There are hopers and dreamers then there are entrepreneurs. To really understand how a genuine entrepreneur makes money you need to study the difference between these two groups and why hopers and dreamers fall by the way side, while the real thing go's from strength to strength.

"For the lack of a horse shoe, a kingdom was lost" Knowing what to look for is the mark of an experienced entrepreneur, however without experience you become at risk of simply running around in circles with nothing to show for it. For example the romantic "inventor entrepreneur wannabe" This type of hoper believes success lies in the power of one idea. They have bought into the romantic notion that all a man needs is one good idea and the world will beat a path to your door. The world is full of failed inventor entrepreneurs. They spend most of their time dreaming of building the perfect mouse trap. One that all the world will want. They spend precious seed capital and even more precious time in their spare hours (usually after their day job) building and testing prototypes. They usually enjoy it and consider it recreation. A hobby.

The danger comes when they get bored with tinkering and begin to believe they have achieved their goal so they begin to look for seed capital and that's when they start to spend money on their invention. They give it to all kinds of submission services and marketing experts who all prey on this type of entrepreneur. If these experts really believed the inventors prototype was so good, they would spend their own money not ask for payment. However, this is not the case, instead they tell the inventor how wonderful the new invention is and continue to charge by the hour.

Remember the lessons of the past. When Edison invented the light bulb, it is true he tried thousands of time before he realized he should extract the oxygen from the globe to form a vacuum so the filament didn't burn out in a sudden flair. In this vacuum the tungsten filament glowed for hours. But here's the real lesson Edison learned. Such a wonderful and innovative idea STILL had to be sold to the world and that was the job of entrepreneurs.

The world is full of brilliant ideas created by failed invention entrepreneurs. Everything from motors that run on air to water powered generators. The list is extensive but we never hear of these marvelous inventions because people need to be "sold" on using them.

The difference between the dreamer and the entrepreneur is that an entrepreneur makes money. Ideas mean nothing to them, even though they are very creative, they maintain a focus on the end result, which is a profit.

Successful entrepreneurs are deal makers, naturally because that's where the money resides. They take needs, command value and exchange for profit. Then they are on to the next project.

Martin Thomas (c)2005