Business is the Mother of Invention - Not the other way around!

Two of the most famous inventors in history were diametrically opposed. Tesla was an inventor but Edison was an Inventor/Businessman. Telsa died virtually penniless despite huge contributions to society and Edison's fortune is still there today. The two men actually knew each other when Tesla first came to America. Why the history lesson?

I am well known for my opinion on patents and how they relate to business. In a nutshell, I do not believe simply inventing/patenting something is going to get you rich and spending money on expensive patent attorneys, prototypes and studies is only going to make someone else rich. Ideas are a dime a dozen and do not sell themselves. That takes a solid business system and brilliant marketing. Almost any decent invention can make you rich with the system/marketing combo. You don't even have to invent something to sell it.

Check out the father of patent licensing at: http://www.cossman.net/ This is the guy that made millions from ant farms and fly cakes.

Having said that, I am going outside my usual thoughts and giving some good videos and patent resources.

US Patent and Trademark Office where you can search patents. I use it to get ideas for new products. You can actually search a specific company and see their devices before they are even released to the public. Click here for an example of APPLE.

http://inventors.about.com/

http://www.blogger.com/www.Inventnow.org

Info! Gimme More Info. Don't Tease Me!

I ABSOLUTELY HATE ads that do not give any info. What's worse is an ad you have to call to even get a price or to see a photo.

I recently passed a sign while driving to a park. It said, "Lot for Sale. 555-5555". It was huge! Someone probably spent a ton of money having it made. Mind as well given that money to charity as it would have did more good.

Why?

It had none of the information a potential buyer would be looking for. Here are the questions that should have been answered for me.

• Who is selling it?
• What exactly are they selling?
• What size is the property?
• What comes with it?
• HOW MUCH? (if you can't put it on a sign, it's too much!).
• Is there a way for me to get further information?

Here is what the sign should have said: "70FTX120FT empty builder lot for sale. $150,000. Contact John at 555-5555 or visit http://www.xyzproperty.com/ for further details and photos."

The thing is, people don't want to call someone just to get info these days. They don't want to talk to a live person and waste their valuable time for information that should have been on the sign. We live in the age of instance information gratification so don't handicap your business by not answering people's questions and wasting their valuable time.

Don't Waste Time

Time is worth more than money. More specifically, YOUR time (as a business builder) is worth more than money. Hands down!

People often focus only on saving money when they should be thinking about saving TIME.

Each thing I do while working IN my business I say to myself, "How can I do this faster? Can I pay someone else to do this so I can put my time on more important things?" I don't think for one second, "How can I do this cheaper?" I think, if I spend money on this product, how much time will it save and how much will that time cost me? If I hire someone to wash this wall, how much time does that save me?"

Why?

Because once your business has grown, YOU will not be doing all the jobs you think you are saving money on. In other words, at some point you will be having to pay someone for THEIR TIME. This can vary according to the skill. Let's look at how much skill versus time cost and then think if you are really saving money.

Rates in my city (Windsor, ON Canada)
1) General Labour $8 to 10/hr
2) Skilled (construction) $15 to 20/hr
3) Professional Services $30 to $100/hr
4) Exec, Visionary $250 to 500/hr

Ok, let's say you are a #4 doing the work of a #1. In eight hours you are actually losing $3,920 (8X500=$4,000 minus 8X10 = $80)

Now as regards to products saving time. I use a spinner to wash paint rollers. It saves about 10 minutes of cleaning and cost me $20. Let's say it has saved me 100 hours over the life of the tool. That tool will have saved me $180 of labour I would have paid someone to wash rollers the old fashion way. The same could be said about buying a photocopier instead of running to a store to make copies.

Always consider time; do not just focus on money.

And always remember, each time you are trying to save money by doing something yourself, it is likely costing you 100 times more than you thought. Your time is worth a fortune as the business builder!

Answer A Question, Get A Prize; Business!

I have been considering selling my home recently. Another similar model just sold down the street and I thought I would call the agent that represented the seller (don't get me started on the ethics and tactics of R/E Agents).

I had one question for him, "How much did the house sell for?"

He called me back quickly and I asked the question. He started into a spiel about how real estate is priced and he would have to see the house, blah blah. BUT, and this is the part that surprised me, he blurted the price it went for and explained in detail why it went for what it did.

I was shocked. Not at the price it went for (it went for exactly how much I predicted, I know the market). I was shocked that he answered my question.

Most agents I know will not do this. They figure they have a potential client on the phone and want to reel them in. But what most agents do not factor in is the sophistication of their clients.

For example, I know the real estate market in my city. It is my business to know. I know what RENTS, what Sells and why it Sold or didn't sell. In the case of this house, I merely wanted to know if my prediction was correct and base the sale of my own house on this. In other words, I just didn't have the data I required and he had it.

I didn't have an agent in mind (I don't have luck with many agents as my business is sort of anti-agent oriented). But I do have an agent in mind now. Why? The guy answered my question. He tried to figure out the sophistication of my real estate knowledge and didn't try to hard sell me on evaluation BS.

Lesson, answer your potential client's questions (even if you think you should not) and get their business. Honest, down-to-earth conversation always wins me over. How about you?

Employees with Profit on Their Brains

A company owner is constantly thinking about profit.

A manager is thinking about how to make sure those profits become a reality and how to increase them using a system.

A typical employee thinks about their paycheck at the end of the week (in other words, anti-profit).

How do you get them all to think of profit?

Profit sharing. This means that the better the company does, the better the employee gets paid. True capitalism.

But I know what you are saying, "Why give up the gold?"

Because the more people focus on the gold, the more gold is made -- thus increasing your share of that gold.

For example:

Say your share of the equity of a business is 100% and your profits are 100K at the end of the year with no profit sharing. That's 100K no matter how you look at it. Now let's give up 25% equity to the employees (managers and workers). Those same employees will work harder and have a much keener eye on profit and likely double your profits. So now your share is $150K/year for doing nothing but share the pie.

I'm sorry to tell you this but people work for their own agenda. They do not think to themselves, "Gee, I wish I can make my company more money today even though I only make minimum wage (or average wage)." They have different goals in mind and it is the way it should be.

Think of it this way. Say a company was a doorway. The goal of the company is to keep that door open. If you have one thousand people walking through this doorway (employees) each with their own goal (to get where they are going), both parties get their goal met (the companies door stays open and the employees get where they are going.

Profit sharing makes this easier for them to reach their goals and you to reach yours: MORE GOLD!

'Lookin Busy' and Other Bad Traits!

My fiance was recently telling me a story about a group that is investigating her work performance. She said that each time they come in she has to look busy or lose her job.

Why do people think that looking busy equals productivity and thus profit.

Let's take her example. She operates a machine that produces thousands of products per hour. She makes sure things are humming and the company makes more money when the machine is running smooth than if something is wrong. Her functions are as such:

1) Make sure the machine is running correctly
2) Loads new programs to vary the product
3) Supervises the loading and loads support material (boxes, bag rolls, etc.)

In other words the machine is automating many functions and she is making sure the machine is doing it's job (the machine's boss!)

So in my eyes, if she is 'lookin busy' the company is actually losing money from product not being pumped out. In other words, if she is busy, somethings wrong with the machine. She should be standing there watching a well oiled machine do ITS JOB!

My old boss used to tell me, look busy when the big-wigs are around but any other time, if you need to sit and think, do it! There was times I would interview people, times I would write documents, but about 25% of the time I had to just sit with headphones on and THINK. It made the company more money doing this action then ten or even a hundred people looking busy.

Don't relate 'busy' to action. Action is the key here. If things are getting done what does it matter how it gets done?

I’ve Got It. You Need It. I’m Selling It!

Doesn't that just say it all?

It's what business should be. You found a product or service to sell. You know the customer that needs it now and you happen to have just what they are looking for. Talk about the perfect storm.

Some people will say, "That's a dream. Most businesses do not run on this concept."

Yes they do. Successful businesses better be following this day in and day out.

Take for example the IPOD. Apple is the only one that has it. You likely (at least think) you need it. And apple is selling it. Samsung is not selling it. A majority of people want an IPOD, not a copy. So you don't really need what they got. Samsung is selling it but likely not for long or at a super reduced price.

The idea is to have a monopoly on a product/service in order to take advantage of GOT/NEED/SELL.

I have often had this debate with people. Why can't I just sell what everyone else is selling? Because once this happens it is considered a commodity and the one with the lowest price is going to win (which is a NO WIN BATTLE IN THE END). If you are new to business you will not likely win in a price war. Why would you want to?

In other words, if you were selling MP3 players would you want to be Samsung or Apple?