One of the most exciting possibilities in professional basketball was Jonathan Bender of the Indiana Pacers, an uncommon first-round selection selected by the NBA right out of high school. Hailed as Michael Jordan's heir, he broke the legend's record with 31 points in the McDonald's All-American game, positioning himself for what may be an incredible career.
However, a knee injury compelled Bender to retire early, and as his $30 million salary from the Pacers rapidly evaporated, he was under pressure to find new sources of income. He made unsuccessful attempts at real estate investing, concert marketing, and rescue work. Motivated by the self-made strip mall tycoon Mel Simon, owner of the Pacers, he began to consider business, innovation, and product creation. Then it struck: Bender had an idea for a resistance-based training and rehabilitation tool that would help people walk better while people were watching in a park in Houston. He made a prototype using cables, duct tape, and ankle weights from a nearby pharmacy, and he tested it on himself. The apparatus, which was put together by a seamstress he knew from the area, looked nothing less than a typical weightlifting belt and relieved joint stress by strengthening the surrounding muscle groups.
He tested what was eventually dubbed the JB Intensive Trainer for two years, looking for Purdue University research physicians to help refine the machine's strength-building capabilities. He filed for a patent on the gadget, located a manufacturer abroad, and started looking for possible distribution routes. The JBIT MedPro was introduced to the market and generated $500K in revenue in its first year of sales, surpassing that amount in the subsequent year. By the time he was thirty-three, Bender was managing the whole business from his laptop, leading to a reinvention and career change that might be taught in business school as an example of successful do-it-yourself innovation and entrepreneurship..

How to hire Jonathan Bender for an event