You have a wonderful idea; you know it could make you millions, do you:
- Take out an ad in the New York Times broadcasting your new discovery.
- Write up a research paper and present it at the next tradeshow, university staff meeting, or Toastmasters event.
- Talk about it to a few friends, but never act on it.
- Keep your mouth shut, start researching, and keep meticulous records.
I think the choice is obvious, but just in case you didn’t get the point. The answer is 4. If you have a new invention and you are dying to share it to the world, don’t. You need to start working towards your invention, proving due diligence by consistently working on your invention is what it takes to make your invention a profitable means of income for you and your family.
Hopefully, these steps will assist you in your goal. It is imperative that you are organized and consistent. You have two years to prove that you are moving towards your invention. That’s really not a long time when you have a myriad of outside obligations that try and stop you from attaining your goal.
Step 1: The Journal
Get a bound notebook. Use it as place to store all information, research, drawings and diagrams that you create of your project. Write the date on every page of your journal. Keep track of everything you do towards the project. Are you reading books? Take notes and date it. Are you going to a fabric store? Take notes and date it. Did you go to a trade show, convention, or sales meeting? Take notes and date it. Any type of research! Take notes and date it. Did you call someone and talk about your business? Take notes and date it. This shows that you are consistently working on your invention daily!
The journal is so important!!! You must do something EVERYDAY towards your project. The only excuse that you can use for missing dates is vacation or illness. I strongly suggest saving plane tickets, toll receipts, hotel receipts, whatever you used for vacation. I’m not a tax attorney, but if you decide to take a break on vacation, think about how you can combine your vacation and your business together. If you are deathly ill and can’t continue working on your project, keep track of hospital visits. You don’t want a hanging chad on your patent application. Don’t leave any room for questions!
Step 2: Drawings and sketches
In order to prove that you created this design, find someone who will act as a witness to your work. The witness will not receive credit for invention. Your witness is an outside observer. This person is just a sounding board. They are a witness to your actions and your work on your project. I also suggest going to a notary, this adds more legitimacy to your claim.
Step 3: Explain your invention
The purpose of the patent system is to educate the public and foster innovation. Your role as the inventor is to educate. You need to write a document that fully explains how your invention works. You need to describe the design, structure and possible uses of your invention. After you write this document, get it signed and dated by a witness. The witness will not be considered an inventor. It’s possible that you may make changes to your invention. If so, re-write your document and repeat the process. Save all papers and dates. This shows your work.
Step 4: Find a reputable patent attorney
While you are working on your invention, start scouting attorneys. Find someone who is compatible. Check their track record. A simple word search in your area may bring up a variety of names and organizations that can help you get a patent. Talk to someone who has experience in your area. Many of them will provide you with a free consultation. Ask as many questions as possible.
It’s a myth!
You may have heard about a cheaper way to get a paten is to mail it to yourself. Well, it’s a myth. If you can steam open an envelope and reseal it, then this form of “patent” becomes invalid.
Don’t waste your time!
You may have heard about provisional patents, something to do in a rush. Well, they are invalid once you start filing the real paperwork. Don’t waste your time!
I am not a paten attorney. I am not an inventor. I am just interested in protecting my ideas. Please seek out your own counsel. The background research for this article was from, Protecting your #1 Asset by Michael A. Lechter, Esq. He’s an intellectual property attorney residing in Arizona. He’s also a Rich Dad Advisor from Robert Kiyosaki’s advisor series.
I recently finished reading Ziglar on Selling, by none other than Zig Ziglar. Towards the end of the book, he dedicated a chapter to family. He talked about the importance of establishing and maintaining strong family ties. He gave ideas on family buy in? If you’re a salesperson and spend 200 days a year traveling, how do you get your family to support you? How do you keep your spouse from leaving you? What to do?
Earlier this month I went to hear Terrie Lloyd speak. Terrie is the owner of Linc Media. In other words, he owns Metropolis Magazine and Kansai Scene, both are geared towards the English-speaking community in Japan. At the beginning of Terrie’s talk, he discussed family. He shared his own personal struggles and talked about the importance of being on the same team. Terrie spoke quite a bit about establishing rules before you engage in any type of relationship, but he emphasized the need to that in a marriage. As an entrepreneur it’s great to have this bit of knowledge going into things. I don’t know if Terrie had this foresight in the beginning, but to me this was a real measure of his business acumen.
You know, I find it interesting how the more money you make, the more important family becomes. Some movie stars have bastardized marriage and show people hopping from one to the next. But truly wealthy people hold onto family. Think about Johnson & Johnson and Proctor & Gamble. They are empires built by the hands of family members. In our quest to become one of the Fortune 500 let’s not forget how we got to where we are today.
Future wealth creator of the world, please check off the things you are doing to mix family and business:
- calling once a day to give an update
- informing family members of your schedule so they know when is the best time to meet you
- finding creative ways to see your children before, during or after-school so you can develop a trusting relationship
- dedicating uninterrupted weekends to your family
- giving your partner space to decompress after you return home
- looking at your family as an asset
- If you are a salesperson, spend your time on the road selling, not chatting up the bartender.
- Being true to yourself! If you wouldn’t do it at home, don’t do it in the street.
I think the real test of wealth doesn’t just end and begin in your pocket. Take it to the next level and nurture the wealth you have at home.
Educators are on a constant quest to find the right technique to teach their young learners. Fortunately, most, if not all season professionals understand that it takes a dash of ingenuity, a dash of patience, will, and inquisitiveness to keep going.
I think curiousity is what led a couple of colleagues and myself to the International School of the Sacred Heart in Hiroo one fall winter day. We were going to listen to a workshop conducted by Karen Boyes of Spectrum Education Ltd. Boyes’ mission is to deliver the work of Dr. Arthur Costa to the world.
The most important thing I learned had nothing to do with education or maybe it did!!!!
I’m an avid reader of business guides, investment magazines and Robert Kiyosaki. As a teacher, I’m always wondering, just because I chose a life of service does that mean I have to live in servitude. Boyes used her time at the pulpit to drop bits of knowledge on us. She referred to her habits of mind in order to gain business acumen and take Spectrum Education Ltd. into the stratosphere. She talked about what she listens to on her ipod or in the car or while in transit. She said, “If I want to learn about marketing, I listen to tapes on marketing.” I’m sure this goes for many of the ways she’s developed her business strategy and was New Zealand’s Businessperson of the year.
After the seminar I followed up with a brief email to Ms. Boyes:
I enjoyed how you wove in the principles of finance along with teaching. I heard a teacher make a comment, “We are teachers, so we aren’t rich.” I’m roughly paraphrasing her statement, but I enjoyed watching how you incorporated the principles of Kiyosaki, Think and Grow Rich and other financial gurus into your speech. It was very motivating to hear how you used those ideas to further your career.
Boyes’ response:
I’m glad you liked the financial extras, there is so much teachers don’t get exposed to , so I like to add a few bits in 
Brief and to the point!
There is so much that teachers aren’t exposed to and even though Boyes didn’t say this, those business techniques work pretty well in the classroom. If teachers want to create a new mindful habit, I’d suggest we start developing habits where we read The Economist, Business Weekly, or The Wall Street Journal along with educational material. This would make us more aware of the world around us and able to adapt to the changes that are happening in the world we are trying to prepare them for. I’m sure just as I type that there’s someone saying, well, I read those periodicals along with a slew of others, but my question for you is how has it shaped your teaching?
When I was teaching Special Education in New York City, I regularly quoted from business journals. I talked to my students about trust in terms of opening their own businesses. We talked about preparing for our future in a way that would make us successful. I remember one of my students, Glymer, an 11 y.o. boy from Honduras said, “I’m going to own a Wendy’s because my brother works there and we can get free food.” Another student, Emmanuel, 11 y.o., said, “I’m going to own a Foot Locker because I love sneakers and they always have the newest styles.” Our students understand scales of economy and how they affect their pockets. Let’s start looking at our own habits and see how we can make them ready for the 21st century.
I’m sure if you do a web search you can read a myriad of comments that refer to Boyes’ energetic and engaging workshops. Yes, she kept me engaged throughout her presentation. But what I really learned is that some of the techniques that she taught would be better if I tried them out first. If I want to be successful, then I need to do as successful people do. That’s my new habit and that’s my new mind!
A friend sent me a link to Ohellnawlblog.com. The blogger posted Tyler Perry’s response to the incident about the children in Philadelphia who were denied admission or kicked the hell outta’ da pool in PA. Perry decided to give 65 children a trip to Disney, all expenses covered by Perry with the hopes of showing them that everybody ain’t crazy. Well, I applaud Perry’s decision it was a wonderful gesture and one that I’m sure they will enjoy.
My comments aren’t for him, they are for the comments on the blog. I think I found one in 4 that said Perry should have done more. Pump the brakes shorty! Why does he have to do anything? He offered these kids a free trip and he hasn’t done enough. What does he gotta’ do now? Give them a kidney? Some of the comments weren’t realistic. One person said, the trip to Disney was a once in a lifetime experience, but if he gave them a pool that would have been better. Well, the way I see it, if you want them to have a pool you raise the money and do it. Why does Perry have to? The young lady, Althea Wright started Creative Steps to give children in the city something to do. If everyone on that blog decided to raise some money for the pool then I could see that we are taking control. Just because you are a celebrity doesn’t mean you have to clean the streets with your check book. That’s not the point. Perry’s gesture ignited scorn by some and continued inaction by the very same.
Now, I’m not saying I’m going out to open a pool in Philly. But, what I am saying is that the onus isn’t on the celebrity. It’s their community. Maybe the citizens in that neighborhood can start petitioning the city for their own facility. The fact that Creative Steps had to go somewhere to get to a swimming pool is the beginning of the problem. To all of you crabs out there who can’t let Perry just donate a trip, open your wallets, call your fam, start a bbq for the pool fund and stop pointing the finger at someone who took a step!
http://ohellnawlblog.com/newohnblog/2009/07/20/tyler-perry-puts-his-money-where-his-mouth-is/
There are a few advantages to being single and childless, I must admit I rarely use them, but this past week I decided to take advantage of one of them. Take random trips without asking permission! I opened up the Metropolis and I saw an ad that said, Singapore 9,000 yen!!! That’s about 90 bucks to you all in the States. Well, I called them up and within minutes I was going to Singapore. I had no ideas or preconceived notions about Singapore.I just did it cuz’ I can!
The only real thing I remember hearing about Singapore was the caning incident back in the late 90s. Remember that boy who spray painted a car? Well, I wasn’t too nervous because I’ve never been into graffiti and I think I have enough common sense to stay away from stupidity.
Singapore is a tiny country. It was once a part of Malaysia. There wasn’t much to do there, but I had a nice time walking the city streets, getting a pedi, eyebrow threading and a henna tattoo!!!
What I found more interesting was their psuedo-obedience. In Japan, they don’t have a law that states, no littering. However, it’s understood that one thing you don’t do is throw your trash in the street. It’s just not done. In Singapore there is a fine attached to EVERYTHING. While I was at the airport I talked with the clerk who told me his friend was fined for ditching his cigarette butt on the ground. Can you guess how much this ‘minor’ offense cost him? Well, let’s set the stage before I just throw out the answer. This young man was barely 20, a student, living at home with his family and I know you’ve figured this out, they didn’t know he smoked. So our young friend stood at the bus stop, flicked his butt and wouldn’t you know it? A plain clothes “officer” whipped out his notepad within 10 seconds and slapped a $500 fine on our young lad! $500!!!! Yes, this cost him a lot because now he had to actually tell his parents that he smoked and find a way to pay $500 to the government.
I call it psuedo-obedience because for all the fines attached to everything, people still jay walk, feed the monkeys, and litter. It’s not as prevalent as it is in the States by any means, but it’s still there. Maybe they should just skip the fines and stick with caning on the spot! Could you imagine people all bent over at the waist lining up for a beat down? This might actually be more effective than a fine. After all, the pain of forking over a chunk of change will eventually fade into the distance. But that caning will last forever!
The other day I spoke with my youngest sister. There is a ten year age difference between us. She is a leader of the new school as I struggle and cling to the past. I’m one of the few people in my age group that may actually think that that sagging pants and the N word are obscene. I cling to my outdated mores and values that tell you not to call your best friend a b*&@! I cling to those values that made me who I am today.
So, how did this all come about? Why do I sometimes feel as if I’m an aging parent trying to convince a younger generation of right and wrong? Well, here’s the tale. My sister works at a bank in a small college town. A group of fellow students came to said bank to cash their refund checks. Instead of these youngsters waiting patiently and talking to the tellers with decency in order to get their checks cashed, they resulted to yelling, braggadocio and severe neck rolling. Her view on the subject was that these classmates made her school look bad. My view was that this attitude really didn’t reflect on her university directly. It reflected on blacks as a whole and THEN it made her school look bad.
This may seem like a minor difference.
Resorting to name calling and neck rolling to get things done has long been a pathway to stereotyping. The equivalent in most circles is to call a lawyer. To find someone to else to do your yelling. However, these youngsters haven’t mastered the art of technique. How do you get what you really want without losing your cool?
This situation brings to mind an incident I saw a few years back when I used to live in NY. I was a local fast food chain waiting in line. The entire staff spoke Spanish, from the manager to the fry cook. There were two young women, who couldn’t speak the King’s English, let alone a little espanol. Well, these two were trying to apply for a job. Why did they proceed to insult EVERYONE that worked at the place. The staff were in the middle of rush hour and since they didn’t stop serving customers to give these two women an application, those girls went loco.
First, they said things like, “I don’t even wanna work here! They cain’t even speak English!” Then the friend was like, “Ion know why they takin’ so long! Dang! Don’t they see we wanna’ job!” They conversed in this manner for at least a good three minutes. The manager, who I’m sure could speak English and Spanish, finally gave them applications. Were they grateful? Were they polite? Nope, they rolled their eyes and said things like, “Took them long enough!” Well, I don’t have to be on the hiring committee for that one to know that those aps ended up in the trash.
My point being, we have forgotten how to get what we want with tact and decency. Everyone keeps saying it’s a lack of education. But to tell you the truth, it’s more simpler and cheaper than going to a job training program. It’s called a home training. If someone told them how to act in public, then I’m sure they wouldn’t have had so many problems just getting a job application.
What about your friends? Will they stand their ground? Will they be around?
I have a love hate relationship with facebook. I love the fact that you can reconnect with friends that you haven’t seen in years. I love how you can keep up to date with people that you recently met. I enjoy being able to make comments on things that people that I know are thinking. I enjoy exchanging articles and music and learning more about the world around me.
I hate when I meet someone only once and the next thing I know I’m receiving a friend request. WE are not friends. An acquaintance maybe, but a friend definitely not.
But I have to say thank you for facebook. I was able to reaquaint myself with people who really matter. Some of those people on my page aren’t friends, but regular acquaintances.
Recently I’ve come to terms with the fact that I was a member of a church group that inculcated a strong sense of self-hate and guilt inside of me. Fortunately, because of FB, I’ve been able to reconnect with the young people who were my friends regardless of those words that were spewed from the pulpit.
So thanks FB for reconnecting me with friends!
McCain’s face says, “I’m about to take you over my knee on this one Obama.” But really this was another example of a non-issue being thrown in the furnace just to generate confrontation. The planes were ordered during G.W.’s term. Yes, we know that procurement is an issue, but was it enough of an issue to throw up the hand?
Right now it seems as if Republicans are on the rope. How can the clarify their position in this discussion on the economy? How can they show relevancy when they are not the leaders of the conversation? The dogs are barking. Let’s see how long we can keep them in a cage.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/23/mccain-grills-obama-on-ma_n_169267.html
Seems strange, I started this blog and then I went on vacation. I haven’t had internet access in months. Well, thank goodness for English speakers at NTT Japan!!!! I am now connected to the world wide web!!! Harreruah!
Recent updates…I’ve moved to Tokyo and I’m living in the Big Mikan. At first I was a bit thrown off. I think I was more receptive when I lived in Hiroshima. Now, I’m a bit jaded. So I’m not as open as I used to be. But I’m working on that.
This past weekend was great. I went dancing at www.4thelove.net! Great party! Wonderful vibe!
I arrived at the party around 11 and didn’t leave ’til 6AM. I have to say, there are a lot of underground house scenes, but the real underground is in Chicago. It’s the birth of house, but they get no love. People are enamored with New York and the UK. They are okay, but in Chicago, house is akin to church. Folks are straight gully!
At my first house party, I remember seeing this 250lb. black guy in a bright red, three piece suit. This brother was standing there with a mohawk and pumping the speaker. I had never seen anything like it. When I think of house, I think of letting errythang go! Everything, tension, stress, pain, anguish and this past Saturday, DJ Hiromi 2 played a cut that sent me to the basement parties of Chicago. I was screaming and yelling and jumping up and down. Man it felt good! Some people think, oh, that’s just a religious experience, but the house I know that’s the deal baby. Screw your face up and get ugly! Don’t wear heels! Unless you don’t plan to groove!
