Jon Goldman, owner of lumpymail.com, was one of the class speakers at Invention University. Here are a few highlights from his presentation:

* Fail forward quickly – use amazon store, ebay, yahoo store to get your product out there
* Create a mailing that looks like a newspaper
* Obey the law of reciprocity
* 81% of customers buy after the 5th contact/mailing, a huge jump from the first through fourth contact
* On the flip side, only 10% of people send out 5 mailings
* Anyone can make a big promise, just be able to backup and prove your promise
* He used one of the inventor’s marketing sheets as a case study. Here were the suggested improvements:

o Tell a story
o Give a promise
o Put a caption on pictures
o Reduce the amount of text
o Be specific

* Using word “because” raises responses by 33%
* Put a skeptical headline in testimonials
* 4 Step Marketing Forumula

o Discuss the problem
o Agitate the problem
o Solve the problem
o Create the story

* 5 Emotional Hot Buttons to Push

o Desire to look good
o Fear of loss
o Avoid hassle, worry
o Comfort & pleasure
o Desire to save $$

In he walks, like a caricature. You can hear him before you can even see him. What is that sound you ask yourself? A kazoo. When you turn around to look at him, there is a 6 foot something, skinny, African-American man wearing a watermelon hat, a watermelon shirt, black slacks, and watermelon shoes.

That, my friends, is Wally “Famous” Amos in a nutshell. This exuberant positive energy exudes the room, lighting up everyone who sets eyes on him.

I had the pleasure of meeting “Famous” Amos, founder of “Famous” Amos Cookies, and hearing him speak at the INPEX show the other week. Here are the important points from his improvised talk.

Wally on History
Wally started with a history lesson, telling us that Ruth Wakefield invented chocolate chip cookies in the 19th century. She owned an in called Toll House, and her cookies became known as Toll House Cookies (like the brand that exists today).

Wally on His Life
Before starting retail stores that sold chocolate chip cookies, Wally worked in the entertainment business. As an agent for various entertainers – he booked the Supremes and other well known acts – he needed a way to stand out. Using a recipe given to him by his mother, Wally started baking chocolate chip cookies and using them as his calling card. Now he was memorable.

One thing led to another, and Wally became better known for his cookies over time. Quincy Jones suggested he open a store. After finding, losing, and re-finding investors (including Marvin Gaye) to back the first store to sell cookies, “Famous” Amos Cookies was born.

From what I gathered, his business was successful. However, somewhere along the way he didn’t manage the business properly and was removed by the company. Now a major conglomerate owns his name “Famous” Amos and has even sued Wally over trademark infringement.

After losing his business, Wally was in a rut. However, he pulled himself out of the rut by merely changing his attitude from one of negativity, to one of positivity. He has been the kazoo-blowing, watermelon wearing Wally ever since.

He has used his fame to improve literacy rates among children. Recently he has decided to again open retail stores selling cookies and toys. Find out more at www.chipandcookiestore.com.

Wally’s Words of Wisdom

• Life is funny. Life takes unintended directions. But that’s okay, just keep a good attitude and you’ll pull through.
• Work together – “I am more than I am, but less than we are”
• The small person wants credit, the big person wants nothing
• Everyone has access to the same resources he did, just look around, ask the right questions.
• Don’t worry about what others think – use that energy instead to move your product forward
• Don’t be defined by stuff, what you do, friends, or status – what really matters is that you know yourself.
• Everyone is unique. Everyone is a collector’s item.
• Giving is receiving

When a cell phone went off in the room. In true Wally fashion, he hummed his kazoo to the ringtone melody.

We briefly spoke to Wally and he agreed to do an interview with us. Stay tuned for more Wally!

Inventors often have to tread a lonely path. And often, to achieve real breakthroughs, you have to think different. And what better way than to follow in the footsteps of two young guys, Larry Page and Sergei Brin, the founders of Google, who changed the world with their search engine? These guys dared to set their sights high and refused to compromise along the way. They overturned established norms and paved their own path.

If the thought of changing the world with your invention enthuses you, going the Google way is your best bet. Larry and Sergei have achieved their impossible dream with a strong commitment to their philosophy. Follow the path they’ve shown, and you’re sure to reach the heights you never imagined that you could.

Aim for the Sky

Make your dreams big. When you reach out for the moon, you may not quite make the cut; but rest assured, you won’t turn up with a handful of mud either. Break the status quo, think different! Strive to make the world a better place!

Banish Fear

Make sure your dream fires you up. Dare to make audacious moves, and never penalize for failure. Move fast, and keep learning all the way. No matter if you fail or make a wrong turn… pick yourself up, correct course and push ahead.

Be bold

If the guys at Google are afraid of anything, they fear fear itself. They are frightened of not being bold enough, daring enough… of not thinking big enough. Break the barriers and bulldoze away your mental roadblocks. You are the only one who can hold you back.

The story of Google is a story of dreaming big. Be sure to follow the philosophy that helped create he most successful search engine the world has ever seen, and you’d be well on your way to making your mark on the world with your own amazing invention!

As large corporations spend billions of dollars for R&D, but often fail to come up with innovations that match the hype, we steer our attention towards the place from where the likes of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Larry Page and Sergei Brin started their careers. This magical place, the Garage, where astounding technologies and great personalities were born… These personalities then moved on with their technologies to bigger, fancier buildings, but the Garage was never left empty.

The Garage continues to be populated with passionate inventors working furiously toward the next big breakthrough. Though personalities like Jobs, Gates, Sergei and Brin are rare, exciting innovations are not, as we discover year after year. People come out with ‘WOW!’ products which are frequently very simple and relatively inexpensive, but are nevertheless very useful and potentially great…

A few days ago, I read a piece in Popular Mechanics about the annual Maker Faire bonanza, which is one such event that attracts fantastic ‘Garage Inventions’, some of which are superior to their well-known predecessors and unlike them are very wallet friendly. This year Maker Faire had its share of exhilarating stuff like algae-gargline biofuel pumps and fire-breathing robots, along with inventions which had the potential of kicking out well-established offerings of huge corporations. A few examples…

There was Tony De Rose’s Open source multi-touch table, which is a laptop-powered version of Microsoft’s much-hyped Surface but costs way less at $500, that includes $100 towards the cost of the maple used in the table. Next was Chris Benton’s Hand-built UAV Sharpshooters which consisted of a bunch of cameras and remote-control circuitry rigged to drug-store frame kites. The contraption keeps taking pictures on its own till the battery or the memory is exhausted… and the best part is it costs a lot less than renting a helicopter to take those snaps. Then there was Doug Lonner’s Solar-Powered Stirling Engine (a closed-cycle piston heat engine). It’s a breakthrough gadget powered by the sun, to which one should add that it can handle torque up to 70 rpms without using the valves that are required for Sterling power.

These are just a few of the amazing new products on display, a number of which offer customers a better and cheaper alternative. We are now witnessing a rapid rise of the small inventors. The Internet boom is helping them like never before. The Internet has opened up the field by making information freely available. Inventors now have access to a number of tools and resources. They can communicate with their peers, share information, access databases and in turn, reach out to the world with their ideas, something they could only dream of doing before. As the Internet levels the field, it’s big time for the small inventors!

Thomas Alva Edison was one of the most prolific inventors in the history of the world, holding over a thousand patents in his name in USA alone, in addition to a number of patents in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. This was a guy who knew what it takes to innovate successfully day after day. Needless to say, you can make great strides if you can understand and follow the Edison method, a sure-shot blueprint for success.

Often people mistakenly believe that Edison was a lone genius. But actually, he was quite a team person who knew how to get the best out of the people who worked with him. His systematic approach to success is a formula that can be used in all aspects of life, and especially to innovating, Edison’s specialty.

Edison’s Way

Think Solution – Edison knew exactly what he wanted and went for it passionately. Working with a solution in mind is the best method to cut through all the clutter and distractions.

Consider all angles – Edison made it a habit of approaching a problem from all sides. This gave him a number of different perspectives and helped him to visualize the best solution.

Be in the Now! – Being able to focus all his attention and energy into one thing at a given moment was one of Edison’s greatest strengths. He was always present in the moment.

Two heads are better than one – Edison believed in creating master-mind groups to bring out the best ideas from his people, creating a synergy of minds.

Think ahead – Edison thought all the way, from visualizing a product to taking it to the market. He focused on creating revolutionary products that would help people solve their problems.

All of us can think like Edison if we want, and create great inventions to be proud of. The master used to say, “If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”

So what do you say… why don’t we astound ourselves for a change?

WOW! If you have watched The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, then you know what a powerhouse the man is. And, yes ladies, he is as good looking in person as he is on TV! He is genuinely interested in helping people become encouraged to fallow their dreams. I say that because I used to wonder if he was really about being a celebrity or helping people. It’s still TV and drama helps the ratings, so I found that there was some typical embellishment of numbers and stories, but at the end of the day, it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I have been on numerous television programs for my success, Ananda Lewis, Dr. Phil and others, but Donny, YOU are number one!

These are some of the inventors from the North Plains Inventors congress. We have two other videos in our blog, and a video of the expert panel in our Education section on patents.

Here is our interview of Senator Kent Conrad, one of the big supporters of Marketplace for Entrepreneurs. FYI, the North Plains Inventors Congress is just one piece of the Marketplace event (see earlier blog). For more videos visit our news room or our youtube site.

Michael Neustel, spoke to us about the importance of the North Plains Inventors Congress. Mr. Neustel is also the organizer of the event, a patent attorney, and an inventor himself.

We just got word that Lisa Lloyd, partner and advisor to IdeaTango, will be appearing on The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch TONIGHT at 9PM on CNBC. Check your local listings for more info.

What a whirlwind this has been. Last week while we were in North Dakota, she received a call from the producers of the show, who had found her through her Dr. Phil appearance a few years back.

So 48 hours later (or 5 days ago) they’ve decided to fly Lisa up there for taping on January 24th. We thought for sure that if she taped tonight, it would be a few weeks before she was actually “on TV.” How wrong we were!

Donny and his staff must operate at light speed, because they told Lisa TODAY after they taped her that she would be aired TONIGHT! She’ll be writing more about her experience here and also on the Big Idea Blog. We promise to have the video up as soon as we can, so keep checking back.