For a small business (about 12 physical products), how much should I charge for implementing an online selling platform?

Yes, it is possible to sell t-shirts through Instagram direct messages (DMs). I'd recommend using an online payment processor such as Stripe (https://stripe.com/), so you can accept orders and track your revenue. As your business grows, consider using an e-commerce platform like Shopify (https://shopify.com), so you can reach more people.

I've set up a number of online courses, and also supported other business owners in their online course creation and hosting. This is a huge topic with a number of variables. You may decide to host your course on your own Wordpress platform, in which case you'll need: - a website (if you don't already have one) - a member plugin - e-commerce plugin or means to accept payment There are lots of options within each of these, so a lot of decision-making to do! What's often considered simpler and easier is to use an online training platform. Again, there is a huge range of options and the choice will partly depend on your budget and the features you're after. There are a number of online articles that compare and contrast the features, but I've found the reviewer usually recommends the product they're affiliated with - or the one that suits them best. That doesn't mean their preference is best for you, it depends on your needs and resources. One product that seems very popular at the moment is Teachable. Prices range from a free plan to $39-$299 a month depending on the volume and features. Teachable has a stunning builder, a huge range of features and powerful marketing and analytics. It also integrates with MailChimp, Ontraport and a range of others. You'll need either a Stripe or a Paypal account to accept payments. If you want to give me a call I'd be happy to discuss your specific requirements further so you can have a clearer idea of the best course of action for you. I hope that helps. :-)

Unless you have a decent traffic or hugely demanded items larger comps might no be interested. Access to market is what leads companies to buy one another. I rencently bought a commercial cleaning company and merged it with my residential one to create an improved service with my people but leveraging the other company's subscriptions. I would not buy based on services, but buy either access to data, people or market. So your approach can be based on that rather than pitching a retailer with zero margins. Finding companies to pitch to is harder than it sounds and it literally simply comes down to you picking up the phone as much as you can. Good luck!

First of all, what you have is a provisional patent **application**. For now, the provisional patent application is not publicly available. This can be a big advantage to you. You can use this time to improve your invention and file additional provisional applications. If you don't plan on making/practicing the invention yourself, you should make sure to try to think of everything possible regarding how that invention can be improved. This would (hopefully) come naturally to a practicing inventor. When you file your non-provisional application, your disclosure will be made public ("published") 18 months from the filing of the non-provisional. While your applications are not publicly available, I suggest waiting until you file your non-provisional application(s) to talk to others. Quite often, provisional applications do not have the detail or the scope that the non-provisional will have -- due to the time spent on getting drawings accurate and making sure everything is included in your non-provisional applications. It is best to have a complete application before talking to practicing companies. Sophisticated companies will take advantage of information not disclosed in your provisional application to file their own patent applications. If your applications are not publicly available (or even they are published), you should sign confidentiality agreements (non-disclosure agreements) with anyone you talk to about licensing or buying your invention. Keeping track of who you talked to with confidentiality agreements can be the basis for "notice" of the invention by an infringer -- when they eventually steal your invention. You can sell your idea anytime, but a provisional application is worth a lot less than a non-provisional application which is worth less than an allowed application or issued patent. Provisional applications are generally not as complete as they could be -- and require additional time and finesse to complete the non-provisional application. In terms of appearances, if you are not willing to put in the money to file the non-provisional application, the invention is likely not worth that much money. Companies as well as non-practicing entities may look at provisional applications, but not for long, and will not give you the kind of money that you may get from selling a fully examined patent. Of course, it depends on how good your invention is.

We've used MeetingBurner with success for our webinars. The price point for a large audience is not too high. It also has recording and automated webinar capabilities.