Posts

Showing posts from October, 2008

Putting together the Components of Business

Image
So in order to be an official 'business woman' appearance is everything. When you are on your own with no company affiliation it comes time to start building your own support resources. With a company everything comes pre-assembled, but when you are your own boss the options are unlimited. The limits of your resources are constrained by the time it takes to do the searching, and the money you have to pay for the resources. I finally designed business cards for myself to represent my personality and abilities. Here they are! I decided to make them 2 sided, the black side shows some of my CAD designs and projects from college, with a listing of my degree and some past employers. The white side has one of my artworks, and represents my creative and entrepreneurial side. I've known for a while that I didn't want a completely 'standard' business card, because the business card is what you give to people you meet in an effort to represent yourself, and It'

Inventor Resources

Starting up a business is quite tricky. With so many options ahead there can be doubts along the way. Its impossible to know everything on needs to know initially, so its all about trying to find the resources that can be of help along the way. When joining a company things are easier because usually all the resources you need are already there and pre-paid for. Once you start going out on your own the resources are hidden, and the only paid for services are coming out of your pocket. All of this stated, it can be quite intimidating. So as I do my search for resources, I'll be sharing them, to start creating a kind of path for others to follow so everything isn't sooo intimidating. 1) http://www.inventionconvention.com/ncio/inventing101/000.html 2) Business plans, are a perceived necessity in starting out, to justify to yourself and others why you are doing this, and to prove that you'll be satisfying a business need. Here are some fee sample business plans: http://w

A day at Stanford

Yesterday I spent the day on Stanford's campus. I rode my bike to Caltrain, then rode to Stanford. Coming up Palm Drive was amazing, so beautiful, and it takes you straight to the main entrance. It's obvious that Stanford was very well planned. Then I made my way to Green Library, and talked to the guy at the front and showed him evidence of being a continuing education student so I could be allowed to pass through the pearly white gates. Then filled out paperwork to receive a shiny new library card. The woman in front of me was pratically begging to gain free access to the library because she worked for a non profit, but DENIED. I felt like a golden key was needed to access the premises, but somehow I was able to get by with a temporary and fragile plastic one that can only open certain doors. I asked for some general information, and was guided towards the business school library. Pedaling around campus was like a dream, did these people really appreciate all that the

Inspiring Video and Asking the Important Questions

Today I worked on some video editing to fund my entrepreneur habit. And yesterday we could have picked up a potential job which is exciting. Also, tomorrow I think I'll be meeting with a more experienced videographer and pick up some tips and advice, and potentially some future gigs. Networking is always a good thing. Today I watched a video featured here: http://etl.stanford.edu/ "Guy Kawasaki , Founder and Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures provides advice about foundation, priorities, financing, key employees, getting the word out, leveraging resources, scope, business development, raison d'etre, and the big picture. For example, a few years ago, cleverness was the priority, he says. Today, expertise in technology is important and entrepreneurs should be thinking of making the world a better place, he adds." I enjoyed his speech, and I definitely find myself preaching the same values and goals. I like when I come across things that validate what I

ANOTHER BIT OF FATE! :-)

I'm so excited, so a pretty huge reason of why I moved to California in the heart of Silicon Valley is due to Tom Kelley's Book, "The Art of Innovation", its a book mostly about IDEO, a company that I deeply respect, and that I could actually see myself working for! So, I did a yahoo search for "Entrepreneurness" to see if my website had been added yet to their search engine, and I came across this result: Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Forum / Different skills sets for ... Business Association of Stanford Engineering Students. Stanford Technology ... I guess they have found a role whereby they can satisfy their 'entrepreneurness' ... etl-forums.stanford.edu/viewtopic.php?id=213 So, I clicked it, because I was curious about the context in which they used 'my' word :-), and I noticed that I was on some kind of Entrepreneurial Website, so I went to the home page, and I noticed it took me to a list of speakers.  And I thought to myself, wouldn

Patents Continued...

So, the book "Patent it Yourself" by David Pressman has been recommended to me by a handful of people already, so I have purchased it, and have recently received it. I'll consider that as a small drop in the bucket of spending towards being an Entrepreneur. I was able to buy the book online for around $30. Another book recommended to me is "Patent Pending in 24 hours", its about provisional patents, I'll wait a bit until I buy that one. Finding a lawyer may still be my 'best' option, but I am still doing more of a patent search before I throw half my savings into a patent lawyer. (ouch.. it pains me to even think of it) I'm wondering if its really worth it at this point to use uspto.gov as a search engine. The site is divided into two, pre and post 1976, so any work you do, you basically have to do it twice. I'm thinking of sticking with google.com/patents, and then going to uspto.gov as needed. Any advice there? File management has b

A product Idea, & a Business Idea

So, from the entrepreneur class I am taking, our professor has encouraged us to 'partner up' on projects. So, one one side of the room he put every one who had an idea and who was looking for help executing it. So from that, I have met two people who are interested in going into business with me. I have a business concept that I think will be extremely fun to pursue and that will be very beneficial for all who are involved. So, working on this business concept along side working on my product idea will give me a very diverse portfolio on entrepreneur ventures! If I could get one of the concepts off the ground and running, I could use the income to stronger support the second venture...and then the third.. and the forth... haha. It would be great to be able to first pursue my ideas, jump all the crazy hurdles that have been placed in front of me, get to the point where I can jump the hurdles blindfolded... and then clear them out of the way for other people trying to pursu