Entrepreneurs are driven to create new products and services. While many may fail within the first three years, others are driven by three core principles: faith, focus and purpose.

Ask JiNan Glasgow George, who has spent more than two decades working as an entrepreneur, providing her expertise as a patent attorney to help starry-eyed individuals transform their ideas into multimillion-dollar businesses. What she has discovered is that too few entrepreneurs embrace all three quality—faith, focus and purpose—to truly become as successful as they could and achieving a quintuple return on their investment.

"Look, I started my law practice with a credit card and a prayer," George recalls, "So I understand what it takes to start, grow and build a sustaining business. I help entrepreneurs transform ideas into wealth. This is where my faith and belief in God has always helped convert my ideas into a reality."

Just as in life, George believes that faith in yourself and others is a core principle in business. If you're starting a business, you have to believe that you have an idea that will provide customers a product or service other businesses aren't. The other key is having the focus to stay the course despite the obstacles, distractions, naysayers doubting your ability to succeed.

Then there's the last key which creates the foundation: purpose. George says entrepreneurs must grasp this concept.

Just as in everyday life, she says entrepreneurs must understand their purpose, and as a result, generating wealth for themselves, their family and community. Only God can give total clarity on your divine purpose. George urges individuals to discover their talents and tap into their strengths, their creativity, their ideas and inventions.

At the heart of it all in life and in business is the ability to serve your customers and find ways to celebrate, or in business terms, maximize your revenue potential. In life, people having some of the most difficult times are struggling to define their purpose. In business, entrepreneurs fail to achieve their maximum potential because they don't think about how they need to protect their ideas and inventions or how they can generate revenue from this intellectual property.

In George's world, entrepreneurs have to continuously create—and convert—their patents into businesses that make money and position their companies for success. Patents, in George's mind, are the lifeblood of innovation. It's intellectual property plus innovation that creates wealth—and working capital. For companies to succeed today, it's the kind of capital that will allow them to outpace the competition.

To succeed, George counsels entrepreneurs in many ways but works hard to help them avoid seven basic "sins" that most entrepreneurs and innovation-based companies make:

• Sin No. 1: Failing to patent software. George often talks to entrepreneurs about the importance of protecting the software they've created. Many falsely believe that it does not fall within IP guidelines, when in fact, software is a perfect example of how value exists in the creativity and approach an individual employs to create software that is designed to provide a solution to a problem.
• Sin No. 2: Waiting too long to file patents. One of the greatest mistakes that people make is thinking that they have time, waiting for the "right moment." Well, George says the "right moment" is when you start your business, when you have an idea, and especially if you've already designed your idea on paper on using design software.
• Sin No. 3: Filing patents on "everything." George is a firm believer that entrepreneurs should protect their inventions, but she is also quick to remind them of one of the core principles previously discussed: purpose. She wants to make sure that the person a clear plan and strategy to generate a return on their investment.
• Sin No. 4: Filing D.I.Y. Many entrepreneurs think that they can easily file the patents without expert help. As George points out, if you truly have embraced your faith, focus and purpose, you must be willing to protect your ideas in the best way possible to ensure they are will generate the value you are expecting.
• Sin No. 5: Assuming you own everything. Just because you worked on a project as an employee or contractor does not mean you own it, George has had to sadly inform entrepreneurs who assumed the work was theirs.
• Sin No. 6: Playing the lottery. Protecting your ideas and inventions is a core purpose of your business, George advises. Too many entrepreneurs mistake patents for lottery tickets; just because you have a patent doesn't mean it's profitable.
• Sin No. 7: Believing you're too small to protect it. No matter whatever size your business or however "small" you think your idea is, individuals need to protect their ideas because they could not afford to sue if someone violates their patented invention.

George's advice is grounded in years of working with entrepreneurs and business leaders who are navigating their path through life, trying to get a firm grasp their faith, focus and purpose.

To achieve quadruple your value, George says, "It means having faith, it having faith in your talent, having faith that if you're called to use your talents and you use them, you will win. You will be successful. You have to take action on your faith."

For more about JiNan Glasgow George, visit her website at jinanglasgowgeorge.com.

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