Want to get rich fast? Think your idea will make you rich? Think having a patent for your invention will make you rich?
Having a patent will not in and of itself make you rich. Having a great idea that everyone wants might make you rich, if you have a strategy to protect and market your idea.
Many inventors often think that all they need to do is come up with an idea, file a patent application, and companies will be banging on their door offering millions of dollars for the idea. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work this way.
Sure, you may hear of someone coming up with a great idea, filing a patent application, and getting rich. You may also hear about the poor inventor who toiled away for their entire career, came up with a great idea but didn’t protect their invention with a patent, and so companies made millions of dollars from the idea but never paid a single cent to the inventor.
But the reality is that most inventions suffer a different fate. There are thousands of patent applications filed for inventions every year. Some of those inventions never see the light of day. The patent application is filed, the inventor runs out of money, loses interest, or just never bothers to take the initiative to get their idea out in the marketplace. And no one even knows the idea ever existed.
Don’t let this happen to your invention. Don’t let someone else profit from your idea. Protect your invention by filing a patent application. But don’t stop there. Once you have a patent application pending, get your idea into the marketplace. Market your idea. Either market your idea directly to the customer. Or take your idea to companies that can get it into the marketplace.
And be sure to plan for the future. Set aside some savings so that you can afford to respond to Office Actions on your patent application, pay issue fees, or pay maintenance fees. Don’t lose rights to your invention because you ran out of money.