If You Build It, Maybe They Will Come!

 

Week 3

 

     I stated earlier a good idea is just that, until implemented, a good idea. Lots of planning, components coming together just right, thorough testing of product, and team members have to be assembled to make a idea a success.

     I have teams that work for me across the globe building internet sites. It is something that I am familiar with and those teams are also. Stepping out into a world of building a software application or a smartphone application is something I didn't know at all. I asked the teams that worked for me building internet sites if they could complete a task like this or if they had any recommendations and they said no. Looking back on it now as I write this, feeling my way around this new world of application building was like going into a dark house you have been in before. You feel your way around and hope to find a light switch.

     The first thing I started doing was reading articles on building mobile and software applications. How much they cost? How long it would take? I read all the ups and downs and ins and outs of building applications like this. It took a while. I thought at this time I had a understanding of what I wanted in a application and who I should be looking for.

     The second thing I did was post a description of what I was looking for, as far as abilities, in a contractor on a couple of contracting sites such as Elance and Odesk. I researched all the reputable mobile application builders that applied and invited the top rated contractors to apply. I read what others that have used them said, read their backgrounds, researched their companies on google, and interviewed the top candidates. I made out a list of pros and cons from the conversations I had. I did most of the interviews on Skype. I asked for all candidates to send me a list of referrals, by Thursday giving me Friday to talk to all referrals.

     The last thing I did was I called all referrals and then put together a spreadsheet of all of the candidates. I listed out the pros and cons of them all, their cost of project, vital information from Skype conversations, and what referrals said about them. I reviewed it a few times over the weekend and narrowed it down to two candidates. I decided to do one more interview that Monday and make a final decision. I sent the two final candidates a notice letting them know I wanted talk once more, but I didn't let them know they were the final two. Lots to think over.
    



Lock It Up and Throw Away The Key!

 

 

Week 2 Day 2

 

     Some things in life should remain a secret until just the right moment. When my wife was pregnant with our first child, she swore me to secrecy until she was a certain amount of time along in that pregnancy. When I have something big I want to share or talk about with others it is very hard for me to keep it a secret. I have never kept a secret well. I couldn't be a great poker player because I couldn't keep a poker face when I am holding aces in the hole.

 

     As I mentioned earlier, when I spoke with Troy he asked me what kind of protection I had on this idea. I didn't have any at this point and from what I had heard about getting protection or a patent on something is a difficult and costly process. So I spent most of the day searching for the right fit. There are attorney's that file patents as a secondary part of their practice and I didn't want a attorney that would treat my project or idea in a secondary fashion. I wanted every T crossed and every I dotted. Filing and gaining a patent is a difficult and detailed process. 

 

     There are a few things you have to think about when thinking about getting a patent:

1. Is my idea unique? If it is, you are good to go.

2. Does your idea improve a product that already has a patent on it?

3. Do you have the money budgeted in your project?

4. Is your project a short term or long term project? Is it something that will be a quick fad?

 

These are a few off the top of my head, please contact an attorney when thinking about a patent on a project or idea.

 

     So on the last call of the day, I called a law firm in Jackson, Ms. I spoke with a very helpful young secretary. She said they did file patents, but it was something they didn't do very often since their main patent attorney had left the firm. I asked if she knew where he went to and she told me had moved to North Carolina to open his own law firm. She gave me his name and I did a search on Google. He opened a practice in North Carolina with the main focus being patent law. I gave him a call and we spoke in depth about the idea and what I hoped to accomplish with it. He was a very intellectual person that went into great detail with his questioning. With him living in Mississippi for a while he knew a little about hunting and hunters. He walked me through the process, projected cost, and time frames.

 

     The first thing he would have to have from me was a very in depth description of the idea. I told him he would have it from me by the end of the day. I have always been a person that when asked for something, I will get it for you and as soon as I can. There is a negative in being that way. It is easy to forget important things if you rush. The lawyer said he would use my description and do a patentability search. Also he would need me to send him the money for patentability search to get started. I felt really strange sending a large amount of money to a lawyer I had never met, but the professionalism vibes I got through the phone eased that feeling. I told him I would have it in the mail first thing in the morning.

  

     The lawyer asked one last question before hanging up the phone. He asked, "how many people have you told about this?" I thought about it and told him just a couple. There was a silence on the other end. This is something I found the lawyer to be very particular about. He told me he would email me non-disclosure agreements for each of the people I had told and any future people I told to sign. Until your name is signed on a patent application and it is postmarked, you have no protection. So that is why it is important to get all, even your best friend, to sign a non-disclosure agreement if you tell them. I felt like things were starting to come together with this new idea after I hung up the phone.

What do we name it?

 

Week 2

 

 

     With any idea one of the first things that comes to your mind is what are we going to name it. I thought a lot about it over the weekend while working around the lodge. One of the things I do outside of duck hunting is helping others with their marketing of their own businesses, but coming up with a name for this software was proving to be difficult for me. Usually I spout off catchy marketable names when I know what a business owner is trying to accomplish with his business.

 

     A few factors you have to think about in choosing a name in this Internet age is being able to buy the domain you want for your product. So when choosing a name that has to factor in. A name that is already being used will confuse users and is not good for business. That is why there is google and yahoo. They are both catchy, short, and were easy for the buyers of the domains to purchase and easy for users to remember. The second is how hard it is to win the battle on Google and other search engines with your product and product name. Internet drives sales, so it is important to have the right name on the Internet. Third, will users remember your name? It has to be short and sweet or catchy and bold. Since most single word domains are long gone these days, catchy and bold is the next best route.

 

     The three keywords that kept coming to my mind was "Wild", "Call", and "Blow". I thought of wild for wild game, call for calls, and blow because it is the action you do with a game call. So I came inside and wrote these words down on three separate pieces of paper. I listed all the phrases and words that could possibly fit with these three words. The first thing I noticed when I put the papers on my desk was call and wild went together. 

 

     The first name I came up with was "Call of The Wild". I researched it in depth and found:

                 1. The name was trademarked and would be difficult to use.

                 2. The domain was already taken.

                 3. I read it many times. It just wasn't catchy enough. It could go different ways.

                 4. I didn't think a user after hearing it once could remember it.

 

      I did not completely take it off the board though. It was a choice, but I knew I had to come up with other names. I slept on it that night and came back to my desk when I awoke. I do my best thinking in the morning with my coffee. I thought of what the goal of the software would be for a user. It is to teach hunters to be better callers. The action is to blow a game call into a computer or phone. The return action of the software is to make that caller better. I thought of my guides and them being professional callers. I thought of the software making users as good a caller as my pro guides.

 

      I wrote the phrases "Blow Like A Pro" and "Blow Like The Pros". My thoughts on these:

                 1. They were catchy and bold.

                 2. They were available to buy in my domain search.  

                 3. I think users could easily remember them.

                 4. The only downside is in mixed company they could be taken the wrong way. 

          

 

So at the end of the day I had three names to think about. I knew with prayer and in depth discussions with my partner Troy we would make the right decision.

 



Is it Breathing?

 

Week 1

      Is it really a good idea? Will people use it? Is there something else already out there like it? These were all questions running through my mind. I arose early and prayed on it and on day 2 after staying up most of the night researching this new idea. What I found, even though I really didn't know what to search for at the time, was there was very little with the type of technology I was thinking of. I saw there were karaoke games out there that judged people singing, but the system was not very detailed. I saw there were speech recognition system out there. I saw there were language teaching tools out there. I researched teaching wild game calling techniques. I saw where companies were teaching with Cd's and cassettes. I saw great hunters that had you tube videos wanting to help others learn how to call. I saw that there were apps and software that had animal sounds and you just practiced with those sounds. It was just like practicing with the sounds on the Cd's.

 

     Sound comparison is a fairly new technology that has not been pursued by many. What I found is that it is very costly and frustrating to do something in this field. That didn't stop my pursuit of bringing my idea to life.

 

      The things I wanted to accomplish with software or app was I wanted a user to be able listen to a sound and then try to replicate that sound into the computer or phone. Just like with a calling contest, I wanted the software to be the judge of how well they did. I wanted the software to give them a score and also allow them to listen to the sounds side by side to give them a feedback on their tone and cadence. My thinking on the software in these first few days was really just for duck hunting. I never even considered, in my mind, the other types of wild game calls people use that were out there until I made one very important phone call during this first week.

 

     Troy Ruiz, a great friend, master hunter, was one of the first people that I called when I was researching the idea. I met Troy years ago while filming a couple of duck hunts with Primos. We kept in touch after that and talked often. I trusted Troy to hold my secret until it was time to release it. After telling him my idea there was silence on the other end. Troy told me that Easter Sunday around the same time I was giving duck calling lessons and birthing the idea in my mind. He had been praying for a way to reach hunters and educate them through technology. I asked why he was praying about that. He said during his day at work he couldn't garner any one's attention because they were glued to their smart phones.

 

     Troy, thought it was a great idea and wanted to walk with me through the process. Troy had spent years teaching people about hunting and calling through seminars across the country. In my mind, I couldn't think of a better friend and partner to join my team. Troy spent years helping Primos bring different products to the hunting marketplace. His wisdom would help tremendously. He was the first to bring up intellectual protection of the idea. He is actually the one as I stated above that got me to thinking outside the box of just the software working for ducks. Wheels really started spinning after this talk. The week ended with a general plans being listed out and to do list for the next week. Looking back on all my notes now from that first week, it is amazing how this all has evolved into a gorilla later on when it only started  as a little spider monkey.



Birth Of An Idea

   

     I think one of the great things about the United States is I have the freedom to be innovative and bring ideas to life and take them to the marketplace. As an American, I can choose to work hard and passionately on a product or a cause and be successful. For years I have worked hard in the hunting industry, as a hunting guide business owner, and I have been successful while other in the same business have come and gone. How many times have you heard somebody say, "I thought about that years ago, but I didn't pursue it because it would cost to much money, take to much time, or I didn't know enough about the details to make it happen."? All of these were heavy factors in my own decision in bringing my idea to life.

     I told you earlier I was in the outdoor recreation business. I take people duck hunting that don't have the know how or the resources to do it themselves. Most days I have better time than the hunters themselves. Each day I learn new things and I get to teach old and new things to my clients as we hunt and hang out around the lodge. The number one question asked to myself and my guides by clients is, " Can you teach me to blow a duck call like you?". So in the past, I have sat around the lodge numerous hours working with hunters teaching them the rights and wrongs of blowing a duck call. It can be a tedious and detailed process that usually ends with caller getting frustrated and saying they will buy a tape or CD to help them.

     The birth of  an idea happened this Easter with my family. My young nephew, who is a big hunter, asked if I could help him with his calling. I told him sure and he got his calls out of his truck and the lessons began. They didn't last long though. His girlfriend  tweeted him, facebooked him, or text him. He could not keep any kind of focus from that point on. His attention was with his phone and no longer listening to me about cadences and tones. I grew frustrated with my tech inclined nephew, but frustration breathed life into a great idea. I thought to myself, if we are going to teach the next generation to blow wild game calls it is gonna have to be through some type of software or phone app. Attention spans are short these days with the tech culture we live in. The wheels started spinning in my mind and I decided to return home that afternoon to start my investigation online if there was a product already that did this or if there were similar products out there.