Safeguarding Success: A Deep Dive into Intellectual Property | OM25
When it comes to business growth, it’s often the nitty-gritty details that can make or break your success. As experts in our respective fields, we excel at solving problems and driving our businesses forward. But what about the legalities, financial frameworks, tax strategies, or even our go-to-market approach? These critical aspects often get overlooked.
This episode introduces you to Rich Goldstein, a seasoned expert in helping entrepreneurs protect their ideas, products, and brands with patents and trademarks.
Join us to discover how safeguarding your intellectual property can enhance your business’s worth and make you better equipped for opportunities and equity.
About the Guest:
Rich Goldstein works with entrepreneurs to help them to increase the value of their businesses, by protecting their ideas, products, and brands with patents and trademarks. Over the past 29 years he has obtained more than 2,000 patents for his clients. Rich is host of the “Innovations and Breakthroughs” podcast and is the author of the Consumer Guide to Obtaining a Patent, published by the American Bar Association.
Connect with Rich Goldstein
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richard.w.goldstein/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardwgoldstein/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richgoldstein/
Website: www.goldsteinpatentlaw.com
About the Host:
Jim Padilla is the founder and CEO of Gain The Edge – a done-for-you provider of industry-leading sales systems and unicorn sales professionals which he co-heads with his wife and entrepreneurial partner-in-crime, Cyndi Padilla.
Through their unique blend of laser-targeted selling systems, inspirational team-building expertise, and 60+ years of combined sales experience – Jim and his wife have generated over 1/4 bn in sales for a long line of high-level, visionary entrepreneurs.
Jim’s mission is to help purpose-driven thought-leaders untangle themselves from the day-to-day minutiae of seeking leads and sales for their business so they’re free to amplify their impact.
When Jim’s not making dollars rain down from the sky, you’ll regularly find him at the driving range – hitting a bucket of balls. Jim credits his time on the driving range as the main source of his best ideas.
Recently relocated back to California, Jim & Cyndi are immersing themselves in family time with their three daughters & four (soon to be five) grandchildren.
Connect with Jim at https://jimp360.com
If you want to see more great content like this, make sure to subscribe and ring the bell so you will get notified whenever we post a new video. And don’t forget to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts.
Transcript
well, just place. There's a short story, the long story. But in general, what I do is I work with entrepreneurs to help them to increase the values, the value of their business, through IP, by protecting their products and protecting their brands. And I started out in electrical engineering, that was my undergraduate major, I also got very interested in business at that time, I had started a business during college and thought about changing my major to business. And then I learned about patent law where essentially, you need to be an engineer and the lawyer to to practice in that field. So I finished electrical engineering, I went on to law school, and became a patent lawyer started my own practice, right out of school 29 years ago, and my proudest accomplishment as an entrepreneur 29 years in business is that I'm still here, through all the ups and downs. You know, it's not a linear ride. It's it's up and down, as as we all know. And yep, I'm still here. 29 years later.
Jim Padilla:Interesting. I did not know that being a patent lawyer also was an engineering background. Did that was that something that somebody had introduced you as an opportunity? Or is it something you saw was interesting? Yeah,
Rich Goldstein:I mean, someone introduced it to me, and I can't remember who. And it's interesting, because there was two paths that will offer to me to use my engineering degree, and kind of outside of engineering. One of them was patent law. The other one was to be a sales engineer, which are the people that let's say they're working for a big, like an MRI company, then they're selling $5 million MRI. So there's someone who not only has some skills, some sales skill and sales knowledge, but they also know about the technical side of things. So it was like sales engineer, and patent law, were the two things that someone had suggested to me along the way, and whoever it was, thank you. It stuck? And that's what I did. Excellent. Excellent.
Jim Padilla:So you've been obviously I said, 29 years in business, and you've been on this journey for a while. So you've seen lots of different opportunities come across your path, as a result of the path that you're on? And, you know, I would love to just, you know, explore some of that, you know, what, what are the things that have? What are the things that have come your way simply because you've had your eyes open and been on this specific path?
Rich Goldstein:on. But then two years in, in:Jim Padilla:So what why don't you share a few of those keys that you've been seeing? As you know, let's let's start with what are the things doing that people are doing? consistently over time that you see that are leading to a lack of success.
Rich Goldstein:Okay, yeah, I think I think the biggest one is probably a mindset, a mindset that's against failure. It's kind of a mindset. And there's lots of related mindsets to it. It's kind of like related to perfectionism and such. But it's like the the fear of failure, the fear of like, of putting some initiative out there, doing something that doesn't work out, prevents people from doing a lot of what would help them to succeed. And not only that, it's giving up, I think, the biggest, biggest reason that businesses fail is that someone gives up, it's like, it hasn't actually failed. And maybe that's failed with a capital F, like, not like the minor failures that people business people shouldn't be afraid of. But the big F like they, they fail, and it's done, and there's not going to proceed anymore. So your business doesn't ultimately fail until you give up. And probably the biggest lesson that you can learn from those that succeed is just tenacity is sticking with it. And, of course, going along with that is you don't want to stick with it when you're headed, headed nowhere. But it's the ability to pivot. And again, I think I think that all of that is related to one thing, which is your ego, right? So it's like if you if you're afraid to fail, it's because you're afraid of the way it will affect your ego, that kind of the, the the perceived devastating effect that will have on you. And if you're not going to pivot your business, even though it's obvious, it's because you're afraid to be wrong about your initial sense of direction, you had an initial vision. And like, all the signs are saying, well, you know what, like, maybe you were, you were headed in somewhat of the right direction. But if you turn 20 degrees to the left, you do that much better. And you just deny that fact, because that would mean that you were wrong. So in essence, probably the biggest factor there is, is ego and the various ways it affects your mindset. And the thing that helps people be successful, in my opinion is stepping out of it, realizing it's not about them, realizing that they're working on something, that it that they're not personally identified with it. It's not like, if if someone says something bad about your business, then they're saying something bad about you. And it's not if something fails within your business, that you're a failure. So like your ability to take yourself out. And to work on the business on attached, but playing the game is probably the biggest factor towards success that I've seen.
Jim Padilla:Yeah, so unpack that a little bit more. I love to to talk that for a minute. So talk about being unattached. What does that I hear that all the time? Right, we hear that in sales, we hear that and growth, like don't be attached to the outcome? What are you referring to specifically about being detached? And? And how do you how do you actually, what's the tactic of actually doing so?
Rich Goldstein:Yeah, I mean, it's about recognizing that, you know, all of all of your worth, let's say, as an individual is not wrapped up in your, your business. So, you know, not, I'm being detached, not being attached, not being personally identified with the business. Also, I think recognizing that, it's, it's all it's all your eggs are not in this basket. And that's, that's, that's not just a mindset, but it's also has some physical reality to it, you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket for a business, you want to play in a way that's sustainable. In other words, such that, like if you if you're all all in, in your business, such that as if the business failed, you lose your house, you lose all of your assets, then, you know, then you're going to be attached. So, part of being detached is both kind of in the, in the physical sense, not having everything wrapped up in the business, but also emotionally not having all of your self worth and identity wrapped up in the business. And it's like, how do you do that? Well, I mean, like there are, a lot of times people offer coaching, they'll say like, Hey, just go out there and be yourself. Like, well, how do I do that? And that's what we call inoperable coaching, right? You can't, you don't have any instructions on on how to actually do that. But you By the way, the there is actually a step to not being attached. And the first step is to notice all the ways in which you're attached. So your awareness around your mindset is the first step towards having something different. Now, your awareness around any habit you have, or any tendency you have is the first step toward letting you say, oh, wait a second, that's how I tend to behave, I'm going to try something differently. Otherwise, it's just automatic. Without awareness, it's automatic. So if you begin to look at the ways in which you're attached to your business, you then can do something about it.
Jim Padilla:Definitely, I wholly subscribed to that, you know, awareness is the first step. Once you're aware, problem aware, people are typically the people that start solving problems, because they at least know there is a problem to solve. Now, it's not it doesn't mean the same thing. Because you can look in the mirror and see that you're 20 pounds overweight, and still decide to do nothing about it. But but at least you're aware. And so hopefully, it'll it'll fix some of the decisions that you make. So let's, let's talk a little bit about you or your business, you know, as as, as it pertains to this particular journey. I mean, if people are, you know, we're in the marketplace where it's a little bit, it's definitely uncertain. There's so much ambiguity in it, there's a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt, and a lot of negative terms being thrown out there. And a lot of entrepreneurs are just treading water right now, or trying to determine should I circle the wagons so they run for cover? Ball, we know, people that are in a lot of circles that we run in, they're just waiting, they're just, you know, this is an opportunity to season where it's like, it's time to go take advantage of things. And both? Both can you know, it's not, it's not like running around buying businesses and in doing taking risks, opportunities is just the best way to go. It can also bring its own cautions. And that's where you come in to play. Play. So so how do people navigate this?
Rich Goldstein:Okay, well, the last part, you said that's where I come in. And I'm I see more alluding towards IP protection there.
Jim Padilla:Correct? As people are coming into an environment where Okay, I'm gonna go all in? And yes, the business opportunities, I see opportunities to acquire real estate or business, or just jump in and start a venture because it costs a little to do so in so many places now. But then it comes with a whole load of risk as well, in doing so. Yes,
Rich Goldstein:to:Jim Padilla:So there's a few things that are coming up. And I can hear, you know, a lot of people are like, well, you know, is just every single thing I create its own separate IP, like a system, a delivery mechanism, or is it only on the like, the really inventive stuff? What what is my IP?
Rich Goldstein:and up trademarks around:Jim Padilla:So when you say going public, does that mean when they introduce it to the marketplace? Yep,
Rich Goldstein:put it available for sale, make it publicly viewable on the website, anything like that, where it can be publicly seen?
Jim Padilla:Does that work the same way with the trademark,
Rich Goldstein:it does not work that way. With the trademark, it's a little different. And there's there's other reasons for doing the trademark as soon as you can. So here's the thing. With trademarks, you actually acquire rights by using the product out there in the world. So like, let's say you've been operating, you know, let's say you you've inherited a business from your family that's been operating for 30 years selling products in a certain realm, pretty well known brand name. If you know you now, having taken charge of the business can say, well, they never did the trademark, let's do a trademark. And there is no actual time limit to do it. So you could then file a trademark application. But if someone filed a trademark application, before you did, then it's going to be an uphill climb, you might, under the right circumstances be able to prove like, Hey, I've been using this for 30 years. And I'm entitled to the trademark, but instead of a $2,000 trademark process, now it's like a $50,000 trademark process. So you do acquire rights by using the brand out there in public. So it's different than patents. But if someone files before you, now you've got an uphill climb.
Jim Padilla:So what types of things I think trademark is it seems like, especially in the service based industry, because there's a lot of people aren't creating a tangible physical products, and a lot of our clients sell services. So a trademark would be for the name of the company for would it be would you recommend it for the name of a specific offering? Or the name of a type of an event? I mean, just across the board?
Rich Goldstein:Yeah. Any any name that you're using in your business to distinguish your product or service from competitors? So when they see that, like, Yeah, could be the name of the product, it could be the name of a trade show, and all that, that people recognize is coming from a specific organizer. And and, you know, it could be the name, it could be the logo. And so behind you gain the edge, is that a slogan? That's the name of the company?
Jim Padilla:What is the name of the company
Rich Goldstein:name of the company? Okay, great. So like that's, that can be a trademark, the logo, the G logo you created, that could be a trademark as well. And if you have a slogan, then like that could be, that could also be a trademark. So it's kind of like, you know, just do it. That's a trademark, or the real thing like Coca Cola, that's a trademark. So the things that when when customers see it, and if a competitor were to use it on their product, your customers might be confused and think that dealing with you, rather than the owner of your competitor. That's what trademarks are all about.
Jim Padilla:And is I know, there's you know, do it yourself legal sites that people can go and 250 bucks get a trademark or get you know, is what's the risks? And you know, obviously everybody can't afford, you know, good quality, legal service and representation, but they want to get this kind of stuff done. How would you recommend navigating that wisely?
Rich Goldstein:es who have filed hundreds of:Jim Padilla:totally. That's, I'm hearing that. I mean, this is the game we're playing. We're in the, you know, in the journey of our business where we're looking to acquire companies and do some things at higher levels than what I typically done in the past. Everybody's not there. And my encouragement would be if you're, if you're not thinking that if you're, if you're so entrenched in the business, that you're not actually seeing where you might exit, you're just like, I'm just gonna run my business. The only thing I would say, is witness, look back in the last three years, how much has the world changed? And how fast? And did you predict it? No. So how do you know what was what is your confidence in your ability to predict what's going to come in the next three or 10 years, and so you don't want to be seven years down the road and go, Man, I should have trademark, I should have gotten those patents I should have. Because like you said, a lot of the stuff you may not be able to. And it just you may not have the protection that you need at that time. So I would I would encourage, start thinking about the time that even if you don't want to exit it, but you want to hand it off to somebody in the family, or just get an investor, you all of a sudden, do you want to go from a million to 100 million, because you now learn something about your marketplace or your business that says, wow, there's a huge exponential jump that I can make here. And then that's not the time you want to go back and start trying to get all this stuff done. So what is your thoughts on it?
Rich Goldstein:Yeah, absolutely. And I think just in general, it's the things that you do in your business, that make it sustainable, and make it transferable that that create value. So a lot of a lot of areas. A lot of people have very successful businesses that kind of fail the transferability test to a potential buyer. And that could be just something that that just seems fine, like, well, 40% of your revenue comes from one customer. And you're like, wow, yeah, we've got we've got a great relationship. But then the fact is that you've got a great relationship. First of all, it's a customer concentration issue, which is a red flag to any one buying new business. But then the fact that that you have the great relationship means that someone buying the business isn't necessarily acquiring that relationship. So it's like all of the ways in which the business depends on you, or some key employee such that if they if they suddenly left, things might fall apart, that there aren't systems in place, like all of these areas are, are things that really compromise the value of your business, compromise the integrity of your business. And IP is just one of those areas, right IP is just one portion of what they call structural capital, which are, it's the, the systems and the IP. So the systems including hiring systems, including employee, employee manuals, things that kind of set out the the SOPs, or standard operating procedures. Those are things that give value to your business. And so like the way in which you organize, organize those things, you dot the i's and cross the tea's are the things that make your business transferable, not just if you're going to sell it but transferable to another generation. So having the trademark having the systems in place mean that you could potentially transfer your business to the next generation with less hoopla.
Jim Padilla:So before we wrap up here, I want to, I would love for you to talk to a listener who is, you know, a lot of people we work with our consultants and coaches and experts. And the vast majority of people in that space, operate under a business that is solely attached to their name. I made an intentional choice to never call this the gym media company. Because I wanted to, I wanted to make sure that it wasn't as already a personality brand as it is I didn't want the name associated with that as well. What's What's the pitfalls? What What should people be thinking about? As they're making that decision? Yeah,
Rich Goldstein:absolutely. I mean, that's the thing is like, having, having a company be all about you, and your name could allow you to have people remember you more and capitalize, and you'd capitalize more on the reputation that you've created. But you're not building an asset. You're not building an asset that's transferable. I mean, and in some cases, if it is transferable, you might end up selling your name along with the business. So it's like, if you've got a coaching practice that's really built on your name, when you exit the business, you're probably not going to be allowed to use your name in conjunction with let's say, coaching services anymore. Because it might be confusing to the customers of the company that you just sold. So that's one of the downsides to and, in general, if you're looking to build a business that's scalable, it pays to to build a brand. Even Tony Robbins has, over the last, I think about 10 years, pivoted from slightly just like Tony Robbins straight up to the Robbins Madonna's coaching company. And so it's because he's recognizing that, you know, it's not transferable to just be Tony Robbins. So like, he's working on that. And I think it pays for any, you know, any business of that sort consultants and coaches on any level to think about building a brand. And you can still be front and center with the brand. And you can still be out there and, and well known that, that you're creating interesting things in your space. But ultimately, you want to strike a balance and build that brand at the same time. Because then you'll have something that's transferable.
Jim Padilla:Yeah, I like to think of myself as the spokesperson for the company, as opposed to the identity. Because then, then that is movable. At some point, we can get someone else to be the spokesperson for the company. And it's not attached to everything that we're doing, because it isn't all the everything inside the company isn't Jim and Cindy, this, it's systems process strategies, you know, vault of information. And now, now we got to get on the IP journey and the protection of all of this stuff. So we can, you know, increase the asset
Rich Goldstein:value of the stuff. Agreeable in my case, like Goldstein, patent law, which, you know, I've been doing for a very long time before I was really even thinking about scalability. But I have pivoted to more of a, of an owner role in the company, I spend a little of my time actually on the legal work, people coming to my company aren't necessarily looking for me to be the dancing bear. They're looking for my team. And so I have mostly been able to navigate that. But yeah, would wouldn't be that much better. If it wasn't gold seemed patent law, but was something that didn't have my name in it. Right. So like you so it's, it's definitely a worthwhile pursuit. So how to this is really
Jim Padilla:good information. And to get into that, and it's very specific information that, you know, everybody listening is determine is this something I need? Or is this something I need now? But once you do, it's like, you need to get all the right information. How do people get access to your brain or the resources that you have?
Rich Goldstein:Okay, yeah, absolutely. And first of all, I'm a really big proponent of education on IP. It's why I love speaking on podcasts about IP or on stages, or every opportunity I can to speak to entrepreneurs, to help them to better understand how IP affects their business, so they can make good decisions. So I've created a bunch of resources for that. I mean, one is that the American Bar Association asked me to write a book to explain to entrepreneurs how patents work. It's the ABA consumer guide to obtaining a patent. I have to take the stick. Post It note out. Yeah. So like, get that on Amazon. And it's about a four hour read. And if you read that you'll, you'll know more than 95% of entrepreneurs about how patents work. I also have a podcast innovations and breakthroughs, where it's it's all about the path that people take to bring an AI idea from concept to out in the world. And if you want to learn more about patents, also, I've got great videos on my website Goldstein, patent law.com. And lastly, if you want to contact my team, and to to find out if it's a match, to work with us to have us help you with something, you talk to Larry Slaven for my team, and I have this link set up, it's just speak to larry.com, speak to larry.com, you could set up an appointment, to kind of triage where you're at and, and whether we can help. That's excellent,
Jim Padilla:we'll make sure we've got all of those links in the show notes so that you can get in there and access in case you're driving or on the treadmill, or whatever it is you're doing right now. And, you know, bookmark this, because this is something that, you know, realistically, you probably haven't been thinking a lot about, and you might not have been thinking about today. And now that it's in your mind, you're going to want to make sure that okay, as you're talking to your team, to your partners, to whomever you're gonna want to know right where to go to grab this episode. So you get all the resources inside of there and get access to his team. Because these are conversations that if you're not having, you should be. And I will say, you know, I've come across rich, you know, about a year ago and mastermind that we're a part of, and I've loosely given it some consideration prior to them. But ever since I met rich, it's definitely in you know, it's it's now part of the conversation is like, these are things we have to get done. And so then once you're gonna get them done, you got to get informed to get them done, right. So now that it's in your field of view, because say, take some actions, bookmark this, put us put aside some time on the calendar to go check out some of the videos on his on his page, talk to Larry, go to the link book a conversation, having a conversation doesn't commit you to anything, it just gets you informed. Right? So let's make sure that you do as we like, say, often, it costs you nothing to ask could cost you EVERYTHING not to so let's make sure that you get this all done. And
Rich Goldstein:add IP to your repertoire. You know, that's the thing you have, you know, as a business owner, you know a lot about a lot of different things, you know a little bit about shipping a little bit about taxes at IP to one of those things that you know, enough about to get you by.
Jim Padilla:Amen to that. So what's what's any any parting thoughts as people are moving through these times right now what what you know, from your mindset as somebody who the first thing you touched on was mindset, which I appreciate? What are the mindsets that people need to be bringing you with them into an unsteady or an uncertain marketplace and economy that we're into right now?
Rich Goldstein:Yeah, I say one thing that I really think is a key to overcoming a lot of the risks is diversification. So try different things. Diversify, you know, and this is and that advice comes at the cost of something else, which I hold near and dear, which is focus, like me on people that are working on 20 different businesses, like none of them are going anywhere, right? So it's about, it's about focusing on, on on one key direction. But one thing I've noticed with products, and a lot of times products have risks, risks of competition, risks that you could be infringing someone else, it's that it pays to not have all your eggs in one basket. If you're doing products, then yes, do products, but do a few different products in a few different categories.
Jim Padilla:Well said, from the expert, so thanks so much for being here, rich, and I will make sure that everybody is sending, you know, interests and, and ideas and thoughts to you so that you're thinking with IP in mind going forward here. Make sure that you guys like rate, review and subscribe, do all the things that are necessary to help keeping us getting in front of other people. And I share this with anybody that you know, is building products, or creating information because I promise you, almost none of them are thinking about this. They're just thinking about getting their product done, because they're just a good entrepreneur who knows how to build things to solve problems. But they often we can create problems for ourselves by not doing things with everything in mind that we know we should to reinforce. So share this information. You'll be a great resource and a great friend to anybody that you do. So thanks as always for being here because we know you can be anywhere else. We appreciate you trusting us to be part of your success team. Go create opportunities because they're all around you change lives and people make a lot of money. We'll see you soon