BAIL Money.

When Tangie got it's second wind in January 2012, I saw the light. The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, the light I had been searching for. There it was, I could see it again for the first time in a long time. I wanted to believe I was getting closer to it. And for awhile, I actually thought I was. Really, how long could it stay that far away? I am a big believer in the power of positive thinking. But, here it is July 2012 and the light is no closer, but still very bright! I guess light and time really do travel at different speeds.

My first visual pictures of starting an Eco friendly cleaning line were way too broad. I'd like to believe that all of us get visual pictures when we think about our goals. I sure do, so others must. At least I'm pretty sure there not just residual visuals left over from the Grateful Dead shows long ago. Right? OK, let's say there not.  The first was the "open the new business" visual, you know the big fun one when business checks come with the company name (like somehow that gives us new money), ordering cute business cards with a catchy saying on it, so clever that future customers could never refuse doing business with you; maybe even get  a logo on a few shirts...how fun! Then there were the OMG's visuals, like how do I pay sales tax??!! And thanks to my many mentors at SCORE.org, I had several visions of my BAIL money. Yes BAIL money. Visions of my new Banker, Accountant, Insurance agent, and Lawyer and all the money that follows them. So there it was, lots of great visuals, but not one that included the time it takes to finalize the name. I thought the name would be the easy part. To actually register the word TANGIE with the U.S. Patent and trademark office I didn't feel needed a full visual, after all it was a mere speck inside the big picture. I already knew the name wasn't taken by checking www.uspto.gov.

Since I already had my BAIL money in place, the lawyer was handling the trademark application process. He is a great guy, better then the other ones that were interviewed. Side bar: It is important to talk to multiple professionals before hiring one. You learn something from each person and therefore can make a well educated decision after meeting with the third or fourth person. Enough of SCORE talk......back to the lawyer.

I know that after he was retained, he explained it all. In detail. Unfortunately, after several months my brain can develop CRS. Some of you may know it, maybe a family member is afflicted or maybe you find yourself suffering from CRS more often than you would care to admit. Either way, the details got fuzzy and before I knew it I was submitting information to the lawyer about my sales outside Florida. It's all part of the process. In order to get the trademarked name to be Registered a Statement of Use must be filed with proof the product including the trademark has been sold over state lines. I did that. And now I wait.

The new breathe at the beginning of the year gave me new visions of mid-summer sales rolling in from local retailers, online sales, heck even some wholesale accounts would be active. How grand! Many of the things I thought would come by mid summer have not, but I know they will come because they are part of the plan, even though the plan changes. Many things DID get done. I finally got the website up and running. It's a work-in-progress www.ilovetangie.com but is starting to take shape and best of all it can take orders! All this of course was not possible without my peeps. It is true...."I get by with a little help from my friends". That is what I did. Got some help and took time to refocus the effort and get a grip on time again.

I find it hard to believe that I am still waiting on name. Something I hardly thought about. Funny part is that nothing really changes after the Registration, except that I can finally take the "little TM" off my logo and replace it with the "little circled R"....woohoo, right?! All I can say is that after all this work, the new logo better make me look 10 pounds thinner!
Stay tuned for the weigh in.....