California Baptist University Francisco Guerra Inventorpreneur Handbook

This Is How You Do It, Kid: The Inventorpreneur’s Handbook

by Francisco Guerra

You are Mr. Guerra’s attorney and legal advisor. Select one topic from the text and either tell him why he is proceeding according to your advice, or suggest an alternative course of action.

Remember, you are giving legal advice. If you agree or disagree, you must give support for your answer.

You can use any Internet source to support your position, but you must provide all URL.

An example:

Mr Guerra is a proficient pioneer and is accomplishing magnificent work in his field. His new strategies which include new procedures and some exceptionally inventive styles merit learning not just he uses such imaginative styles in his business and its upgrade yet additionally moves his representatives to work more diligently and make amazing progress.

His new advance which include an awesome propensity, that is to consider our item everything instead of focussing on humble things which draw in bogus clients. His thought that all “new business depends on groundbreaking thoughts” is a definitive manual for progress as the forthcoming scene which is the advanced arising power requests just new and imaginative things and regards individuals who attempt to advance, be innovative and attempt new stuffs, Bill Fisher (June, 2011).

Likewise the manner in which he discusses the social abilities and the relational abilities and their significance is to be sure encouraging. In addition the rationale behind each choice is very astonishing and sensible also. His thought and impression of being basic, evaluate and interesting is conspicuous and moving as in this universe of innovation he faces challenges and attempts new things to introduce his undertaking that additionally with elevated certainty.

Finally at certain spots he attempts to be unscrupulous with his correspondences and some different dealings which is wrong and subsequently needs to give an investigate that issue as working together untrustworthily isn’t acceptable and dishonest also. He has numerous imaginative and inventive aptitudes through which he can be a generally excellent business however in the event that and just on the off chance that he does trustworthiness with his work, “For what reason is genuineness significant in business”.

STEP FIVE: BE STRATEGIC-FAKE IT ‘TIL
YOU MAKE IT
“All successful people have a goal. No one can get anywhere unless
he knows where he wants to go.”-Norman Vincent Peale
Back in the early days of my career, I owned a company
called the Bombino Brothers Entertainment Troupe. I’d
parlayed my experience and various props from my magic act
events-grand openings, company picnics, retirement
into the entertainment business and catered to large corporate
dinners, etc…
In the beginning I played a lot of beat-the-check-to-the-
bank, but knew that if I could just get the business off the
ground that it would ultimately net a decent income. Part of
that income, I knew, would come from repeat bookings from
the bigger companies and their subsidiaries.
And the
gatekeepers to these companies and my future success?
The human resources managers.
So I’m a little fish in a big pond, right? But to land the
business I needed to secure to grow into the formidable,
profitable company I knew that we could become, I had to
front like a big fish.
This
concept occurs in nature all the time. Male peacocks
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spread their feathers, gorillas straighten and beat their chests,
the cobra flares its neck, the puffer fish inflates. Even men
draw their shoulders back and flex a few muscles when trying
to show themselves to their best advantage. Why?
To appear bigger. Because bigger is better, right?
While some might argue that letting your bulldog mouth
overload your Chihuahua butt might be a potentially
disastrous business practice, I’ve found that, for the most
part, the risk is typically worth the reward.
Picture this. It’s June, 1993. I’m a fit energetic twenty
something with more confidence than experience, and
enough initiative and intelligence to be slightly, shall we
say…reckless. Hey, it is what it is, kid. Hindsight is
beautiful teacher and there’s nothing more humbling than
failure. I’ve had my fair share of that, believe me, and am as
proud of those so-called failures as I am my successes. I
learned something from each and every one, the most
significant of which was the immeasurable value of trying
again.
Anyone can fail and quit—it takes courage to try again-
and since courage is the cornerstone of character, I look at
each one of those losses as the building blocks of my
integrity, the square of my principles, the yardstick of my
sense of honor.
Anyway, back to 1993. Bombino Brothers is in the
middle of a cash flow crisis and, though I’m a skilled
magician, even I don’t have the ability to make money
magically appear in the bank account. At this point I’ve got a
master’s in “creative finance,” creditors are ringing our phone
off the hook-always one to look for the silver lining,
congratulated myself for having a phone they could actually
call—and payroll is due. I’ve got a meeting with the head of a
large entertainment company and, bottom line, I need this
business.
I need it.
Landing this account would put us
black, would generate
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immediately in the
much-needed income for
some
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This Is How You Do It, Kid: The Inventorpreneur’s Handbook
months, but more importantly, would
put Bombino Brothers
the radar of all the human resource managers in the
greater Miami area. In short, it’s a coup, and when I walked
into that office I was bound and determined to come out of it
on
a winner.
In addition to my game face and my most winsome smile,
I’ve got on my best old suit—vintage chic, I like to call it—a
new tie, and a pair of nice but equally worn leather shoes I’ve
repaired with super glue and duct tape.
But more significant than any of that was the trick I had
up my sleeve.
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Human resource managers are notoriously overworked
and underpaid and this manager, in particular, seemed more
burned out than most.
No worries, I assured myself. I was confident I could
charm her.
She was plump, in her late thirties, no wedding band.
She’d pushed her hair away from her round face with a wide
headband and the eyes behind her especially thick glasses
were bored and disinterested, the hallmark of the post-lunch
carb-induced stupor. A quick look at her desk revealed a
couple of personal photos—a pair of children, the other a
dog—and a tidy, organized person who liked cocker spaniels
and jelly beans.
It was a start.
“Good afternoon, Patricia. Thanks so much for seeing me
today.”
“You’re welcome,” she sighed without looking at me, her
attention aimed at her desktop as she nudged it out of sleep
mode.
“Aw.” I said, glancing at one of the pictures, determined
to engage her. “You have adorable kids. How old are they?”
People, in my experience, loved to talk about their children.
Five and nine. But they’re not mine, they’re my sister’s.”
Her face crumpled. “I can’t h-have ch-children,” she added
brokenly. “Bad uterus. My husband couldn’t handle it. He
left me three weeks ago.
Francisco Guerra
personal
to
my
S
n
>
“T, uh…”
а
u
I blinked, stunned. This was entirely too much
information and, admittedly, my brain is ill-equipped
handle these sorts of emotional issues. It sorts information
into three categories — “interesting,” “useful and
personal favorite , “problem to be solved.”
There’s no silo for sad-I don’t know what to do with it.
“I’m sorry,” she interrupted, taking a fortifying breath.
“That was unprofessional.” She massaged the bridge of her
nose. “Remind me again why you’re here.”
Fabulous. I’ve already fumbled with the kid question and
she doesn’t even know what our appointment is about 1
could see this meeting circling the drain with much more
rapidity than I was prepared for. If Mike didn’t radio in the
next two minutes it would be too late.
“I’m Francisco Guerra
with Bombino
Entertainment Troupe. We offer a full-service_“
“Ah, right,” she said. “I remember now.” Unhappily
, by
the look on her face. “Listen, Mr. Guerra, we’ve got a good
relationship with Sam’s Friends and Festivities and I don’t
think—”
Thankfully, my radio went off before she could finish
giving me the kiss of death speech.
“Fran to Mike?”
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Brothers
1
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€
€
“Excuse me,” I said, inspecting the display. “I’ve been
waiting for this call. Mike,” I said, relieved for more than one
reason. “Please tell me the elephants have arrived.”
Patricia’s dim eyes flared with the first bit of interest.
“Yes, they’re here,” Mike confirmed, the hint of laughter
in his voice only discernible to me.
I breathed an affected enormous sigh of relief, purely for
Patricia’s benefit. “Fantastic,” I said. “What about the
midget?”
Silence yawned for an uncomfortable beat-probably
imagined—then “Yes, there are two of them actually. Twingo
Pork and Bean. And they brought their trained goats and the
blind albino python.”
It was all I could do to keep a straight face. Mike had
gone off script, but I couldn’t fault his improv skills. You
see, we uh, didn’t exactly have access to elephants or twin
midgets with trained goats and a blind albino python. We
were a small operation that needed more business in order to
grow…but to get that business we needed to look like we
were a big operation
Despite one more misstep when I asked about her dog-
“I had to put him down last week,” she’d said, in tears once
again. “I held his paw and sang the “Circle of Life”-I
ultimately walked out of her office with her company’s
business and, just as I’d known, that connection led to dozens
of others which made Bombino Brothers a force to be
reckoned with. I sold the business a few years later for a tidy
profit.
The lesson here? Be strategic, and don’t be afraid to go
big or go home.
While most businessmen will tell you that the shotgun
approach is best, I’ve always found a rifle shot to be more
effective. I used one big company to garner the business of
lots of others. It was a targeted, effective approach.
When looking for markets to sell your product, go to the
biggest source first, then work your way down. For instance,
when I patented the snow machine I knew that the film and
entertainment business would hold the largest pool of
From there I
potential clients, so I started there first.
contacted any venue with entertainment—theatres, night
clubs, ice skating rinks, malls.
I’ll never forget when we were pitching to Cirque du Soleil
in Montreal, home of their Canadian headquarters
. We’d set
up outside and, as it happened, it was snowing
. When we
brought
our machine into the building and demonstrated our
snow, management was blown away. They hadn’t been able
to tell a difference between our snow and the original, and
Canadians are pretty well-versed when it comes to frozen
precipitation, let me tell you.
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