The New Me

[Merkin Man]

I consider myself to be a creative thinking person. I often times have ideas for businesses that, after some consideration, make their way off my radar, usually because I decide they aren’t truly viable. But I always take pride in the fact that my mind is coming up with fresh ideas even if, in the end, I decide they aren’t worth acting on.

In the last three weeks, however, I have come up with four legitimate ideas that I honestly believe can and will be extremely successful. I have been breaking each of them down very carefully and, instead of weakening and diminishing like many of my past ideas, these are all gaining strength and momentum the more I research and consider each of them.

I have been reflecting for the last couple of days upon why I am suddenly having much more productive ideas and I believe I may have figured out some (not all) of the reason for my recent improvement in creative thinking:

• I took time for myself, to look within myself, to gain some clarity into what I want to be and where I want to be, not just in business but more importantly in life in general. See my “welcome back to me†thread http://www.thefastlanetomillions.com/showthread.php?t=7085. Although I am still journeying within myself for the answers, I have learned a lot about myself that I didn’t truly understand a few months ago.

• I have been selectively reading posts from the success stories here on the Fastlane. MJ’s post about having an entrepreneurial premise was eye opening. In fact, it wasn’t until I started looking at my life, not just my professional life but also my personal life, from the vantage point of not just what can my business(es) offer but, more importantly, what can I personally offer to the world, that my mind opened up and starting seeing things more clearly.

• Tied into both #’s 1 and 2 – I am not motivated by money this time around. It seems every time in the past that I have tried to make my way out of the rat race and into the Fastlane, my main source of motivation was to make enough money that I could quit my job, yadda-yadda-yadda. But one of the things I learned about myself over the last few months is that, although this probably isn’t going to sound right, I don’t hate my job like I once convinced myself that I did. Quite the contrary, I actually greatly appreciate my job. It has allowed me to live a lifestyle over the past 10+ years that I wanted to live. It is a lifestyle that, if I never find my way to the Fastlane, I am happy to continue to live. Some of you may look at this as a loser-ish mentality. But in contrast, I think it is the fact that I am so grateful to have this job, with everything it gives me, that has freed up a part of my mind to look for those things that will create good, positive results. Not just dollars in my pocket.

One thing I am challenging myself to do right now is to be focused. Focus and motivation are two issues that I struggle with, for various reasons, some that I understand and others that I still am unable to put my finger on the pulse of. I have been carefully breaking down my most recent ideas and my goal is to work at only one idea at a time, giving it everything that I can give it. I believe that is how I will approach everything in my life from here on out.

Andy

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I consider myself to be a creative thinking person. I often times have ideas for businesses that, after some consideration, make their way off my radar, usually because I decide they aren’t truly viable. But I always take pride in the fact that my mind is coming up with fresh ideas even if, in the end, I decide they aren’t worth acting on.

In the last three weeks, however, I have come up with four legitimate ideas that I honestly believe can and will be extremely successful. I have been breaking each of them down very carefully and, instead of weakening and diminishing like many of my past ideas, these are all gaining strength and momentum the more I research and consider each of them.

I have been reflecting for the last couple of days upon why I am suddenly having much more productive ideas and I believe I may have figured out some (not all) of the reason for my recent improvement in creative thinking:

• I took time for myself, to look within myself, to gain some clarity into what I want to be and where I want to be, not just in business but more importantly in life in general. See my “welcome back to me” thread http://www.thefastlanetomillions.com/showthread.php?t=7085. Although I am still journeying within myself for the answers, I have learned a lot about myself that I didn’t truly understand a few months ago.

• I have been selectively reading posts from the success stories here on the Fastlane. MJ’s post about having an entrepreneurial premise was eye opening. In fact, it wasn’t until I started looking at my life, not just my professional life but also my personal life, from the vantage point of not just what can my business(es) offer but, more importantly, what can I personally offer to the world, that my mind opened up and starting seeing things more clearly.

• Tied into both #’s 1 and 2 – I am not motivated by money this time around. It seems every time in the past that I have tried to make my way out of the rat race and into the Fastlane, my main source of motivation was to make enough money that I could quit my job, yadda-yadda-yadda. But one of the things I learned about myself over the last few months is that, although this probably isn’t going to sound right, I don’t hate my job like I once convinced myself that I did. Quite the contrary, I actually greatly appreciate my job. It has allowed me to live a lifestyle over the past 10+ years that I wanted to live. It is a lifestyle that, if I never find my way to the Fastlane, I am happy to continue to live. Some of you may look at this as a loser-ish mentality. But in contrast, I think it is the fact that I am so grateful to have this job, with everything it gives me, that has freed up a part of my mind to look for those things that will create good, positive results. Not just dollars in my pocket.

One thing I am challenging myself to do right now is to be focused. Focus and motivation are two issues that I struggle with, for various reasons, some that I understand and others that I still am unable to put my finger on the pulse of. I have been carefully breaking down my most recent ideas and my goal is to work at only one idea at a time, giving it everything that I can give it. I believe that is how I will approach everything in my life from here on out.

Andy

Andy,

Wow I missed this thread. Glad to hear that some of the topics here have opened your eyes in new directions. As for having a job that you love and enjoy, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that and if anyone calls ya a loser for it; they're just haters.

You mentioned that you have several ideas .... Great plan to pick one and make it your own. I firmly believe that 100% of your heart and soul into execution of an idea is better than 100% split amongst 4 ideas.

SteveO's started a great thread on focus ... I think its in the RE section.

MJ

 

[Merkin Man]

The focus thing has been one of my biggest obstacles in many facets of my life.

When it came to ideas that I had come up with, I always seemed to let the attractiveness of the next good idea stop me from focusing and moving forward with the current one, never truly seeing just how paralyzing an effect this was having on my successes in life.

Of the several "good" ideas I am brewing right now, I am going to narrow them down until I get to the one that I will put my most focus on and keep the focus on. I think right now that narrows it down to two.

Although I am tempted by the internet business I want to start, I think I am going to purchase the domain, park it, and put it on the shelf until I get my other idea (one which I see having loads more potential) going.

MJ, out of curiosity (and since you're the only one who replied so far), with as little knowledge as I have in starting or operating a website (see: http://www.thefastlanetomillions.com/showthread.php?t=7270), would you suggest moving forward with that concept, or moving forward with an invention that I thought of that I feel has potential to be globally huge? And I really believe that! A product that I am quite sure does not exist, that every household and business could use. And not just one, but several of them. I would be interested in hearing your thoughts.

Andy

 

[Merkin Man]

UPDATE:

My "invention," as I suspected, does exist. But not the way I would design it.

My design would be completely different than the one I found that does exist. The only similarity between my design and the one patented already is that each piece's stated purpose would be the same. The major difference between mine and the one patented would be that mine is adjustable - in this case, making mine a significantly better and more marketable product.

As I understand it, I can still move forward with this and patent my own design, right?

Any comments on this would be greatly appreciated.

Andy

 

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[kurtyordy]

from the research I have done, yes you could move forward. I researched this a ton, if you need more info on the next steps, let me know, but do not spend money on a patent.

 

[Merkin Man]

from the research I have done, yes you could move forward. I researched this a ton, if you need more info on the next steps, let me know, but do not spend money on a patent.

Do not spend money on a patent? Why not?​

 

[kurtyordy]

because you can get the same protection for around $100 with a provisional patent. Once you discover whether or not it is viable, then spend the 15k-30k for a full patent.

 

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[Merkin Man]

Kurt,

I would be interested in hearing your story...

 

[kurtyordy]

It is pretty simple, had an idea, did a ton of research on the patent process, researched one last spot to see if it had been done and bam, I was about 4 months late to the dance. Fortunately for me, out of pocket was only about $300 for all my research.

 

[Think]

The last Business I was involved in had World Wide patents, the G8 and the rest cost, to us was around $90,000.00. The bottom line as always is what are you prepared to spend to defend it? That is so important I am going to repeat myself, What are you prepared to spend to defend the patent? We negotiated a deal with a $5 Billion dollar company for this product. This company has facilities in 60 Countries around the world. Their Director of Research and Developement said that he could make a slight modification to the product formula and defeat the patent. Our Lawyer suggested that he may or maynot be able to accomplish this depends on the Judge.(Typical legal opinion). The cost to go to court to find out who was right would haver buried us.
My point is to be very careful, do not think that a patent is the same thing as being free from getting ripped off. Currently China is producing thousands of products that under patent,however who will pay the cost to go over there and try to enforce a patent?
Think

 

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