Techversation, LLC

Here are some photos from the phone that I took earlier today. I cut sections of the wing off to facilitate mounting the ducted fans, and this of course made the wings much more fragile. This was expected, due to the foam core construction of the UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), and the corresponding wing spars will be inserted to compensate for the reduced structural integrity. This will also involve the use of some fiberglass, which I first applied to the nose of the aircraft with very respectable results.

So on to the photos:

Insertion of the carbon fiber wing spars:

Finally, some pictures I find a little abstract (though knowing the artsy people out there, they wouldn’t consider these as such) since they are from/of the floor:

So I’m here at the computer flipping back and forth between spreadsheet, bank statement, Paypal account, and calculator. Getting this work done, even at a personal level, is giving a great practice in terms of financial integrity. Restoring that has been a primary concern of mine since I started my fledgling business, as I know that how I am with personal finances will reflect on how I am with my business finances. Getting into the practice of effectively and efficiently managing money is something that we all should learn at a young age. I’ve been efficient in the past, and not overly effective. Combining the two is taking some courage and understanding – a bit of a learning curve I have to say.

I find that I am giving myself over to this sort of thinking – that of organization and of being a great money manager – as the means to the many ends. Yes, I want to be successful. Yes, I want my business to flourish. Yes, I want to add value to people’s lives. Yes, I will do what it takes – including taking the time to do the spreadsheets and financials – to make this all work. I can do this on a shoestring budget too (my strong suit in efficiency!).

Add to that the new financial success group that I have helped formed with a friend and some new friends made after we did the Millionaire Mind training seminar. We now have a structure in place every Sunday evening to get together to talk of our successes, whatever they may be, and to create accountability and the possibility of our various conversations alive. We are here to support one another, and to lend our various talents and expertise to the whole group. You never know what someone can contribute to your life, or vice versa, unless you are talking and actively communicating. To have such people in life is truely a blessing.

I attended the Millionaire Mind Intensive weekend just recently, and I’d have to say that it IS intense. I recommend it to anyone looking to have breakthroughs in money and your relationship with it. It definately takes a deep, hard look at how you feel about money, how you grew up with it, and your relationship to it.

I think that for business people, especially developing and learning business people like myself, it is a course that you ought to take. It really has you look at who you are, and how you take on your personal responsibility when it comes to creating wealth and abundance in life. Not just your life either, but everyone’s life around you. As business people, we have to realize the impact we make in the world, and be responsible for that.

So there is an article at 9news which talks about small businesses which rely on UAV’s, or unmanned aerial vehicles, to do aerial photography and how they have been effectively shut down. As a company that is looking to move into that field, albeit a bit more afield than the company in the video, it is unnerving to have to deal with regulations, or more correctly, declarations that upset the entire balance of how you can operate.

I went to the FAA website, and did in fact find the advisory circular regarding model aircraft. I’m still unsure where the soruce of the additional restrictions is actually in print, but I’m working on finding that out.

In any event, development of the current airframe still falls under the “hobbyist” realm, and so testing will continue once the proof of concept is completed around the end of this month or the first week of March. What may be pause for consideration in the future is when the GPS tracking, cameras, and remote operating equipment is placed in the test rig and we need to certify it’s functionality and verify all of the designed capabilities.

As it stands now, it’s a bump in the road, that may become a large obstacle to be avoided in the future. I believe that we will be able to continue, due to the fact that our system will not be operated primarily in the “urban canyons” or even over generally populated areas. Also, this is a growing issue which will have to come to a head and some system of management and registration/certification process will have to be constructed.

What I suppose I find is so disruptive of all this, is that what was a perfectly legitimate business opportunity and pursuit yesterday, has been essentially declared illegal today, and no laws were even passed. A bureaucratic agency has handed down a “ruling”, which unfortunately, only law-abiding, hardworking, contributors to the tax base, American citizens have to find a way to live with.

From Joe Plumeri:

Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality.

It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions. And the actions which speak louder than the words.

It is making the time when there is none. Coming through time after time after time, year after year after year.

Commitment is the stuff character is made of; the power to change the face of things.

It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism.

Commit to make it happen!

Author’s note: this post has been back-dated to reflect that I’ve been rather busy and it took so long to write this.

It’s been a week now since my return from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and a brain dump seems to be in order. While I was initially looking forward to going, and expected to see some really incredible things, my expectations were less than met in terms of looking for breakthrough technologies. That’s not to say that I didn’t see some great things there, or that I wouldn’t go back.

Upon my arrival at the airport Monday morning with my best friend Richard (who is also my business partner), we received our first taste of the scale of the event. Leaving the terminal, we went in search of a taxi only to be met by a large line (which we later determined to be a huge line), which gave us pause and we considered the car rental option. We had a car reserved, but going through with it did not present a high enough value in terms of what we’d get out of its use. We thus went back to the line, where I broke out my Playstation Portable and began entertaining myself – remarking on the nation’s highest geographical concentration of Treo’s and Blackberrys for the brief moment of the convention.

After dropping belongings off at the hotel and a meal, we were off to the monorail to head over and begin the fun at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Upon first entering the area where the convention was taking place, we immediately got ourselves misdirected. Now as men, we were not lost, but rather temporarily delayed. You could even attribute our distraction to the big blowup tents, or the Girls Gone Wild booth. In any event, we took corrective action to get to the “real” destination.

The main convention hall near the Hilton was crammed full of geeks, nerds, and coroprate heads. Oh yeah, and a few booth babes. We stood in awe of the massive amounts of technology and money which were so quickly, yet adeptly, placed in their respective zones: Sony, Samsung, Pioneer, Toshiba, LG, etc. The lights were bright, colorful, and even flashing. What more could you expect from Las Vegas?

We wandered a bit amongst the various global vendors, and marveled at the vastness of their empires – but something was nagging at me. It was all so pretty, yet, it was somehow dead. There was no oomph, thrill, or electricity in the air (despite the abundance of it in all the circuits). Sure, there was a buzz, but it was minimal, on the edge of perception. Something I was vaguely aware of, but yet not solid or real enough to feel tangible.

Slowly but surely, the concept solidified and revealed itself as we walked from booth to booth to booth. By the time we had made one pass through the hall, and ended up by the spinning 103 inch plasmas, the concept was fully formed in my head: this is all the same, just a different name plastered across the bezel. I got it in that moment, how many of these companies are all doing virtually identical work, redundantly copying one another, and the damned inefficiency of all that human effort. I think I physically slumped at the glimmer of that insight.

Upon the realization of this insight, I resolved to not let it disrupt the fun I had intended on having here. I spoke my thoughts to Richard, and while he could appreciate what I said, I don’t think he felt exactly what I did. I inquired about “the good stuff”, and where else we could look at cool tech toys and gadgets. He mentioned the Innovation Hall. My ears perked up. “Innovation?” I queried. With that, we were rolling out to the next destination. Since the convention spanned several hotels and buildings, we hopped on a bus filled mostly with Asian guys to make our way to the Sands.

Once on the premises of the Sands, we rolled a “save vs. getting lost” and were unsuccessful. Now, we did make it close, and so we were only briefly “exploring” the myriad, cave-like halls of that convention center. Upon stumbling across the ingress, we found ourselves in a rather different envrionment. Most notable was the Playboy Playmates toting tasers – right there at the entrance! Needless to say, we skirted that issue. The next thing of note was the size of the booths, small potatoes compared to the indoor complexes of the early morn.

This was where I started to feel something tingle. Here we had booths that were maybe 20 feet square, or upwards of 20 by 50 feet. These were small businesses with big dream – and in today’s connected world, they have a global reach, yet not the global consumerism which touches the other companies I mentioned above. I saw companies which base their entire business model on one or two products. I saw a company which was once one product, and is now at about a dozen or more AND I like what they are doing. I’m talking about Wowee, a company dedicated to making fun, inexpensive robots and cool friggin’ toys. One of the great things I saw was an ornithopter – a dragonfly which flaps its wings to “buzz” through the air. Seeing this little toy (perhaps a foot long, and a wingspan of around 15 inches) flap through the air and actually exhibit some degree of control and direction was definately fun. The energy meter was going up, and I could feel the need to get my geek on.

Welcome to Techversation.com! Techversation, LLC is a company dedicated to creating a new technology conversation. We will be focusing on developing patents and ideas for the future. Our goal is to provide a forum for people to make life easier, more fun, and create abundance.

As a new CEO, I’ll be learning the “ropes” so to speak, on running a business this way. While I’ve had past business experience, this is my first corporation. Learning the rules and regulations, as well as the advantages, are going to be part of the game here in the near future. My hope is to accurately portray everything that I am going through as I start up my new business, so that others can learn from my experience and gain valuable knowledge which will serve them in their own pursuits.

The Techversation blog will hopefully give order to some of my thoughts, ideas, and experiences. Also, it will provide an outlet, which I can refer back to so as to provide a type of performance metric. In other words, a journal which I can look at and see if I am meeting certain specific measurable results. It’s important to have goals, but what is real is that you must act on those goals – nothing is achieved without action, and I’ve learned that lesson the hard way. Courage, the ability to act in the face of fear, is something which allows all of us to get in action and to create our futures as we would have them. To encourage others to do the same, is in my mind, the best way to give power to people so they can create their lives as they wish. Let me mention that when I say “power”, I don’t mean it in the traditional sense, like political power, or economic power. I mean it in the sense of how you feel stronger, more alive, excited and exhilarated as an end product of your having achieved a goal or committment – cleaning your house, fixing the car, or building your own home-built airplane. Keep that in mind for future conversations!

Techversation, LLC was formed on December 13th, 2006, in Denver, Colorado. I filed electronically, which was incredibly easy and inexpensive. I simply went to the website, filled in a couple of forms, and before I knew it I had clicked my way through the payment and a new corporation was born! And here I was, most of my life, thinking it was sooo hard. Well, that’s in that past now – time to get a move on.