Mills Creative Minds – September 2008 Update.
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. 
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.”
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