Being in the invention idea business, I get a lot of questions, most asking, “is my idea good?” It’s difficult to answer, especially when the idea is someone’s personal project that they’ve nurtured for quite some time.

So, how do you know if your idea is a good one? Do some analysis. I’ve always been a fan of gathering data and bouncing my concepts off this information for validation, or to at least know how to turn my bad idea into a good one. A great place to begin is where you hope to end up  Invent Help — the marketplace. But before you go there, ask yourself a few questions.

Ask: What kind of product will my idea be InventHelp? What segment of the market will want to purchase this product? What purpose does it serve, and is their a large enough audience to justify it? If it solves a specific problem, do enough people have this problem to validate its existence on the market? Will it be used by old men, young women or by a teenager?

Once you answer questions like these, you’re ready to analyze the market. Based on your responses, you should have a pretty good idea of what kinds of companies would carry a product like yours and what stores might sell it. Take a look at similar products. You may find that someone else already sells your idea, which isn’t necessarily bad. Think of it as a springboard into a different invention idea. Does the product currently selling on the market lack something? Find it and try to make something better.

Gather all of this data together and try to better formulate your invention idea. A well thought idea will make it easier to turn it into something with value, because the tough thing with ideas is that they are just that. It’s very hard to evaluate an idea to know if it’s good or not. To truly do that, you need to turn that idea into something, which is your invention or product. Now this has value over just an idea. It can be tested in real life situations, you can interact with it and gather more data and even present it to a manufacturer or a corporation for potential licensing, often the end goal with most ideas. Remember it’s not an invention when it’s just an idea. Anyone can have ideas, even your idea. I know it may seem strange, but we humans often do think alike. But it’s not an invention until you’ve created it. This takes time and effort.

Also, the main benefit with thinking out your idea fully is to discover the process of manufacturing it. It may be a good idea, but if its cost to manufacture far outweighs its value on the marketplace, you’ll have some trouble finding an interested party.