Thank you, ColdWetDog

I find that many people who have not personally experienced years of serious chronic pain tend not have the slightest idea of what they are talking about. For these people Oxycontin=Rush. That's all they really need to know. Nevermind the solid, repeated research that shows only 2% of chronic pain patients on long term opiate therapy become addicted. Nevermind the conflation of addiction and physical dependence. Nevermind the studies showing that when properly managed, long term opiate therapy is both safe and effective over periods of 20 years or longer. Nevermind the strict protocols in place for both doctor and patient when initiating chronic opiate therapy (COT) for chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP). Nevermind the legally binding agreement

The truth is that for many people, opiates are the only medicine that provides relief from excruciating pain. But opiates do not make the pain go away, it only reduces the pain to the point where the other tools you are given - relaxation techniques, breathing, exercise, guided imagery, etc. to have a chance to make positive contributions to your condition.

Frankly, I'm not at all surprised that the community here at Slashdot would hold long-ago disproven ideas and stereotypes about opiate therapy. It doesn't bother me all that much - it is human nature to fear what we do not understand (take Linux for example). I won't try to change your opinion. But I am truly offended by the large percentage of medical professionals who are both willfully ignorant and tragically arrogant on this issue. And because these medical professionals have no desire to enlighten themselves, many people who are in constant pain will not recieve the relief they need.

"Fear paints pictures of ghosts and hangs
them in the gallery of ignorance."
~Robert Green Ingersoll

Any well run business has a core team - even if the business has just a single employee. The biggest mistake I see start-ups make is assuming that because they understand the technology, they can do everything themselves. These people quickly become road kill.

If your business is making any profit at all, you should have BOTH an excellent accountant/CPA and an excellent business lawyer. You should ask around - talk to well-established, long-running, highly reputible small businesses in the same general field as yours (or related field). Find out who they are using. Once you identify potential candidates for these 2 team members, either call or visit each of them (but keep it short - remember to respect their time). You'll eventual find good matches for your team. Once you identify them, expect to pay them well for what they do. Do not expect to get their service for free. Do not expect to have hour-long phone calls at no charge.

Has my accountant charged me thousands of dollars? Sure has. And I couldn't be happier! Why? Because what she has charged me pales in comparison to what she has saved me. I hired her 10 years ago when I started my business and I consider it one of the smarter decision I made early on.

The legal structure of your business requires considering many factors - none of which SlashDot can tell you. For me, it turned out that the best structure was a C-Corp - something that was not obvious and went against all the common wisdom of the time. Had I not hired a lawyer to look at this up front, I likely would have made a very expensive mistake. For you, the answer may be different.

Finally, your business need marketing expertise. This can be the hardest and most elusive of all roles to fill. While an accountant and a lawyer can be outsourced and brought in on an "as needed" basis, marketing expertise is generally a 24x7 task. If your business is not driven by marketing, you are already road kill. Good marketers are extraordinarily rare. Thousands claim the title but precious few can really walk the walk. If and when you find the right one, pay them exceptionally well.

Learn to build a team of people you trust to do the job you are paying them for.

Finally, I have a friend - a mentor really - who has been extraordinarily successful during his life. He is retired officially, but spends his days making money for fun. He really doesn't need any more but the chase is in his blood. He laughs at the claim of a "million dollar idea". He says, "Million dollar ideas are a dime a dozen - they are literally everywhere around us all day. By and large, million dollor ideas are worthless. What is exceptionally rare is the million dollar execution..."

In the event that such a circumstance comes to pass (or for that matter, has already come to pass), how in the world will you know? The glint off of their shiny new terahertz scanners perhaps?