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Is Your Purpose Patent Still Pending?

Guest post by: John Jantsch

Article Overview: Lots of business owners sit around the office tinkering with the notion of that one great innovation to be patented on the road to riches. Well, I think we’ve all got a patent in us but, for many, that patent remains forever pending. The patent I’m referring to is the “purpose patent” – your personal connection to work the serves a deeper purpose. That patent doesn’t need approval from the USPTO, it only needs approval from you.

Is Your Purpose Patent Still Pending?

Lots of business owners sit around the office tinkering with the notion of that one great innovation to be patented on the road to riches. Well, I think we've all got a patent in us but, for many, that patent remains forever pending. The patent I'm referring to is the "purpose patent" - your personal connection to work the serves a deeper purpose. That patent doesn't need approval from the USPTO, it only needs approval from you. I firmly believe that one of the foundational secrets to success in business is to invent, discover, and connect what we are doing with a sense of purpose that drives the entire enterprise. You've certainly heard many people talk about the idea of doing work you love, but this is more than that. I'm suggesting that you must connect with some reason beyond the fact you enjoy the work, that you must be able to feel a greater sense of value that drives your entire strategy and filters your decisions at the highest level.

Now, I'm not talking about greater good, higher purpose or mission in a strictly altruistic or spiritual context - although for some that may be the case. I'm talking about understanding the full extent of the value your business brings to customers, providers and staff and hooking on to that as reason for doing the day to day work that makes it all possible.

Frankly, as Hugh's cartoon states emphatically, life is too short, but you could just as easily (or cynically) conclude that life's too long not to do something that matters. But, how it matters and to whom it matters, is what you've got to come to understand.

In my book The Referral Engine I go as far as making this notion one of the required steps in building an authentic marketing strategy. . .

"There are three ingredients necessary for a rewarding and successful business experience: You must enjoy what you do and feel a sense of purpose; you must be good at what you do; and you must be able to convince other people to pay you for what you do. I've met some very happy business people who seem to have the first two in abundance, but who can't quite figure out how to monetize them. But I've rarely come across a truly successful business owner who is happy making lots of money doing something they are good at without a deep-seated sense of purpose.

There is no way around it, really. Businesses that get talked about are driven by a higher purpose, one formed by a passionate owner or by a passionate team mission."

Here are 5 books that will help you in the quest to find more meaning in your work:

* Career Renegade - Jonathan Fields

* REWORK - Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

* Escape From Cubicle Nation - Pam Slim

* Linchpin - Seth Godin

* The Big Leap - Gay Hendricks

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Article Tags: business experience, business owners, cartoon, decisions, foundational secrets, full extent, innovation, marketing strategy, notion, patent, personal connection, referral, road to riches, sense of purpose, spiritual context, successful business, uspto



Related Forum Posts
Re: Success - I study success intently, and would like to share: Here's two excellent and nearly identical success-formulas from a couple of the world's masters. FIRST FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Clear, Definite Purpose 3. Committed Decision 4. Take Action In Faith (Bonus Secret Sauce: 5. Repeat Consistently) I made a video about this, but am not allowed to link it yet. Google "Ryze Success Steps" for it. Oh, and this is Napoleon Hill's (Master Of Success Laws)'s Formula. SECOND FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Understand It Is Already Done (Faith) 3. Relax & Allow It To Unfold (Go about your life calmly) This one is courtesy of Abraham-Hicks (inspiration for the movie The Secret). Hope that helps!
How Well Protected Are The Patent Holders? - Intellectual property laws vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. And it is such that the acquisition, registration or enforcement of the rights must be pursued or obtained separately in each territory of interest. Intellectual property in law is a general term for various legal entitlements. The holder of this legal entitlement is generally entitled to exercise various exclusive rights. Intellectual property laws are designed to protect different forms of subject matter, in this case a Patent. A patent may be granted for a new, useful, and non-obvious invention, and gives the patent holder an exclusive right to commercially exploit the invention for a certain period of time, typically 20 years from the filing date of a patent application. Patents, trademarks, and designs rights are sometimes collectively known as industrial property, as they are typically created and used for industrial or commercial purposes. Various schools of thought are critical of the term “intellectual property”. Some characterise it as intellectual protectionism. From the perspective of economics, intellectual property is a temporary monopoly on the use or exploitation of that Patent, supported by legal enforcement mechanisms. There is a debate going on every where that intellectual property laws truly operate to confer the stated public benefits, and whether the protection they are said to provide is appropriate in the context of innovation derived from such things as traditional knowledge and folklore, and patents for software and business methods. Manifestations of this controversy can be seen in the way different jurisdictions decide whether to grant intellectual property protection in relation to subject matter of this kind, and the divide on issues of the role and scope of intellectual property laws. Most exclusive rights are the right to sue an infringer, which has the effect that people will approach the patent holder for permission to perform the acts to which the patent holder has exclusive right
I have an invention, now what do I do? - I am sure that a lot of this is covered in different topics, but as a new inventor, I have some questions. Bit of info for you, so you know where we are. 1. I have a working prototype. 2. This is a web based piece of software. 3. The software has to do with social media. (Although it is not a social site) 4. It is a tool for social media users. Cross platform, meaning, Facebook, twitter, linkedin etc.. all the major ones. 5. We have active users. This is a tested solution with real users. We did a market test and had 40-50 users signup within 1 day. We are currently not accepting new users until the beta is completed. 6. We are ready to start looking for Venture Capital or Investors. Where should we start? Patent? First to market? NDA's? Anyone have experience in this realm? What should we do first? .
Re: I have an invention, now what do I do? - [quote="JohnHenning":11mzzvqc]I am sure that a lot of this is covered in different topics, but as a new inventor, I have some questions. Bit of info for you, so you know where we are. 1. I have a working prototype. 2. This is a web based piece of software. 3. The software has to do with social media. (Although it is not a social site) 4. It is a tool for social media users. Cross platform, meaning, Facebook, twitter, linkedin etc.. all the major ones. 5. We have active users. This is a tested solution with real users. We did a market test and had 40-50 users signup within 1 day. We are currently not accepting new users until the beta is completed. 6. We are ready to start looking for Venture Capital or Investors. Where should we start? Patent? First to market? NDA's? Anyone have experience in this realm? What should we do first? .[/quote:11mzzvqc] Hi John I think your first step would be to patent your invention. You have tested it with real users and know that it works. I have not had actual experience with this as I have never invented anything, but if you just go through this section of the forum (inventors corner) you will find a lot of very useful advice. Hope this helps MichelleJ
Have a solid business plan and do your homework - Is it Worth It? Not all intellectual property rights may be of significant value to a business. It is easy enough to patent yourself into nbankruptcy and, as pointed out above, most patents never make a significant return on the investment. Therefore, it is necessary to review all aspects of the company and assign priorities to the rights according to their value. When working with start-up companies, I counsel them to first have a solid business plan laying out exactly how they will get a retrun on their investment. Too often, people mistakenly believe that once you have a patent, checks will roll in. When I was in-house managing a large protfolio of patents that came out of over 800 inventions, exactly one set of technology was a blockbuster hit. While some businesses may choose to compete in the market without obtaining patents or aggressively protecting trademark rights, a competitor in a market may be working toward reducing the competitive advantage of a business by securing substantial patents, trademarks or other intellectual property rights. It is quite common for at least one player in a multi-firm market to follow such a strategy in an attempt to force competitors to either take licenses or stop making or using the proprietary technology. Such tactics are frequently successful in securing a superior competitive position. Can You Use It? It is one thing to own IP rights; it is another thing to be able to conduct a business without infringing third party IP rights. Thus, the fact that a company has a patent for a product does not give it the right to make the product. The unfettered right to use, make or sell certain technology, or to use trademarks or material subject to copyrights, is often crucial to the health of any business. If a competitor holds patents, trademarks, copyrights or other related rights that dominate a successful product or service of a business, the profitability of a business, and even the ability to survive, may be at stake. Thus it is often important to conduct independent IP searches in areas of relevance to the company’s business to identify third party patents, trademarks, or copyrights that may be of importance. Preferably, a company will periodically monitor the intellectual property rights held by competitors. Hope this helps, Stephen Patent Baristas


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