In the prior post, The American Dream: Myth and Reality, I discussed two premises regarding the American dream:
Premise 1: It should be Easy to Earn a Lucrative Living
Premise 2: Those willing to Take Risk and Work very Hard May Achieve Success
It turns out that Premise 1 is a myth and Premise 2 is now and always has been true.
The good news, however is that inventors are perfectly situated to achieve the American Dream.
Whereas middle-income wages have barely budged in the last thirty years, some entrepreneurs have done well, very well. One of the better paths to achieving the American Dream is to start your own small business. But not just any business – your business needs to provide a product or service that has a high perceived pay value in our society.
The following three products and services have high perceived value:
- Financial services
- High-tech services and products
- New innovative products that solve annoying problems
The first two areas require specialized training and often years of experience to achieve top-tier success.
But, anyone may develop an innovative new product that solves an annoying problem and grabs the attention of the buying public. A divorced dad invented Heelys, the kid's shoes with internal wheels, ultimately cashing out for over $10 million. Tommie Edmark, a former IBM sales rep, invented Topsy Tail for easy inverted pony tails and quickly became a multi-millionaire.
Inventing is a high-risk business and most inventors do not achieve notable success with their fledgling products. But anyone can become a successful inventor if he or she develops a good product idea and works hard enough for long enough to get it into wide distribution. It worked for me with my invention the Wonder Wallet and it can work for you.
While achieving success with any new product is challenging; the available resources to help a new inventor are amazing:
- Patent attorneys and agents – to help protect intellectual property
- Kickstarter and Indiegogo – crowd funding for new products
- HSN and QVC – offer over 90 million viewers ready to buy new products
- Shark Tank – great exposure and investment options for new products
- Inventors organizations and clubs
- Amazon and eBay tap a huge online audience of buyers
There has never been a better time to be an inventor nor a time when the public was more receptive to new, innovative products. What's your excuse?
Stay tuned!