You can register a copyright without assistance of an attorney. Simply visit U.S. Copyright office website at http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/ and download appropriate form. Complete form and send it in with a $30 nonrefundable filing fee. This must be done for each individual work you wish to protect.

A patent is a form of protection granted to an inventor that protects his invention in United States for up to 20 years from date of application. Patent law states that, "whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, or any new and useful improvements thereof may obtain a patent." Owning a patent gives you legal right to stop someone else from making, using or selling your invention (or one that's very close to it) without your permission. However, proving that someone is infringing on your patent is often difficult and usually requires a trial to settle dispute.

Since first U.S. patent was awarded in 1790, more than five million patents have been awarded. The patent office receives more than 230,000 patent applications every year and I can tell you from personal experience that a turtle on Prozac moves faster than patent process. Patents can take several years, truckloads of paperwork, and considerable legal fees to obtain. The cost of obtaining a patent can run from $500 for a simple design patent to $50,000 and more for a complex utility patent. However, if your company has a truly patentable idea, you would be wise to invest time and money required to secure your rights. A good patent can be a valuable business asset.

While you can file a patent yourself, I strongly advise that you use an attorney since a naively written patent application often isn't worth paper it's printed on. Just recently my attorney did a patent search for me only to discover that a patent for a similar product was already in place. However, due to ineffectual language of patent application, patent was practically impossible for owner to enforce.

Good news for me. Not so good news for wise man who wrote his own patent.

Here's to your success!

Tim Knox tim@onlineprofits4u.com

6) Consolidate. You might know, by now, that I run several websites and several newsletters. It's becoming more evident to me that consolidating some of my efforts would help my business run more smoothly. Where are places in your business that you could consolidate your efforts and get more return on your investment?

7) Leverage. This concept refers to obtaining multiple uses out of materials you've already created. It takes a certain amount of skill to do this well, but once you get in habit, you can exponentially multiply your returns from a one-time investment of your effort. In creating new materials for your business, continually ask yourself, "how can I use this again?"

8) Vision. By staying connected to big picture/big vision for your business, you will be more often inspired and find yourself more in "flow". During "flow", you can accomplish great things in less time so spending time each day being inspired by your vision will help you save time.

9) Chunking. This strategy refers to completing similar types of work all at same time. You might implement this in your business by making a running list of calls to return and then setting aside a block of time dedicated to accomplishing this (or, even better, having one of your assistants accomplish this). It's more effective and a better use of energy, where possible, to accomplish similar tasks all together. Same goes for writing, scheduling clients, etc.

10) Analysis. Keep track of what's working really well in your business - what are you feeling proud of? What are customers complimenting you for? What should you be doing more of? Also keep track of where you feel things could be done better? What are customers complaining about? Analyzing your business and its progression over time will often point out places where you can simplify, consolidate, or change in order to save more time and work more easily.

I hope, after reading this, you've come up with some inspired actions that you can take, today, to find more time and create more joy in your business.

Make more money and have more fun!

(c) 2003. Dr. Rachna D. Jain. All Rights in All Media Reserved