Making money from your ideas requires a combination of disciplined actions and “good luck.” The disciplined actions include taking advantage of legal protections and using good business practices. “Good luck” has a way of finding those who pursue opportunities with preparation and persistence.

(1) Recognize the market potential for your idea.

Observation and experience can provide insight for a new solution to an old problem. For example, Ann Moore created the “rough draft” first Snugli for her own newborn after a stint in the Peace Corps. She based her approach on her observation of the quiet, contented babies carried in cloth carriers by their African moms. She recognized that she had a potential product with a large market (parents who want comfortable ways for transporting children).

Tip: To evaluate the market potential of your idea, ask yourself, who will buy it? What problem does it solve? Who are the competitors?

(2) Take steps to legally protect your idea.

There was no financial reward for the creator of the smiley face, Harvey Ball, because he did not take steps to legally protect his idea and it fell into the public domain for all of us to enjoy. Similarly, the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, reaped no direct financial reward from his invention, although he has been awarded a knighthood for his pioneering work.

To maximize the revenue from a “hit” character, SpongeBob SquarePants, a multi-pronged strategy was used to protect the intellectual property. Copyright protection for the show and registering the trademark in multiple categories covers a broad spectrum of potential spin-off products. You can check online at www.uspto.gov and see that parent company Viacom registered the trademark in numerous categories, protecting its rights to the clothing, toys, games, etc.

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There comes a time in the evolution of every business that a decision needs to be made concerning whether or not to expand to reach a larger marketplace and, if so, the best method to achieve that goal.

Franchising, which is one method of expansion, has become increasingly popular in the past three decades. There is no doubt as to its success but the important questions are whether it is right for you and whether you are ready to be a franchisor. To help you answer those questions, let’s explore what being a franchisor requires, mentally, physically and financially.

You first need to understand that franchising is a business in and of itself. Your existing business (the underlying concept which you want to franchise) is another business. It is necessary, therefore, for you to begin adjusting your thinking to the new business at hand. It is, of course, advantageous to have a unique or superior product or service concept to offer to the public; however, it will not hold up well without a good franchise system built around it. Conversely, some less than outstanding concepts have made a name for themselves as a result of a superior franchise system.

The single most important aspect of any franchise system is the trademark or service mark which is being licensed to the franchisee.

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Worrying causes us to sleep fitfully. Here are some ways you can stop the worrying and sleep better during these tough economic times.

1. You will sleep better if you feel as though you have accomplished something, educate yourself about your business, read books, trade magazines, newspapers and attend any seminars or online tele-seminars and webinars that you can. Make it a point to do one thing each day to educate yourself. Pursue some cross-training to make yourself more valuable to your organization.

2. Network and make contacts online and offline: Networking will keep you in everyone’s minds, also if you end up losing your job you will have a slew of business cards of others in the business that you can contact to work with during hard times.

3. Build your online presence: With a website, blog, newsletter or articles. Join online networking groups that relate to what you do, mentor someone or find a mentor, visit Craig’s list or other online portals.

4. Learn more about jobs that are recession proof, industries such as food, energy, vices (tobacco), entertainment, medical services, debt collection, security or alarm services. Are any of these things something you could implement into your job or use as a part time job avenue?

5. Build value: Offer a buy one get one deal or buy one get something at 50% off. This increases your sales, where someone might have only purchased one item, with a deal like that it seems almost foolish to them not to take advantage of the deal and therefore purchase more from you.

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My wife is from Pittsburgh, so you know what I was watching Super Bowl Sunday. Being a lifelong Bengals fan, it was painful for me to watch the game. Although the game wasn’t played well by either team, it was fun to watch the advertisements. I watched the ads not from a football fan or TV viewer’s perspective, but from a marketing perspective. My goal was to figure out if each ad was a super ad or a super waste of money.

The cost per ad in a Super Bowl time slot is reported to be somewhere between $800,000 and $2.5 million. How could one commercial be worth that much money? Can it possibly pay for itself?

I judged each ad by several criteria to determine if it was worth the money. I also judged the ads from an automobile dealer’s perspective to see if anything could be learned and be used on a smaller scale.

First, I judged whether the ad caught my attention. This can be accomplished through humor and other emotional connections. Some of the commercials grabbed you immediately and compelled you to watch while others almost forced you to lose interest from the beginning. Remember, market share of mind precedes market share.

Next, I judged if the commercials kept my attention and created interest in the product or service. Some of the commercials grabbed your attention and then got lost in their journey to reach their final destination. A simple question of “What are we trying to accomplish?” would have eliminated this problem.

Another important aspect was if the ad created a desire to either find out more about the product or service or to buy it. The biggest lesson to be learned here is that some advertising companies sell a bill of goods to their clients. The ad company gets the client all wrapped up in the creative factors, such as how funny it is or how clever the production is. However, the real reason for the advertisement is to sell something now or in the future.

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The first step in advancing the productivity of your staff in using the phones is a better understanding in the importance that the telephone can play and how it affects your business. Often a lack of the right attitude is displayed in the treatment towards the receptionist position. The receptionist is usually hired without any guidelines that would be used to hire for an important position. In your dealership do you have personality profiles, set interview questions and guidelines to hire an exceptional receptionist? Do you have a formalized training process and performance based pay? Often the receptionist is the lowest paid person in the dealership but is often the person who influences the customer first. Why not pay the receptionist a bonus based upon various criteria such as average time to answer a call, average hold time for a customer etc.

The sales people also need training on the understanding of the importance of both inbound and outbound sales calls and how this can affect their incomes. A sales person can sit around all day waiting for someone to come in, but they can take incoming sales calls and treat them like they are not important. The average dealership will spend a fortune on advertising to get people to call and come in but not pay attention to what is happening when the customers call or come in. Call a competitor or call your own dealership and mystery shop a few times and ask yourself if you are impressed with the results.

Let’s talk about a few things to improve the importance of sales performance in utilizing the phone. First of all, the dealership needs a formal call tracking process. Many dealerships know their floor traffic but not their phone traffic. Why? This sends the wrong message. You must quantify to qualify, meaning you must know where you are at to understand where you would like to go. Have the receptionist use a call tracking sheet that they are trained to use.

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The intention of goal setting is to look toward the future and think of and plan for what you desire. Goals provide hope. My definition of hope is “Having Optimistic Predictions & Emotions.” However, goals can create your biggest stumbling block to getting what you desire.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The only thing that will grow is that which you give energy to.” To focus your mind on what you desire is great. Concentrate on the why? “When the why gets strong the how gets easy.”

The Law of Attraction will bring to you what you think about. Your thoughts are impressed into your subconscious mind. “What you impress, you express.” All thoughts and actions will attract similar people and events that support your thought and action patterns. The Law of Attraction is an irrefutable universal law, supported by Meta-Physics and Quantum Physics.

Failure in goal setting comes in trying to get something rather than attracting it. Usually the obstacles anticipated when plotting to get something, rather than asking why you want it, create subconscious messages of struggle and difficulty. A person with the best of intentions can quickly tire of struggling and quit. This let down begins a pattern in the subconscious: struggle, frustration and failure. Reasons to lower standards or to quit can become a reality.

True power comes from knowing “you are who you decide to be at any given moment.” It doesn’t require jumping hurdles; it only takes deciding to become the person you desire. At that moment, by not seeing the how-to hurdles as obstacles, you will begin to think, act and become your desires. You may not know exactly how and when this is occurring, but you must trust that it is.

The root of the word “decide” means “to cut off.” Thus, to decide is to cut off from all other possibilities.

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I just finished speaking at a conference in San Francisco and I find myself writing this article sitting by a window next to the street in a busy Starbucks close to Union Square.
. It’s funny what you can learn when you take the time to really observe and listen. I would like to share the five lessons I learned at Starbucks.

Lesson #1 - Make sure you ask for the business. I have just watched a beggar collect at least $5 worth of donations in the last half hour with a sign that says - “I am saving up for a hooker, weed, wine and a steak dinner.” Not one of the people bothered to read his sign and know what they were even donating for. Not the family man with his wife and children, not the group of older people probably in their 80s, not the business man in the suit, nobody. The beggar obviously learned the power of asking, no matter what.

Lesson #2 - It’s not the money. People pile into Starbucks one after another spending three and four bucks on of a cup coffee. Obviously you can get a cup of coffee at a diner down the street for a lot less money. But yet, people willingly spend a $100 per month or more at Starbucks. Why?

People are buying the experience and the perception of the brand. I am sitting here writing this article in a busy Starbucks and people watching when I could be in the quiet and seclusion of my nice hotel room. The person in the seat next to me is listening to music on an iPod when they could obviously do it for free in the Square with a less expensive cup of coffee. The gentleman in the big living room type chair is reading a novel. People want the experience. Understand your customer and the value they want and the money will become less important. The big three U.S. auto manufacturers give huge rebates, and imports are still kicking their butts. It’s not about the money.

Lesson #3 - Change the process to win.

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