what are some good ways for a creative person to make money? (the problem is no business know-how)

GleepGlop http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/21757#350565 "matt, do people that filed patents work their asses off? no, they sell their sleazy patent for buckets of cash to some corporation." This is a very rare occurrence. You might be able to find a few examples of people who have made money off of independently developed inventions, but it's a difficult (impossible?) path to follow for a few reasons: 1. Patents are expensive. It can cost tens of thousands of dollars to get a good patent written and pushed through the system. Patent attorneys don't work for cheap, and you do need an attorney if you want a patent that will be legally unassailable. It's possible to file yourself, yes, but you will have to put lots and lots of work into learning about the system and researching the state of the art. 2. Companies that are interested in research and development spend a lot of money on research and development, and they pursue patents on their own work. They know what they're interested in, and that's what they pursue. It's unlikely, therefore, that you will have an idea that they are both interested in and that they have not already investigated. 3. People who develop inventions independently are typically able to license them to companies because of contacts they have with these companies. This requires building up a network of contacts, which takes--you guessed it--lots and lots of work. People have this romantic idea of the noble inventor tinkering away in his garage and being rewarded for his ingenuity with sacks and sacks of money by some appreciative corporation, but that just isn't how it works.

thanks for the responses. i think i overcomplicated this question... i think im just going to have to read some books on business. should be fun...

Short of plunging into an MBA, can you take an evening class in starting a small business? Even if it's very basic, it will show you how to create a business plan, research your market etc., and give you some concrete focus as to what challenges and steps you have ahead of you rather than a general "If only I had a business degree I could do this" feeling. You need to break down the ENORMOUS challenge you've set yourself into bite-size chunks that you can comprehend and tackle. understanding of the business world due to vehement avoidance all these years If you've been avoiding the business world all these years, are you sure you can get over your natural antipathy to it enough to plunge headlong into it and carve a living out of it? Not intending to snark, just to raise some issues you surely need to think seriously about. Even if you're a creative genius, people won't be nice to you when you're trying to persuade them to part with money for your genius. You'll need to be able to cope with all the rough and tumble of the business world and still come up enthused. this ability to come up with original ideas Can you be any more specific about your areas of expertise? Are you just going to tinker in the garage until you come up with something, or are you an electrician or an engineer, or a fashion designer, or.... Also, I am not an expert at all, but I'm sure that you will have to work your arse off. If there was a straightforward way to enjoy the creative process, AND make money AND avoid hard work, we'd all be doing it. If you're working for yourself you might have more flexibility about which hours you work, but I imagine there will be a lot of them. I also imagine it will be emotionally hard work if you're putting your 'baby', out there in the world and trying to make others love it too. But of course it will be all the more rewarding if they do...

mr_roboto has it right. One of the great myths about the patent system is that it protects small, independent inventors. The patent system is an extorsion racket that rewards the professional racketeers. The high cost of getting a patent already favors large corporations that generate patents for a living, but that's nothing compared to the cost of extracting money from the patent. You'll have to master the process of selling to large companies, pay your travel expenses, put on a good suit and learn to negotiate complex licensing agreements like a professional. You'll have to spend time and energy looking for violators, and then pay the legal fees to defend your patent. And one day a large company will claim that it has prior art or an overlapping patent, and try to strongarm you out of business with their ability to keep you paying legal fees. There's only one genuine way to make big money from a creative endeavor: first, find a partner who understands sales and marketing, and another one who loves to manage the day-to-day administration and is a tightwad on expenses. Then, work your ass off for years building something that you genuinely believe in. Then, get lucky and negotiate well to sell your company to someone who really wants it. Ideas are worthless; businesses have value because they take a lot of work to create.

Failing the "big idea", come work in advertising. The even call us "creative:, which is cute, and lets us make fun of the "suits". Another bonus is that they pour booze down our throats, which is the only reason i've even got the nerve to answer this. OK, granted, not the answer you were looking for (not get rich quick) plus there will be all sorts of "boo....advertising is the devil" sort of things, but should you be good with words or pictures, there are worse (ok, metafilter, I know, EVIL) ways to make a decent buck. And there are no patents required. Also, not a quick buck.... maybe this isn't anywhere near a good answer. Sorry. How about spam? V14gr4 rulz.

Every time I've watched Penn and Teller's Bullshit I've been amazed that whenever they go to debunk something it almost inevitably is pretty lucrative: sell magnet therapy at a shopping mall, sell carnie tricks as spiritual enlightenment, whatever. The best con artist they had was this guy who travelled around the country in a motor home doing reflexology (glorified foot massages) and then selling folks on reflexology classes for like $2,000. He had it made. Of course, you'll have to be an excellent salesperson for this to work, but creativity helps.

Successful inventors tend to be in the field of their invention, e.g., the football coach who invented a type of tackling dummy. What do you see in the area you work in/study in that needs improvement?

http://www.governmentgrant.com/'s books are very popular at the public library I work at. People tend to check 'em out and then never return 'em, which I can only assume is because they've all relocated to offshore tax havens. Then again, I believe his books are fairly US-centric, and your userinfo says you're in Canada. If you're extremely motivated and dedicated, and you think that having a business degree would solve your problem, it sounds to me like you should get one.

Count Ziggurat - Look for problems which very rich people want solved. ... or a problem a *lot* of people want/need solved - make up for it in volume. GleepGlop - that's an interesting idea, asking ask.mefi, that... If you *do* make it big, you're gonna have to do something for the ask.mefi community =) The demographics are getting top-heavy. Anything that you can think of to benefit seniors? Also, the demographic is getting, well, heavy - anything you can think of to offer to the overweight? To try to answer your question; I'm not sure that creative people actually make money if that's all they are - creative. Unless they use their creativity to leverage more out of their labour (ie., artists who sell art, or people who are already doing something then use their creativity to make their product better, or use their creativity to... well, creatively market their product/goods-of-their-labour). I'm afraid that the answer you might be looking for is going to be something along the lines of being a "middleman" or broker or some other parasite (not that that's a bad thing...).