IP or Bust?

  • Posted by
  • January 9, 2009

No Gravatar

IP or Bust?

Ryan definitely wins the image award for the best photos used on a post on any of my sites! I see a strange family resemblance in Image # F … now, if only I knew what it represented 😛

Reading between the lines, Ryan has an idea in his mind – perhaps it’s already beyond and idea? – for a ‘medical device’, but it’s a good idea for him to develop (at the very least) an investment line, as well.

Ryan should also go back and read the article about [another] Scott, who is a prolific inventor and was the inspiration for my Perpetual Money Machine series …

______________________________

As an exercise to clarify our abilities, passions, likes, and money making history, Adrian has given us the following table to complete:

  EARN SPEND ABILITY DO
  How do you make $ or want to make money, past/present/future?(e.g., teacher) How do I spend $ or want to spend $ ? (e.g., clothing) What are you good at?What do you wish you were good at?What sparks your creative juices? What do you enjoy? (e.g., writing) What are your hobbies or qualifications/jobs? What would you want to do, even for free?(e.g., wood-working)
1 sales eating out sales (surgery) sports
2 management Travel problem solving deal making
3 problem solving music photography photography
4 consultant sports deal making networking
5 networking building things/home improvement building things/home improvement building things/home improvement
6   wine networking electronics
7   Music Cooking surgery
8   electronics finance reading
9   music I wish I was good at: learning new things
10     pro sports travel
11     singing finance
12        

The images above are films of patients (none that I have any known affiliation with) with screws and other implants used to fuse their spines and/or correct a curve in their spine. I used these images because they represent what I currently do, sell spine implants, and what I hope to accomplish in the near future, develop IP (intellectual property) for a surgical implant and sell it or develop a business around it.

The prospect of developing something that will be used in surgery to improve people’s lives (and only if you can’t fix them first, Scott!) is really exciting to me. It also is probably necessary for me, in order to accomplish the type of growth that I need to reach my goal.

The problem I see is that it is by no means certain, and there really isn’t a “system” (that I know of) to accomplish this task, though I have made connections with medical device engineers, manufacturers, patent attorneys, and spine surgeons. I also don’t believe this will be tremendously cost intense (though there will certainly be costs for prototypes, paper work, and legal fees).

Therefore, I believe that I should also have other investments to carry me to the promised land of my number and the retirement I want/need.

In analyzing my table, I think that my desires and abilities lend themselves well to owning real estate (problem solving, home improvement, learning new things, deal making, networking), and if I had the abilities in my “wish I had” section, pro athlete or rock star, it would make things a lot easier!

But, I REALLY like Diane’s idea of using this great community we have to help me analyze my table and come up with other suggestions, and BIG ideas to jump start me on my journey. Thanks to everyone in advance for your help!

Be Sociable, Share!

Information and Links

Join the fray by commenting, tracking what others have to say, or linking to it from your blog.

Information
January 9th, 2009
No Responses
Feeds and Links
Comment Feed
From This Author
Del.icio.us
Digg
Technorati
Categories and Tags
starting out

Other Posts

Write a Comment

Take a moment to comment and tell us what you think. Some basic HTML is allowed for formatting.

You must be logged in to post a comment. Click here to login.

Reader Comments

Comment Number:
1
Written by:
Scott
Posted on:
January 9, 2009 at 8:13 pm

It does look like you might end up a bit ‘geared up’ for real estate Ryan, although, you just might come up with a patent for a successful surgical invention…

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
Adrian
Posted on:
January 10, 2009 at 1:15 am

@ Ryan – Do you already have a product in mind (if so, what stage are you at with it)?

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
Sue
Posted on:
January 10, 2009 at 6:33 am

Ryan, have you visited http://www.fairwaymed.com/? They are a medical device development company. Sorry, can’t figure out how to insert a hyperlink here.

Comment Number:
4
Written by:
Sue
Posted on:
January 10, 2009 at 6:39 am

Oops – guess the hyperlink only shows up once you “Post”.

Comment Number:
5
Written by:
Ryan
Posted on:
January 10, 2009 at 4:35 pm

@ Adrian – I have a couple of ideas, but they are in their very early infancy.

Comment Number:
6
Written by:
Diane
Posted on:
January 10, 2009 at 7:02 pm

Definitely something to stew over and let the flavors work on each other. When you say things you’d like to do (even if not paid) and mention “surgery,” what are you talking about? In column 3, this was qualified as sales, and I haven’t seen you list in column 1 that you are a surgeon (at least not certified in the U.S. I guess out in the “backcountry” you might be in an emergency without the certs, but did you mean you love doing surgical sales? Have you considered or mulled over how to combine that with travel, perhaps helping developing countries set up hospitals or spinal surgical centers (rather like heart centers here in the states) to help those injured on the job (or born with defects)? You could create such a company, and with your management skills hire or outsource the necessary talent, relying on your sales skills to bring in the first customers (and saving commissions there of course). Once proven profitable, then you buy other companies or just sell yours outright. Course, this much time spent building your own company would detract from your ability to do much flipping on RE if that is one of your intentions.

Comment Number:
7
Written by:
Adrian
Posted on:
January 10, 2009 at 9:13 pm

@ Diane – I would encourage a sustainable business over flipping RE, as one is (potentially) saleable, while the other is speculative and cyclical.

Flipping can be a ‘mini-business’ – with the ‘growth path often taking you into property development – but is best used to try and build up quck ‘chunks’ of equity to use elsewhere … kind of hit-n-run opportunism, IF Mr Market is kind to you 😉

Comment Number:
8
Written by:
Lee
Posted on:
January 10, 2009 at 9:48 pm

@ Ryan – Of the three,learning new things,deal making and networking and I would assume that networking might be something to make sure you work on strengthening. I’m sure you already know this but my 2 cents worth is that you should never overlook the possibility that those who seem to have the least might very well be the ones with the most to offer.