Design (fonts, logos, messaging) - Legal & Trademark - Patent Application - Packaging Sourcing - Packaging Design - Packaging Die 🟢 FOUNDER / INVENTOR - Personal time to manage all of the above - High probability of failure 🟢 PROFIT - If everything goes perfectly well with a product that sells for less than $30, you might make a few dollars per sale. - Then you lose some of that to income taxes.

When I was in engineering school, I would look around my class and see students frenetically taking notes about what the instructor was saying. Realizing that the instructor was repeating the textbook and that you can't pay attention and take such detailed notes, I opened my textbook and simply highlighted the important parts. This led me to my note taking strategy that has worked well for me for 30 years as an entrepreneur and inventor where I've had thousands of meetings. The key is to document two things: ✅ Important information ✅ Action items. That's really all you need. Use bullets. Avoid the filler. My average meeting might have 10 to 20 bullets. When I used to use a paper notebook, I had a few icons to identify action items. Box for a to do ⏹️ (I check it off when done) emails (E), calls (C), internet research (I) — I use strikethrough to mark those done. I also draw a line down the middle of a page when everything is done on that page (or moved to another system) so I know it's been handled and that I don't have to look at it again. I tried for years to move to notetaking with an app to save me from duplicating my notes from paper to another system and eventually I settled on Workflowy — I like its simplicity, neatness, and instant access on all my devices. I've used OneNote, Evernote, and others but I find they have too much. Simplicity and speed are more important to me. Hardware systems I've tried include a Casio task thingie (early 1990s), Palm Pilot & Handspring Visor (late 1990s), HP iPAQ (2000s), Microsoft Surface 1 (2013-ish), Samsung Tab A with S pen (2016-ish), Remarkable Tablet (2020). Looked into but never bought into those pen/paper transmitting thingies. The attached video provides a brief demonstration.

I played our free Lemonade Stand Game for 7 simulation days and earned $63 in profit. Can you beat me at a game I designed? I didn't program it so you may still have a chance 🤓 Just click and play, no login needed, and only takes a few minutes — FreeLemonadeStandGame.com Post a screenshot of your results in the comments.

You may have seen this graphic before. But only the top two scenarios where the top shows someone starting to dig for diamonds and the one below it shows someone giving up just before breaking through. I have added two more panels to the graphic so that it properly represents the reality of entrepreneurship. You see, the original graphic is intended to communicate that you should never give up. If you just keep digging, you will succeed. But that's not true for many entrepreneurs. Sometimes we are digging in the wrong place — and continuing to dig is not going to help. Sometimes we need to pivot or give up and try something different. In fact, many successful entrepreneurs failed on their first, second, and third attempts. But they pivoted or decided to do something different altogether and eventually succeeded. The challenge is that it's very difficult to know when we should keep digging and when we should pivot or give up. But it helps to be aware of these possibilities and keep testing our assumptions to discover the best strategy going forward.

Part 11 of designing a new board game with live feedback from you — where you can influence the design. An educational board game for learning and teaching personal finance. The first design drafts are in! https://books.playgoventure.com/3/newsletter/274/help-me-design-a-board-game-part-11