A tool to achieve your dreams.

Thanks for being here.

Write your goals down, write your dreams down, take them with you everywhere you go and it will pay you dividends you didn’t know possible. At least that’s what it did for me. Today we’re talking about some things I’m extremely passionate about.

⏳ Estimated Read Time: 5.5 minutes

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here. Also if you’re reading this as a subscriber and know somebody that would enjoy feel free to share.

FOUNDER LESSONS

Dream cards are the one set of my sail that has delivered me over the years and set my direction in my life. 

I used to call the laminated card I carry around in my wallet my “goals card” but about three years ago. I changed it to my “dreams card” because the word dream is so light and sometimes the word goal can feel very heavy. I started my dreams card in 1999 so I have been doing this for 25 years.

Over the course of the newsletters, I am going to share my dreams cards from 1999 until today.

A way for readers to take themselves to that year and that age which I was and see what was important to me and how over the years the cards have been polished and refined Into an incredible tool to help you set your sail in a better direction.

Backstory:

In 1999, a class at the University of the battle of Las Vegas I was to write down goals in a current issues in business class, the professor taught us how to set goals and to write them down to carry them on your person and if you’re really great read them daily I have to be honest that I don’t read my daily but many of time in my life,

I have gone back to my dream card and reestablished what is important to me what are my values and where do I wanna be today but also 3 to 5 years down the road and even as my current goals card talks about 2045.

I can’t remember the professor’s name, but I wish I could thank him for what incredible gift he gave me and how much a class assignment has on my life.

What at first was one sided and unorganized has now been shaped into a priority value set and two sides of eight point font in the last few years I have taken lot of the volume out of my dreams cards as humbly I have achieved a lot of my dreams 

Results:

It feels great to speak to yourself in the future and ask yourself what are the decisions you can make today future you will thank present day you for, so when I set my cards, I’m basically having a conversation with my future self and envisioning the lifestyle that I want to design.

Success should be defined by yourself and not relative to someone else's definition of success. What is important to me is different than what is important to you but generally, it is a losing game to play the comparison game. What you defined as successful and what’s important to you. I wish you all the luck and blessings in the world to in time start crossing off the items on your card and it feels so good.

I usually set my dreams at a spot on Knox Mountain in Kelowna BC it’s where I proposed to Ria and a very special spot for me as we also named our son after the mountain. I suggest you find a spot that’s very special to you, the time to sit with yourself, and in time do it with your partner as I do now and write down the health relationship, career, financial, hobby, etc., of the things that are important to you.

I hope one day you see me at an airport and as it happened a few times, come up to me and show me your dream card. I will have a dry tear and we will hug. 

I am going to host a virtual “Dreams Card - meet at the fountain”  free google meet once we get to 1,000 subscribers, so please share the newsletter and help us reach our dream together. 

Here’s to being a Fountain in your life and hoping all your dreams come true .

Where do you file? How much does it cost? How much do you allocate?

These are some of the questions you’re probably asking yourself. I was faced with this question in 2007 and with limited budget how do you make the decision on what to allocate to intellectual property?

When I stated Saxx I didn’t have unlimited money and I needed to allocate smartly to create and launch the idea.

So, I asked myself what is the amount of money I am comfortable investing in this idea (this experiment) to see if people will like underwear which keeps your balls off your legs?

The number I came to was $20,000 – it wasn’t too much if I was wrong, I could recover, and also it wasn’t too small, that I wasn’t going to take it seriously.

So, when an entrepreneur is faced with entrepreneurial finance – they must be creative. I had a tuition invoice for the MBA program at Ivey – University of Western Ontario – and I thought I think banks give out Student Loans easily. So, I went to the Royal Bank of Canada and said I needed a student loan for tuition and showed the invoice. In less than 30 minutes I had my $20,000. *This is not Financial Advice

As an entrepreneur I have often used my reality distortion field to rationalize the moves on the edges, but I wasn’t hurting anyone, and I believed in my idea.

So back to the Intellectual property, now armed with my $20,000 I was in a stage of the inventor’s dilemma of how to allocate the budget, and also protect my idea?

I searched online for Patent and Trademark Law firms or Lawyers. I searched what the costs may be, and started asking for quotes for both Patents and Trademarks.

My thinking to support the investment for a trademark was influenced by the “Goodwill” line item of Coca Cola in the billions on their balance sheet.

A brand is the value in my opinion, it is the real estate in someone’s mind of what they think of that product of service. I knew if my technology worked the brand was the ship to hold that value.

So, I allocated approx. $2,500 to the trademark, and through the process the only near comparison the examiner discussed with us was Saks – Fifth Avenue – the Department store.

Yet our letters and logo were different enough and in about a year I was awarded the trademark at the USPTO (US Patent and Trademark office) and CIPO (Canadian Intellectual Property office).

In time I was correct that as copy cats came in the more valuable intellectual property became the Brand, Saxx, itself, but I suggested entrepreneurs do all they can afford to protect their jewels – the idea and the Brand themselves.

When you are successful but feel a need to pivot as you have evolved how do you make space to do this?

We amassed our two favorite questions we received since launching? Have a question? Reply to the email and we’ll get back to you!

Q: When you are successful but feel a need to pivot as you have evolved how do you make space to do this?

A: I am inspired by Madonna - she has reinvented herself too many times to count. I love that Ria and I have made humbly millions in Fashion, Real Estate, Legal Cannabis, Alcohol, and Investing, so were an example of a "pivot" it seems every 3-5 years. Kitsch Wines we did for a decade and in Kitsch years that would be like dog years a career. 

I think we all grow as people, and also our circumstances change. When I quit baseball I was invited to Spring Training but had already decided to set a new sail and direction. 

I also think about business as a season, and you need to prepare for the season to start with a spring training. A time to get in shape, get focused, get the compete up for opening day, and gel with the team. So in your instance I would suggest to step back and asses:

Q: What is your best advice on hiring and retaining good employees?

A: I love Charlie Mungers’ words, show me the incentive and I’ll show you the result. “If you have a dumb incentive system, you get dumb outcomes”. This video is gold

Ask me a question or weigh in on the answers by replying to this email!

Launching a business is no small task. No matter how big an idea you think you have, it still takes a lot of work and a ton of cash. Enter the Dragons’ Den, where aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their business concepts and products to a panel of Canadian business moguls who have the cash and the know-how to make it happen

Applications are open for season 20. We will start contacting select applicants in early 2025 to schedule an audition.  

We will be hosting in-person auditions across the country. Here is a list of cities and dates.

We can’t wait to see the incredible innovation and great ideas our Canadian entrepreneurs have to present! Here are some tips for a successful audition.

You can apply here! Also here is my audition on Dragons Den… Enjoy!