Building an email list - but don't forget the exhibition in November!

Can you use any of the tips in this seminar?

PLus you have to watch this guy's attempt at a viral video...!

Searching Intellectual Property

I'm by no means an expert on Patents, Design Rights and Copyright. I rely very heavily on the Intellectual Property Office, but luckily their website is very clear and loaded with help and information. If you need any guidance on what intellectual property rights you can secure, click here to visit it before going to an expensive Patent Attorney.

Another UK organisation with a vast body of knowledge is the British Library, whose patent blog is written by Steve Van Dulken. I read it through my RSS reader, and he probably updates about once a week, which is just about right in my book, many more update and I have too many blogs to read on a daily basis! Mostly he’s pointing out the quirky and ridiculous patent submissions through history, but sometimes he gives an insight into everyday but revolutionary products, such as the Dyson vacuum cleaner.

The British Library has a Facebook group for aspiring entrepreneurs, click here to visit it. They also have a YouTube channel, which for some reason I can’t locate right now, so check out this video on their Business and IP centre here.

I also subscribe to a website called ‘Killer Start-Ups’, which reviewed a new start up for searching patents. A Patent Search is the first thing you should do if you think you have invented something unique, and this website may help with that. A patent search will show you:

a) If you actually have got a unique invention,

b) Whether you’re infringing someone else’s intellectual property and

c) If it’s really worth pursuing!

If you want to read more about Patents and intellectual property in a language that doesn’t confuse or befuddle, read ‘A Better Mousetrap’ by Peter Bissell and Graham Parker. It makes it clear what you can do yourself and what is better left to the professionals. You don’t even have to buy it, NTU Library has a copy (I know I ordered it!)

Another take on tasks

So I have a to-do list and it seems to works ok.

The Nag is another way of working with tasks, in that they send you 'nags' of things you might do (in their case to help the environment or whatever). So you get a nudge or reminder to do things that you might not otherwise do.

One way of doing this for yourself is to set reminders, for example using Microsoft Outlook, you can set tasks with dates way off in the future. They might be 're-visit business plan' to remind you that you need to look again at the goals you set yourself when you started out, or 'pay council tax' if you always forget to do this regular but mundane task. then you can just forget about it until it becomes due.

Genius

More to do lists

You'll remember our last post on to-do lists . Well, much as I love the Zen-like simplicty of Now Do This, it turns out it's a bit linear for my mind.

I've gone back to Ta-Da list, because I don't have to write my list in the order I need to do things. But honestly, for everyday tasks I have gone back to recycling scrap paper and writing up a list for each morning, either before the work of the day starts, or just before packing up time.



Picture credit:Florian

I also heard something somewhere that you should aim to do three things off a list per day, to avoid running yourself down because you're not clearing the 'Learn Esperanto' item that's been on your list for the last 3 million years. Dustin Wax from Stepcase Lifehack recommends you have a Someday/Maybe list. Could work, except would this list simply grow with no incentive to tackle the items on it.

Others recommend that you break the items on the 'long' list down and put the first step of that onto your daily list.

So in order to learn Esperanto, I need to find a free podcast course. The next day I could go to iTunes and sign up to the podcast, day three, download onto iPod, day four watch first episode and so on. These steps would go onto my daily task list one at a time and before I know it I'll be asking 'Ĉu vi parolas Esperanton?'


Oh and for the TV fans, Learn Esperanto was on Arnold J Rimmer's to do list in series 2 of the BBC show Red Dwarf. How do I know this?... Wasted youth.

What's the weather like up there?

We are so lucky, we've got the chance to exhibit at Nottingham's creative venue, View from the Top!

The NTU SPEED exhibition will run from 19th to 24th November, with set up day on the 18th. I'd love for everyone to exhibit something, but I guess I'm too much of a realist to think that would happen (Violins please!)

As a reward for all your hard work over the last two years, we're even putting on a SPEED awards ceremony! The special guest star is booked (can't release the name just yet though!), the catering is being sorted and the invites being written.

Will you be involved? Leave a comment and tell me what you'd like to see! Plus, guesses about the identity of the mystery guest are welcome!

Are you a 'Gym Gerbil'?

It's funny what can give you inspiration. Mine often comes from other blogs, conversations with people and seeing people's business ideas slowly gain momentum.

So I guess it's not that unusual that a blog post would make me think 'hey there's something in that!' But this article from Stepcase Lifehack is about getting into a rut when you workout, not varying your gym routine and your level of fitness suffering as a result. I should add at this point that I am most definitely not a gym bunny, so I certainly haven't fallen into a rut. (In fact the rut just is a scratch in the earth to me)

this quote from the post says it all:

Your body is highly adaptive when it comes to exercise. Especially when it comes to these low intensity, gerbil-on-a-running-wheel-type routines. We see results at first because just doing any type of exercise at all is enough of a change to elicit some type of metabolic reaction. In order to keep seeing results you need to create variety. And the more gym experience you have the chances are the more variety you’ll need. Your body will become increasingly more adaptive as you make progress.

It got me thinking though, about how variety can make a business leaner and fitter. Whether it's in your advertising, your sales call, your daily routine even, are you doing things just because you've always done it that way? Consider mixing it up a little, and see what happens.



And the real reason this article appealed to me? My gerbil Jevon (RIP) looked just like the one at the top of the Lifehack article. I'll dig out a photo and you can compare and contrast.

The SPEEDy interview AP Photography

–State your name for the record

Andrea Palmer

–Please tell us what problem your business solves in 50 words or less

People have many special times in their lives. They want to be able to store their memories in visual images. Businesses and public bodies are increasingly using visual media to get their message across. Traditionally commercial photography is boring and expensive. I offer competitive but tailored solutions with my commercial packages

–Expand on your idea – how will you make money from it?

I offer all kinds of photography packages from special events to commercial shoots. People can order and pay for their photography online. In fact I see my website www.andreapalmer.com as an online shopfront, where a large proportion of my business takes place

–Explain who your customer is

Businesses, public bodies, such as councils or the police force, and the general public

–Describe where you see yourself in 5 years’ time

I’d like to have a studio and have a business employing staff

Random Questions – choose one and answer

• Who would you most like to have dinner with? Someone who can make me successful, quickly!!