We are not just lawyers!

Our business organizations offer a lot of non-legal services to inventors. Our goal is to put inventors and small business in the best possible position to succeed. Often, patent and trademark has very little do to with this.

If there are two things inventors are bad at, they are a) unwillingness to Delegate, and b) unwillingness to Listen. Our best, most successful inventors are the ones that can overcome both of these. Once we can get you to trust us, we then start off-loading tasks so that you can focus on what you are good at.

The services below are paid to a separate IRS-EIN# that is different from the IRS-EIN# for our law firm side.

OVERVIEW OF NON-Attorney SERVICES

Lots of ways to help inventors; PATENTS2REVENUE™

All of the below have widely-varying $billing $rates. These services are chosen and offered partly because they are the types of tasks that many inventors dislike and would prefer to delegate. But often, rather than delegate, they just blow them off entirely.

Even worse, some inventors often hope that these tasks will not need to be performed at all, and so neglect them. This is a recipe for losing every cent that was put in (we see this often). The below tasks need to be done! Don't think you can skate by without doing this. And have the self-awareness to know when you need to Delegate!

Inability to Delegate is a key ingredient in business-failure.

We sometimes get chosen to perform these services because our law firm often has a very firm clear idea of the scope and content of the invention, usually second only to the inventor herself.

PATENTS2REVENUE™

As an attorney but also a product engineer, I run a couple of different businesses. The law firm BlueCollarIP™ provides legal services only, and has its own EIN with the IRS. However, due to demand from my customers, inventors, clients, we also do some engineering, brand-strategy, 3D printing and fabrication, and e-commerce, setting up initial websites, setting up initial YouTube channels. This is a non-law business I own, branded as PATENTS2REVENUE™, which has a different EIN with the IRS.

What good are patents on an invention that is not selling?

This non-law business may include setting up some resources ourselves, e.g. a crude, rudimentary website or YouTube channel, and then quickly giving these over to the client\inventor, with all raw materials, video files, and passwords, etc. That inventor then chooses their own full-time service provider, using my materials as a base to work from. This may be a website, a YouTube channel, or a GIF file quickly showing the key salient features of an invention in a visual way. Also setting up Keywords and mini-Ads to be used in Pay Per Click ad campaigns within e.g. Ads.Google.Com, a complicated interface but an excellent way to assess one’s marketplace at low cost. Excellent area for learning brand-psychology.

Pricing and strategy vary widely, this is a difficult area to make predictions. Thus, please hit our Contact Us for pricing on our PATENTS2REVENUE™, which are extensive. Be prepared to be disappointed, these services are not easy, not cheap, and not fast. Most inventors are very sanguine about this unpleasant aspect of inventing, the marketing, the persuading relectant customers, the unpleasantness, and the Rejection

Most inventors are good at certain areas, but do not want to learn all these other areas, finding them difficult and time-consuming.

Also, a key deadly area for inventors: selecting the wrong service provider, and not knowing when/how to “fire” that service provider. Having no point of reference, even some astute inventors do not know how to tell when a biz-relationship may have deteriorated to the point it is non-recoverable. They also hire unwisely in the first place. This is a common syndrome. we try to help with this, not as a lawyer but more as strategic-advisors or just trusted persons.

As stated, it sometimes makes inventors uncomfortable, suspicious, and/or confused, that a patent attorney gets involved in these other areas. Most lawyers do not want to touch these other areas. In my case, I truly love these areas, and find this super-interesting. Even the tedious aspects, the tax/IRS aspects, Schedule C aspects, documentation of expenses and cash-flows, etc. Adwords and keywords.

HERE IS WHY WE OFFER PATENTS2REVENUE™: I am tired of seeing my inventors fail! I am sick of seeing this! What good are patents on an invention that is not selling?

My non-law side also get involved in finding investors, finding government grants, finding money, and private equity in some cases. Typically an inventor must be advanced to be eligible for this, including having e.g. 2 years EBITDA, at least 2 years of tax returns, etc. I would like to do a lot more of this, but many of my inventors never make it this far. My non-law side gets involved in Branding services, e.g. selecting an appropriate, protectable, distinctive brand. This can be a big factor in convincing an investor to “buy-in”, having a brand that is customer-tested and has shown some strength, resonance with customers, and protectability.

Amazon profiles and YouTube channels are important areas of commerce. They are also difficult, complex, and have their own set of rules which are strange. Learning this is like going back to college. Many inventors find these aspects tedious, and neglect them to their own detriment. Further, a mistake in these areas can be deadly, and un-erasable.

In the event that the invention just conk out, just clearly is not going to produce revenue, another mechanism our PATENTS2REVENUE™ services may involve just $selling the patents, or trademarks, or other IP. Usually the $sale $price is not high, but its better than nothing. Its also a good business lesson, a lot of solid forensic lessons can be learned from inventors that end up selling their patents.

While this is not our favorite way to help our clients, it is truly an authentic example of our

PATENTS2REVENUE™ brand.

Also, our experience in this area should give us some leverage and street-cred when we work with a new inventor. We have seen so many instances where a production run of an invention ends up selling poorly, in a warehouse, where eventually the entire production run must be scrapped for its raw-material value (if any). This happens often, its disappointing, the inventory must be scrapped but the debt incurred to finance the inventor remains.

Moving back to law-related services, some inventors need contracts which make provision for Escrow (where payment is held in a special account, but is not released until certain agreed-upon milestones are reached), LLC OP Agreements, partnerships, and various ways of documenting when money flows between friends. Specifically, how to protect both relationships (the money-relationship and also the friendship).

attending industry-specific trade shows on behalf of clients

finding new business channels and potential new customers for clients

assisting in the commercialization of inventions

developing relationships with outside capital and investors

shoring up and clarifying relationships between inventors and existing investors

sometimes advising clients "its time to give up, cease spending money, stop the bleeding"

finding, negotiating with, and vetting service providers for clients and inventors

completing grant applications and applications for participating in entrepreneurship competitions and invention competitions

completing and filing quickie-rush provisional patent applications to provide at least some protection prior to the public disclosure that arises with invention competitions

providing copyright filing and assistance, strategic counsel, including explain to people how to file their own copyright application at copyright.gov

assisting with accounting and tax strategies for inventors and small businesses, including how to properly document expenses and when and where they can be deducted and when not

extensive experience with properly developing, seeding, and pre-launch canvassing of Crowdfunding campaigns

assistance with Google Adwords, including using Google Adwords as a way of measuring effectiveness of a particular brand and brand-identity

helping authors get their books finished and published

extensive Rolodex of trustworthy reliable service providers that can work with inventors and small businesses

setting up YouTube channel for clients

providing assistance with political campaigns, including website and donation management

VENTURE CAPITAL, GRANT-MONEY, PITCHING FOR DOLLARS

drafting position papers showing the advantages of products,

applications for government grants, Shark Tank, Y-combinator, “Bricks” of West Palm Beach FL, or invention competitions

BRAND-DISCOVERY USING GOOGLE AD-WORDS

Setting up a simple landing page (not website) and enabling Google Adwords to funnel carefully curated and screened interested parties to that landing page

Doing federal trademark searches to determine which of these Keywords might be available for a federal trademark registration;

Assembling a list of possible brands, ranking them by a variety of factors at least two of which are whether 1) federal trademark Registration is available, and 2) level of competition (whether these words and brand-identities are already subject to a high degree of purchase within Google Adwords

LLC filing and Operating Agreements;Operating Agreements should not ever again be thought of as "set it and forget it" documents, but instead should be thought of as living documents that need to be periodically updated as business conditions change, please see our YouTube playList on the subject of LLCs, and see also the separate section of this website dedicated to LLCs;We include this section in both the "legal services" and also our "non-Legal services" sections because many aspects of an Operating Agreement do not require an attorney, indeed many of the best authors of Op Agreement documents are not attorneys, and also, most Operating Agreements are not filed anywhere, and are not ever interpreted in any Court, they are just private Agreements between two or more parties;

Tax consequences and Schedule C issues for both inventors and LLCs;Schedule C is a neglected area of individual and corporate governance, because its so dul and people don't understand it. We include this section in both the "legal services" and also our "non-Legal services" sections because many aspects of an Schedule C do not require an attorney or CPA, indeed many Schedule C documents and assertions are filed by individuals themselves, without any outside professional at all. Please our YouTube videos and playLists on Schedule C issues. A first playList of ours discusses Schedule C for inventors, and a second playList of ours discusses an episode of CNBC's show "the Profit" starring Marcus Lemonis in which a company clearly mis-handles their Schedule C representations;

NON-Law SERVICES THAT INVENTORS NEED

Commercialization Reports

Amazon support, keyword and storefront concepts

YouTube channel and video development

Our commercialization repots have little to do with patents. Instead we focus on the specific marketplace and customers you will need to reach, and their appetite for your solutions and innovations. We specialize in surfacing objective data on your specific field, including information on pricing and market-appetite.

YouTube channel and video development

Amazon support, keyword and storefront concepts

YouTube channel and video development

We set up YouTube channels for some inventors, but our approach is different than most. We do not increase subscribers, likes, views, or shares. Our use of YouTube is not social or education, but is strictly commercial. We drive traffic, but only the right kind of traffic. Instead, we strive for a factual approach to the best advantages of your invention. We do strive for User-Generated Content (UGC) e.g. comments, but this is not to get popular. Instead to learn how to navigate among your target audience, and how to listen to customer-feedback and make your products better.

Amazon support, keyword and storefront concepts

Branding and brand-identity, developing salient brands

Most inventions are sellable on Amazon, but the specific steps and processes in doing so are a lot of work, a lot of effort. We also try to get our clients to have multiple sales-channels, including their own e-commerce site using Shopify or Square or other. And further, try to enlist a presence on WalMart.com, and Target.com. Again, this is a lot of work, and the best inventors know when and where to Delegate.

Branding and brand-identity, developing salient brands

Many clients get their branding wrong, pricing wrong, and e-0commerce presence wrong. This can be a killer for a struggling business. If there are two things inventors are bad at, they are a) unwillingness to Delegate, and b) unwillingness to Listen. Once we can get you to trust us, we then start off-loading tasks so that you can focus on what you are good at. While this service does not require being an attorney, it can be helpful to obtain these services from someone who knows the legal system.

Finding potential investors

Branding and brand-identity, developing salient brands

IRS, tax, and accounting support

The purpose of opening your business should be to eventually sell it at a profit. But this requires proper positioning and proper characterization of the various assets of the business. Many businesspersons are too immersed in their own affairs to have an objective view. Even getting a meeting with a potential investor is an enormous challenge, and the work does not stop after the meeting. The best inventors know when and where to delegate.

IRS, tax, and accounting support

Branding and brand-identity, developing salient brands

IRS, tax, and accounting support

Trying to build a business around an invention can get expensive. Developing cash-flow, getting to cash, as early as possible is super-important. Most inventors neglect this, and also under-estimate the need for it. We help position your documents and assist with tax-planning during the early years, so that you may properly recover all these expenses later on. But doing this right requires a lot of work and effort. The best inventors know when and where to delegate.

RESEARCHING ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS

Good suppliers and Service Provider are CRTICAL to your success

FOLKS, many inventors make the mistake of over-valuing patents, and not properly understanding the rest of the process of successfully $profiting from an invention. Often, patents are only about 1/7 the battle, there is another 6/7 that inventors often Neglect.

In working with hundreds of inventors over 23 years, my law firm developed an entirely separate line of business providing services to inventors that are not related to patents, law, legal services, or attorneys.

EXAMPLE NON-ATTORNEY SERVICES WE PROVIDE

Searching, reviewing, contacting, and vetting component providers and service providers for sensor components and potentially finished products; Ordering and testing various products; Reviewing communications from the specific invention-team;

IN ORDER TO AVOID OVERLAPPING TASKS, TRACKING CONTACTS

Creating/updating spreadsheet documenting which entities this law firm has contacted, status of most recent communications, what products we have ordered; Participating in conference calls with various potential Providers;

OFTEN, A TEST-LAB IS NEEDED

previewing and recommending items to supply/furnish within a design/test lab for use as the products get built out; debunking and getting rid of quack/fake vaporware inventions that never materialized into a tangible product, including reviewing legal documents and state\federal filings; Contacting as many entities as possible by a variety of ways, but especially communicating by Voice and Zoom. This is important. No invention can be successful without actual human contact.

YES, SOMETIMES PATENTS PLAY A PART

Researching, assembling, and filing rush-quickie Provisional patent application as inventor, mostly targeting certain features and aspects that have the highest marketplace-interest (not inventor-interest, that should NEVER a factor in any patent filing).

THIS IS WHY ITS GOOD TO HIRE A LAWYER WHO HELPS WITH MARKET-CUSTOMER RESEARCH

The patent applications are more likely to conform with those features of the invention(s) that affect $commerce and $revenue.

OTHER NON-Law SERVICES

Bankruptcy pre-prep, and eventual credit repair

2021 is going to be a banner-year for Bankruptcy filings. We will not do any of the filings, but if you contact us, we may try to make suggestions on how you might position yourself, and manage what little cash you have, prior to BK filing.

Also, how the unlucky persons near to bankruptcy can be prepped and and ready to make the tasks of working with their bankruptcy attorney as smooth as possible, avoiding ambiguities in their BK filings, ambiguities which will only be rejected and end up costing more money.

We are expecting that a lot of good, honest, well-motivated people will in 2021 be forced into Bankruptcy. We do not intend to provide Bankruptcy services. Instead, we are interested in forming relationships and developing trust, and being looked at as a relable source of information for people in a difficult situation. We will not be charging for BK suggestions.

There will be a whole separate set of service-offerings involve credit repair, restoring one's credit rating, and financial discipline.

There is also a relationship between Bankruptcy and the patent system, and how patent and intellectual property assets are handled and managed through bankruptcy process.

Medical-Only Power of Attorney (patient advocate)

It is already super-difficult to navigate the medical system, even for intelligent people that are not health-impaired. The United States health care system has never been more complex, and it is about to get worse.

For health-impaired people, especially people that are not technology-savvy, its a nightmare, even simple tasks can have disastrous outcomes.

Our non-legal service offerings include assistance with medical tasks, doctor's office tasks, insurance tasks, and other medical-related issues. Rather than say "power of attorney", think of this instead as "professional patient advocate".

navigating insurance company websites;
negotiating medical bills, resolving disputes, clarifying the ambiguous language in medical statements;
dealing with phone support of e.g. an insurance company, and escalating to a supervisor where appropriate;
sitting on hold for hours, waiting for someone to pick up;

There are people willing to pay for someone else to take on these tasks for them. But its a lot of work (on both sides), and also significant trust is required. However, even with these objections, frankly, these tasks are just too difficult for some people.

The technical terms, the industry jargon, the insurance forms, the insurance codes and strangeness of their communications, its like an entirely separate universe. And its about to get worse. Whatever happens with the Affordable Care Act, change is coming and it will be complex and bumpy. Assistance will be needed.

REQUIREMENTS

knowing the patient's Date of Birth;
knowing the patient's health insurance IDs;
authorization to disburse patient funds to pay their bills, which may require having access and signatory authority to a patient's credit card or bank account;

Abuse of this critical information can and should be punishable under the law, but hiring a professional service provider to assist with conflicts can be a real god-send for a beleaguered family who may be at a given time overwhelmed with other problems. A patient advocate who has the authority to disperse funds.

Note that this service is not a "Health Care Surrogate" under Florida Statute 765.204(3), , as this "professional patient advocate" service would not involve making any medical decisions. Instead, it would be confine to assisting with insurance/financial issues.

There are people in this world, potentially borderline autistic, who actually enjoy navigating the arcane world of health-insurance issues.

Preventing or Recovering from Ransomware attacks

Inventors and small businesses tend to be careless with how little they protect themselves from Ransomware issues. Part of this can stem from an over-dependence on mobile devices, but also stems from other bad practices.

The concept of "digital hygiene" should be taken seriously by all businesses across all industries.

There are also certain aspects of being connected to the Internet that are over-rated. Not every employee, at every desk, needs to have a computer that is connected to the Internet. This also holds true for devices and IoT items that have an IP address. One's attitude toward Microsoft also needs to be more thought-out.

There are ways to reduce one's vulnerabilities to attacks. One way is better e-mail screening, another is actually shutting off the computer servers a lot more often.

Another is to separate the frequently off-load key company data, and not to the cloud.

Another strategy is to not pay the Ransomware company, but instead erase the computers and completely re-install the base Operating System and all applications. This is awful, really traumatic, and something to avoid. But with proper and regular back-ups to rely upon, a company can get back on its feet.

E-mail and company e-mail policy is something that must also be considered. Facebook also contains a considerable amount of leaks and back-end holes that can facilitate attacks.

Cryptocurrency vetting and research

A big problem with today's crypto-environment is not a lack of information, but instead a lack of reliable, trustworthy information. There are intelligent ways to rank and assess the true viability and value of various cryptocurrencies, and these ways are somewhat neglected. There are also ways to forecast and make predictions about the legal and regulatory directions the SEC, CFTC, US Dept of Treasury, and banking systems might take.

Trade Show AND AD-WORDS Services

Our Company goes to ~12 trade shows/year

View some of the trade shows we attend, and some aspects of our approach to developing your commerce.

See specific trade shows

Familiar Problems with Trade Shows

Spending money on trade shows can be disappointing. Careful diligence and curation is necessary.

Google Adwords and a Landing Page

is your baby ugly? KNOW WHEN TO ADMIT IT!

We look at Google Adwords, in combination with the right kind of Landing Page (not website), as a type of "permanent trade show". However, this requires caution, care, and curation.

is your baby ugly? KNOW WHEN TO ADMIT IT!

If your prospective marketplace is trying to tell you something, you need to listen and to accept it. If your prospective customers don't want your invention, or don't want it at your proposed price, you need to LISTEN.

Facing Facts about your invention

FAQs

is your baby ugly? KNOW WHEN TO ADMIT IT!

FAQs

We get asked the same things over and over.

WARNING: this is where you may find out that you don't want to work with us. If so, better to find out as early as possible.

See Inventor FAQs

LISTING OF TRADE SHOWS

BEGIN EXAMPLE-ONLY, NON-COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF TRADE SHOWS

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, ANNUAL MERIT REVIEW (Washington DC)

www.annualmeritreview.energy.gov

AMERICAN CONTRACTOR SHOW (Orlando FL)

amconshows.com

(at this show we are in “discovery” mode, trying to find vendors, machinists, and product-fabricators for various clients)

NATIONAL HARDWARE SHOW (Las Vegas NV)

nationalhardwareshow.com

NATIONAL ICE CREAM RETAILERS (Colorado Springs, CO)

www.nicra.org/attend-convention/

We are not recommending you hire us to attend this specific trade show, this show is given mere as an example. There is a trade show for everything, even many obscure and highly specialized fields.

SOLAR POWER INTERNATIONAL TRADE SHOW (Las Vegas, NV)

solarpowerinternational.com

NUCLEAR POWER TRADE SHOW (Orlando, FL) (specifically, Thorium <not Uranium> reactors)

power-gen.com/event-information/nuclearpowerinternational.html

CRYPTOCURRENCY CONFERENCE 2018

University of South Florida (USF), Tampa FL (smaller show, more informal, no specific web site was constructed)

COLLEGIATE ENTREPRENEUR ORGANIZATION GLOBAL CONFERENCE (guest presenter, subject matter “Entrepreneurship and Intellectual Property”) (Kansas City KS)

www.c-e-o.org (click on “Global Conference”)

CANNABIS BUSINESS CONFERENCES (Las Vegas NV)

mjbizconference.com

no one attends this show to use the product, people attend these to develop business relationships

WEAPON-RELATED INVENTIONS TRADE SHOW (numerous locations)

www.floridagunshows.com

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY (specialized computer-devices for handicapped/disabled persons) TRADE SHOW (Orlando FL)

www.atia.org

AUTOCLAVE TRADE SHOW (Las Vegas NV)

wasteexpo.com/en/home.html

SMALL BUSINESS IN GENERAL
tinyURL.com/y9ulcnso

This one is harder to explain, is not exactly a trade show, more a Google Seminar. How small businesses can take advantage of Google Resources.

For every invention we are involved with, we would want Google resources (not just Search, but many other Google-aspects) to play an important part in helping that invention\business thrive and grow.

We attend these Google Seminars a lot, both for our own small business(es), for my clients, and also to get other clients while I am present. Another similar mechanism is grow.google.

Example trade show Exhibit

CHIPS ACT "SHERPA"

Grant Applicants

The Federal Government has set aside a lot of money as a result of the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act of 2022. However, applying for this money is a complex process, a lot of work.

Grant Applicants

Let us Help You

The CHIPS Act has a lot of different folds and wrinkles. Let us help you determine which angle is the most applicable for your entity.

STEM Education

For those in the education industry, the CHIPS Act provides for STEM education. However, its still a lot of work to qualify.

Semiconductor Fabrication

The amount of job-training and education to get a qualified workforce in-place will be huge. Also, finding and screening Applicants for the various positions will be extensive.

Intellectual Property

The CHIPS Act will have major changes on USA industry, electronics, and also on our education system. A lot of Intellectual Property will be created, borrowed, licensed, and outright stolen. Make sure you have properly secured your rights. Semiconductor patents are especially difficult to write, and if you click here, it will be quickly apparent that this law firm has successfully obtained numerous patents in this field.

IP Counseling

We provide counseling on all aspects of intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. We help you make informed decisions about protecting your valuable IP.