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Raveling

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Hi everyone. Excuse the pessimism, but I hope we're both worthy of what I hope this forum REALLY is and what I am aspiring and working to be.

I'm a 52-year-old Canadian, living in Japan and working as an English teacher. I work the minimum hours required to meet my expenses while pursuing my lifelong dream of being a professional inventor and entrepreneur most of the rest of my waking life. I've been at it for over a decade and SERIOUSLY AT IT for 5 plus years.

In short, I'm looking for a community I'm worthy of, and whose also worthy of me. I'm not talking ego here, just truth.

I want to contribute to and be a part of a community of people who are serious about a journey that's inherently lonely, FULL of "action fakers", "crabs" and time wasters. I'm as serious about helping everyone here ( in whatever way I'm capable ) as I am about not wasting my time here engaging in anything that doesn't include one or both of us getting genuine benefit from our interactions.

My entrepreneurial pursuits and lifelong ikigai are all about inventions and bringing them to life through any and all ethical means. I'm especially passionate about inventions that have or in some way contribute to having a positive environmental impact. That said, the ever-present child in me LOVES toys, especially kinetic ones, hand drums and percussion, cool gadgets and technology used just to make fun and cool things, and I'm especially fond of N52/55 neodymium magnets;-)
 
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AmazingLarry

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I only joined a week ago, but welcome!

I'm from the US, but have been living in Asia for almost a year now with the wife. We're actually taking a trip to Japan in 2 weeks and have never been, so I'm pretty excited.

Anyway, I would be interested to hear more about some of your projects. You seem very passionate about it. Do you have a specific invention you are trying to develop into a business going forward? Do you have the means to build your inventions in Japan?

I'm an engineer and love inventing, designing, and building things as well (and I also love playing the drums). Most of what I've created has been for the manufacturing world, such as tools and machines to make jobs easier and safer.

I have a list of products I want to develop, and hopefully turn one of them into a business once I return to the US. Right now I'm having a hard time deciding between developing a few of them into MVPs so I can hit the ground running when I move home, or spend the time trying to start a fully online business/website right now. I am definitely more of a physical product/mechanical type of thinker, but I am confident I could learn coding if I have a viable idea. Decisions, decisions...

Cheers!
 

Raveling

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I only joined a week ago, but welcome!

Thank you for welcoming me MTBnamja :)

I'm from the US, but have been living in Asia for almost a year now with the wife. We're actually taking a trip to Japan in 2 weeks and have never been, so I'm pretty excited.

Cool, where specifically and where are you now?
As for visiting Japan where are you planning to go and what RU planning on doing?


Anyway, I would be interested to hear more about some of your projects.

My inventions are very broad, but wrt what I'm commercializing right now, it's just like MJ described one of his other forum members does in one of his books, improvement to existing Amazon products.

You seem very passionate about it.

Very, it's truly my ikigai and has been for as long as my mother could remember, or so she once told me. Nothing short of such obsession can keep you going after over a decade of no external validation.

Do you have a specific invention you are trying to develop into a business going forward?

As above, Amazon product improvements for now.

Do you have the means to build your inventions in Japan?

No, nor do I want to. I neither speak, read the language or know enough about Japanese IP, so I stick with North American, specifically the U.S.

I'm an engineer and love inventing, designing, and building things as well (and I also love playing the drums). Most of what I've created has been for the manufacturing world, such as tools and machines to make jobs easier and safer.

Awesome, we'll get along famously I think. What type of engineer are you?

I have no formal engineering training, but I've designed and invented tons of stuff, some simple and fun, others more technical, including tools, photography stuff, and many others, sadly, I've never been able to secure licensing or the resources for any of my ground up inventions...YET.


I have a list of products I want to develop, and hopefully turn one of them into a business once I return to the US. Right now I'm having a hard time deciding between developing a few of them into MVPs so I can hit the ground running when I move home, or spend the time trying to start a fully online business/website right now.

Well, I may be able to give you some insight on the product development, licensing side. With not enough information, I'd say if you're going to develop an MVP, focus on one to start, and beware of the MVP concept. IMHO, I think it should be MSVP ( Minimal SUPERIOR Viable Product ) because as MJ might say, how is it better than the competition?

I am definitely more of a physical product/mechanical type of thinker, but I am confident I could learn coding if I have a viable idea.

Me too, most of my stuff is very mechanical. Again without more information, I'd guess you ( like I, can find focus on one project challenging ), I'd say try to identify which project is the shortest distance to income that can free your time so you have more of it to put your full attention to larger projects.

While more than one project CAN be doable, it's safest to focus on a singular project until such time as it's most of its way to market to keep yourself focused.


Decisions, decisions...

Cheers!

I hope some of my replies help you and IFF I can help in some way going forward, let me know.
 

ChrisV

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Hi welcome.. yes, I appreciated your contriutions to the Ikigai thread. Good stuff. The only thing I would suggest is to look at the "Edit post" function, that way you don't have to post 3 or so times in a row. But welcome!
 
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AmazingLarry

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Cool, where specifically and where are you now?
As for visiting Japan where are you planning to go and what RU planning on doing?

We are visiting Osaka, Kyoto and Nara. We have a pretty big list of things we want to see and a plan for each day. We're going to get up super early to visit some places and beat the crowds. We tend to do this now whenever we travel and have had some amazing experiences being the only people around. I'm not sure where you've traveled within Japan, but if you have any recommendations of your favorite things to do, I would love to hear.


My inventions are very broad, but wrt what I'm commercializing right now, it's just like MJ described one of his other forum members does in one of his books, improvement to existing Amazon products.

Yeah, that definitely seems like a good way to pick an idea that's already validated and has a good market.


No, nor do I want to. I neither speak, read the language or know enough about Japanese IP, so I stick with North American, specifically the U.S.

Ahh okay, so how do you have someone in the U.S. build your products, or are you not at that point yet?


Awesome, we'll get along famously I think. What type of engineer are you?

Mechanical. I worked for 3 years at a small company as the only engineer designing machines for companies. It was awesome because I got to travel to tons of companies and see their manufacturing facilities, and I was able to actually do a good amount of machining the parts, building the machines, and testing. Now I am doing freelance design and trying to build that big enough so that I don't have to get another job when moving home. That's the goal over the next year in conjunction with getting a fastlane business going.


I have no formal engineering training, but I've designed and invented tons of stuff, some simple and fun, others more technical, including tools, photography stuff, and many others, sadly, I've never been able to secure licensing or the resources for any of my ground up inventions...YET.

Well, I may be able to give you some insight on the product development, licensing side. With not enough information, I'd say if you're going to develop an MVP, focus on one to start, and beware of the MVP concept. IMHO, I think it should be MSVP ( Minimal SUPERIOR Viable Product ) because as MJ might say, how is it better than the competition?

That's awesome, sounds like some pretty cool stuff! What software do you use for designing? Regarding licensing, do you mean securing rights to use some other technology in your invention, or licensing your inventions for other companies to use? I really don't know much about either scenario, so I would be interested to learn more.
I will definitely focus on one product at a time until it is at the point where it's a sell-able product that I could build quickly, sell to customers, and get good feedback. I guess it depends how much I can get done over the next year.



Me too, most of my stuff is very mechanical. Again without more information, I'd guess you ( like I, can find focus on one project challenging ), I'd say try to identify which project is the shortest distance to income that can free your time so you have more of it to put your full attention to larger projects.

While more than one project CAN be doable, it's safest to focus on a singular project until such time as it's most of its way to market to keep yourself focused.

Yeah, it makes it much harder to start something now when I'm not in my home country and can't be hands on. That's a good point about picking the project with the shortest distance to freeing up time. I think that's the next steep, and even if it's not something that can scale to a million dollar business, it will set me up perfectly to do a bigger project when I return home.
 

BrianLateStart

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Hello and welcome to the community.

I haven't been here long, just read TMF a couple of months ago. I've been living the SlowLane all my life and was satisfied with it. Started my own project almost four years ago late in life working nights and weekends. I'm 55 now. Did it because I thought it was a cool invention and didn't want to regret not trying something. I've had many invention ideas, but never followed up on anything until now. My interests are simple machines or objects that are strictly mechanical. Electrical and software are beyond my knowledge.

I also feel like electrical objects and anything that needs software automatically has a expiration date (maybe that's better for a business model). At some point the electronics will fail and the software will be obsolete, but, mechanical machines can run forever. I have my great grandfather's pocket watch that he used when he was a conductor on a train in the early 1900s. It will outlive me.

Like you, I'm wanting to learn and contribute to a community of people that are serious about this journey.

Brian
 
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