Yesterday I worked out how much they would cost in supplies, time to make them, and packaging.  You have to include packaging in your cost because packaging can get expensive.  I worked out that I can make 20 of these in 15 minutes, so that makes 80 in an hour.  I could pay someone to put them together for 15 cents each. 

So lets figure the cost of supplies is 25 cents, I will double that and charge 50 cents wholesale, and then double that again and charge $1.00 retail.  That is how most things work when it comes to pricing.  I think that electronics are different though. 

Most of the product that I made today will be given to students that I work with in the school district.  I am still working on seeing exactly how useful they are, how much the kids like them, and whether it will even be viable to sell them.  I’m not sure that it is even patentable.  I don’t know that at such a low cost, it would be worth the expense and effort to even start the patent process, and my product is so simple that I think a patent would be denied anyway.  They won’t issue a patent to something that is obvious.  Now while my product isn’t obvious to everyone, it could be considered obvious to other therapists.

If it was a different product, this is the time to do patent searches at http://www.uspto.gov.  You have to first research patents, because if there is already a patent out on your product, then it is not worth doing any work on it.  You will not be able to make any money on it, unless you are already a millionaire and you want to buy someone else’s patent.  I do not fall into that category.  My category is someone who will never see the money back that was spent on my last invention.  That is why I am very wary about how much money is spent.

I also have another route to go as a therapist.  Some of the big therapy product manufacturers will buy therapists’ ideas and manufacture them and put them in their catalogs.  I am not sure what route I will go.  I am just at the beginning stages.

Yesterday I spent much of the day working on packaging design in photoshop.  When I started my first invention, I didn’t know anything about photo editing and photoshop.  I just jumped in and learned it.  I have gotten pretty good at it.  I went through many stages yesterday.  I find that I have to make it in photoshop, print it out and see what I don’t like.  I changed things many times, and now have a good first package topper.  I will package my product in 4, 8, and 16 per package, and put them in a bag sealed with a heat sealer, and topped with a cardstock topper. 

A good way to figure out how your product should be packaged is to go to stores and look at how similar products are packaged.  You also need to look at the tags and product inserts to see what information needs to be on the packaging.  Another thing to do if you want your product to be in stores is to buy a bar code. 

I just got the idea for this product last week on Thursday when I was working with one of my students.  It is a small item, and will be very easy for me to make.  I am going to make several of them and give them to students that I work with for therapy.  That way, I can test them out on a controlled population and see how they work and what I need to change.

I did do some comparison internet searches, and there is a product out there that does a similar function, but it is more complex and does some other things too.  Mine is simpler, and could be more widely popular than just with the kids who need it.  As I get farther along, I will link to it and let everyone see it.  I doubt that I will go big with this as I don’t think that it is patentable, but I will make some and sell them at some point. 

Stay tuned to see how it all goes.  I will hand some out tomorrow to some teachers and students as I made a few over the weekend.

I then started using this with children with severe language weaknesses, such as children with autism and/or moderate cognitive disabilities. Instead of trying to get across that if they practiced buttoning and unbuttoning x number of times, then I would give them a reward, using the Fasten-ator was a much more natural cause-and-effect activity. They saw the desired item or icon go into the box, saw the buttons and/or zipper and/or snaps and/or clips and/or laces get done up (modeling!), and understood that to get the toy those fasteners needed to get un-done!

Some of the other OT’s I worked with asked if they could get one too. I wasn’t eager to spend another 10 hours sewing again, so — long story short — Abilitations was interested and started having them manufactured to sell.”

You can go to the abilitations website at http://www.abilitations.com/ and search for fasten-ator.  There isn’t a picture up there though.  I think that it is great that it was picked up as a product.