Some of you will recall that I spoke with a licensing agent here in Lubbock, Matt Yubas, last Tuesday. Well, to be honest he was rather underwhelmed by my screwdriver idea, and felt there would be simply too much competition at this point to justify his representing it right now. I knew that it would be a numbers game, and that even if ONE person doesn’t go gah-gah over it, I should still shop it around to others in the meantime. Get a few second opinions and all. Still, it was saddening, and I was pretty depressed for a day or two.

Then on Thursday, he calls me back, out of the blue. Seems he’s writing a book on Patents & Inventing, and he wanted to enlist my services as a reader. Someone who would take a look at the naked copy, make sure it made sense, and give him immediate feedback. In exchange, he’d be willing to answer any questions I might have regarding the information I read. He’d like to fast-track this, and meet 3 times a week, for an hour at a time.

I’ll be honest. When I first heard his offer, I wasn’t thrilled with the idea. I’d much rather have him evaluate more of my ideas for licensing potential than get info on patents (which very few of my ideas would even warrant…). But then I realized the true value in his offer: a relationship.

Even if I don’t get much out of the book itself (and so far, I’m getting a lot), I’ll be establishing a relationship as a respected peer with a guy who’s been licensing ideas for over 20 years. In a very real way, I’ll be establishing a relationship with an inventing mentor. PLUS, instead of just reading a book about the in’s and out’s of inventing and hoping I pick up the info inside, I’m able to interact with and have a dialogue with the AUTHOR, getting clarification or insight into any areas that are unclear. This is HUGE.

This experience has underscored the fact that God truly IS the ONLY way I’m going to have success as an inventor and an author. I didn’t have anything to do with Matt‘s calling me back for the offer. That was totally God working in the background, and I recognize it and praise Him for it.

And you know what? This has also served to kill off any fears I might have had about the future. Do I need to worry about matching my ideas with the right manufacturer? Nope. God’s got it covered. Should I freak out about finding a literary agent and a publisher for my book? No reason – God’s got it all planned out for me.

Every fear and concern that I’ve had over the last year – “How am I going to do this?” “What if I make a mistake?” “How will I meet the right people?” – they’re all shrinking in the reality of His glory and ultimate control. I don’t have to worry about a THING. I can take my hands off wheel and let Him drive my life, and not worry whether we’re headed for a cliff or into an oncoming semi-trailer or what. He KNOWS what I need, and He’ll only give me what’s best for me. I can TRUST Him.

There’s something else, though. I’ve had two separate people (both spiritual mentors in my life) say that things are about to change for me, in a big way. They both say that I need to get ready to “hold on” and that things are going to move quickly. Two completely separate individuals, two separate occasions. I have no idea what they’re talking about, and whether they’re referring to Mills Creative Minds or the Baby book (or having a baby girl pop out of Kim in late June), but I’m trying to stay as centered and laid-back as I typically am. So there’s that to chew on.

Lastly, I went to talk to a CPA about the visions and goals I have for Mills Creative Minds, and about opening it up for investors. He completely related to what God’s put in my heart, and reassured me that I’m on the right path, hearing from God correctly.

Regarding investors, it was never my plan to have any. I HAVE a small amount of seed money to start Mills Creative Minds, and He’s shown me how to accomplish my goals without spending a fortune. But He’s really put it on my heart that I should open up the company to investors and allow those who want to support it financially – with a lifetime payout – to do so.

So I’m still working out the details, but the plan is to allow those who are interested to invest in Mills Creative Minds, with a ratio of 1% per $1,000 given. (Or .5% for $500, .1 / $100, etc.) This would be for the life of the company. As in, for every dollar that’s paid to me, 50 cents will go toward churches & charities, with another 20 cents set aside for discretionary giving. The other 30 cents is what I would profit myself, and it’s off of this 30% that investors would be paid.

I’ll be working out the details in the few weeks, but if anyone’s interested or feels called to do this, just drop me an e-mail (kevin @ millscreativeminds .com – no spaces). The only requirement that I know I’ll have from the outset is that you’re willing to pray. Not only for the company and for specific licensing deals & partnerships, but also for Ray & Laura Pittman. They’re the primary reason I started down this road, and having extra prayer support is vital to their accomplishing what God’s called them to do.

To be honest, the idea of investors made me quite uncomfortable at first. Not that I don’t want to share the money. I LOVE sharing, as most of you know. But just working through the logistics of it all, going about it wisely, etc.  So last month I was praying one night, basically looking for an out. “God,” I said, “If You REALLY want me to open Mills Creative Minds up to investors, then You’re going to have to make it absolutely, positively clear. Give me a sign this next week, an irrefutable sign, so I’ll know this is straight from YOU and not just my mind playing tricks on me.”

The next day someone sent me $1,000.

Unsolicited. Before I even opened it up for investors.

So, yeah. God can be pretty clear when He wants you to do something. And He is absolutely trustworthy when you know He’s called you to do something. There’s no need to freak out anymore. Just pursue Him, listen to His whispers, and obey what He calls you to do.

And then make the choice to TRUST HIM. It’s not a feeling or wishful thinking: it’s a choice. No matter how things look or what it seems is going to happen (or NOT happen), make a decision today to have a stubborn faith and Trust Him.

Because God’s worthy of your trust.

- Kevin

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.

“Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” – 1 Corinthians 3:7

This was the verse I read yesterday morning, and it was quite applicable to what’s going on in my life these days. You see, for the past 11 months I’ve been working on developing three products for Mills Creative Minds. Doing the research, studying the market, gathering statistics, writing up a persuasive sell sheet for each, and finally preparing to get them in the hands of prospective manufacturers.

Although I’ve learned how to be my own licensing agent, I honestly don’t feel that’s what I’m supposed to do at this time. My strength lies in the forming of ideas. They come to me constantly, fluidly. My weakness is in negotiating contracts & playing the cold calling, salesman game. Understand, I’m not saying I can’t do it or don’t want to, I simply don’t think that’s what I’m supposed to do in the immediate future. So what does that mean? It means I’m going to go through a licensing agent instead.

A licensing agent is the guy who will look at my idea, see if they want to represent it, and then take it to the Big Boys. Some of them take a commission, some don’t. I’ve done a lot of research and praying, and decided to go with Harvey Reese & Matt Yubas.

So what does this have to do with the verse? Simple: I’m reaching the stage where the success of my ideas is going to be out of my hands. I’ve done my part, and now it’s time to foster partnerships and hand my precious product ideas off. As you can imagine, it’s an intimidating prospect. Terrifying, at times. But I choose not to give into my fears. I choose to have faith instead.

Not faith in the agents themselves, necessarily. Or in the validity of my ideas, for that matter. I’m talking about faith in God. Because the parallels between the verse and my life are multifaceted. A farmer plants his crop, waters it and does everything in his power to help it succeed. But ultimately? It’s up to God. God controls the weather, the soil, the very DNA programmed into the seeds themselves. Nothing can grow or flourish without the help of God. Absolutely, positively nothing.

The same is true in my life. God’s given me the ideas, the seeds. I’ve taken them, nurtured them, watered them and planted them in the most fertile area I could find. But whether they’ll grow into maturity is completely out of my hands. It’s in His hands. (This also applies to the governing scripture behind Mills Creative Minds. “All things were created by Him and for Him.” – Colossians 1:16)

And you know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way. His hands are more capable than mine. His WAYS are higher than mine. He can see the things I can’t, and I know that I can trust Him with my life, much less my spiffy product ideas.

This point was emphasized even more yesterday afternoon when I took a break from working. I went outside, sat on the bench and just relaxed. Enjoyed the moment of the day. The sun on my skin, the wind in my… goatee… the sounds of the birds and the traffic up the street. And as I sat there, God kind of gave me a vision.

I saw a small seedling, in the slow motion capture kind of film we’ve seen on the Nature Channel all our lives. (Kind of like this one on YouTube.) Anyhow, this seedling slowly pushed its way up from the soil, straightened up, and another seed suddenly popped out of the top and fell down beside it. I had expected the seed shell on top, but not the extra seed. Heck, I don’t even think such a thing is POSSIBLE in nature. At least, not in the time frame of my vision thing…

To top it all off, last night we had our LifeHouse and as a guy closed us in prayer, he prayed specifically on how all we can do is plant the seeds and commit them into God’s hands to make our plans grow. I tell ya, I got goosebumps on my neck. (If I had hair, it would’ve raised up tall…) To read that verse in the morning, have that vision in the afternoon and end with that prayer at night? Incredible. Humbling, really.

I’m excited about the future. I look forward to see what God is going to do, the doors He’s going to open, the partnerships that He is going to establish. I choose not to be afraid and play the “What If…?” game of questioning and doubt. I choose instead to Trust God with my future.

Kevin

Again, as I’ve mentioned in my earlier entries, enjoying the favor of God relies heavily on showing favor to others. So if you want to receive and keep the favor flowing freely in your life, you have to start it and keep it moving. Below are some of the things I’ve done and continue to do to bless others around me:

- Giving away things I don’t need or use anymore. (through Freecycle.org)

- Giving away a computer to someone in need

- Giving PaperPolisher.com away

- Providing an iPhone for a worker at church. (You read that right. I felt God wanted me to help this girl pay for an iPhone, so I sold my Centro and gave her the proceeds. No my idea, but it was unquestionably God’s, so I’m not gonna argue…)

- Sacrificial Giving. Randy Alcorn has an excellent book on giving called The Treasure Principle. That, combined with the LifeChurch.tv series “How to BE Rich” had a huge impact on how I look at money these days. Giving and sharing with others has a huge impact on God’s using us to accomplish His will. Why? Because for many of us Money is an idol, and until we give up the idea that Money will make everything better (in essence worshiping Money), God’s going to have a hard time getting through to us.

Case in point: yesterday when I was in the drive-thru at Taco Bell, buying $4 worth of flavored fat, I felt God urging me to give the attendant at the window the bill that was in my wallet.

It was a $20 bill.

I questioned whether it was God’s prompting me or just my innate desire to give, but concluded it was irrelevant in the end. Either way, the desire to give doesn’t come from within: it’s from God, not man. We’re selfish, egotistical creatures at heart. Giving doesn’t come to us naturally.

So after she handed me the food, I handed her the $20. “I know this is going to sound strange,” I said sheepishly, “But God told me to give this to you.” She kind of shrugged her shoulders and mumbled a thanks, not even looking at the bill. Certainly not the response that I had expected, but hey, I did my part.

Did it hurt to give up $20? Absolutely. Immediately my mind turned to “what I could have bought” with that $20, and how I could have spent it elsewhere. But you know what? There’s more to this life that me and what I want. There’s more to what I’m here on earth for than to fill my pockets and closets with Stuff. I’m here for God, to accomplish His will and reach people for Him. And I trust Him. So what He directs me to do, I’m gonna do. $20, $200, or $2,000 – I’ll give whatever He says to give, wherever He directs me.

Because if I truly want to align myself with The Vision that He’s placed in my heart for Mills Creative Minds, the Vision of giving away 70% of whatever I make, then I can’t hold back when it comes to giving. And I don’t want to. I want to be who He designed me to be, and that means giving. A lot. Time, money, prayer, resources. It’s who I am. It’s who I want to be. And I thank God for this.

Showing favor produces favor. Motive is absolutely key. We need to work hard to change our attitudes from one of greed to one of giving. Success isn’t dependent on our surroundings or circumstances or effort. It depends on our attitude and committing our ways to God.

Kevin

“God alone prospers and promotes us.  But it is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another.”  – Psalms 75:7

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”   – Luke 6:38

Note: Shortly after writing this column I received a phone call from Ken Campbell at Affordable Patent Service. He called to let me know that he had stumbled across my website, and was impressed with what I’m doing at Mills Creative Minds and the vision I have for it. So he offered himself as a resource for me to call on if I ever have any specific patent questions. Just like InventRight and Stephen Key’s gift, I sincerely believe receiving favor from these men is directly linked to my responding to God’s promptings to show favor to others. I have no doubt in my mind: showing favor produces favor. I AM reaping what I’m sowing, and it’s fantastic.

Another way I was shown God’s favor is by receiving direct favor from Stephen Key at InventRight. A month back I offered to do some editing for him in exchange for his educational CDs on licensing and inventing. He called me personally a week later and we talked for a good 15 minutes. Toward the end he let me know that although he didn’t need my editing at the time, he was going to send the entire InventRight system to me, regardless.

Now, this is a series that’s worth well over $500. (Hence, my initial offer to swap services for it.) And he sent it to me. For free. No explanation or reasoning. He just DID. He also told me to call him anytime if I ever have any questions about inventing or licensing. This is a guy who’s all over the web with articles, interviews, podcasts and the like, doing exactly what I feel I’m called to do, and he’s now a mere phone call away as a personal mentor.

Now that, my friends, is the favor of God working firsthand in my life, opening doors and establishing relationships to help me pursue His goals and dreams. He’s led me every step of the way, and I look forward to where 2009′s going to take me.

Kevin

Well, it’s been a whirlwind of a summer. I’ve done a ton of work on creating Mills Creative Minds, so I’ll try to summarize some of the elements for those curious readers out there. Forgive the abrupt format of the entry – I gotta go pick Kyler up from kindergarten in about 20 minutes.

Children – Kyler’s in full-time kindergarten now, so that means getting him up at 7:00am each day to get out of the house at 7:30am. Then pick him up at 3:00pm. Long day, but he’s sleeping quite soundly at night. Heh.

Kaleb’s now in part-time daycare with a nanny about 3 minutes away. I knew I was going to need a good 4-5 hours a day to work, but we didn’t want him to be in one of the overcrowded daycares. So we discussed the dilemma with our LifeHouse (church group), prayed about it, and one of them had a sister-in-law (Rhonda) who was interested in being a part-time nanny. Voila! Problem solved! (Glory be to God!)

Patents & Licensing - I’ve read up on the invention process, and it’s clear that a patent offers good protection when developing a product. It’s also clear that you don’t have to have a patent in hand to approach manufacturers about their licensing the idea from you. (Indeed, you have a year from filing a provisional patent to manufacture & SELL a product, regardless of whether your patent goes through or not.)

I’m NOT going to manufacturer my ideas, and the majority of them don’t even need a patent to make a profit (it wouldn’t be worth it). I have too many of them to narrow it down to just ONE to pursue, plus I don’t want to spend the exhaustive man hours & money establishing an entire company (aside from mCm, that is). So after doing the basic market research to make sure any given idea isn’t already out there, my next step is to write up a simple one-sheet to present to a licensing agent. The licensing agent, in turn, will take whatever ideas he finds worthy and approach the appropriate manufacturers. Once you get a manufacturer on board, you draw up a licensing agreement (where you & the agent split a 5-10% profit from each item sold) and away you go.

My plan is to narrow down my top 5 ideas, do the necessary research & legwork, and present them to the agent(s) or marketing company. I haven’t decided which one to use yet (there’s quite a few to choose from), but I’m confident God will lead me to make the right decision when it’s time to make it. (Your prayers for wisdom & discernment are always welcome.)

Sole Proprietorship vs. LLC – I’m currently a Sole Prop., but after doing some research I think I might upgrade to an LLC. Mainly because if I license an idea to a company and they make it & sell it & then some idjit decides to hurt themselves with it, I could be liable. As an LLC, I’d have more protection from litigation, at least on the surface. As a sole prop., ALL my assets are free game. So I figure I’d rather be safe than sorry.  (Granted, I still think there could be a clause added to each licensing agreement which absolves me from litigation, but I’m new to this, so I’ll just go with what I know.)

Ideas – they just keep coming. Non-stop.  And yes, I’m biased, so they’re “all good.” This is another confirmation that I’m on the right track. I’m definitely not a “one-hit wonder” when it comes to ideas. I simply have more than enough, so I wanna share with others.

mCm – I’m working on developing the brand of it all, both as one-sheet summaries & on the website. I need to straddle the fine line of “I’m a creative inventor” and “We’re a serious business.” God, give me wisdom, please.

The Vision – Last week as I was stressing out about composing a bonafide Business Plan for mCm, I decided to sleep it off. As I was drifting away, I was thinking about my financial goals for mCm. One of the primary motivations for creating mCm was to provide for missions. In fact, I had privately resolved to give away $200,000 of the first $300,000 I made. Arbitrary, I know, but that was my goal.

As I lay on the bed, however, I asked myself: why stop there? Why should I only aim to give 66% of the first $300,000? Why not do that ALL the time? And why not bump that to 70%? (Just to round up, make it an even number, to appease the OCD hand-washer inside me…)

And at that point… I cried. Not because I was freaked out about the idea of giving so much away, but because I was thrilled with the idea of giving so much away.

I am, by nature, a generous man. I love to share, to meet the needs of those around me. It’s the way I am, the way God wired me. And I am constantly frustrated when I run into a situation where I want to give, but I can’t because I don’t feel I have the money. (Translation: it would threaten my comfortable cushion.)

So by making the act of sacrificial giving a permanent cornerstone to Mills Creative Minds, I’ve effectively removed the “I can’t afford to give” mentality that holds me back. And THAT’S why I cried. Because honestly? I can’t WAIT to give the money away. Even before this new direction, I had compiled an extensive list of organizations, charities, causes, etc. that I want to bless. (And God keeps expanding my list with new areas of need…) I am so incredibly excited to give, it keeps me up at night. With a permanent, gleeful smile.

And the 30%? I can hear someone (most likely a relative) say something to the effect of:  “How can you live off of only 30%?” Well, now, that’s just doubting God’s providence. And abundance. Read Colossians 1:16. Read Psalms 24:1. It’s all His. EVERYTHING. 30%, 90%, 100% – what does it matter what I take home? He’s the one who will provide it all, regardless. I might be planting the mCm seeds, but only He can make them grow and prosper. It’s completely in His hands.

God was the one who began this process, He’s the one who continues to give me new direction, a renewed vision, and I fully believe that He’s going to help me see this through to completion.  I have a newfound purpose and JOY that I haven’t relished since college. My life has changed so dramatically in the past 4 months, it’s astonishing. But as much as I’m enjoying the present, I really REALLY look forward to next year. And the year after THAT. It’s gonna be fantastic.

Kevin

P.S. On a side note, I will say that my music addiction is almost completely destroyed. No longer do I spend countless hours adding to “the list” of songs to download “someday.” eMusic has since dropped me an e-mail, offering an additional 75 free bonus songs if I come back. It was tempting, but when it’s a choice between having the time to pursue Mills Creative Minds or adding to my Stack of Stuff, it’s no contest. God’s vision trumps my never-ending collection. Maybe I’ll rejoin after the new year, just to take a Big Swig and grab all the stuff on my list. But to be honest? That doesn’t really appeal to me anymore. That just means I’d have to reinvest more time LISTENING to the new stuff. And that just doesn’t interest me anymore.