Judging from TEN's monthly New Patents listings, there are many independent inventors out there with dreams of turning their invention into a money maker. It would be interesting to know what percentage of independent inventors actually see any monetary return. I'll bet it isn't too high. (Ed. note: Except for a few "pros", whose names regularly appear, it's well below 1%.)

Getting from concept to payoff is tough. Some patented products may be licensed to companies with the horsepower to manufacture and market them. But as noted in these pages, large companies aren't particularly interested unless the potential is enormous. So it's left to the inventor of a niche product to root out a small company who may be interested -- or to try to take the product to market himself.

Our niche product is an indoor solar chime, called the SunChime<tm>, that is designed to simulate the random and intermittent sounds of a wind chime, but to do so based on the amount of light energy striking a solar cell.

It is a decorative product that must look nice in people's homes. It doesn't appeal to everyone, and it wasn't intended to. We felt if we executed the design well, both in the way it looked and the way it sounded, we could probably sell enough of them to bootstrap a company that manufactures an entire line of solar-powered gift items.

The first step was to build a working prototype to demonstrate feasibility. I worked on the electronics and mechanical design while my brother worked up some preliminary external design ideas. Our first working prototype sat on my patio on a rare sunny January day two years ago -- and the sound was music to our ears.

At this point the real work began. We needed to finalize the design, make estimates of cost and producibility, find sources for all of the parts, find a low-cost facility to produce the product, begin the patent work, form a corporation -- and keep enough money coming in to feed the family and pay the bills.

If you're just starting out, I'd recommend investing in a fax machine, an answering machine, and an automatic fax/phone switch which will allow you to get faxes and voice calls without requiring a second line. Although "call waiting" can be very irritating, I'd recommend it while you're still a one-line operation.

Also, get a set of Thomas Register. New ones are expensive, but many companies throw out old sets yearly. Check with your present employer or ask friends to check with theirs to see if you can get an old set. Although they will be dated, most of the information is good. My 1987 set still gets plenty of use.

Other sources of who does what are The Greater Michigan Regional Industrial Buying Guide (free to qualified subscribers; call 212-629-2100) and, of course, the Yellow Pages. If you're totally unfamiliar with purchasing and requesting quotes, get help. SCORE (the Service Corps of Retired Executives) would be a good place to start.

We worked out of our homes while we finalized the design and lined up suppliers. During this time we searched for some affordable manufacturing space. There are a lot of beautiful empty buildings that would have been ideal -- but most of them were far over our budget. We settled for a section of an older building and negotiated lower rent than what was asked.

Stay rent free as long as possible -- but don't run afoul of the zoning laws. I know my neighbors would not have appreciated trucks dropping off 500# bundles of aluminum in my driveway.

Bootstrapping means making do with what you have, and reinvesting your sales revenue in more equipment and inventory as your customer base expands. Some amount of up-front money is required and the amount will depend on what your product requires in the way of machinery and raw material to get it produced.

Used machinery can be a bargain and material prices can vary widely depending on supplier. Shop around, ask questions -- and don't be shy about negotiating.

During the startup phase of your operation, you must watch your cash flow very closely, and question every expenditure. The best advice I have for the startup entrepreneur is not to buy anything before you need it. Even if it's something you know you'll eventually need.

Wait until the requirement is immediate. Obviously, lead times must be considered for certain things, but don't purchase goods and services until they're essential to building and selling your product.

We purchased marketing advice, trade show participation, and software packages before we needed them. If we had waited and thought through our initial decisions, we would have realized that these expenditures were premature and, in some cases, unnecessary.

You'll find that having to watch every penny can get very frustrating and tiresome. However, the lessons learned from bootstrapping your business will serve you well in the future. I agree with Paul Hawken's comments on the problems of having too much money when starting a business. Read his excellent book, Growing A Business (Simon & Schuster), which covers the topic well.

Taking the first steps toward your goal can be scary -- but extremely invigorating. Keep in mind that what you do during these critical times begins to form the foundation and culture of your company. Spend money only as required, seek advice always -- and believe in your ability to succeed.

One final note: For engineers trying to develop products and businesses, I can't recommend the magazine, Midnight Engineering, too highly. Its publisher and editor, Bill Gates, clearly understands today's economic realities -- see, for example, his editorial, "What Are You Waiting For?", in the Jan/Feb '93 issue.

Ed note: Midnight Engineering is published bi-monthly for entrepreneurial engineers by Bill Gates, 1700 Washington Ave., Rocky Ford, CO 81067, 719-254-4558. Subscription rate is $24/year. I also highly recommend it.