How To Get Rich in Electronics??

I have test equipment, boxes of electronics parts, lots of free time, and thousands of dollars.

Now what?

Go into real estate? :P

D from BC snipped-for-privacy@comic.com British Columbia Canada

Reply to
D from BC
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So do I. It's an effective woman repellent as well.

Bad news. The chances of getting "rich" in electronics are slim, very slim. You can however earn a good living form it. Forget yachts and loft condos on the waterfront. Think a paid up car and a single family house in a sleepy suburb.

For example, tonight businessmen, CEOs and stock brokers made millions in the time it took me to fix a 75$ blender because I felt that tossing it out is wrong.

It's simple, as a general rule if you work with inanimate objects, you won't make as much as people who work with people.

Reply to
a7yvm109gf5d1

Design some really cool small box and sell it on the Internet. People have done that successfully.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

A cool small box...mmmmm . Reminds me of this small box.. It's an inclinometer for ~$50.00

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D from BC snipped-for-privacy@comic.com British Columbia Canada

Reply to
D from BC

That is pretty cool!

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Joe Leikhim K4SAT
"The RFI-EMI-GUY"©
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RFI-EMI-GUY

You don't - the sales guy does ok, the CEO & Directors secrete & pilfer the $$ and the guys that actually do the work keep on working.......

Guys who left school with me 20 years ago that have made it good have all worked up into "non-productive" managerial positions. The bulk of them have neither professional or trade qualifications - it beats me!

At least we can fix & design/make our own stuff, then again with the dollars we earn we need to be able to do that. ;)

Reply to
K Ludger

Rent the use of the equipment out at 10% retail per month, like the big guys, and increase those dollars.

Reply to
Robert Baer

...like that black box i asked about for phones!

Reply to
Robert Baer

[snip]

But how many people will be inclined to purchase one?

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Paul Hovnanian	paul@hovnanian.com
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Reply to
Paul Hovnanian P.E.

Slim, but not non-existant. You've got to think up something unique and useful. And then figure out a way to keep other people from stealing it from you.

Take a look at Dean Kamen for an example.

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Paul Hovnanian	paul@hovnanian.com
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Reply to
Paul Hovnanian P.E.

It has a custom LCD and plsatic, so I suspect their initial start-up costs were north of $5k -- and probably more like >$10k. Still, not a completely unobtainable sum for someone starting a "garage shop" if they've had good employment prior. (Also, since that same inclinometer seems to have multiple "brands," I suspect it was designed/developed overseas initially.)

Hey John, what was your first commercial product? Was there any point where you had to dig deep into your pockets and come up with some large lump of cash to get started, or was it just a slow expenditure of modest amoounts of money over time?

Reply to
Joel Koltner

I was at a woodworking show about a year ago where they had those (albeit possible a bit cheaper, maybe $40?), and based on how popular they were I suspect they sold at least a hundred over the course weekend.

(OK, I admit it, I bought one... :-) )

Reply to
Joel Koltner

He's far away from an "electronics" person. He's an inventor and self- promoter. He also started all kinds of social clubs. Ergo, he works more with people, which is my point.

Reply to
a7yvm109gf5d1

What more do people want? Everybody (with money) already has food,shelter and plenty of toys to play with.

What can one electronics guy do? Another food dehydrator, an alarm system, another mp3 player.. All been done..

I think I'll just get stuck with mod'ing existing products.. Make it smaller, faster, cheaper, longer lasting or easier to use.

Like make a segway... that can go 150 miles/hour.. :P (Convert a motorcycle into a segway..Something goofy like that.)

D from BC snipped-for-privacy@comic.com British Columbia Canada

Reply to
D from BC

An old phrase/saying comes to mind. 'He who pays the piper..plays the tune..'

Like this: Hire 20 biotech engineers and you can be the inventor of a virus that kills the plaque bacteria that causes tooth decay. No more brushing...ever...

D from BC snipped-for-privacy@comic.com British Columbia Canada

Reply to
D from BC

It was a pulse coder for fire alarm pull boxes, a replacement for a clockwork/cam thing. We sold a lot, but it wasn't outrageously successful, because nobody in the alarm business wants to spend money.

My company grew from about $20K in personal savings, and unemployment checks. I had a negative income for the first year or so, then just enough to live for a couple more. Never borrowed, just slowly grew on earnings. My great insight was to realize that it's better to sell expensive things than cheap things. Duh.

My big break was when a guy from Los Alamos threw a LeCroy CAMAC 1 ns TDC module on my desk and said "Can you do this?" Never having done anything like that, I said "sure."

John

Reply to
John Larkin

Great story, thanks John!

Reply to
Joel Koltner

Yeah, but it will kill toothpaste industry. I'm almost-sure that plaque bacteria has been sequenced/synthesized but ***they*** want ***more*** money on toothpaste ... (therefore, plaque-killing virus MUST wait 'till

***they*** satisfied their need for money out of toothpaste). How about tooth-brushing-robot? There must be a place for engineers ...

... how on the Earth these days you can earn BIG money if you have honchos like IBM who are churning out 3000 patents per year? I guess, you can't ... I mean: we (electronics engineers/technicians) are in a life-long slavery to upper echelon of chosen ones (managers/owners). They are not smarter ... they just think we (engineers) are stupider ... [are we?].

Why I'm not a filthy, obscenely, rich manager (yet)? 'Cause, when I was kid, I was ***playing*** with electronics ...

... in anther words (primarily you, "D from BC"): stop playing with electronics, play with money. For that, you don't need neither "test equipment", nor "boxes of electronics parts" nor "lots of free time", just focus on the last item: thousands of dollars. You may sell equipment and parts, even a free time, to gain more money (~to play with). For example you can play with electronics in "different space-time continuum" like "owning the blue-chip company stocks". That way, you will chase "twos and threes", not just "zeros and ones" ...

... as Michael Douglas, the actor, says in the "Wall Street" movie: "The Greed is Good" (IHMO, the word "Good" it's ***too close*** to the word "God").

--
StoneThrower
www.dgmicrosys.com
Reply to
Stonethrower

Yikes .. you make electronics engineers sound like burger flippers at McDonalds.

btw.. 'Greed is Good': Grekko IIRC there's no 'The' in the quote.

D from BC snipped-for-privacy@comic.com British Columbia Canada

Reply to
D from BC

Not really ... I don't see myself as burger-flipper, just highly-expendable-technical-worker-slash-EE. It's up to each and every one of us to make ourselves not-so-expendable ... what's better than going (evolving) from engineer to manager. Once you become manager you stop being engineer. [...now it sounds like burger-flipping...] ... it's the paradox of life.

Pardon my 'French', I mean Croatian (born and currently live in Croatia, even after 10y of 'burger-flipping' [just kidding!!!!] I mean, doing EE in USA, English is still my secondary-foreign language) ... thanks thou for correction (really!). [Hopefully, you won't crucify me for mentioning French]

... nevertheless, I am absolutely positive that you understood and "read between the line" the subtle meaning of Grekko's immortal "Greed is Good" speech.

BTW, I'm not trying to be or behave combatant ... I found your posting very interesting, hence I was merely voicing my perspective. I've been EE for 22 years now, never stopped for a single moment, and still going (and doing EE). It's just we are living in a Grekko's world ...

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StoneThrower
www.dgmicrosys.com
Reply to
Stonethrower

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