WEEK 2 – Invest in Yourself

I was once given the advice, “if you’re going to invest in anything, invest in yourself.”  So that’s what I decided to do – GO FOR IT (again)!  Now that I have this idea swimming around in my head I need to protect it.  I knew nothing about patents or trademarks so I had to learn real quick.  Honestly, I was scared that I was going to unveil that someone had already thought of my big idea, but I owe it to myself to do my due diligence.  So for another week I searched the USPTO database for similar patents…and searched, and searched, and searched some more.  Yes!  There were actually some patents similar to mine, but they were all either outdated or weren’t designed to be consumer-friendly. 

So now, how do I file for a patent?  What’s involved?  And most importantly, how much is this going to cost me?  The thing about me is, when I have my mind set on something it takes over me.  All I could think about was getting my idea protected and fast.  I read up during my lunch breaks, I read when I was supposed to be working, and spent nights reading more when I should’ve been sleeping.  Fortunately, I found out that the USPTO has an alternative to filing for a full utility patent, they also have what they call a provisional patent at a much cheaper cost (hint: Micro-Entity).  This allows me to “test” my idea before getting a patent lawyer involved and pillaging my bank account.

So within a month I was online filing my provisional (takes deep breathe) – SEND.