Why Invent?

Because you can. The United States is the country with the most innovation, the largest consumer market, and the most inventor-friendly patent laws in the world. Because of these patent laws, little guys like you and I can compete with the big corporations and their bloated R&D budgets.

Because you deserve the rewards. Innovation is the lifeblood of any business. If your invention can give a company a boost in sales or an edge over their competition, they will gladly pay you for it. I already know that you are uniquely creative and deserve to be rewarded for it because we are all natural problem-solvers. No one has had the same experiences as you have, and no one thinks quite the same way as you do. Whether you realize it or not, I would bet you have a few great invention ideas in you right now!

Because if you don’t, someone else will. Have you ever seen a new product and thought, “Now, why didn’t I think of that?” I’ll bet you have. I would also guess that many of you have said, “I thought of that invention years ago.” I am sure you realize that having an invention idea is not enough. You have to DO something about it. For every new product that hits the market, hundreds, maybe even thousands of people have thought of that same product idea. Yet only one person—the inventor—does the work of obtaining exclusive rights to an idea and has a chance at turning a profit.

Time + Money = Freedom

I am one of the luckiest people I know. I shave about twice a week, wear jeans every day, and commute to my downstairs office in about 30 seconds. One of my favorite things to do is to eat a leisurely breakfast while watching the morning news and traffic report. My time is my own and the world is my oyster. I work as much or as little as I want. I recently bought vacation property in Costa Rica, and I am writing this while flying to Seattle to surprise my brother’s family for my niece’s first birthday.

I don’t say these things to impress you. I say them to impress upon you that inventing is a really about wisely investing your limited time and money so that it yields—you guessed it—more time and money! With enough time and money you too will have the ability to do what you want to do, when you want to do it. I am not talking about living a life without consequences, but about having the flexibility and freedom to have a truly self-directed, self-determined life without the constraints of either time or money.

Imagine, for example, someone with lots of time on their hands, but very little money (some of you might not have to imagine that hard to think of a person like this ;-). This person may have plenty of time on their hands, but doesn’t have any financial security for themselves or their loved ones. They can’t pay for their children’s education, and they can’t travel or experience many of the finer things in life that money can afford. On the other hand, imagine someone with plenty of money, but without the luxury of time. No time for themselves, their friends and family, their hobbies. No time for vacations even though they can afford it. They live to work rather than work to live.

Your JOB

If you are like most people, you trade your time for money in a JOB (these days an acronym for “just over broke”). Jobs are direct relationships where your time is traded for money. As long as you continue to work, the money keeps coming in, yet the minute you stop, so too does the money.

Did you know that the average American is only two paychecks away from bankruptcy and has less than $25,000 saved for retirement? Add to this the rising cost of health care and education, a broken social security system, layoffs, corporate scandals, lost pensions….You get the picture. My point is that you cannot rely on just your job anymore to even get you and your family to retirement, let alone produce the time and money required to live the lifestyle you truly deserve.

The kind of income that inventing can provide you is passive income in the form of royalty payments. This is income that is generated for as long as your product continues to sell. And here is the kicker—it doesn’t require you to continue to work in order to get paid. Imagine getting paid 24/7 while you are on vacation, or even while you sleep!

This is the model that the ultra-wealthy use—they use their investments to earn passive income in the form of dividends. However, with the ultra-wealthy model “it takes money to make money.” With the inventing model, all it takes is a good idea and comparatively little time and money.

Beating the Odds

When Americans were asked what their best chance of becoming a millionaire was, fully half of all Americans said winning the lottery. Currently the odds of winning the California Super Lotto Plus Lottery are 1 in 41,416,353. To put this in perspective, you are more likely to die from ignition or melting of nightwear (1 in 30,589,556) and you are over four times more likely to die from being struck by parts falling off an airplane (1 in 10,000,000) than you are to win the lottery.

When you purchase a lottery ticket you are simply playing a game of chance and there is nothing you can do to increase your odds for success. You are basically counting on blind luck that your underwear will spontaneously combust! With inventing, however, you are taking a calculated risk because you can absolutely stack the odds in your favor by hedging your bets on only those inventions that show the most promise. That makes inventing is the best lottery in the world. It has great odds, the price for a “ticket” is nominal, you are betting on a known quantity (yourself), and, just like the lottery, you can win big bucks!

Michael Croix is an award-winning inventor and author of Inventing on a Budget and Cashing in on the American Dream. His unique approach to invention development teaches inventors how to minimize their risk and costs while maximizing their chances for success. His program includes over $10K in legal documents and free consulting.

Visit http://www.inventingonabudget.com for more information.