All entrepreneurs consider their ideas sacred and most dream of offering them "hard protection" with with patents. The truth of the matter is, however, that most ideas benefit from sharing, not protection. So, here are my top three reasons why

3. IP protection is expensive
If you have ever looked into this, you know how expensive it can be to apply for a patent and only years later can you know the outcome of that investment. And if your concept is complex (and not obvious) you will need to likely file for multiple patents to protect the various aspects of the idea in specificity enough for the patent office. If you are lucky enough to be issued a patent, that is only the tip of ice berg in terms of cost. If you actually want to defend a claim against your IP, you can expect to pay 5 to 10 to 100 times more than you paid for the patent filing. If you intend to create a business (not just a licenseable patent portfolio), and you have invested that same cash in marketing, partnerships, or prototypes you would have been ahead.

2. You should give the world a chance to help
An idea you keep to yourself is something that others can't help you with. The more people you tell, the more people you can get thinking about your problems and offering solutions. The more people you tell, the more likely it is that the resources you need (ie, engineering help, marketing advice, an introduction to the buyer at a key reseller, etc) will materialize. You can't get the help you need, while fearing infringement.

1. An idea isn't enough
And the number one reason that IP protection is a false assurance...because the idea isn't enough to make a successful business. As anyone will tell you, there is a HUGE gap between an idea and its successful implementation. Most often than not, the idea itself changes wildly once implementation begins and feedback from customers rolls in (see #2). The key is to begin implementation as soon as possible and identify the steps necessary for commercial success.

In short, seeking IP protection can hurt a small business more than it can help. If you want to bring something to market, bring it to market. Be the first to promote it and the first to be successful. Anyone copying your idea and wanting to build a successful business will have to catch you first.

There is a spectrum of emotion that is said to rule the stock market that runs from fear to greed. With the recent events in the financial markets making headlines, I have been thinking about the factors of fear and greed and how they affect our individual or organizational risk tolerance. If you have assets and resources adequate but not extraneous, the fear of loss may keep you in conservative investments. If you have an excess of resources or are investing with money you are prepared to lose, you can be driven by greed.

In other contexts, I prefer to draw the risk tolerance curve below.

When you are contemplating a decision, do you have more to lose or more to gain? This, more than any other thing, will determine your boldness, your willingness to accept risk, and the lengths to which you will go to preserve the status quo.

I used to work in an intrapreneurial group at a huge, multinational corporation. Although by the corporate standards it was a "start-up," I recognized immediately the difference between this group and the actual start-ups I had worked with. This was no scrappy start-up. As a case in point, we had a full-time attorney, PR professional and agency, and trained marketers making sure we used the brand appropriately. The company knew that at even the most aggressive projections, the revenue and margin that would be brought by this new business was less than the value of its brand in the marketplace. Thus, there was more to lose than gain. Which is one of the reasons why, in my opinion, these initiatives were not successful under that corporate umbrella? Start-ups work when there is more to gain than lose.

I see this curve playing out in the discussions about the use of "social media" in corporate contexts. Some companies large and small are jumping in and now have Facebook fan pages, Twitter accounts, and active outreach by more than one "department" of the company. Other consumer brands are reluctant to jump in and lose control over the message, the brand, or the customer experience (all things that might be a false sense of control anyway). Tara Hunt's new book The Whuffie Factor outlines this well. When I met her last week at WebVisions, she said several times that her next book will be about the cultural change that is required to "do" social media and create social capital in the marketplace. I think she'll find that companies must create environments where they have more to gain than lose by their efforts to see the change take hold.

In fact, this even applies to personal motivation factors and change management. In Alan Webber's Rules of Thumb book, he says that there is a formula for predicting change: "Change happens when the cost of the status quo is greater than the risk of change." Said another way, change can happen when the risk of gain is more than the risk of loss.

I have been reading Alan Webber's new book, Rules of Thumb. In it, he offers and describes 52 different rules of business that he has learned over the years.

The concept in the cartoon above is a saying that I think I started repeating since my very first week on my very first job out of college. There was never a shortage of ideas. Things that could be done. Places to go. People to see. Products to build. Features to add. Only a shortage of everything else to make ideas reality: time, money, expertise, capacity, etc.

To me this is not only a inescapable truth, but it is also a blessing. Not all ideas are good ones. Without constraint the best ideas wouldn't win and we'd waste a lot of time. The corollary to this (and perhaps a future cartoon) would be "May the Best Ideas Win."

As always, feel free to use the cartoon for any non-commercial purpose, as long as you give me credit and link back to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com. Thanks!

Looking for a way to diversify yourself during challenging economic times? Looking for a fun business to start? Here are a few ideas that I offer for no charge at all. Enjoy!

• Someone should start a candle company called "Brazilian Wax."
• Or perhaps a surfboard wax company called "Back Wax."
• What about a line of garden pest control products called "Snail Mail"? Your tagline could be "Send snails and slugs a message!"
• Someone should invent a line of retail price or garmet tags that include a website or text number that you can access via your cell phone and call the business "Phone Tag."
• "Sticky Business" would be the fun name of a tape or sticker company.
• Start a real estate brokerage firm focused on selling parking spots and storage units and call it "Garage Sale."
• Open a private investigation business called "Name Tag."
• Create a line of clothing feature Disney characters (like the little bunny in Bambi) and funny phrases that they might have posted on Twitter. You could call the clothing line "Twitterpated."
• You can buy candles that smell like fresh baked cookies or berries, but not bacon, BBQ, or other non-sweet scents. Start a candle company with a name like "Savory" that offers unique scents like "grilled onions" or "rosemary."

Now, I never did say they were good ideas. Maybe you can improve on them!

I just read about a company called KidsRx that is taking Mary Poppin's admonition to add magic to medicine a step further. It is a pharmacy that allows kids, primarily, to customize their medicine. They can tailor the color, flavor (think cherry, vanilla, bubble gum, etc) and form (liquid, gummy bears, lollipops, etc) of their prescriptions. "Candy drugs" some call it. People are predicting that it might start a larger trend and that folks like Walgreen's or Target may start allowing this personalization. In the meantime, KidsRx is accepting insurance and shipping worldwide.

I love how personalization and "mass customization" can be used in an existing infrastructure (the corner pharmacy is centuries old) to solve a real problem: getting kids to like to take their medicine.

Tonight, Tony and I attended IgnitePortland 4, an event sponsored by the Legion of Tech. In this event, 13 presenters each had 20 slides and 5 minutes to teach the audience about a topic or entertain them in some way. Some of the presentations were really outstanding.

The first was from a guy from Kentucky, who now lives in Portland (although his accent might still live in Kentucky). He had several pieces of advice on what Kentucky can teach Oregon. My favorite had to do with place names. He said that Kentucky has a lot of brands and companies that are named after the state. Bourbon is from Bourbon county. Louisville Sluggers are from Louisville. "We didn't invent fried chicken, but because of KFC, everyone thinks we did," he proposed. He said that more companies need to name themselves something local and then go national to bring attention to the region. This was very interesting to me. Most companies choose a company name that could be "from anywhere," despite the fact that all companies are from "somewhere." Let that be a lesson to all those would-be entrepreneurs out there.

Did I mention that the presentations were on auto-forward? This means that after 15 seconds each slide moved along. This added a degree of sport to the presentations. They couldn't fall behind in their presentations (without it being painful for the audience to watch) and the whole thing kept on time, more or less. I think this is brilliant and something that should be required for all PowerPoint presentations. Keep them moving. Keeps the text to graphic ratio in line. Keeps the pace of storytelling at an appropriate level. I could see this being used in corporate environments and in church. 20 sermon slides in 5 minutes. Go!

If you are in the area, plan to come to the next IgnitePortland 5. It will be in February and the tickets are free!

When we were growing up, my Mom thought it would be great to connect four stationary bikes (one for each of us kids) to the television and we'd all have to keep peddling for the TV to power up.

Now, there is a new gym in Portland called the Green Microgym which is the first health club in the world to generate a significant portion of its own electricity by putting the sweat power of its members to work. It would be quite a commute for me (doesn't make sense to drive to so far to go to a green gym, right?), but for the neighbors it sounds very cool.

Now, I am just waiting for the electricity-generating daycare or playground (why not tap into the energy of all those little kids?) or the wide-spread use of the electricity-generating nightclub dance floor. These might be a great solution not only for those who want to save energy, but for those in rural areas and in emerging regions where reliable power is elusive or too expensive.

Home delivery of groceries has come, gone, and come again. There is an outfit in Sarasota, FL which literally brings that idea a step further, by offering bicycle delivery of organic produce from local providers. Instead of bringing the grocery store to you, they bring the farmer's market. This seems like a fantastic idea to me, combining environmentally-conscious local eating with environmentally-conscious transportation. The PR and marketing benefits are obvious.

What else could be delivered locally by bicycle? Produce, for sure. Meat from a local butcher shop (in a refridgerated trailer?). Flower arrangements from a local shop or garden center. What about plants and nursery supplies? Milk from a dairy (another retro idea that is gaining popularity). IKEA furniture delivered to dorm rooms for assembly. I even wonder if the neighborhood school bus route couldn't be converted into a modified bike cart. After all, those kindergarten kids are pretty light.

An innovative company in Brazil is offering a subscription service targeted to male gift-givers (surprise, surprise) giving them an easy way to send gifts of chocolate, flowers, etc for a low monthly fee. Check out the link above if your Portguese is pretty good or see the Springwise article. I am wondering what other things could be done on a subscription service.

Keeping up with holidy, birthday and anniversary correspondence is a natural. Jack Cards makes the chore (I mean priviledge) of sending personalized cards easier by sending you the cards in advanced, pre-stamped and addressed, so that you can zip off a personal note and everyone will wonder "how does she do it?". What if this was combined with a tiered service that sent along gift certificates in the cards or better yet, allowed you to categorize your address book into close family and friends, colleagues, and casual friends allowing you to tailor the gifts to each (keeping track of what you got them in previous years). Combine it with a 24x7 concierge service and you text a message or call them with immediate needs (flowers for a friend who just lost a grandparent, for instance) and it starts feeling like having a personal assistant.

What if you took it even further. What if there was anniversary plan that combined a time share with this gift subscription, to create custom luxury get-aways for a couples' wedding anniversary? You could tie this into the "themes" of each anniversary. You know the ones that say you give paper or clocks on the 1st anniversary and the 50th is gold? They could tier the offerings based on location and budget. I'd love the 3rd anniversary luxury trip to Italy to celebrate leather and glass which are traditional gifts for this anniversary or the trip to Japan on the 12th anniversary for silk and pearls.

"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is."
- Jan L.A. van de Snepscheut

"I could never start or run a company. I don't have the killer instinct. I'd rather observe and criticize those who do."
- said jokingly by a friend (a business strategy professor) at a recent dinner party

Perhaps I am letting this entrepreneurial bug bloom into a full-blown infection, but I have a growing concern about business professionals. That as a group, we don't know much about business.

I think there are some great marketeers out there (I consider myself one of them) that fail to realize the importance of sales channels, innovation, and who have never talked to a customer to find out why they bought and what would make them recommend the product or service to a friend.

There are great product designers, who are still designing products. Widgets who do some function or the other (usually designed by using the rear-view mirror of pre-established categories which can be analyzed by third-party researchers and are supported by big name consultants), but not solutions that fundamentally change industries or have a real meaningful impact on the people who use the products.

There are fantastic accounts, quality managers, documentation control professionals, IT managers, and "do-ers" all over the company that define what "doing the right thing" is for their respective functions, but may miss the mark entirely in terms of understanding how their role fits in to the value chain that customers are willing to pay for.

However, having these guys read a book or attend a presentation where the executives try to define the business levers of the business doesn't quite solve the problem. What people need is real experiential learning. In order to know how to run a business (and most everyone in an organization does to some extent as they influence the outcome of the whole), people should run a business.

I think every academic environment should have an entrepreneurship class where people have to develop a real product and sell it to real customers by the end of the course. Not talk about it. Not read about others (although this can be useful), but really do it.

Google and 3M both have well publicized programs where they let their engineers spent some portion of their time on undirected research and development aimed at bringing new innovations to the company. I am wondering if the same thing couldn't exist in other functions. What if a company's marketing team had to spent 10% of their time marketing a non-profit to learn guerilla techniques and how to write more passionate copy? Perhaps everyone in roles which naturally add more structure and process to the company should spent time in sales roles trying to navigate through those layers of progress once they are entrenched, and likewise, someone in sales had to spend some time helping to design the new product introduction process to ensure quality products at the end of the line.

Entrepreneurism teaches a pragmatism, a sense of urgency (impatience), and prioritization that would be quite a culture shock to many professional business people. Is it "killer instinct," or is it just business?

MarketingSherpa recently posted a quick quiz to determine whether or not you had the chops to be a consultant. Take their little survey yourself here.

I could answer "yes" to the questions here which was a fine start, but frankly didn't think that is all there was to it. Here are a few more I would add to their list.

#6. Security
Consulting professionals, especially those starting out, have feast or famine existances. This is typically because they are building a client base and have limited resources to spread over servicing current clients and finding new ones. This leads to lumpy and inconsistent revenue. To consult for a "living," one must consider it like any start-up business and expect a bumpy ramp.

#7. Expertise
The best consultants (and the ones that claim the most success) specialize. They don't try to be all things to all people. They are not a temp labor agency, they are supposed to be adding real, differentiated value to their clients. So, there are manufacturing consultants and there are "Lean manufacturing consultants." They are IT project management firms and their are "ERP conversion " consultants. Pick a niche. Dominate it. Read "Crossing the Chasm" and specialize.

#8. Find Clients First (then quit your day job)
I'd highly recommend any would-be consultant read "Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi. Fantastic, motivational book on networking in which he outlines a blueprint for starting a consulting business...secure a few clients and then strike out.

#9. Treat Your Business Like a Business
I'd recommend you read David Maister. He writes about professional services companies and his work (now in print with his new book "Strategy and the Fat Smoker", his podcasts, his videocasts, and his blog) is just great.

Springwise wrote about a clothing rental business called Transitional Sizes. For a monthly fee they rent clothes to women who are changing sizes (due to pregnancy or weight loss) anywhere from size 4 to size 26. You can have clothes that fit each month, and when they don't you turn them back in for new ones. The website looks a little too eBay (come on guys, you can take some better photos of the clothes), but is a good concept.

I'd love it if this were combined with a MyShape.com style clothing store, so that they could pick out a wardrobe for you that would match your styles and measurements, and the season and weather in your part of the country. At the end of the season, you return the package in exchange for some new pieces.

I love the subscription model as it builds loyalty and referrals with every compliment, plus it takes the guesswork out of shopping. Trust me there are a lot of women with disposable income that don't like or want to take the time to shop!

My mom, like many others I suppose, was a home economics major in college. She taught consumer education in schools. I just learned about a Beverly Hills store that should prompt a "why didn't I think of that" response from her. It is called Fashionology LA and just like Build-a-Bear, this store focusing on having tweens make their own clothes, designing them on kiosks in the store. I get the impression that this is more embellishment than hard-core tailoring, but still...it is home economics at the mall.

I could see this extending beyond t-shirt embellishment to simple sewing projects where kids could practice designing something truly unique. I loved that kind of thing when I was a kid and I had the advantage of a home economics teacher in my house. Most kids today don't (including mine), yet would love the creative outlet that this could be.

The folks there at Fashionology LA have built in some great viral marketing tools to extend their reach (they take pictures of the girls in their new creations and email them to them so that they can share them with their friends - brilliant!). Something to think about for your own business, how to let the customers do the talking!

"We are more ready to try the untried when what we do is inconsequential. Hence the fact that many inventions had their birth as toys." - Eric Hoffer

What are you playing around with today and might actually be the next big thing for your business?

Years ago I worked for a software company and while we were developing software, one of the programmers came up with an innovative prototyping tool. We showed this tool to some other folks who loved it and over time, that tool became the best selling product of the company. Something that wasn't on the roadmap at all when the company began.

I wonder how many businesses start like this. GetSatisfaction.com, an innovative service that brokers companies and their customers, started as a way to handle support requests for the sale of excess and obsolete marketing items from defunct internet start-ups in the early 2000's. Twitter started as a side project and has become huge.

What are your side projects, again that you are playing around with, that should be moved to the core of your effort?

I recently read about a Swedish company called Coming Through, which retrofits Honda Goldwing motorcycles to be "tow trucks." After all, they can get through traffic and are beefly enough to haul most passenger cars. Rather than starting with a tow truck (of the more traditional style) and engineering it down, I am sure they started from the need and build a solution from there. The design is cool and I could see cities having whole fleets of these to deal real-time with stalled cars on freeways that gunk up morning commutes.

Following the recommendation of a colleage and an unability to get an appointment with our normal primary care physician, we went to ZoomCare this weekend. If you are in Portland I highly recommend you check out their services. In any case, their approach illustrated 10 ways that innovators can change industries. I really hope my dentist, my hairdresser, and other service businesses I frequent are reading this.

1. Let your customers buy/schedule online
Go to http://www.zoomcare.com/ and pick your appointment time. So simple. Again, why can't I schedule a hair appointment like this? We scheduled my husband's appointment after hours and it was confirmed via email (our choice) by the next morning. The doctor had read the comments that we had put on our appointment request prior to the appointment.

2. Let customers be spontaneous
Their website includes a real-time graphic indicator of the wait time in their two offices. This is handy for estimating how an impromptu appointment will affect your day. There is no wait if you have an appointment, but if you don't, you can see how busy the place is without leaving your house.

3. Seize a niche
ZoomCare is in the gap between urgent care centers and traditional doctor's offices. You don't get to pick your doctor. They don't treat heart attacks, strokes, offer kidney dialysis, or deliver babies. They are a healthcare solution for folks that are generally healthy, but need periodic treatment.

4. Publish a price list
It is crazy to think that ZoomCare's website might be the first fee schedule I have ever seen in healthcare. Normally, insured patients don't even know what their healthcare is costing them (besides their co-pay and then the statement that they receive showing what the insurance has paid). This doesn't lead to good consumer behavior. It is fee schedules like ZoomCare that make me think that I could accept one of those catastrophy-only healthcare plans, where I'd pay out of pocket (but before tax) for office visits, etc. The fees didn't seem too bad and even if all of us came into the office each month, the fees would be less than I am paying in insurance today (and my employer pays most of it, so I am only seeing a portion of the actual cost).

5. Don't underhire your front-line staff
ZoomCare hires front-desk staff that have college degrees and diverse backgrounds. Where other doctors offices have clerks, these guys are more like cruise directors. I suspect the hiring managers would love their office associates had experience in a circus, speaking multiple languages, and had degrees in diverse fields. After all, they are the face of the company and should be a reason people come back. The doctor was great, too!

6. Treat your customers like intelligent, rational human beings
My husband was shown in his diagnosis by the doctor (with the use of a video screen). Then the front desk person walked him through the treatment handout at the desk and had a bag of information ready for him when he left.

7. Partner seamlessly
Zoomcare accepted our insurance (it was listed on their website as one of the plans they accepted). They emailed (or appeared to email) the prescription to the pharmacy of our choice. My doctor's office by contrast, made me call into their separate prescription line and I had to provide the phone number and address of the Costco pharmacy that I wanted them to use, something they could have Googled as well as I could.

8. Don't partner when you can provide
The office itself had a whole little store front set up where they sold over the counter treatments and other items that their customers might need. It reminded me of the little stores set up in hotel lobbies for those who forgot their toothpaste. If the patient needed aspirin and some cough drops, they could get them right there and avoid yet another stop along the way.

9. Don't underestimate the power of a happy customer
We were told at Zoomcare by someone (who was impressed by the follow-up phone call he received to ensure he was feeling better). We have gone on to tell no fewer than 12 people (and that was before this blog post) about the service.

10. Make your customers beg for more
We already wish they had an office closer to us (it was worth the drive, but could be more convenient). The ZoomCare brand could certainly expand to a whole range of health services. I wish they had dentists/hygenists on staff (although my dentist's office practices would make them a great candidate for running a ZoomCare Dental office). They could expand to vision care. They could expand to an online over-the-counter medication store with home delivery. They could expand to home health care of other types. The positive brand they have built can expand out to new endeavors. Perhaps ZoomCare will expand to a neighborhood near you!

This has to be one of the coolest custom products ever, custom metal cufflinks from Eleven Forty Design. They are individually modeled from a picture (or you can pick from your favorite person from their portfolio which includes Einstein and Flash Gordon). Each sleeve would have one side. Put them together and they create a little portrait bust. Imagine your toddler, your dog, or your favorite superhero immortalized on your cuffs.

This would be an interesting category of products for a custom engraver (or laser "tattoo" artist) to have. Send in a picture and they engrave it onto a flat silver cufflink. Probably would be a lot cheaper than this sculpted design, but just as personal.

I ran across an interesting post today about charging overweight people who smoke more for their health insurance. A provocative concept, to be sure.

This is what car companies have done for years. Why not other types of insurance or other industries.

There is risk inherent in any business that might be mitigated through pricing strategies. The total cost of goods sold for most companies includes not only the cost of the physical item they are selling, but also the warranty expenses (which can make or break the profitability of the business in certain categories). What if customers who showed a lower risk for needing technical support in the future (by either their historic return rates, technical proficiency as measured in some test, or some other measure), would get a deal on their purchases of products? I bet the test alone would encourage people to try to fit it themselves a little more aggressively.

Taking it a step further and bundling services with products based on this model. What if car insurance was bundled in the price of the car? The safer the car, the less the insurance.

The next natural step is to turn risk-profile based pricing into use pricing. You pay for the car and the insurance by the mile that you drive, for instance.

It appears that Yahoo, Inc. has enacted some new severance policies (which seem very ambigous and open to wide interpretation). For instance, they allow people severance if they quit for "good reason," whatever that means. I can't help but think that this might bite struggling Yahoo, if Microsoft loses interest in their take-over bid.

I am not often sympathetic with Microsoft (as they are big boys with lots of cash and power), but as someone who has done M&A work, I feel for them. They make a public bid for Yahoo, see the value of their company drop $4 BILLION dollars in market cap (in a deal that is in part based on stock), and then see the forecasted costs of integration climb as Yahoo does stunts like this. In addition, Yahoo has lost some of their senior engineers in the past week (when Bill Gates goes on record saying that is the value that they are buying). Microsoft meanwhile hires a firm to oust the Yahoo board and appeal to shareholders directly.

People say that buying a company (especially a company dependent on intellectual property) is like buying a greenhouse. The conditions are sensitive and the actions must be delicate to keep the conditions right for growing stuff. In this case, Microsoft is messing with the thermostat and Yahoo is breaking the greenhouse windows from the inside. I fear that the plants are going to die.

I recently read Christine Comaford-Lynch's "Rules for Renegades." Christine sound like quite a character. One of those high-energy, mile-a-minute folks who is constantly pushing into new areas. Intermixed with stories of dating Bill Gates and Larry Ellison, she had some interesting stories and advice.