Guest Post: Engineer to Inventor – In 3 Easy Steps – Part 2

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Tom Trimbath

The following is a guest post from the inventor I mentioned in my recent Friendly Good News post: Alan Beckley. We happened to hire into Boeing within six months of each other in 1980 and had almost identical jobs (as seen from the outside, at least). We both left Boeing eventually, though at different times and for different reasons. We, like so many other people, are redefining our work selves, which is why I am posting his story here. Regular readers have witnessed my story. Here’s part II of III of his. (For more of his story, check out his blog for inventors; Ideaworth.

Engineer to Inventor – In 3 Easy Steps – by Alan Beckley (aka @SavvyCaddy)

The American Dream: this is my journey and transition from what I did then to what I do now.

How I struck it Rich as an Inventor of a Sell On TV Product

In my first post, Engineer to Inventor I described my tumultuous and rocky journey transitioning from working as a full time engineer to becoming a full time inventor.

After a brief and successful two-year period selling my Savvy Caddy wallets on QVC ended, I soon found myself selling wherever and whenever I could as a vendor for my wallets. I worked 7 days per week selling at military bases in BXs and PXs, later at VA hospitals and at gun shows on weekends.

I met a lot of interesting people and made a lot of new friends, but my schedule was grueling, often working 16 hour days, including managing my online sales during the evenings. I was barely scraping by and paying the bills each month; I knew there was a better path for my product but my mounting debt and miniscule time gave me few options.

I saw DRTV (direct response TV or infomercials) as my last best chance to achieve my American Dream – a means to enjoy the fruits of prosperity and get my life back.

I had a rock solid conviction that my wallets would be a hit selling on TV commercials, then in retail stores, catalogs and on home shopping networks. The esoteric world of the DRTV industry seemed a glitterati of a few uber-successful inventive products surrounded by a vast wasteland of wannabe winners – many good or even great products – not destined for DRTV success.

I vowed to do whatever it took to join the glitterati, not the wannabe winners; but how?

I assembled my marketing material and began contacting each of the key players in DRTV. There are perhaps a dozen companies that manufacture, produce and distribute the lion’s share of DRTV products. So, I approached one at a time, rather than submitting to several at once. I felt that if several rejected me simultaneously, others would be unwilling to even consider my product. It turns out that the rejection rate is so high and the success chances are so slim it didn’t much matter.

I persistently presented my product over a four year period to everyone of note in DRTV; not once, but multiple times.

The response was eerily similar with each company: my product was interesting but not a DRTV product. None of my contacts could enunciate why specifically the wallets were not suitable for DRTV. I was convinced that they were wrong; I just needed a champion, an advocate who believed in my wallets enough to give them a test drive.

In early 2014 I found my advocate: Bob Greenstone, CEO of Permission Interactive.

Unlike everyone I’d previously contacted, Bob saw the potential of my product for DRTV. He decided to risk his own money to test the wallets: first with a web test to thousands of recipients. When the web test was successful, he worked with a production company – more capital risk – to shoot a commercial and then do a TV test: run the commercial on live television. The TV test was also successful and Bob knew the product had strong potential for DRTV success.

He took it to Allstar Products, showed them the test results and they liked what they saw. We signed a licensing agreement with Allstar Products to manufacture, package, and distribute my product everywhere.

This year Allstar Products did a nationwide TV campaign for my product, now named the Wonder Wallet. After thirteen years of hard work, my product has joined the DRTV glitterati. Wonder Wallet sells in Walmart, Bed Bath and Beyond, CVS and many other retailers across the US and Canada and on home shopping giant HSN.

My American Dream has finally been realized: my product is a huge commercial success and my life has been transformed.

I no longer work 7 days a week; the license royalties cover all my expenses and more. I manage my new found prosperity carefully: I live on about 1/3rd of my income, I set aside another 1/3rd for taxes, and a final 1/3rd for debt reduction, investments and charities. If my royalty payments go up, that is great, but since I live on considerably less than I make, I am okay if the royalties decrease (which is very likely over time).

Since I no longer must work for a living in the conventional sense, I am now free to use my time as I see fit. I have done some traveling and will be working on home refurbishment. I now take the time to work out and get physically fit. Lastly, I have already begun working on developing other products for the market: my own and those of other inventors.

Life is good.

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Tricks And Treats 2015

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Tom Trimbath

Halloween. Another excuse for costumes and candy. I think a three piece suit is a costume, and mine doesn’t fit anymore (in more ways than one.) Candy is sweet, but I prefer sweet things like liqueurs and cookies (preferably made by cooking with cannabis.) Halloween is also a time for spooky things, and when I think of spooky things I think of things that aren’t part of holiday displays – unless they’re put together by physicists, sociologists, or economists. Here are some of things that can be tricks played on humanity or treats, depending on how they arrive.

Asteroids and Comets
Big rocks falling out of the sky are bad. Bang goes a city, the species, the planet. Big rocks flying around in space can be good. Mine minerals there instead of here. Use the materials to create a backup colony in case Earth 1.0 has a critical failure. Every rock removed from orbit is one less rock that can hit us. There are a lot of rocks out there.

Digital Singularity
Some day soon the computers, the software, the Internet or whatever may wake up. When that happens, everything changes, possibly within seconds. The treat would be if it was benevolent and even compassionate. The trick would be if it was like something out of Terminator or The Matrix. (Some think this has already happened, and that the intelligence decided to either control subtly or ignore us.)

Aliens
I’m talking extraterrestrials. It’s a good bet that they are out there. It is a tougher bet that they’ll show up here. If all we do is communicate, then the risk and benefit is limited to what they can convince us to do, trick or treat. If they show up, we’ll probably be at their mercy. The trick will be if they are into conquest or self-centered enough to ignore our pleas. The treat will be if they are coaches and mentors who’ve already gone through all of this and are welcoming us into a sweet society. (Some think they’re already here. Some know they’re already here. In which case, considering our situation, are they trying to make it better or worse?)

Bell’s Theorem
Einstein knew about spooky action at a distance, also known as Bell’s Theorem. Change a particle here, and its entangled partner changes too, even if it is on the other side of the universe. It’s spooky for a lot of reasons but the key one is that we don’t know how or why it works. We’re experimenting with it because that’s what we do. The treat could be instantaneous communication. The trick could be that we’re effectively flipping switches in a power plant that we don’t understand. We wouldn’t want someone flipping random switches in a nuclear power plant. Are we doing the same thing?

Social Revolutions and Revelations
Since the Internet connected the majority of the population, we’re finally aware of the variety and diversity of people, problems, and potential. Conventional wisdom is being challenged, sometimes in debate, sometimes in revealing videos. It is now easier to care about far more people. It is also easier to be scared by far more people. That’s largely a personal choice, and lots of people are making that choice. The treat would be if we learn to think of each other as being born equal. The trick would be if we fracture into a near infinity of us versus them and them and them and them. Revolutions are usually bloody. Revelations are usually difficult, but transformative.

Old versus New Economy
We know the Old Economy, and can arguably prove that we don’t know how to handle it. Its familiarity is a comfort zone for many, even if it isn’t sustainable. A New Economy seems to be emerging, but we know even less about it, there’s more than one version to pick from, and there’s no guarantee that any of them are sustainable either. The trick will be if we can’t find something that’s sustainable. The treat will be if we can find something sustainable, and then manage to readily navigate from one to the other without massive disruption. Our historical record is not very encouraging.

All Tricks, No Treats
Some things are just spooky because they’re powerful and we don’t have any control over them: earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, magnetic pole flips, solar storms, ice ages, mega-droughts, pandemics, ocean acidification, I think I’ll stop listing these. Eek! Oops. Just thought of nukes, grey goo, cascading satellite collisions, epic Internet hacks, and various terrorist actions. Double eek.

All Treats, no Tricks
Is there such a thing? Renewable energy seems to be heading that way. Cheap, clean power is always possible; whether it is cold fusion, hot fusion, anti-matter, somehow harnessing dark energy, or some discovery and invention, surely there’s something that works better than what we have now. Expanding consciousness is harder to track, but some are working on it. Medical advances that allow health without the cost by using the body and natural processes to maintain health and cure ailments are possible, especially, considering that we are only just beginning to understand biology, neuroscience, the biome, and nutrition.

Ghosts and goblins? Vampires and zombies? Yeah. They are spooky. What worries me more aren’t the things kids dress up as to knock on doors and ask for candy. I worry more about a different list; but I also watch because some of those things can be treats instead of tricks.

PS I hadn’t planned this but here’s a treat delivered by the universe. November 1 is the anniversary of the blog where I chronicle, “news for people who are eager and anxious about the future“, PretendingNotToPanic.com. I particularly rummage around for news that includes verifiable data. It helps put it all in perspective, good and bad, treat or trick.

PNTP

Boo!

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You Have Value

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Tom Trimbath

You have value. That’s the essence of what I tell my clients. It may be a cliche, but it is true. A few don’t need to hear it and we move on to the next step in their project. Unfortunately, too many good people and good ideas are guarded and held secure, fearing rejection, fearing the appearance of egotism, or delaying the crafting of their message so it can be tightly controlled and managed. Very understandable. My job is to help people get over it. The world needs solutions now, not later. Paradoxically, the people with the greatest fears have the least to fear, and the ones who should guard against egotism don’t even consider it. (Explains a lot about American politics.)

My passion is for people and ideas. That’s why I enjoy consulting and strategizing; especially, when it is with entrepreneurs and innovators, artists and inventors. It is marvelous to watch someone describe their idea, watch the energy, watch their enthusiasm. Hearing about the idea is fun too, but watching the body language and mannerisms of someone who is bringing an idea to life is much more than listening to words. Even introverts shine. It is also sad to then watch them shrink as they consider other people’s reactions, to worry about looking arrogant, or finding that someone else already had the same idea, or looking like a fool if it fails. As much as America was built with a can-do spirit, America has also become a society that dismisses enthusiasm and fosters negativity. Flamers and trolls are far too common.

It is easier to speak from personal experience because less discretion is required. I can make a fool of myself really easily. That’s okay. I’m practiced at it. I’m single and no one else feels the consequences. And yet, I know that when I describe something that fascinates me, a concept that makes me exuberant, an optimism that is unconventional, I know that the majority of people will first point out the realities, the caveats, the failure possibilities. That’s why we don’t have electric lights, airplanes, or computers. Oh wait. We do. Evidently, something else is at play.

People aren’t purposely negative. They are purposely protective. Friends don’t want to see friends get hurt. Even in a community of coaches, guides, and teachers like the one I live in, advice can frequently be based on cautions rather than embellishments. It all comes from a positive place and a concern for others.

The result can be an internal dismissal of change, a delay in attempting something new.

I know impressive people. I always have. One of my favorite paraphrased quotes from Will Rogers is, “Everyone is equally ignorant, just in different areas.” because the corollary is that everyone is equally talented, just in different areas. Imagine what could happen if everyone’s talents were engaged.

Also keep in mind that there are numerous champions, supporters, and fans. Sometimes all they need to participate is the news of a new idea; especially one that benefits a community, not just one person.

Within our economic reality, it is too easy to measure an idea by money. Is it profitable? One main measure of sustainability is the financial balancing of income and expenses, and the possible imbalance where income exceeds expenses. When more money is coming in than going out, then most debates dissipate, regardless of the true value. When more money is going out than coming in, then the debates never end, even if the project had great value but ends first. During a recent day when I was depressed, a dear friend turned the talk around to me and pointed out that I have value. In the midst of paying (almost all of) my bills, my response was that decades of working hard and trying to do the right thing were valued by society at less than a living wage. I knew I had value. Economics, however, didn’t currently recognize it. We measure ideas by money, but we also measure people that way too. That’s more than sad.

Within my circle of family and friends, acquaintances and associates, and my electronic social network, I am overwhelmed with the expertise and potential. There are amazing repositories of skills and talents that are real and valuable in: art, growing food, caring for others, improving the future by considering the past, managing money and living frugally, developing solutions to environmental and technological and sustainability problems. Too many people are guarding themselves against looking like Donald Trump and trying to not look like they are competing with Mother Theresa, the Pope, or the Dalai Lama. (Really though, Trump is the analogy no one wants to event be tangentially seen to proximate.)

I confess to some of the same reticence and reluctance. Currently I am working on a possible invention for decentralized energy and a possible variation of a business model for coworks. In both cases I am being a bit cautious until I can say more, and yet having said that much I’ve said more than some of the most impressive people I know. During one client conversation it was pointed out that I’d just delivered a nice bit of wisdom – which was followed by a comment that I should raise my rates. Have I? No. But that interchange has made me think.

It is a common axiom to say, everyone is created equal, every life matters, no idea is stupid, ask for help and you will receive it. Yet, the caution I witness is evidence that the messages many receive are along the lines of, the tallest nail gets hammered down, don’t think too highly of yourself, if you thought of it someone else must have already, if it was such a good idea it already would’ve succeeded somewhere.

The world needs solutions. The world needs art. The world needs compassion. The world needs people who express their ideas while they’re alive, because what good are the ideas if they are buried emotionally or by eventuality?

You are impressive people, even the ones I disagree with. Let’s make the conversation more about what can be done instead of why it shouldn’t be tried. If you need someone to listen to your idea, give me a call. If nothing else, let’s see if we can find someone else who will listen as well. Defy the wind. Grow.

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My Washington Marijuana Anniversary

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Tom Trimbath

Washington State had its official one year anniversary for the sale of recreational marijuana back in the summer. This report is mine, because my first purchase of Washington marijuana was delayed until Autumn 2014 by the bureaucratic hurdles thrown up in front of the island’s shop. Whenever something dramatic shifts, it is good to check back and see what happened. This may not come as a surprise, but it has been a very mellow passage.

DSC_5109

To the rest of the folks in Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Alaska et al, you already know this stuff and have your own version of the story. To everyone else, I can tell you that the differences in my life have been trivial except for one or two effects. Aside from them, there’s almost no difference.

I didn’t expect much of a change. Even when marijuana was illegal, it was readily available – so I am told. People have spent decades figuring out how, why, when, and where to use it. Legal or not, it has been part of our culture. Making it legal simply made the criminal elements moot. That’s been true of enforcement, incarceration, and the concealment that used a lot of public and private resources. When it was illegal, some used it, some abused it. Now that it is legal, some use it, some abuse it. The main differences are that the police can spend more time doing something more useful, and the people can spend more time being relaxed about relaxing.

Washington State has benefited. Tax revenues were about $70,000,000, which means business revenues were much higher. The state gets more money. Businesses grow. People are employed, and tend to be employed by small firms instead of corporations. I’d like to see the job satisfaction reports. What’s it like to work in a pot shop?

The two big changes I’ve seen are: when people talk about marijuana it is most likely about recipes, and I am sleeping a lot better – and have the data to prove it.

I teach classes and consult with clients about social media.Entrepreneurs Toolbox Without getting into the details of strategies and cautions, advantages and disadvantages, I’ll relay a data source available to anyone with a Facebook account. For me, WolframAlpha.com is to numbers what Google is to words. Wolfram Alpha may be there for solving equations, but it can also analyze a person’s Facebook account. When the audience or client wants to get detailed enough about the machinations behind Facebook’s facade, I show them the Wolfram Alpha analysis of my account because it is the only one I can access.

Screen shot 2015-10-23 at 8.37.28 PM
Before marijuana was legal, the chart that showed the days and hours I was most likely to post showed dots on almost every day and almost every hour. Tuesday evening I gave the talk again. As the chart came up I had proof that I was sleeping better. There is was, a big block of blank spaces from about midnight to 6AM. Instead of cruising the web when I couldn’t sleep, I slept.

The difference? One or two homemade cookies before bed.

Tonight's cookie

Tonight’s cookie

Not the big party-style cookies they sell in the shop, but about three square inches (1X3) of oatmeal, raisin, butterscotch, ginger, marijuana cookies. I also have a small pipe, in case the day’s been particularly stressful and the unwinding looks like it will take a long time. My back spasms have subsided. My anxious time when the work is set aside, and the distractions are gone, typically allowing the worries to arise from the daily background noise. Now, when I think I need it, I have a cookie after work is done, but before I get into bed. I rarely notice any effect; but, when I fall asleep, I’m more likely to stay asleep – and am glad my dreams have returned.

In this first legal year, I bought about 2 grams per month. About a quarter to a third of that went to mostly failed culinary experiments. Of the rest, I’ve only smoked about 2 grams since the April sale (4/20 for those who celebrate the day). The rest were baked, but in a subtle way that didn’t bake me. And, of course, I haven’t used up everything I bought.

There’s no sudden public consumption. A cluster of smokers is still most likely using tobacco. Parties and potlucks aren’t full of pot products. It is largely a non-event.

Writing about it, however, proves to me that a lot of energy persists on both sides of the debate. I’ve received emails and messages from people who want my recipes and from people who want me to pass along publications warning of cautions and fears.

If there was more controversy, writing about it would generate more traffic and commentary. It would be fun to continue writing my Cooking With Cannabis series, but I don’t consume enough to report on more than one recipe a month, and then I can’t describe the effects because they hit when I’m asleep. My work schedule is easing a bit, but it continues to occupy every day and most evenings until about 8pm (instead of 9pm as before). I can see how writers can write with a drink at their side, but when I tried working after a puff or three, I just felt the silence was a better choice.

There are people who are addicted, at least according to an infographic or article or two, though I wonder if their definition of addiction is the same for alcohol or is the way some people are addicted to chocolate.

The bigger effects are easier to celebrate: fewer people being arrested for exercising personal freedom, drug cartels losing enough revenue to require shifting business models.

The local shop celebrated the day, as any business would. I don’t see the need, but after I post this and take care of a few chores I may light up the pipe for a bit. My stomach has been a bit upset today, and something to calm me may calm it. Such simple pleasures are worth a lot, even if they aren’t worth talking about much.

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Guest Post: Engineer to Inventor – In 3 Easy Steps – Part I

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Tom Trimbath

The following is a guest post from the inventor I mentioned in my recent Friendly Good News post: Alan Beckley. We happened to hire into Boeing within six months of each other in 1980 and had almost identical jobs (as seen from the outside, at least). We both left Boeing eventually, though at different times and for different reasons. We, like so many other people, are redefining our work selves, which is why I am posting his story here. Regular readers have witnessed my story. Here’s part I of III of his. (For more of his story, check out his blog for inventors; Ideaworth.

Engineer to Inventor – In 3 Easy Steps – by Alan Beckley (aka @SavvyCaddy)

The American Dream: this is my journey and transition from what I did then to what I do now.

I began life – after college anyways – working as an engineer for the Boeing Company in Everett, WA. The Boeing Company was (and is) a great company and the 747 – the project I worked on for three years – is a great airplane.

But, for me, working as a young engineer for a large corporation felt smothering. I needed a career environment that was more dynamic and ever changing where either instant gratification or humiliation resulted from my work. I found all of that when I moved to Dallas, TX and began working for a small company as a telecom project manager in the early 80s in the then nascent cellular telephone arena. Telecom in those days was entrepreneurial; every day was different and I developed many new skill sets. It was a fast paced environment; deadlines were measured in days, not weeks or months. I loved it.

 

Going from an engineer at a large company to a project manager at a small company was Step 1.

All good things must come to an end.

Over the next twenty years the telecom landscape transitioned from an industry dominated by many small companies serving the needs of a few large industry icons (like AT&T) to the large iconic corporations gobbling up many small competitors. I again found myself working for large corporations: my creativity was obliterated by bureaucracy and smothered by monolithic processes. I was back to where I had begun, working for large smothering corporations. It was time to plan my escape to a very small company – my own small business. If I could no longer find the career I wanted, maybe I could create it; I became self-employed as an inventor.

 

Going from a telecom project manager to an inventor was Step 2.

In 2002 I filed two patents on a thin, flexible wallet design that I felt was worth patenting. I had conceived of many product ideas over the years, but had never taken actions to develop any of them into products. I subsequently saw some of my ideas selling as products in retail stores and I would say to myself, “what if”? I decided it was time to see if my wallet idea could be successful as a consumer product and the first logical step was to patent it. At this point, I was employed full time in telecom and was a part time inventor tinkering with my product idea.

After a few years of attempting to license the product to a variety of manufacturers, I decided I could get some wallets manufactured and test market it myself. Once I finalized the design, I had a small run of 500 wallets manufactured and soon was selling them at flea markets, shows and events. Buyers loved the wallets because they were comfortable to sit on, held a lot of cards (up to 24), yet were still thinner than most wallets.

In 2009, I had to opportunity to take my Savvy Caddy wallets to a bigger platform: the home shopping network, QVC, with over 90 million viewers.

Telecom had become draining and it was time to do something else, so I left the security of my telecom job and became a full time inventor without fully realizing what I had gotten myself into. It was very exciting, but also scary. I had embarked on a new journey to destination unknown.

 

Leaving my telecom job to become a full time inventor was Step 3

 I had sold out in my QVC appearances in the winter of 2009 and QVC reordered for winter of 2010. Things did not go as well in winter 2010, I got less favorable air times and sold about half my inventory at QVC when I got what every vendor to QVC dreads: the RTV notice (return to vendor). This meant my remaining inventory was being returned to me and my QVC career was over.

In January 2011, I was faced with a very difficult decision. I was done on QVC, still had about 1,500 wallets to sell but had lots of expenses – bills, loans, credit cards, and living expenses – that had to somehow be paid. I wasn’t going back to telecom, so I needed to quickly rework my business. I hit the road and began selling as a vendor at military bases, various shows and events. I soon found myself working 7 days per week just to make ends meet. I was extremely frustrated, this was not my idea of the American Dream: working very long, hard hours but not making very much money. But my QVC experience had convinced me that the Savvy Caddy wallet was definitely a sell-on-TV product; after all, I had sold over 5,000 of them on QVC. I had to find a path to DRTV (direct response TV or infomercials) where I convinced my product could be a big hit, even though less than 3% of promising products succeed on DRTV.

 

Stay tuned.

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Friendly Good News – October 2015

Posted on October 16, 2015 by Tom Trimbath

There’s more good news than I can write about. Discretion has its drawbacks. I have been heartened by the news shared by friends: new jobs, significant clients, unexpected opportunities, products that finally the market in a big way. The wave started a few months ago, and I’ve looked forward to sharing the good news here, but have been waiting for the public announcements so I didn’t break confidances by publicizing the news before the time they considered appropriate. I wonder how much good news remains uncelebrated from humility, caution, and an understandable desire for privacy. I decided to share what I can, even though it is only a spoonful from a much larger bowl.

Congratulations to Alan Beckley, one of the few folks who truly understands what my first few years at Boeing were like because we traded jobs, involuntarily, occasionally. He left the world of major aerospace fifteen years before I did. There was wisdom in that considering he ended up working for some odd new technology in 1983 called cellular telephones. Ah, but that will never go anywhere because they are too bulky, expensive, and only useful in a few places. Ha! He is restless because his mind is so active. He left the frenetic telecommunications world to prove himself as an inventor. Check out his blog. As I have chronicled personal finances ups and downs (and hopefully ups again) he has chronicled the struggles of inventors in America. The success rate of inventors is about the same as the success rate of writers, which probably has more to say about the creative economy than inventing or writing; but he recently became one of the success stories.

“Today, my product is one of the hottest selling new products on DRTV: the Wonder Wallet. It sells on TV commercials, on HSN, Walmart, Bed Bath and Beyond and soon other retailers all across the US and Canada. I have achieved the American Dream. Persistence pays!” – Persistence Pays

As someone in Silicon Valley has said, one way to become a billionaire is to do something good for a billion people. If Alan manages to relieve back pain for a million people, he will become a millionaire. Many people are trying to save the planet, but along the way there is great value in someone who makes a wallet that is slim enough that it can fit in a back pocket without throwing off a man’s ergonomics. The amount spent in treating injuries from bad ergonomics is in the billions. A slimmer wallet won’t make a difference to many of my friends because wallets bulk up from credit cards and cash. While many of my friends don’t have credit cards and are nearly cashless from choice or necessity, they are in the very small minority. Alan saw a need, saw a solution, and pursued it for years until finally, success. I believe a long vacation is due and deserved.

Congratulations to Dr. Craig Weiner and Alina Frank, a couple who’ve probably heard too many jokes about wieners and franks, but who are known on Whidbey for their healing practices. I’ve written about Dr. Craig’s work before, partly because of a session I had with him, but particularly because of a bit of wisdom he provided in a video. The video was about EFT, which I’ll quickly define in a bit, but the anecdote he relayed in the video was one of the best examples I’ve seen of how history and emotions can cause real physical pain – and also how to relieve it. Since then, he and Alina have made incredible progress spreading the message of what they do and how it works. EFT stands for (pardon me as I look it up again) Emotional Freedom Techniques.

The good news is that, after years of practice and an expanding network of clients, they’ve decided to take their offerings beyond the island, and beyond the region. His enthusiasm and awareness of risk were an interesting balance to hear playing together as he told me about his next venture, which is to make their teachings available in an online seminar. It is one thing to find a way to help friends, and friends of friends, but realizing you can help strangers regardless of location can be awesome and intimidating. And, they’re taking that step. They’re online event starts October 19, with them and a much wider array of instructors in various fields. They’re taking their knowledge and understanding, trusting in themselves, and taking a step too few take. Their schedule is what prompted this post.

In the same league as Alan, Craig, and Alina are easily dozens of friends who have recently attained levels of success they deserve and didn’t expect, or at least didn’t expect to have happen the way it did. Some are selling food, others are consultants, others have made connections that finally mean ideas are finding the right audience. One got to stroll the red carpet for real. One small (probably soon to be widely successful) company managed to be recognized for high-quality work by being personally, repeatedly, and authentically championed in front of the elite audience they’ve always tried to reach. The list goes on, and on. Some of it is public. Most is not. Too little is available for me to relay because I don’t want to exploit confidences, many people want to control every aspect of their message, and because I’ve lost track of who I can and can’t talk about freely. Information is power, and is necessarily guarded.

Unfortunately, humility, caution, and an understandable desire for privacy and control also mean we hear less good news. We need good news. There’s too much bad news. It is too easy for me to write about bad news, because, weird as it is, people are more likely to encourage the publication of bad news while trying to control good news. I know of lots of good news. It is one of the sources of my optimism. So much good news happens because of lots of honest, sincere work that finally finds an auspicious moment. Serendipity happens, and is wonderful. Sometimes it is a patron. Sometimes it is a customer. Sometimes it is basic capitalism, a demand finding a supply.

My life is a mix, as are all of our lives. I have lots of good news, but at least temporarily and monetarily, the balance falls on the bad news side. But I expect that to change. That expectation is based on logic and variations of the 10,000 hour rule, and also emotion and comments like the one I received today.

“You are probably the most Renaissance man I’ve ever known because you manage to do so much intellectually, physically, and artistically.” (Paraphrased because I was whacking blackberries at the time – maybe the inspiration for the physical comment, though there is dancing, walking, hiking, and karate; so she may have a point.)

Too often we downplay the good news, even if it is stellar. It is easier to emphasize the bad news, because there are things that desperately need to be fixed. But, I think the only way we’re going to make progress on the bad news is to recognize the good news, share it, and celebrate it. So, to those who’ve shared good news that I didn’t include; my apologies. In the future, I hope to include more posts of good news, like this one. And to those I’ve cajoled, kidded, and encouraged to share their good news, know that we are waiting. We want to hear it. We need to hear it.

Doh! So here’s my bit of good news. Tuesday evening, October 20th, 2015, I’ll be giving a talk on Social Media at the Mill Creek Library (though the meeting is in the Annex, wherever that is). That’s good news because, 1) I enjoy helping people, 2) I enjoy public speaking, 3) they’re paying me, and 4) I’m finally taking my public speaking and consulting services off the island, stepping out ala Dr. Craig and Alina. Take this far enough and who knows, maybe I’ll give talks down Alan’s way in Texas. Stay tuned.

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Walking Across Scotland – A Five Year Anniversary

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Tom Trimbath

I’ve been asked how I am able to remain positive while in the midst of financial turmoil. I thank my walk across Scotland. Here’s a post from the fifth anniversary of the book. Ah, but when’s the next trip…?

Tom Trimbath's avatarA Walk Across Scotland

Five years ago I arrived back home to my island north of Seattle after walking across Scotland. Since then, much has changed. And, of course, much has remained the same. Change is inevitable, and conscious travel amplifies it. Amidst the machinations of the world,  though, much would be the same if I did it again. And I look forward to doing it again, but possibly redefining what it is.

It is Fall 2015. My plan was to be walking, thinking, drinking across, around, or through some other country. My trip across Scotland was a ten year homage to my bicycle ride across America (Just Keep Pedaling)Just Keep Pedaling. Neither were supposed to become books, but when life changing events happen it makes sense to write them down before their significance is forgotten. It also makes sense to wait a while and let insights filter through. Change isn’t always immediate…

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Nomadic Employment And Coworking

Posted on October 10, 2015 by Tom Trimbath

It’s been over 24 hours since I talked to anyone, except myself. That happens a lot when I work from home. Entire days can go by without a sound. (I could probably make a lot of money if I could find a way to sell the silence to parents of toddlers.) The new economy has more people working from home, either by choice or necessity. Even folks who aren’t working from home may be working from coffeehouses, coworks, libraries, or their cars. The era of the cubicle isn’t completely gone, but it is fading. New strategies, mindsets, manners, and logistics mean new opportunities and new challenges. Working from home also means getting the laundry done.

My first job at Boeing had me in a sea of desks. In 1980, cubicles weren’t as common as heavy metal desk by heavy metal desk, lead engineers sitting beside recent college grads sitting beside tech aides, everyone with the same kind of desk, everyone within an arm’s reach of at least two people. Privacy was created by co-workers discreetly ignoring other people’s phone calls. It also meant community and a real need to get along with other people.

I was lucky. My desk was boxed in by diversity: men from Sweden, China, Texas, Spain, Iran, South Africa, and a woman from Iran and an empty desk.  Political debates weren’t Democrat versus Republican. Debates were between a socialist, a communist, a libertarian, an anarchist, a capitalist, a pragmatist, and a revolutionary. The capitalist and the revolutionary were both from Iran and tried not to sit beside each other. This was 1980. Check your Iranian history. Through it all, the man from China had the most enigmatic expression. Whatever we discussed was interesting but momentary compared to thousands of years of history in his country. The debates weren’t nearly as good as the food. Potlucks were amazing, and if I had a culinary blog I’d go into the details. But, oh, baklava!

I worked in the middle of an unofficial, accidentally bureaucratically created support network. It wasn’t perfect, but it was memorable and I learned a lot. It was also chaotic and an insight into the reality that everyone is fighting a personal battle unique to them.

That was in the era of careers based on one job, held for decades, hopefully bearable.

The modern era is based on accelerated change, constant re-organizations or mergers, obsessive pursuit of increased efficiency and profit, and less regard for the individual. If it costs less to have people work from anywhere else, great, there’s less money spent on facilities and utilities. Until there’s a backlash because some manager recognizes a drop in efficiency or feels the need to control adults even if it means treating them like children.

My modern era is based on the greatest work fluidity I’ve experienced. Instead of one job, I frequently work on as many as nine in a day. (Ah, and if only I got paid for all of them, but that’s another story.) A workweek itinerary may be as simple as staying home and combing my hair (really) before a video call. My itinerary may also be something more familiar to traveling salesmen, linking up locations and leaving time for the connecting commutes while also carting around everything for different clients while also making sure to pack a lunch and maybe a dinner. Driving around and eating out can make expenses match revenues, which leaves nothing to pay for living expenses.

There are great benefits to working from home. The commute is as short as possible (but work is never far away). I can roll out of bed (er, futon couch) and check email, news, and schedule before getting to the kitchen. Working at home may have its advantages but the greatest frugal benefits are things like spending less on gas, spending less time driving around and setting up temporary workspaces, spending less on clothes, and definitely spending less on food. Home cooking is best, is cheapest, especially when the cheap foods like roasts and beans can be set to simmer for hours. Hello a few extra pounds. (Few? Ha!)

Working from home can be isolating. Some aspects are great. Burp, fart, or sneeze if you need to. Some aspects aren’t so great. Working alone means working without a support network, unless your social media circles are robust. Working alone also means having less of a need for a formal, or even business casual, wardrobe. It is nice to work in sweats (though sometimes it is handier to work in bib overalls because of all the pockets), but dressing up does happen occasionally.

One intermediate solution is the trend in coworking. I’ve written about it before. A shifting collection of similarly nomadic workers jointly rent a space and try to find that balance between total structure and total freedom. Langley’s cowork space shut down a few months ago, but a new version has arisen. The local writers’ association (Whidbey Island Writers Association – which has a new name that I continue to forget but has the acronym NILA) has opened a space for its writers. Once a week (Wednesdays) a few of us use an old schoolroom. Laptops and caffeine cups. Casual dress, but not too casual. Relaxed environment, but keep in mind that others are working too, but keep in mind that total silence would be spooky. An opportunity to occasionally do a real world search by asking everyone for a good synonym, advice about what should be done for free versus fee, and HELP when a computer glitch startles and threatens.

As one of the co-organizers (Lori Kane, author of Reimagination Station) describes, working in a coworks is a great reminder to maintain at least a minimum set of sensibilities (heavily paraphrased). Talking to yourself is okay, but don’t do it too often. Noticing that everyone else is working is an inspiration to keep working. Noticing a spontaneous bit of chatter is a reminder that we all need a break occasionally.

Now that the for-profit coworks closed and the non-profit cowriting space has opened, I can see how such collaborative spaces can replace many seas of desks with lakes of laptops. I can also see how much the business model has to mature, at least outside the urban areas. Within the last few days a new business model has come to mind that may be worth trying, but more about that later as conditions and serendipity permit.

I worked from home today. It is a Saturday. There were no rules blocking my ability to work. (Yep, that happened.) There was a wind storm, so I took a break as the worst blew by. I might break my silence by calling a friend who also works from home, frequently on Saturday nights, because that’s part of the new economy as well. If not, another quiet evening and day may go by. In the meantime, I write in silence in comfort, and am glad that, amidst everything else that happened today, I got the laundry done.

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Surprising MicroVision News

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Tom Trimbath

Well, that certainly didn’t go as expected, though it may have gone as predicted. MicroVision (yes, another MVIS post), finally announced its innovative smartphone that many shareholders have eagerly awaited for months, or for over a decade in some cases. The product is flashy, high-end, gaining world-wide attention – and the stock was down 9% on heavy volume. Evidently, the intersection of perception and reality was unpleasant from the market’s, and my, perspective.

Today, Sharp announced the launch of a new product, the RoBoHoN robot with integrated smartphone functionality. It’s highly unlikely you’ve ever seen anything like this before. In one unit it is a robot, a mobile phone, a camera, and a projector. It can call out to you, walk across the room, take a picture of you, display the photo on any surface, and then remind you that this is what you look like before heading out on a date. Awesome. It isn’t available yet, but it is being demonstrated at CEATEC, an electronics trade show in Japan.

And MVIS stock was down 9%.

For months (years?) MicroVision management has talked about the possibility of an innovative smartphone that would launched in summer, then mid, 2015 by a Fortune 500 company incorporating MicroVision’s picoprojector technology. At one point, the CEO estimated that MicroVision would be profitable six to nine months after the embedded cellphone product launched. (If my brain was a database I could pull up the reference, but it was from one of the stockholders meetings a couple of years ago – I think.)

Some of us remember early MicroVision claims to embed projectors in cellphones more than ten years ago (Ericsson), even from before the invention of smartphones. It has been a long wait.

And MVIS stock was down 9%.

I am comfortable in portraying many (but not all, or even most) shareholders as expecting an innovative smartphone to be something like Lenovo’s Smartcast, a sleek, though slightly larger smartphone that could project keyboards or large displays. If the Fortune 500 company wasn’t Lenovo, there were speculations about Microsoft (like their Lumia line), hopes for Apple iPhones, and even guesses about Amazon, Google, or any other Fortune 500 consumer electronics company. I don’t recall anyone saying Sharp would be the company. I don’t recall anyone saying the smartphone would be inside a robot.

MicroVision talked about an innovative smartphone with an embedded projector being launched by a Fortune 500 company. Innovative? Yes, a phone inside a walking robot that fits in your pocket is innovative. Smartphone? Well, yes, the phone is definitely smart; but the current image of a smartphone was defined by the iPhone. Embedded projector? Yes, but the projector plays a small enough role that the RoBoHoN would exist without it. Fortune 500 company? I’ll take their word on it that Sharp is a Fortune 500 company.

Perception is important in most marketplaces. It is apparent that the preliminary perception of MicroVision’s statements didn’t match the reality. Instead of a professional smartphone that could pervade the smartphone market both in business and people’s lives, the product is an impressive toy. MicroVision couldn’t tell people ahead of the launch about the details of the product, but they could’ve managed perceptions by de-emphasizing smartphone and emphasizing innovative phone.

The perception is not a nuance. A smartphone that has a projector in it does not have the same effect as a robot with a projector in it. Smartphones can sell in the millions of units. Robots may, but it is more difficult for them to reach such levels. In terms of estimating the impact on MicroVision, either can elevate the company’s visibility. In terms of estimating the impact on MVIS, the more units sold usually means the higher total profits; a smartphone is at least perceived as being able to sell more units that sales of robots; consequently, revenue estimates may be reduced, expectations about embedded smartphones may be dismissed, and the stock price drops. If today’s announcement had been about Lenovo’s or Microsoft’s phones, the action probably would’ve been different.

We’re in October. There’s less time every day for new product launches in time for US holiday sales. I’ve read many comments today about investors thinking that, if they mis-perceived ‘smartphone’ they may also have mis-perceived MicroVision’s statements about other CES OEMs, HUDs, and projects like UPS’s trials.

MVIS_Catalysts_100615

Perceptions aside, today’s news is good news for MicroVision. Sales are sales, and if MicroVision has a deal with Sharp, that’s a nice addition to their deal with Sony (and potentially others.) MicroVision now has three product revenue streams: Celluon, Sony, and Sharp – all selling products that are meeting with positive reviews. At the end of the 2015, MicroVision can rightly claim significant improvements over 2014.

On a personal level, I will finally consider replacing my flip phone. I’ve held off for years because I planned to upgrade to a smartphone with MVIS inside (Image by PicoP). RoBoHoN may become a phenomenal success, or not. My work life could greatly benefit from an innovative smartphone with an embedded projector. It looks like Lenovo may be making one. I’ll have to give it a lot of thought and due consideration.

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Fences Apples And Monty Python

Posted on October 3, 2015 by Tom Trimbath

My harvest wasn’t very good this year, or it was, but in unexpected ways. I planned for apples, and grew birds. I planned for painting, and built a fence.  I planned on, or at least hoped for, several business ventures, and helped people in ways I didn’t imagine. Whether by plan or by chance, I’m glad I’ve learned to give up expectations of control. As the world shifts, that may be one of the most valuable skills.

There are three apple trees, a fig tree, and some raspberry canes in my backyard. They’re in my backyard because the backyard has a fence, or is supposed to. My fence and I are real world examples of a great monologue from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

King of Swamp Castle: When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that’s what you’re going to get, Lad, the strongest castle in all of England.

Three , no five, no four times my backyard fence has fallen down. Never the entire fence, but wind storms on Whidbey have blown eight foot sections down almost every year. Of the twenty sections of fence, about half of them have fallen at least once. Maybe it is the winds here on the south end of Whidbey Island, maybe it is the fact that the fence is aging, maybe it is the fact that the firm that built the fence didn’t nail all the boards into place, maybe it is a conspiracy of the local deer because they lounge and dine in my backyard as soon as they can.

Three apple trees sound like more than enough for one person, but only one has a trunk larger than two inches in diameter. The deer and the bunnies (with their big nasty teeth) have gnawed the other two trees so frequently that the leaves look scared. At least the one apple tree and the fig tree are surviving. (The raspberries are a gifted transplant, and are hiding behind chicken wire hoping to survive.)

There was enough foliage to suggest a nice harvest, but nope. This year’s weather was so weird, record setting heat and drought didn’t help, that I was amazed the leaves hung in there. The fruits, however, did not. As autumn finally works its way into the forecasts, I held out hope for at least a token apple or fig to have made it through the season. Sigh. Nope. Maybe next year, because the fence will finally protect them for an entire season. Right?

As I reached through the leaves, looking for hidden fruit, I came across something that had grown: birds’ nests. DSC_5903 Some birder could probably identify the occupants from the mud-daubed cup. All I know is that, while I didn’t get any fruit, at least something was able to create a new generation from what I’d planted.

I’ve been discouraged lately. Many of my sources of optimism in my backup plans have seen postponements or cancellations. Zillow is dropping the Zestimate for my house. My portfolio‘s companies are getting good news, but not good enough to move their stocks much. Classes in photography and social media were hit by a miscommunication (but there’s still time to sign up for the Social Media class). A few appealing job opportunities haven’t arrived, whether through funding issues or changes in direction. I feel a bit like Monty Python’s  Black Knight who is trying to pass off some major battle damage as “just a flesh wound”.

And then I think of the birds’ nests.

The world, including our societies and economic system, is a chaotic system. We can rationalize cause and effect, which we have to some extent. But, despite the highly held banner of “Just Keep Doing Good Work”, I also have noticed how many success stories include an element of good luck: finally making the right connection, meeting a patron or partner, being in the right place at the right time – even when it first felt like the wrong place at the wrong time. Hard work does help, but panaceas don’t exist. Good luck does help, but even lottery tickets require someone to take the steps to buy one. If we think we have complete control it’s because we’ve overlooked something. Someone else’s accidental deviation from a plan may become a great personal benefit.

There are a couple of cartoons I’d like to include, but I don’t want to worry about copyright (and researching cartoons on the Internet is a sure way to dive into an hours-deep rabbit hole.) One cartoon describes the definition of insanity; “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” The other cartoon shows two miners, one quits from frustration while only inches away from the rich vein of diamonds that the other miner gains with just a bit more effort. Which cartoon are we in? Which cartoon am I in?

I’m back to my seven-day-a-week work schedule until Thanksgiving (unless good fortune arrives). I feel like a tired miner. I look around and see many people in similar situations, sometimes for their financial situation, sometimes for a cause. It can be hard to keep going, and there’s no way to know if the persistence is a problem or revealing an opportunity.

And then I think of the birds’ nests.

As a friend pointed out on Facebook, unintended consequences are more common than we expect. That doesn’t mean we quit trying. That doesn’t mean our efforts are wasted. Sometimes it means we worked on one thing, and it enabled something just as precious and valuable for someone else – and eventually for ourselves as well.

If nothing else, I just found a great rationalization for re-watching Holy Grail for the twelfth or twentieth time. No, the fifteenth! Aarrgghh.

Photo on 2015-10-03 at 19.34

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