would you be interested in this product? would love to hear what you think.

:)

Now, I can almost guarantee you there is something wrong with your filing. When the examining attorney points it out, act like a cute blond that just got pulled over for speeding. They can't give you legal advice, but you can ask things like "do you have similar filings I can look at?" or "what are some of the things people typically put there?"

They can guide you but not provide you with legal advice ... keep that in mind when asking questions.

After one or more rounds of this, you will have an filing that is accepted and registered.

Lawyers just pretend like you need them to file, but you don't, which is why there is even an option to file yourself and save the $400-800 in extra legal fees.

i agree, there's something wrong in there somewhere, lolz. i did choose the higher priced filing option which means they will provide guidance after it's review. :thumbsup

Oh yeah and expect your registered trademark to be valid sometime next year. It may be months and months before you even here from the USPTO attorney.

As I understand it, now that you've filed, you can slap the TM at the end of Take Charge. In 8 months to a year, when/if the trademark is approved and registered, you can use (R).

Go ahead and slap it onto your packaging now and feel good about yourself! :)

indeed. the app will be reviewed in 3-8 months and valid in 13-18 months. but i can apply the TM now. yay. it's all coming together. now the fun part- getting as many folks as possible eating it!

would look better with a new font

also just from the pic its not obvious if its a drink, something to eat, etc?

also you have weird capitilsation eg "Helps your body Heal Faster" / "Provides all day required vitamins"

a new font on the bullet points part or all text?

it's food, designed as breakfast/an adjunct to breakfast(add it to your oatmeal, cereal, etc). i am going to see if i can make it a drink, all the ingredients can be ground up and not lose their nutritional value. a bar version is also on the horizon, it will also be uncooked, just working out the details on how to congeal it all without having to cook it, with my mom's help, hahahaha.

yeah, i've got issues with caps, gonna go through and get that sorted out immediately though.

thx for the feedback eh. :thumbsup

Now I am not a lawyer, but I did spend some time in the nutritional supplements business. Granted, it was when I was younger and I was just a customer service rep in the call center. However, we had to watch every word that came out of our mouth when it came to making "health statements."

So, rather than saying "helps your body heal faster" you may want to say "promotes faster healing of the body."

I remember "promote" being a safe word.

To play it safe, you may want to add:

"These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease."

yes, we tried to stick with that, looks like one slipped by me though. i'll go through and double check that sort of thing when i do the final couple of proof readings. :thumbsup

You may still want to throw in the FDA statement...otherwise, someday someone on GFY may be linking to your FTC file...you know how people love to do that here!

true. i'm surprised this thread is going well, i was expecting the gfy hate parade to hit it hard. :1orglaugh

thanks for the constructive feedback and suggestions. :thumbsup

Do you actually have a legal food processing plant, or are you just mixing stuff up in your (or your mother's) kitchen?

Impressive sounding, however the skeptic in me wonders if you really have a distribution deal with Amazon and Whole Foods already, since you do not even have a package designed yet, nor a website, and it's unclear where the product is actually being manufactured at.

I started my mainstream career in the high-tech industry where I rose to become a National Sales Manager, and VP of Sales and Marketing, and we were very careful in selecting suppliers, in order to make sure that they had ISO compliant plants, Quality Assurance programs, etc.

Once again though, I'm curious as to why you have not hired a professional graphic designer/firm for your product, if you in fact already have national distribution channels in place?

Even if you don't have the money to hire a designer, it shouldn't be hard to secure a loan or attract an investor(s), since you claim to already have distributor partnerships with huge companies.

ADG

It's a serious biz thread. Usually only a troll or two will come into these types of threads.

Of course, I'm surprised some trolls didn't drop in to say "it's ugly" ... which they'd say even if was the greatest graphic design work ever.

You're currently doing my favorite part of business ... setting it up. I wish I could start a company that does nothing but help people get their own company off the ground. Or in this case, a product launch.

It is actually quite easy to get Amazon/Whole Foods to pick something up.

With Amazon, they will sell just about anything.

With Whole Foods you start by taking your product to your local store where if they like it they will give it shelf space and promote it as a local product. If sales are good they will expand it.

Whole Foods is very good about giving local merchants a shot.

gear down big rig.

i'll be happy to put your hate machine at rest and answer your concerns.

i am buying off-hours kitchen time at my local vegan restaurant to mix this product. I am packaging ingredients, not cooking and am following the local health codes and going even one step further by utilizing a non-cooking kitchen to maintain vegan standards.

selling at amazon is a matter of setting up an amazon store and adding you products, pending approvals. that's been done as you can more than verify within the next week.

i never said i had a distribution deal with whole foods, i said it will be in whole foods soon and it will be. and i do have a website for the product, your sleuthing is not so good if you think otherwise.

i boot strap projects, that's my style, that's how i like to do things and that's how i've always launched all of my business ventures, this one is no different.

now, go fuck yourself.

My favorite quote of the day. :1orglaugh

Ottopotto has some good recommendations, especially changing the compressed font. The product looks awesome, something I would definitely buy. Have you established a price point for it, I'm just curious. What will the domain be for the product's site? Did you think about naming the product something whereby you could register the .com as I don't think American Express is letting go of takecharge.com

i thought it apropos. :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

yes, i'm much appreciative of his constructive criticism and taking time to make suggestions.

thx for the kind words on the product, i think it's pretty awesome too and it's been my primary nutrition source for several months now. i'm working out the details on price point, i want people to consume it like a multi-vitamin, i.e. *take* it every day and will give a subscription discount if bought that way online.

i'm still crunching the #s on the total cost of the ingredients used per bag, the super fruits included are very expensive, but will have that sorted out over the next couple of days. :thumbsup that being said, i hope to come close to $22.50/bag. which is $1.50 per serving, can't beat that since it replaces several supps and breakfast.

I'm sorry that you are hyper-sensitive and take such umbrage at legitimate questions, but seriously, you don't have a price point yet and you're releasing the product this week? :helpme

I honestly wish you all the best, but you apparently have no clue when it comes to marketing.

Your numerous threads about your obsession with nutrition come across at times like a girl with anorexia (as shown in your selfpix - you and Stinky should have a lightweight guys abs contest):

http://i47.tinypic.com/6ptikw.jpg

I'm sorry, but I have to ask, what exactly do you do in the adult industry? Surprise me and show me an actual web site that you operate, or a link to whatever it is that you do in the industry, instead of just blowing it off, as you did my totally legitimate question about why you have not hired a professional graphic designer/firm to create your logo and product packaging.

ADG

ADG, he is just a surfer I hired to get us Unhealthy guys healthy again. I pay him per post to talk to us about Nutrition. Now I got him VC money to Launch his new Product to all of us.

Then he will hire a new Graphics Guy.

not hypersensitive in the slightest, you set the tone, i set it straight. i've never claimed to be an expert at marketing, quite the opposite, in fact. my strength lies on the sales side of sales & marketing.

yes, i am obsessed with nutrition, i've been a insulin dependent diabetic for 26+ years and feel fortunate my shit still works and decided to take as much responsibility for that as i can, you can continue to try and mock me for that but i will never feel mocked for being responsible about my health.

i did answer the question re: a pro designer, my comment re: my bootstrapping business ventures goes directly to that.


i find it amusing you claim i dodged your question yet i answered each and every one of them with solid replies yet you fail to acknowledge that and continue with the interrogation.

my business in the adult industry has mostly wound down and not pertinent here.

not sure why you are chose me as your next target after middlemen, but, hey, i was expecting some negativity in this thread.

How big would that "bag" be and what do you consider a serving? I'm assuming that if sales take off you'd be able to buy the raw ingredients in more bulk thus lowering the price point or I guess keeping it and increasing your margins. When I first read the ingredients I didn't view it as a breakfast supplement, but rather a healthy in between meals snack. Funny question, but how does it taste, since I know you have a rigid diet and can tolerate foods most other people might find bland or distasteful.

speaking of, i was hoping for a raise to a nickle per post. i know that's a big jump but my mom cut my allowance.

Slow Down Jumbo Plane,
Lets wait till you hit 10K Posts. :1orglaugh

the bag is 15 servings of 1/4 cup each. yes, will be buying bulk at some point hopefully, however, for these sorts of ingredients, the bulk price break hits at the ton+ mark.

i am not sure at this point how i would handle the price difference after buying bulk, i see value in a lower price point but also people see quality in a higher price point, it's a sticky issue. it can certainly be taken as a snack, i originally envisioned the product as the anchor meal in one's daily diet, and the anchor meal should be consumed as breakfast. i've included all essential nutrients in this product and after 8 hours of sleep we are naturally deprived of those essentials, my intent/goal is to charge the system with those nutrients and more, when we are most deficient of them, which is morning time.

taste wise, i will be completely open about that as i've tried to be about the product- it tastes fine. it has a nutty taste and a berry taste. it's not a comfort food so i don't expect folks to fight over the last serving but it's more than palatable. in it's current form, it does not have any sweetener, i am debating whether or not to add one, like blue agave nectar or one of the other natural zero glycemic index sweeteners. i've tried it with a couple and it is really good with them but i also want to keep the ingredient list short. currently, i take charge with 1/2 to 1 cup plain non-fat yogurt and chop up 1/2 apple, & 1/2 banana and it's really good that way.

i am also thinking of adding dried blueberries to the ingredients, so we'll see.

hope that answers your questions. :thumbsup

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh good one.

:1orglaugh

Not an expert in marketing, as I suspected, check...

I'm guessing not an expert in nutrition either (feel free to list your degrees if I am wrong).

All that aside, I wish you luck with your boot strap project (I'm a sucker for underdogs).

Your business in the adult industry is kind of what I expected as well. I may have missed something, but all I've ever seen you mention (besides non-adult subjects) was hanging out on one of Porno Dan's sets one time. Other than that, you don't appear to have said much about your involvement in the industry (pictures of sunsets and fireworks don't count as porn, although that is one of the things I strive to incite in people viewing my work, LOL).

Oh well, I guess you're not alone in being a fringe person in the adult biz that hangs around on GFY...

Anyway, I'm seriously sorry about your diabetes - I have friends, and some non-blood relatives, with that disease, and it is a day-to-day struggle for some of them.

ADG

adios adg.

You got icq dyna? If so, give me a bell at 125- 48 -- 3218

Thanks for that, sounds yummy. I did figure the serving size would be bigger, at least 1/2 cup. I'm concerned that charging $22 + shipping for a 30 ounce bag will scare many potential buyers away. Obviously I don't know your breakeven, but getting the price under $20 would be ideal.

hi, no, i do not have the icq. feel free to let me know another way to contact you and i'd be happy to do so.
sure thing. i hear ya about price, but check this out-

this product is one of the top sellers in this space
http://www.goraw.com/images/products/56_GCAC_p.jpg

it is a 16oz bag consisting of 4oz servings, so 4 servings.

price: $11.99

so for less than 2x the price, i am offering a much more nutritious product and almost 4x the servings.


re: serving size, i designed it to be as small a serving as possible, the feedback i've already gotten back from folks who've tried it say it is very filling and the nutritional analysis also shows it to be a filling product, as you can see in the chart below
(also, when you add milk, yogurt, etc. the calories come out to ~350, which was the target total cals i was aiming at when formulating the product.

now the question is, will people snap to all that? i hope so.


:thumbsup

http://i34.tinypic.com/34jd3sl.jpg