STARTING OVER 

 

 If life is a journey, then expect corners and steep slopes, cross roads and dead ends.   There will be happiness and sadness, success and  failure, love and heartache. Oftentimes, you will encounter situations where things are going smoothly your way then suddenly, in the blink of an eye, things crash and  turn your world up-side-down.  In that moment you may feel distraught and struggle to start over again.

Starting over can be easier if you follow these principles:

Acceptance: So, someone hit your car and drove off before you could take his registration number. What good does ranting and raving do? You can drive the car with its dents and whatever other damage, or you can pay for it to be repaired. Actually, there is another option. You can spend time and money on a private detective to conduct forensic investigations to try and pin down the model and colour of the car that hit you, at what speed it was moving etc etc, then interview all the people with similar cars etc etc...

Acceptance helps you focus on how you will act and move forward rather than complaining and relieving the pain that was caused you and your car. It's not what happens to you, but how you handle what happens to you, that's going to make the difference.

Learning: Your friend betrays you by stealing your idea and commercializing it as her own. You can cry and block yourself from ever trusting a friend again, or you can learn how to protect your ideas from intellectual property theft. Opening yourself to learning is a good way to turn setbacks into opportunities.

Planning: So you messed your schedule and missed the application deadline for that scholarship. It doesn't mean you shouldn't try again next year. After failing, you may lose your appetite for dreaming, for fear of failing, and this can mess you up for the future. Failure is in the past, pick yourself up and keep believing. Who knows, a better opportunity may come your way. Just plan better the next time.

Moving on: You can remind everyone, all the time, about the day someone messed your car; or about the friend who cheated on you; or about the deadline you missed. Or you can use the energy to move on. What's done is done, however difficult it may be to accept.

Much of life is learning and growing, falling and getting back up, accepting and going on.  If you want to go far, sitting in the car, however powerful, won't get you there. You have to start the engine and drive. This may mean working with a coach, changing jobs, learning a new skill, reading self help books, moving the furniture around, or relocating to a new town. As long as you are not dead, you can do something to start over.

PROTECT YOUR IDEAS

IDEA TO ACTION QUOTE: An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied - Arnold H. Glasgow

 

Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind embodied in tangible form, and is important to your small business. It's your ideas, and their implementation, that have got you to where you are today. How are you protecting them?

There are 4 common types of intellectual property symbols:

©: Indicates copyright is claimed. Copyright is a set of exclusive rights granted to the author or creator or other owner of an original work, including the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work. Such works include books and papers, maps, sheet music, plays, paintings, photographs, architectural drawings, sound recordings, motion pictures and computer programs. To clearly  claim copyright it is useful that  a work has three elements: The © symbol (the word "Copyright" can also be used), the year of first publication and the name of the author or owner. In Kenya Copyright lasts for the author's life, plus 50 years.

TM: Is usually written as a superscript (^TM) and indicates the intent to protect the mark used by a company related to its goods or services.

SM:This is similar to the TM mark, and is used in regards to a service rather than specific goods or the packaging or delivery of the service.

®  indicates that the service or good has been registered.

While it is not mandatory to register your trade marks, doing so will help you

a)       Prove ownership more effectively, should it come to that.  

b)       Put off people who might otherwise infringe on your Intellectual property rights.

c)       Secure business value when others want to use your trade marks, especially if you should choose to expand through franchises.

The Kenya Industrial Property Institute is responsible for registration of trade marks in Kenya. You can find more information by clicking here. Once the trade mark is approved for registration it will be advertised in the KIPI journal to allow interested parties an opportunity to raise any issues, before the mark is finally registered.

The registration is valid for 10 years, and can be renewed for a further 10 years. For local applicants it costs about 4000/= to apply for registration, 2000/= to register it and 3000/= to advertise the registration.

What to do if you discover others using your intellectual property

If you find that your intellectual property is being used without your permission, contact a lawyer  who will probably draft a simple letter notifying the offending party of the infringement and requesting that it ceases using your trademarked or copyrighted material.

July 2: How to Make your Converstions work better

Time: 9.30am - 12.30pm

Place: 1st Floor, Luther Plaza

Your investment:2,650/= covers workshop materials and snacks. pay by mpesa to 0722759791. An additional 200/= cash will be required for parking.

Register here

Q: What areas does a life coach cover so that expectations are clear from the outset?

A:  In a coaching relationship the client sets the agenda.  For first time clients, the coach will usually send out a welcome packet that explains what the coach does, and gives some guidelines about the potential relationship. In the introductory session , the coach will explore what the client understands about coaching, and what they expect to get out of coaching.  The client  and coach will use this session to check whether they make a good fit for each other, for a successful coaching relationship.

Subsequently, at the start of each session, the coach will  ask what the client wants to be coached on, and what they expect to take away from that session. Over the course of the relationship the coach will make reference to the client's overall goal, and check with the client whether he or she is comfortable that he or she is  moving in the direction he or she wants.

If, in the course of the relationship, or the session, the coach senses that there may be a need to explore something not specifically requested by the client, the coach will ask for permission to go there, and only do so if the client wants to.