Dreaming and Taking Risks Leads to Inventions!

Shiri Koren is today's blogger for guest teacher Dr. Eric Kraus.

Soar:  Innovation Education And Entrepreneurship Institute.

Dr. Eric M. Kraus

The Ear Center of Greensboro

Today on the 25^th of May, Dr. Kraus is here to lecture us on his profession, and how he got in that position. Besides being a doctor, he is also an inventor. He is an ear, nose, and throat surgeon, but lately he has only been focusing on the ear.

Entrepreneurship

You have to be a dreamer; day dreaming is pretty healthy to be shifting through thoughts.  You have to have passion; it takes a lot of time and patience. You have to take risks. Know your advantages, know your struggles. You also need to balance your time. You cannot save time. Spend your time wisely.  

His opinion on the five important S’s of life

Surgery wants to make a difference. Also, it is his occupation. Networking and finding jobs is done through friends and family.

Swarthmore is where Dr. Kraus went to college. Education is where you learn to problem-solve, analyze and evaluate. He wants to get as many degrees as possible. It will open more doors for you. Complete your education. Read a lot. It helps you become a better writer and a better communicator. All of those things help you.

Spouse: one of the biggest decisions in your life. It determines your lifestyle and your children. Family is very important.

The other three: synagogue, Steelers, and sleep. To take care of your body keeps you healthy. Sleeping is a creative time period.

His Story

Dr. Kraus grew up in Pennsylvania and went to Swarthmore College and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

He has an MD Degree. He owns his own practice.

He performs surgery every day and does researching and teaching.

Inventions and Patents (Most of his inventions are worldwide)

FindMeID Bracelet: to help identify special needs kids.

Kraus Modified Schuring Ossicle-Cup Prosthesis 92

Middle ear implant mounting bracket

Kraus K-Helix prostheses, issued Nov. 2011

Types of Patents and Trademarks

-Utility- a real patent, but the hardest one to get.  It is the most cherished in the world. It has to be a new idea, attainable, useful, and “non-obvious”.

-Design- worthless; it is easy to receive.

Patents- an exclusive right officially granted by a government to an inventor to make or sell an invention. A patent is only used for twenty years. After that, it then disappears.

FDA Food and Drug Administration: a government group (very knowledgeable)

Dr. Kraus worked on the process of creating his invention for 25 years.

He got a 510K Application, file patent. It took about 3.5 years to process (to get approval for each material needed for his invention).  If done another way, this would cost millions of dollars. He needed to get a license and get approval from a private workgroup. Then, there was a clinical research study. He had to demonstrate the procedure to make it safe for humans. Then, after some other steps, the item was approved.

• He told us that being an Inventor is a curse. You don’t know where to stop.
• Once you have knowledge, you can be powerful.
• Failure can teach you a lot.
• You cannot buy knowledge.
• “Imagination is more important than knowledge” is a quote from Albert Einstein.
• See the world outside of what you know.
• Volunteer and shadow people.
• Connect the dots differently.
• Strive for balance.
• Invest in yourself right now. And network with everyone.
• Use Spell Check!

Dr. David Altman Teaches Leadership

Aliza Owen is today's blogger.

Leadership

We are listening to David Altman speak to us about creative leadership.

We are looking at images and picking out the aspects of leadership within them. Independence, courage, helping others, and hard work are only a few of the characteristics that were plucked from the pictures. The pictures do not necessarily show well-known leaders in them, but images of everyday people and things that can be interpreted as the symbol of a leader. This first activity is showing that you can find a leader’s characteristics in everyone or everything.

Next, we are discussing what makes someone a leader. Is every Rabbi a leader for simply being a Rabbi, or do they need to have a certain way about them that makes them a leader? Not every person was born a leader, but they can become one if they live up to the characteristics that belong to a leader; or maybe they were not destined to ever be a leader. A leader cannot have too much power, either, or they may overpower another and become evil with power.

Now, we pick up cards with quotes on them that describe our perspectives on what a leader does. From going and fighting for what they want to accomplish, to finding the adventure within, all of these quotes show us that a leader does not simply sit around and wait for someone else to do something they wanted to happen; they take action and do things themselves.
            Lastly, we were given cards with characteristics and were told to put them in order of which we always, often, sometimes, seldom, and never value. We arranged our “always” columns onto one table and looked for similarities. Some of the words that came up the most were freedom, wisdom, family, justice, and love; but the words spirituality, adventure, and responsibility were used sparingly. This shows that not all of us are the same, but we also do value similar things.

Maddy's post: Aaron Strasser and Lucky's

Maddy is today's blogger, as the eighth grade continues to learn about successful Greensboro entrepreneurs.

Lucky’s Pet Resort and Day Spa

Aaron Strasser owns Lucky’s Pet Resort and Day Spa with his brother. For high School, he went to Greensboro Day School in 1995. He graduated from Tufts University in 1999. Lucky’s Pet Resort is a high-end pet hotel and spa. Pets can stay as long as a month. He says customer care is important because he wants to make sure the pets are all cared for at Lucky’s Pet Resort and Day Spa. He talked about a business plan, which is a way of planning a successful business.

            We talked about how to advertise for a new business. He says that he did a huge grand opening for his business. It got a lot of media. We talked about the two differences of advertisement, which are earned media and paid media. Earned media is publicity that is not paid for. Paid media is publicity that is paid for. A lot of businesses try to use plenty of earned media.

He showed us some of his commercials and explained how he made a good advertisement. He says that when a business runs a commercial, the content does not matter as much as the company logo being noticeable. He told us the challenges of running a business are human resources, customer care, and administrative. He told us what ideas made his business successful. They are customer loyalty, animal safety, and role in the community. He taught us a lot of fascinating and important information on how to run a successful business like his.

SOAR 2012 - Koby Ellick Blogs!

SOAR (8th Entrepreneurship and Leadership) began yesterday with a presentation by Dr. Mark Hyman, a Greensboro family dentist.  Dr. Hyman's three children are BSDS alumni. He is a member of the Board of Governors and coached basketball at B'nai Shalom for over nine years.  Koby Ellick is today's eighth grade blogger. Attached are his notes!

Dental with Dr. Hyman

• What it takes to have a profession- there is a whole background
• He went to Grimsley
• When you become a dentist you can become a dentist in many places-army, gov.,
• He says it is very important to reserve a domain name on the internet and to have ads and what not.
• There is a beauty of being your own boss – you make your own hours and you make your own wages
• The quality of your life is dependent on your nutrition.
• Using modern technology like the snap on smile, or the precision attachment dentures helps the elderly live a longer and happier lifestyle.
• Instead of using metal or gold in fillings today, they use a plastic liquid that is just inserted and they quickly solidified.
• A career in the healthcare field is a ton of fun, but also owning your own practice requires you to be a businessman at the same time
• It has been said in business that you can sell to anyone, but a repeated seller makes the profit.
• Your patients don’t care how much you know till they know how much you care --Dr. Hyman
• Three magic words: Success leaves clues.
• Carly- Talk to people, physicians, lawyers, go to courses, listen to audio books about everyday situations to help understand a business
• You have to talk to the best and positive people
• There is a book on Dale Carnegie called how to win friends and influence people and a bunch of other positive books.
• Discretionary parts of the healthcare are going to thrive.
• Role models are huge
• No life without passion