I don’t know you. All I can say is if you’re bouncing between minimum wage jobs and unemployment, you should focus on your employment situation rather than your invention.
In Canada there’s a show called Dragon’s Den. I think there’s a US version called Shark Tank. Basically you bring your invention to the Dragons (serious power players in industry and finance) so they can tear great big holes in your idea and your ego. A rare person with good business acumen and a workable idea can sometimes get support (in the form of money- you tell them how much you want and what percentage they get in return) from the Dragons.
For example, one woman invented cute portable slip-on shoes called “Damn Heels” to save other women from having to carry around bulky running shoes when the work day (or party) was over and they wanted to get out of their heels. The female Dragon, knowing well the pain of wearing shoes that aren’t shaped like feet, was quite intrigued. I don’t recall if she bought in or not but the validation alone (plus the media exposure) was pretty priceless to the inventor.
However, this does require building a working mock-up of your product and being willing to have it shown on TV. You can probably stream some episodes here (may not work in the US but try it anyhow):
Edit: look at the section on the website called “Pitches”. Every idea from every episode including how much money they asked for.
Do you have any charitable enterprise foundations in the US? I’d be amazed if you didn’t. I don’t know how old you are but, for e.g., in the UK we have schemes aimed at young unemployed people to provide them with training and funding to help get their business idea off the ground. One such charity is the Prince’s trust (founded by prince Charles). Have you investigated these routes at all?
SanVito, do you by any chance know the ethnic background of the typical beneficiaries of such awards in the UK? As well as the admissions rates? Inquiring minds want to know.
AFAIK over here in America poor white people, regardless of intelligence and proneness to invent new automotive technologies (just my WAG about the OP, I could be wrong), are usually not the sort likely to be helped by such do-gooder programs. Nor would a geek like the OP be likely to be adept at dealing with the sort of suit-wearing bureaucrats that tend to run such outfits. IMHO the vibrant synergy would not prove to be compellingly dynamic win-win in this case.
What a peculiar question. Poor people in the UK are poor people, and these organisations are precisely set up to deal with people who don’t know how to get on in life. The type of people adept with dealing with suit wearing bureaucrats are hardly the people who need the help. Look at the link I posted – it’s hardly a showcase for racial profiling.
Something’s strange about all of Flying_Monk’s posts. He writes as well as most college graduates. He claims that he’s never seen as much as $6,000 at one time. He says that $40,000 a year is a lot of money. He says that at times he’s taken jobs that make $3 an hour (which is well below the minimum wage). He says that he’s unemployed and will soon be homeless. He has access to an Internet connection though. He also says that he’s been working steadily all his life. He says that he’s taught himself a lot about certain technical fields. He says that he was never able to go to college. He says that he’s developed some important innovation in a technical field. He says that he’s contacted a lot of people about his wonderful new idea. He won’t give us even a vague idea what he’s talking about though.
None of these details are impossible, but together they make a bizarre combination. I don’t believe his claims. I don’t know what he’s trying to do - creating a scam or telling a story to amuse himself or whatever - but I don’t know why we should continue to listen to him unless he decides to tell us in much more detail what’s going on. Tell us the story of your life, Flying_Monk. Tell us much more about what this great technical innovation is and how you happened to have created it. Why should we waste any further time reading this thread?
Though I would like to know more myself I don’t think Monk has shown me any reason to disbelieve his story or situation.
I work in a very specialized (and arguably dying) field where I have few if any opportunities for movement to another field and still draw the same income I make now. One mess up and I will fall hard & fast, and I am not sure what I will do then.
You don’t know what you don’t know, and that is especially true of success. Until Monk has some success somewhere only then will he know how to succeed.
I know plenty of people who are every bit as intelligent and capable as the ‘successful’ people in this world, they just haven’t tasted it yet. This then plays on their self esteem as well. Over time the hole can seem too big to see out of.
I am sure Monk can succeed. He just needs some good fortune to get it going.
Good luck!
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I am sure Monk can succeed. He just needs some good fortune to get it going.
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Not so much fortune as the right connections. I’m sure Toro would be interested if they could be bothered to reply.
A good idea, and one I had about 25 years ago. I’m getting too old to find a good job, and there aren’t many around anymore. Without a degree, my choices are limited.
I’m going to ignore the insults from now on, and I’d appreciate any ideas about networking with possible business partners.
Alright, I don’t want to throw cold water on your dreams again. But the talents you need to market and sell your invention are dramatically different from the talents you needed to conceive and produce your invention.
So it is a classic story that happens over and over again that a smart guy comes up with a great invention, but because they lack the business and marketing skills they need aren’t able to bring their invention to market, or if they somehow do manage to bring it to market aren’t able to make a profit from it.
I’m still looking for business partners and/or investors. It’s amazing how hard it is to even get the opportunity to give a presentation. I’d really like the chance to talk to someone at Toro; does anyone know how someone without connections can approach a major corporation?
Tangentially relevant to topic of thread:
You almost certainly can afford to get a degree. Even the “loans” these days are basically grants since the monthly payments are based not on the loan amount but rather on your income. The repayment per month can even be zero if you make a small enough amount of money. (1.5x the poverty line IIRC). And after 20 years, no matter how much you’ve paid, you’re finished paying–the rest is forgiven. (This causes a hit on your taxes, but the tax payment can be spread out over time as well.)
And loans pay for living expenses, not just tuition-related expenses.
Having a degree is a good thing in and of itself. Also, of course, it opens doors to jobs you might not have been able to get otherwise. And possibly most importantly, it provides connections to experts and mover-shakers in your field.
More directly relevant to the topic of the thread:
Can you at least tell us something substantive about what problem your invention is meant to address?