Mark Richards is an idea guy. His company, Richards Group, has successfully launched several lucrative enterprises, most of which started out as ideas jotted down in a little black notebook.

Mark's newest idea-turned-business is in the toy industry. Leveraging the hot new arena of “consumer-generated” products, he has launched ToyDesignContest.com, a site where anyone can submit their designs for Mark's new toy idea: Starbys.

Mark's innovation isn't limited to his ideas; his execution is also leading edge. For example, the ToyDesignContest.com website was designed and developed by a team of Elance professionals – WIN Information Technology (Elance username: winit) created the site; Cogo Studios (Elance username: cogostudios) submitted the winning design for Tinker, the first toy in the line and the “ambassador” of the Starbys; Johnnie Blue Star (Elance username: moviewriter) wrote Tinker's story.

While Mark is a raving fan of Elance, he freely admits that he has learned a lot, and continues to learn, from the experience. Here are a few of the insights he has gained while assembling his team of trusted online collaborators:

• The cleaner the communication, the better the results. Because of the virtual nature of the work, it is worth devoting extra time to craft clear communications, requests, and instructions to his bidders and providers.
• A partnership approach produces better results. Mark is naturally collaborative, and understands that misunderstandings can happen on both sides. In these cases, he will work with a provider to achieve a mutually agreeable solution.
• Using a trial project before awarding the “big one” is a good insurance policy. Mark posted smaller-scoped projects and awarded them to multiple bidders in order to “audition” providers before going forward with larger, business-critical project posts.

There are many more ideas in Mark's little black notebook.