Am I Crazy: Chronicles of an Entrepreneur Part 8

Submitted by Kevin Royes on Tue, 10/21/2008 - 14:00.



What a crazy few months. I have been wearing a lot of hats lately. I redesigned the new website (www.kelvintools.com) which was quite a chore learning the whole process. I even added online shopping. In the end I can say that I got close, but there is a reason people are experts at this stuff.

Jesus saved me...literally. Jesus is a friend of mine from Argentina that does web design, and he took the mess I created and made it work.

I have also been working on applying for my own patent and trademark applications in the US, UK and EU. I saved so much money, but it took a lot of time. That's ok though because I want to know the process. Over the next few years I plan on applying for heap loads of IP (intellectual property), so knowing the ropes is essential. For example, in the US and UK, anyone in the world can apply for a patent, but in the European Community you have to reside or have a company in one of the member countries in order to apply. That little bit of information created a bit of a hiccup.

In other news, I totally redesigned the packaging with my designer Matt that shows off kelvin like a super model...I am really excited about it. I still need some graphic tweaks which I will take on this week (tangerine is not an acceptable tone of kelvin orange...but to the printer in China...what's wrong. You wanted orange and this is orange).

What else has been happening...oh yeah. I have negotiated sales and distribution with a company in the UK. They are top notch and curently busy putting kelvin on the desks of the islands top retailers and etailers. Super excited about that. In addition, I just finished making a 5 minute video that took two days to shoot and edit. If you watch, keep in mind it took me over 50 takes to get this one shot...well worth it. Sort of a kelvin tour as shown by me. For a good chuckle check it out if you've got a few minutes.

We are due to be on QVC, a US home shopping network, in a couple of weeks...which is quite nerve racking. This will be the first actual test of kelvin directly to the market. It's as if these past two years have been rehearsal and these 6 minutes will be game day. Wish us luck.

Next hat to put on is PR (public relations). Now that the new website is up, it is time to flood the media world with press releases. My hope is that we get all kinds of reviews in magazines, newspapers and web blogs. Right now we have a list of over 50 media sources and the number is growing. Super fun.

Well, that's it for now...the hectic hat switching of an entrepreneur.