Charles Boegli was reading a magazine at the doctor’s office when he came across an athlete’s foot home remedy he hadn’t heard of; a treatment that involved blending two oils.

When he tried it at home, it worked—somewhat. But it was harsh on the skin. So he set about formulating a gentler version in his home laboratory. Three years later, he’s turned the idea into a company, OnikoLabs LLC, and hopes to soon bring a product to market.

“I was always the kid who, instead of playing ball with the other kids, would be off looking under rocks or something,” said Boegli, a former mechanical engineer. “I’ve pursued my own interests over the years. I enjoy it.”

In a world of high-dollar corporate R&D departments, the garage inventor might feel outmanned and outclassed. But there’s still room for modern-day Benjamin Franklins in technology creation.

“Sometimes it takes someone thinking outside the box,” said Doug Roberts, president of the Greater Cincinnati Venture Association. “They have a personal need, or [they] see something that bothers other people.”

Large companies, he noted, don’t come up with all their ideas in-house. They often buy up technology that others, even home inventors, have fleshed out and thus avoid some of the risks of early-stage development.

But success takes more than a clever idea. It typically takes $75,000 to $100,000 to get a product from the “sketch on a napkin” stage to market, said Andrea Brady, owner of Marketing Shop Consultants and former president of the Inventor’s Council of Cincinnati. Much of that has to come from savings and family and friends.

Grant writers, venture capitalists, angel investors—none of them are likely to take an interest until the inventor takes on some risk himself and proves his idea.

Getting an idea patented, which is step one, is likely to cost between $3,000 and $20,000. Next comes a prototype. If it’s a gadget, molding companies can often help. Having a working prototype is crucial, Roberts said, for an inventor approaching outside investors or strategic partners. They’re unlikely to be moved by a sketch, no matter how good it is. Inventors often progress through a series of ever-more-advanced prototypes.

Boegli now operates his company from Biostart, Cincinnati’s biotech incubator, which has helped him with funding and setting up a board. He believes he can get his product, which he hopes to sell as a “cosmeceutical” to avoid the regulatory hurdles that would come with a drug, to market by the end of the year.

If his athlete’s foot product is successful, he estimates it could generate revenue of $2 million to $15 million a year. That would give him the resources and freedom to pursue several other inventions he has in mind.

He’ll probably pursue them anyway. Boegli’s house still has the chemistry lab, electronics lab, and photography lab that his father installed when he built the house, and he inherited the perpetual-tinkering gene.

A typical successful invention, Brady said, generates royalties of $10,000 to $25,000 per year. But it’s also possible to get the product all the way to the licensing stage only to watch it flop. Perhaps the manufacturer is not successful in getting it into stores, or maybe when it does get there, few people buy it.

Nonetheless, Brady encourages people to give it a try if they have the necessary commitment.

“If you have the money, time, skill, and proper support,” she said, “your chances are not bad.”

Thomas Burger, a partner with Wood Herron & Evans who focuses on intellectual property, has worked with numerous solo inventors over a 24-year career. It’s never been easy for them, he said. Some of his best advice: “Don’t quit your day job.”

“You can have the perfect patent, but you still don’t know if you’ll be in the right place at the right time,” he said. “The commercial success may not be enough to change your lifestyle.”

The chances increase, he said, for people who are inventing in a field in which they’ve worked or had formal training. Still, a major obstacle is that inventors often lack entrepreneurial acumen.

“A person creative enough to come up with a better mousetrap doesn’t necessarily have the salesmanship to find the right licensee or marketer or get a foot in the door with the right retailer,” he said. “You don’t often meet someone who has all of those talents.”