Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Autrige Dennis, Founder and President of ASCADEX Patent Illustrating Services, LLC., located in West Palm Beach, FL, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
ASCADEX is a patent illustration and design company. We help inventors and innovators protect their intellectual property through patents and trademarks. Our work involved the approved patent drawings needed to successfully file and obtain a US or European Patent certificate for their invention. We work with Intellectual Property law firms, innovative companies, and individual inventors.
Tell us about yourself
I started working in the patent business in 2003. At that time, I used to work in the fitness section of a department store. At that time, I had some design skills, so I would spend time analyzing the intricate design of the machines. My interest in patents was sparked when I realized that each machine was designed by a different person or company, and though each machine is different, they all had one aim - to help a person lose weight and stay healthy. While working at the department store, I stumbled on a job listing for a draftsperson. I sent my resume and was called for an interview. To my surprise, I was interviewed by attorneys and immediately got a job working in-house as a patent illustrator in 2004. While working at the law firm, I realized there were not many jobs like this available, which motivated me to start working on my business from home. My intention was to create a patent drawing business to help individual inventors who cannot afford the high fees of a patent law firm such as the one I worked for. Also, I wanted to create a business or a job for myself that would completely run online and enable me to work from home while living anywhere in the world, which was not an easy task in 2005 when I first launched the company website. Initially, the goal of working full-time for myself, helping inventors and eventually patent law firms like my job, was what motivated me to continue working every day. Now that I've achieved that, working on the latest innovative product or future innovative products is what motivates me to do what I do.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
I've had several accomplishments. From designing aircraft and auto parts to seeing products, my company designed stocked on store shelves, to overcoming two recessions in 2008 and the present. But my biggest accomplishment as a business owner is to be awarded and featured in Entrepreneur Magazine's 360 Companies in 2016 and invited as VIP to the award.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
The hardest things that come with being a business owner are Self-motivation, innovation/creativity, and cash flow. You will need to do all these things for yourself as a startup or pay a lot of money for them. It takes a deep understanding of yourself, your business, and your clients to achieve these things and have them work together effortlessly.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
The first tip is to love and enjoy what you do by defining your motive for wanting to do it. You need to enjoy every aspect of the process of creating and doing business. You need to create the product or services yourself or pay someone to create the service or product that keeps on giving. It cannot simply be a buy-and-sell process that mostly benefits the person you are buying from while you do the hard work of selling unless you have a highly effective sales channel for that product that you own outright.
The second tip is your outlook on your product. Do market research. You cannot simply "hope" that people will buy your product or service; you should "know" that they will buy it even if the result is small. This requires a test process you will implement to get the knowledge. The knowledge findings you've gained from the market research will move you to decide to invest money to create and launch the business. If that knowledge is successful on a small scale that you are happy with, your next step will be to scale that process to get the desired result depending on what you hope to get out of the business. You can implement this test without spending much money and time. However, you will know whether you want to proceed and do what you need to do to make the business grow to your expectation. I've tried this on many small projects that are currently making me passive income. I didn't spend a lot on it, I just implemented the three steps, and I'm making money but passively. Now, if I want to scale the business, I will simply invest money in promoting the business.
The third tip is to learn to master the art of self-motivation, innovation, creativity, and cash flow management to keep your business going for many years. For this, think Netflix. They started by simply stuffing envelopes.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.ascadex.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patentdrawings
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascadex/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ascadex/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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