After almost five years of working with the US Patent and Trademark Office, I am very proud to announce that JumpSnap has been awarded a patent as a ropeless jump rope! The original application was submitted back on December 2, 2004 and honestly, I was beginning to lose confidence that it was ever going to happen...but everything changed this week. I always felt we had a good chance based on the prior art, but I'm certainly not an attorney and had not gone through the process before so didn't have much to compare it to. Interestingly enough, the few people I have share the accomplishment with have all agreed that 4-5 years is about normal.

What if I had waited to launch my business until I had a patent? Admittedly, I was more nervous about protecting the idea early on but realized if I manufactured a good product and backed it up with great service then people would still buy it. Now that JumpSnap has been in the market for two years, it's a pride thing to see your idea come full circle and be formally recognized by the USPTO as a new invention. I will certainly be framing the certificate when I get that in a few weeks.

It will be rewarding to update the packaging and marketing materials from the current "patent pending" to "patented". I think it only adds to the story that the product is truly innovative and most importantly, it works. As always, thanks for the support.

Healthy Jumping...

You can't turn on the TV, go online or pick up a newspaper without getting bombarded with some pitch or disguised pitch on the topic of healthcare. I'm by no means an expert, but like most things in life, the more local you make a topic the more aware you become of how it works. I should disclose that although my voter registration card says I'm a Republican, I'm mostly apolitcal and think every elected official is guilty until proven innocent. I'm just so exhausted with the hypocrisy on both sides of the aisle that I have zero trust in any of them. Sure some could prove me wrong, but just when I think someone seems like a stand up person, they either cheat on their spouse or embezzle a bunch of money or do favors that may not be deemed illegal but are clearly unethical. The thing that gets me the most are the lies and the ease in which they pull them off. And the politicians wonder why they can't get a health care bill passed in record time with the guise of "trust us". Sure, you have such a glowing track record that you've earned my trust. Not a chance. Oh, and I presume you need 1,000+ pages to explain it? That in and of itself is the biggest red flag that you're trying to screw me and my family somehow.

Enough about the politics and on to my personal example which I tell fellow entreprenuers as often as I can. When I left the corporate America back in 2006 to start my own company, I naturally thought COBRA was going to be the healthcare option for the 18 months after I left. As an executive at my last company I didn't pay anything for my health care as it was apart of my compensation package - Problem #1. Until you start writing the checks yourself, most people who get their health care through their employer are clueless to the real costs which likely means they don't place the appropriate value on the benefit. As I look back, I can absolutely confirm this, especially early in my career when a prospective employer would try and sell me on the value of the benefits package. All I cared about was the salary and what would hit my bank account after taxes. It's fair to say that I almost had an entitlement attitude that of course Mr. Employer is going to pay my health care premium. Why is that? Now that I'm on the other side of the table I now see what an incredible burden this is on a business. Why is it the companies obligation to pay when most people will never really value the actual expense it's costing the company? Not to mention the HR hassle to manage it. Perhaps they could contribute to a pre-tax Health Savings Account or just pay more for the position and let the individual fend for themselves like all other insurances we buy.