(Imported from old site; original post: Thursday, October 4, 2012)
This morning, at around 11am, I was able to do the final sign-off. And no, I’m not talking about a check with a large amount written out (though, that happened, too). I am talking about the sign-off to the final patent draft and final patent drawings. YES!
It pleases me greatly to finally be able to reveal the invention that I have just patented…in the next post. Suspense!
Actually, the suspense is intentional and unintentional at the same time…nah. It’s fully intentional. But I’m not telling you now for a reason. See, while everything is complete on my end, I have yet to view the receipt from the USPTO that everything was received by them. This will grant me a patent number, as well as an assurance than anything filed after me that possibly infringes on my ideas will not be allowed to pass because I have already claimed those rights.
However, it works the other way around, too. Patent applications (which is what my patent actually is until it is approved by a patent agent) do not show up on patent searches. So, while my attorneys were not able to find anything really similar to my invention in their search, there could be a patent application sent before mine that does get approved that possesses eerily similar claims to mine. This, of course, would result in me not being able to patent those claims.
It seems nothing in life is without its gamble.
But only those that take the gamble have a chance.
(Imported from old site; original post: Friday, September 28, 2012)
Just a side note before I get into the meat and potatoes of the draft meeting: looking to the future, I will begin titling my posts in a way that I don’t have multiple posts with the same title (though, that will probably happen with a couple at this point because I didn’t think about it until now).
Anyway…
Today, the first meeting was completed concerning the first draft of the patent for Project SvN. I met with attorney David Lanzotti today for a one-on-one to discuss changes. He is the one that has been writing the patent, and I believe it may only be him writing the patent.
It was a very productive meeting, and I believe he was a little bit surprised that I read through his work as thoroughly as I did. It was the look of an artist peering from behind his painting, still on the easel, to see someone’s expression after laying their eyes upon the artist’s work for the first time. And let me tell you something, this man is an artist.
The way he used his language in this document was phenomenal. You could tell he greatly enjoys what he does for a living, especially considering he probably feels like most of the time his work will only be read by the patent agent in Washington D.C. when it is up for review/approval. Even though most things he does will only be read by that one person, the artfulness of the language, as well as the descriptions he used, were absolutely great. I wouldn’t be able to come anywhere close to his level of using text to paint the picture of my invention–and I invented the thing!
Occasionally, we would get into the intricacies of certain language, and his eyes would light up that somebody actually noticed what he did; the genius of his patent expertise being noticed. As far as I’m concerned so far in this process, this man, David Lanzotti, will ALWAYS write the patents for my inventions, barring some crazy external factor.
Suffice it to say that I am very pleased at this meeting, and I don’t have to hope that the next draft will be good, because I know that it will be great.
(Imported from old site; original post: Tuesday, September 25, 2012)
This morning, I received the first draft of the patent for Project SvN. Just skimming through it gives me chills. I’ll be giving it an extremely thorough once-over in the near future. I currently have tests and homework to worry about, though, so I may have to postpone this for a week or so, but let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
Also, it was many many pages, thus the picture above. For the astute among you, you may have figured out that is a picture of the Obamacare bill. I thought it was funny, and it appropriately conveyed what I felt like when I clicked print from my email, left the room, and came back to find it still printing, a stack of papers having already accumulated.
And before I get politically charged emails from either side, it’s a funny picture. That’s it.
Shhhhhhhh. Stop trying to argue one side or the other. It was a funny picture. That was it.
(Imported from old site; original post: Tuesday, September 11, 2012)
My dad decided to come with me to discuss final future pricing of all the work to be done. He is currently in half-ownership with me of Nimex Technologies, so he certainly has that right! And honestly, I’m glad he decided to come, because I’m still inexperienced, of course, and I wanted to see how a pro handles himself.
Much to my surprise, he told me beforehand that I could conduct the meeting myself. Seems that instead of me getting to watch a pro, the pro got to watch me! Which is good. I could use the critique.
After over an hour, we agreed on what would be done, and for what price. The agreement letter should be sent to me tomorrow, and then we can start the drafting process!
My dad later told me that he was very proud how I handled myself in the meeting. And for any son, wanting your dad to be proud of you is always an underlying need, whether you admit it or not. So, needless to say, I was satisfied on multiple fronts after the conclusion of this meeting.
Also of note was the results of the patent search. Based on what you’ve read so far, I’m sure you can guess that there wasn’t enough found not to pursue a patent. The email was sent to me yesterday informing me of this a very long, roundabout way. However, the really pleasing part about this was the fact that they couldn’t find anything that worked in a similar manner (apparently, direction of operation matters in reference to the user!). This was apparently “extremely odd”, but in a good way. This just means a much greater chance of having most, if not all, of my claims patented. Great news! Let’s hope this is indeed the case when it finally hits the desk of the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) patent agent!
(Imported from old site; original post: Friday, August 10, 2012)
Well, after more than a week since forming the new game plan, things seem to be going well. Instead of failing to complete all my projects (the course I was previously on), I should definitely be completing one of them. I am very satisfied how it’s turning out. If it becomes as popular of a product as I think it will, people will enjoy helping save a portion of the environment. That’s all the clues you’re getting out of me right now! The reveal should be soon to come.
(Imported from old site; original post: Wednesday, August 1, 2012)
After my last, long-winded, lengthy post about my recent mistakes, I revamped some things. First, I removed all of the projects from the workshop that are no longer on my focused list projects (see below for list) and placed them elsewhere, out of sight. I have also created a new game plan to achieve successful creation of one invention, near-success of another project, and a good foundation on Project PHB so when I am able to work on it again in the future, it will be ready and raring to go.
I will be going back to the University of Kentucky around August 22nd (I think…maybe…I don’t know). So, this new game plan is, obviously, only active until that time. And I’ll work on the theoretical approach of various projects during my free time, when I feel up to it, thereafter. I’m trying this new thing called “not killing yourself while trying to achieve your goals.” It’s…different…from what I’m used to doing.
Here’s the new list of projects:
Project Name Progression Level
Project PHB 33%
Project Bee 20%
Project BNo Shelved (70%)
Project ShG Shelved (5%)
Project BCH Shelved (55%)
Project SvN 40%
Project ORI Shelved (20%)
I won’t be listing the “shelved” projects on any future tables, unless I specify I’ll be listing inactive projects. And I’ll explicitly say I’m reactivating one if I begin working on it again in the future.
(Imported from old site; original post: Sunday, July 29, 2012)
“Story time, boys and girls. This is a story of hardships, sleepless nights, and a mind numbing intensity only achieved by never allowing your brain rest. The only tangible piece of success being a picture of a sunset.”
Little Timmy asked, “Does this story have a happy ending?”
“Why, of course,” I replied with a slight smirk. “I didn’t die.”
* * *
Seriously, though, me not dying was the best part about it. As you may have guessed, if you’ve read my previous posts, I’m a workaholic when it comes to my business. I want success. And I want it now (mistake #1: wanting it NOW). This drive has made me succeed at pretty much anything and everything I’ve ever set my mind to in the past. However, those all pale in comparison to what I am currently trying to do.
In the last project update, you may have noticed that I was up to seven projects. And let me tell you, they are all VERY different from one another (mistake #2). This requires me to have a very dynamic way of thinking to be able to switch between the various disciplines instantly, because all these projects are worked on simultaneously (mistake #2, part b).
Also discussed in the last project update was how I was falling behind majorly in Project PHB. Truthfully, the rest weren’t really moving along as much as I would have hoped, either. This just convinced me that I needed to push myself harder to get all of these projects done before I had to go back to college and be separated from my R&D facility (200 miles apart). So instead of cutting certain projects to be worked on at a later date, and focusing on one or two to get finished now, I decided that was crazy and could still get them all done (mistake #3, but also ties in to mistake #1 for the motivation of wanting to do this).
The Past Affects the Future
I used to have an [unofficial] IT business, and was quite good at what I did. I closed shop after deciding to attend college and obtain a degree. The economy was just beginning to really swirl downward, and seeing the effects in various places got me thinking: what happens if I don’t get enough business and have to shut down? What would I do then? Because we all know we get so many opportunities with only a high school diploma… So I decided college was the best decision, even if the money coming in was good at the time. There were no guarantees this would continue.
Why did I digress into that story? Because it paints the picture of a guy that would jump at the chance to do a bit of the same work some years later, and that’s what I did. When you are basically your business (remember, as stated in a previous post, no employees yet), and you are wanting to cut costs in as many areas as possible, you do your own IT work.
I was busy, and knew that I didn’t have time to deal with computer issues during the day. So what did I come up with? “I know! I’ll stay up all Friday night after working the entire day and handle all the computer issues! That’ll work. Who cares if I’ve been working virtually non-stop for nearly a month?! I can do this. I have youth.”
Two things to note here:
1)I swear I have friends, even if it was a Friday night and this is what I planned to do.
2)This was mistake #4.
If it isn’t apparent yet, I’m racking up on mistakes. But hey, experience is the best teacher. So, as if these mistakes weren’t enough, the last definitely broke the camel’s back.
“Hmm. It’s about 5:30am, and I really need to work through today to stay on track. I guess I’ll just stay up and work. I may even watch the sunset with my mom” (Note: my parents house is literally right beside of the R&D facility. Wonder who played a 99% part in getting that facility the way it is…I’m 21 years old. Leave me alone. Business is expensive.)
That was mistake #5.
Reaching My Limit
Apparently, there is a limit written somewhere in the universe by God Himself concerning the number of compounding [simultaneous] mistakes you can make concerning a single area of your life. Genesis, chapter 0, verse 404: “If at least 5 compounding mistakes are made, your mind will not be found. Your body will immediately crash. You will feel as if you are falling apart, seemingly tearing yourself up from the inside.”
And that is exactly what happened.
I reached the point of clinical exhaustion that day (Saturday, at this point). After coming in to my parents’ house from watching the sunset, I sat on the sofa, still feeling pretty good. Suddenly, without warning, about all manner of things that could possibly go wrong with your body occurred. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say that no food would be able to enter [and stay] in my body, and I then went into (at least what felt like to me) a near-coma. I collapsed in the living room, and no amount of disturbance could wake me.
I awoke several hours later on the sofa, TV blaring, my parents talking loudly over the TV about business on either side of me (my dad runs his own company), and sunlight pouring in through the windows. None of this, during the hours of my unconsciousness, even slightly affected me. My body went into complete shutdown and repair. I had to take it easy the rest of the day, because I could barely walk on my own.
If you’re wondering why I wasn’t taken to the hospital, my dad has enough medical knowledge to know what to do.
“Now, What Did You Learn?…”
Today I am feeling much better, but I decided to take the day off anyway. And I decided to use this time to re-evaluate both myself and the way I’ve been running my business. I plan to correct my way of thinking appropriately in order to avoid the mistakes listed above, focusing mostly on mistakes #1 and #3, because those are the main mistakes that drove me down the road of exhaustion.
I’ll let success come on its own time. I’ll work hard to get there, but I don’t have to get there right now.
And I plan on cutting down my number of active projects to around two. Three, if one of them is a minor project.
As I said before, experience is the best teacher, and I am definitely learning. We are all students in this world of ours, and if we ever stop learning, the world will leave us behind (or just make us collapse in the living room). These mistakes will only make me a stronger leader. A stronger businessman. And a stronger person in general. I will use this lesson as a way of improving my odds of success, at success. My business will also improve as a result of the changes I make in myself.
I’m not just building a company. I’m building a person–me. And when I finally have the honor of hiring employees, I’ll be building up people other than myself. And that is definitely a privilege I’ll love to experience.
(Imported from old site; original post: Sunday, July 15, 2012)
Today’s To-Do LIst:
Begin printing parts on 3D printer.
Church.
Discover spaghetti mess.
Lose religion because of anger invoked.
Print more (of the same) parts.
Sunday, bloody Sunday. That is today. But all the aggravation is over now, and now I am looking toward the week ahead. I decided to roughly calculate the progress on each of the projects. The project names/numbers are still the same as they were from the last update, and new ones, of course, have new names.
Project Name Progression Level
Project PHB 33%
Project Bee 20%
Project BNo 70%
Project ShG 5%
Project BCH 55%
Project SvN 40%
Project ORI 20%
So I guess the aggravation isn’t over now, seeing that the main project–Project PHB–is wayyyyyy behind (should be 2/3 done by now, not 1/3). I’m beginning to see why it hasn’t been invented yet. That’s okay, though, because I will persevere on this and all the other inventions!
(Imported from old site; original post: Wednesday, July 4, 2012)
I am thrilled to report that I was able to complete the first of a series of basic tests that will be completed throughout the build on various components, and the subsystems in which they are involved.
Today’s test was to ensure that the idea was even remotely possible with the numbers that I had worked out many months prior. Without giving away any real information, I was looking for a certain number, but what was achieved was double! Great day to celebrate! Oh look, it seems they’re shooting fireworks to celebrate with me. I can see them perfectly from the patio. How nice! But how did they know?! Were they spying on me?…
Oh. It’s the Fourth of July, you say? American Independence Day, you say? I knew that…my days don’t run together at this point in my business venture, or anything…
God Bless America. (and the rest of the world, too, of course!)
(Imported from old site; original post: Tuesday, June 12, 2012)
So I’ve decided to start posting about the progress of my various projects. Even though I still can’t go into details about what they are, that just means I get to fulfill a childhood desire: coming up with code names for things and making you go by them. It’s a good day!
So, here is a list of the projects and their approximate progression level. I’ll never change the names in future updates, so whatever the names are now, they’ll stay that way until I actually reveal what they are; easier to keep up with this way.
Project Name Progression Level
Project PHB 10%
Project Bee 15%
Project BNo 55%
Project ShG 1% (just started)
Project BCH 35%
So I’m not too far on anything, but I’m moving right along! And considering some of these projects were started just a couple of weeks ago, I think I’m doing pretty good!
