Dealin with the Man

I spent most of the morning handling the unpleasantries of filing the necessary paperwork to get the business started. It was actually quite painless. My first stop was the County Clerk, where I filed my ficticious name. My friend Sean who works in the Tax Collectors office saw me and it was nice to know I was among friends.

Next I went to the city to inquire about a business license. The lady said it wasn't really necessary until I started making money, so I should wait until the new year. After that I visited my old pal Steve in the planning department for their approval.

Next stop was The Union Democrat. It cost $88.00 to run the public ad for the ficticious name. My last stop was the bank to open a business account.

That's the beauty of living in a small town. I know many of the people I'm doing business with and every thing I need is in a one block radius of downtown.

Tag line

What do you think of the tagline "Woof Hoofs: Shoes fit for a dog"?

Trademark Application submitted

Well, I did a trademark search. The closest to my logo and company name is "Hoof & Woof". The image is of two horseshoes. They sell shirts and some kind of pet apparel I guess. Could not be mistaken for the Woof Hoofs brand or product line.

So I filled out the trademark application and paid my $275 bucks! This is the first major step. It takes quite a few months to process, so we'll see how it goes.

Field test

I took Baxter out to Dragoon Gulch to test the latest prototype of the dog boot design. He seems pretty comfortable with them on and shows no signs of wanting to pull them off. So we parked and got ready to hit the trail (about two miles round trip). About five hundred yards on our way I noticed one of the boots coming loose. I snugged it up a little and we were on our way. Every thing seemed to go very smoothly.

On the way back, I noticed, however, that the boot that gave me trouble in the beginning had spun around bottoms up. The other boot stayed in the right position, but it slipped out a bit. Need to figure out why one performed better than the other. Also noticed the lycra material picks up burrs, which could cause premature wear and tear.

The boots wash and dry well and there were no signs of abrasion on the ToughTek soles. Mixed feelings, but not too worrisome.

Got a good book, Six Week Start-up from the library. Very helpful in mapping out the things I need to launch the company.