Many of business people prefer to have a home based business rather than working eight hours each day in the office. Some of them prefer franchising rather than searching for new ideas and starting a business from the ground. It may sound exciting but to have a successful business it is necessary to consider and to research so many different aspects.

Research can be made out easy these days, thanks to the power of the Internet. I already discussed of the incredible possibility of conducting research online where business people can find other business ideas. It works not just for the beginners however, mature entrepreneurs can benefit a lot from the information they can find online about business ideas.

I decided to check it out. Wow, there is so much stuff on the Internet! I have really hard time to choose the one I like. For many of so called “ideas” I would not give a crap. You need to know to distinguish between the effort of sincere entrepreneur to create the idea and pure scam or even insanity.

True enough, creative idea is a result of business investigation by gathering as much information as possible about the industry. Yeah, being an entrepreneur is a hard job.

Here is why. As I mentioned, investigation is needed to evaluate the business ideas. Starting a business from the ground requires a lot of work. Suppose the business that you are about to put up is also available in franchise. Most of business people would go for franchising because it requires less work. Many of them think an established undertaking is less expensive and less risky. I respectfully disagree. My online research had shown me that some of franchising fees are more than $100,000 in addition to operating capital. Plus, as a part of searching for business idea and before making final decision, you must be able to consider all other advantages and disadvantages. Once the right business idea is chosen, this is a time for action.

Bottom line. Make a comprehensive research. Separate real creative ideas from just a scam. Consult with experienced entrepreneurs about a start up process and you will reap the benefits of your business shortly. 

And lastly, here is a nice example of online business where regular people can post on the web specific tasks or chores and have others do their stuff. Why don’t you duplicate in this idea in your home town?

When business people think about of protecting their ideas first they think about a patent. According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent is a grant of “monopoly for a limited period of time on the use and development of an invention”. To obtain a patent it is necessary to file an application with an explanation why the invention is original, with detailed description of the invention and its aspects, with all drawings, statements and filing fee. But besides this technical issue there are so many things for business people to consider.

Who will provide with all the information that business will need to develop every idea to it logical conclusion including the ways in which ideas can be made, manufactured and marketed? How to protect an idea in such way, so that, no one can make a substantial improvement on it and steal the basic concept and design? How to use all the laws, methods and techniques that are available to all creative people to establish legal protection of an idea under the “First to Invent” provision of U.S. patent law. What about a special advertising copy that will communicate ideas to the right executives at the right companies? Finally, how to find and identify an exact market?

I recently ran across a non-profit which provides all these services to independent inventors comparing patent attorney, invention marketing firms and themselves. The noticeable fact that 90% of services provided is a marketing effort. In my opinion it is a huge help and I bet that’s what independent inventors need.

So here is the deal. To get a help in protection and marketing of inventions watch this informational video of the founder of the Inventor’s Assistance League (IAL), Ted De Boer, who tells about his organization that he started in the 60’s. IAL teaches inventors about a technique known as “pre-patent protection” so an inventor can discuss an idea to determine if it has market value. Thereby saving the expense of a patent until the time is right.

When business people plan a save harbor of intellectual property (IP) they consider a wide spectrum of legal tools to maximize the protection of IP assets. The main point is that IP protection strategy should be kept from the beginning of creation, during its development until a design is complete. The strategy of securing design ownership starts with recognizing a design as a potential asset, and continues to carefully plan its protection throughout the lifetime of a design optimizing IP protection and reducing infringement risks. It may include these specific goals.

Goal 1: “Generate design research. It should be done prior to the design challenge early in the long- term planning phase and in the concept generation stage of new product development. This general research includes a state of-the-art search of patent literature (patents and published patent applications), which is analyzed by the IP counsel and shared with the development team to spark design innovation. Just as the iPod design team would have looked to Sony’s 1979 Walkman and related patents for inspiration, design development teams benefit from studying past design efforts.” The good example of such research could be list of the following questions:

What’s the core intellectual idea or invention?
How easily can it be duplicated?
How did the idea/invention come about? Was the inventor working at another company? Was she a university researcher?
How might you protect against duplication via a patent, trademark, copyright, or some other vehicle?
How visible will the invention be within your product or service?

Goal 2: “Avoid designs owned by others. Identify IP risks associated with the proposed design concepts-ideally, in the feasibility stage of new product development-so that risky design concepts can be screened out early. Once a design concept is selected for further development, a targeted search looks for patents relevant to that design concept. As needed, the IP counsel facilitates a “design around” to place the final design outside the scope of IP rights of others.”

Goal 3: “Secure IP rights. IP counsel leads the development team’s efforts to protect selected design concepts in the feasibility stage of new product development. IP protection is sought not only for the preferred design concept but also for alternative concepts that may later be preferred by the company or the company’s competitors. Before product launch, the IP counsel ensures that IP protections are in place, including foreign protection when a product will be sold or licensed overseas. And upon product launch, the IP counsel establishes procedures for monitoring the activities of competitors to police IP rights.”

Goal 4: “Enforce and expand design assets. Even after design protection has been secured, steps should be taken in the active lifecycle phase to enforce IP rights. New competitive advantages can also be sought during the active lifecycle phase in connection with design improvements.”

Goal 5: “Harvest design assets. In the decline or exit phase in which a design reaches its sunset, the IP counsel can help extract value from IP assets. Instead of allowing them to go unused, IP assets can be harvested at this final phase by licensing or selling IP assets to other companies or by using those assets as leverage to settle disputes with other companies.”

The best way to protect IP assets is to follow the simple rule of “Be aware!” In other words, it is the responsibility of business people dealing with their intellectual property to manage IP assets protection by the implementation of the effective corporate intellectual property strategy. Undoubtedly, afore mentioned 5 steps of this strategy will help to save a lot of money.