If you’ve been “dabbling” with a business with expenses far exceeding revenue, maybe you need to hang it up.

If the expenses to launch your new product are less than 5 times revenue potential (some might say 10 times), maybe you should kill the product.

If you have no idea of the market for your product or service but believe that the market will emerge once you launch, stop now.

It’s okay to kill a bad business idea. It’s okay to have a bad idea. Learn from it and find another idea that is good, with a market, and decent revenue:expense ratio.

I have a personal dilemma. Someone very close to me says she wants to run a business. The business is retail, and she’s been dabbling for the past couple years. Expenses are three times revenue. And she wants to spend more on advertising.

I’ve tried to offer business advise. Some my advice is for her to try to not spend another dime until she proves there is a market and she has customers. There are lots of free or nearly free things she can do. However, she says my consulting / strategy business is nothing like her retail business and the advice I’m offering won’t work for her.

So I connected her to another entrepreneur who has a successful business for some coaching advice. This entrepreneur offered her similar advice. The trouble is the advice that the retail business owner heard was to go ahead and spend more money on advertising (which would increase her expenses to four times revenue).

The retail entrepreneur doesn’t appear to be coachable. And this will be a HUGE issue for her and the business.

Minds only work if they are open. Businesses are successful if their revenue exceeds expenses.

If you want to be an entrepreneur, you need to be coachable. If not, then maybe you shouldn’t be an entrepreneur.

Intellectual Property, Patents, and Trademarks

Speakers
Daniel L. Boots, Bingham McHale LLP
Brad Fravel, Indiana University Research & Technology Corporation (tentative)

There will be a speed networking session so be sure to bring plenty of business cards and short list of questions and/or needs!

Time: 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Location: Bingham McHale
10 W. Market St.
Suite 2700
Downtown Indianapolis

Cost: Non-members $20. Payment can be made at the meeting. Please make check payable to INpact.

Register here.

I love seeing examples of simple, yet elegant, medical products. The Adroit EMS Trauma Shears are a great example of this:

LinkedIn Event: PRP SDC March Meeting

PRP SDC March Meeting
Tue, Mar 09
Purdue Technology Centers, West Lafayette, Merrillville, Indy, New Albany, IN, US
Keywords: software developer, programming, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Xcode, Apple
Steve Haymen from Apple will be speaking on iPhone/iPod/iPad development.

You can RSVP here on LinkedIn but please also RSVP to the appropriate person at your location.

Indiana Patient Safety Summit

March 9, 2010
8:00A - 5:00P

Westin
50 South Capitol Ave,
Indianapolis, IN 46204

About the Summit

On March 9, 2010, health care providers, hospitals, government, manufacturers, educators and others will gather at the Westin Indianapolis for the inaugural Indiana Patient Safety Summit.

The meeting will seek an alignment of interests by key players in health care. It will provide an understanding of the challenges of patient safety in Indiana and seek a shared vision for improvement. Participants will hear from national patient safety experts as well as Indiana experts, who will share best practices on preventing infections and success stories related to telemedicine and the use of simulation centers.

The cost is $45. Click here to register.

Strategic Doing Workshop with Ed Morrison

March 23, 2010 at 12:00PM
Hosted by: Tom Zoss and the Community Foundation of Morgan County
Lunch Provided by: Home Bank

Ed Morrison is with Purdue University and founder of i-Open.

RSVP by March 19, 2010.

Interview with Tom Gardner of The RND Group

Tom Gardner

CQ: Tell me about RND Group.

The RND Group is a 13 year old business that provides full life cycle software engineering services specializing in medical device product development for FDA regulated products. We work with companies by partnering with their product development organizations in providing project management, requirements management, software engineering, and product testing services as needed to complement our clients’ existing engineering departments.

CQ: Who are your clients?

Our clients are leading providers for sample and assay technologies, and provide complete solutions for sample collection, nucleic acid purification, pathogen detection, and genetic testing. The broad range of solutions enables manual or automated sample processing in combination with downstream assays. Our clients develop instruments to help laboratories improve the cost, speed and efficiency of the diagnostics testing process. Our client’s instruments help labs deliver fast, accurate results to physicians and help improve patient care.

CQ: What do your employees like most about working at RND?

• We love that we are working with clients who are developing solutions that truly make a difference in people’s lives.
• We love working with the latest and greatest technologies
• We love working at a company that truly practices its “Core Values”
  • Respect for the individual and the importance of a balanced life
  • Promote and foster a healthy environment fiscally, professionally and personally
  • Promote and foster professional respect and growth for individuals and teams
  • Commitment to the highest standards of integrity and ethics
  • Responsibility for service and philanthropy in our community

CQ: What is the biggest obstacle your company faces?

• How do we maintain our quality growth and not sacrifice our “Three words below”?

• That we are able to Attract, Integrate, and motivate new employees for our quality growth?

• How do we clone our existing domain knowledge with our new hires?

CQ: Provide three words that describe your company.

Focused, Professional, Experienced