Don’t miss Michelle’s appearance on the Hourly to Exit podcast!
Erin Austin’s podcast has become a “must listen” for women entrepreneurs across the U.S. Leveraging her experience as an attorney, she helps talented leaders define exit strategies for their businesses, something that can be a lot easier if you plan ahead. Michelle joined Erin to talk about how deep experience in an industry or area of expertise can translate into Intellectual Property (IP). If that comes as a surprise to you, keep reading – you might have a treasure trove of assets hidden in your mind and files!
Our knowledge is valuable
We sometimes think that because we love something at work, everyone else must love it too. The same thing applies to our experience – we might think everyone has gathered the same experience and insights we’ve accumulated, but that’s rarely the case. In fact, when you look back at your work over a period of time, you’ll often discover that you have gained knowledge that others don’t have. Put simply, that means they might hold value as IP.
The challenge is not in accumulating knowledge and expertise but identifying it. Here are a few tips that Michelle and Erin identified to help expertise-based service providers leap this hurdle:
- Track data and activities when they’re happening. Don’t expect that you’ll remember everything a month, year or decade later.
- Look at a range of opportunities. You could write a book, create a course or find another innovative way to share your knowledge.
- Ask the tough questions. Even though your knowledge is vast, it won’t all carry IP-related value, so test to find what is most valuable.
When you’ve done this work, that’s a great time to check in with professionals like Erin who can make sure you’re protecting your IP and embedding it in your exit strategy.
