Making Something From Nothing: George C Keefe On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Avoid all unnecessary confrontation . This can waste a tremendous amount of time and precious resources. Take emotion out of any equation and weigh the facts which will produce the best results.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing George C. Keefe Encasement Guy.

Also known as Encasement Guy, Keefe is a contractor, consultant, coach, lecturer, author, and technical writer. His expertise stems from over 40 years of hands-on worldwide job-site experience with the coatings, painting, specialty contracting, indoor environmental remediation, risk management and specification writing industries. He believes and has consistently proven that not only hazardous materials such as Asbestos, Lead-Based Paint & solid Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) can be safely managed in-place but many other building components including roofing can be restored instead of being removed and replaced.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I was raised in a huge three-story older house that needed a lot of work when my large family moved in. I had the opportunity as a kid to see firsthand how making cosmetic alterations with paint had major impact improvements. I also saw how simple changes made huge differences in the overall appearance and feel of a room/ home/ building. These were a great influence in my life and are how they got me in the business that I’ve spent over 50 years in.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“As a being of Power, Intelligence, and Love, and the Lord of his own thoughts, man holds the key to every situation, and contains within himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he may make himself what he wills” “As a Man Thinketh” by James Allen. Reading this at a young age influenced me and confirmed I was the captain of my vessel and anything that my life produced and the universe delivered was under my control.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

Napoleon Hills timeless classic: “Think and Grow Rich”. This timeless classic was given to me by my mother when I was 15. It is a tremendously inspiring book on the common denominators of success; what anyone who succeeds in life does — whether they are aware of it or not.

The two chapters that stood out and greatly impressed me ware Chapter 9 — Persistence and Chapter 10 — The Master mind.

Persistence explains that most people stop and give up before attaining their goals. Sometimes they are very close to that goal and could have reached it if they had just pushed a little further. So if you believe in what you are doing, always push forward.

The Mastermind highlights the notion that what people do separately is small compared with what they may do collectively. It describes how the mind is a transmitting and a receiving station; and that linking minds together is more powerful than the single mind. The simple theory is that 1 mind plus another creates a third mind. 1+1=3

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

There are several theories in conventional wisdom that I was exposed to, such as “to be wildly successful you only need a 10% improvement on an existing idea”. You also need to first decide what your personality is. Are you a person that likes tangible or intangible things? A tangible personality likes to touch, see and feel something physically. An intangible personality likes things such as stocks, bonds, insurance etc. Things that you can’t necessarily touch. Once you determine your personality you need to pick something you like as it is more difficult to truly excel at anything we don’t like. In addition, you may want to look beyond it being a job or career and treat it more like a calling. Starting a business requires much time, patience, focus, and most of all, persistence. It is even more of an uphill climb if you are trying to do it in a field that doesn’t feel good or inspire your passions.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

A simple Google and patent search would be a good start. Although, as previously mentioned, an existing idea with a small tweak, can become extremely successful. Also, not all ideas are executed and promoted in a way that may bring success. All ideas do nothing on their own and always need action behind them. Ideas are often in the universal consciousness. An individual or a team can turn the ideas into something that can be brought to the market, turning them into a success.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

First of all, not all ideas should be patented as patents require funds to file and can be expensive to defend. Also once the patent is granted the idea and its components that may want to be kept secret become part of the public domain. In addition, if you plan on having your idea in the market long term you may not want to expose certain aspects of it. Once you decide if you want or need a patent you want to acquire competent legal advice and overall guidance on the steps to take that make the most sense for what you are looking to protect.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

Here I’ve listed 5 and one for a bonus.

1. Avoid all unnecessary confrontation . This can waste a tremendous amount of time and precious resources. Take emotion out of any equation and weigh the facts which will produce the best results.
2. Get competent legal advice when needed. In my business life, I’ve paid the most money in legal fees, even more than in taxes. Some, because I didn’t have legal advice and others because I didn’t have competent legal advice.
3. Pay attention to time spent on all tasks. Don’t confuse activity with accomplishments. Time is a precious commodity. With only a fixed 1440 minutes a day to work with, you need to treat them wisely or opportunities and deadline will slip by.
4. Stay focused (Follow One Course Until Successful). List in order of priority the 5 most important tasks you want to accomplish and then choose the top two. Focusing on them individually will produce the greatest results in the shortest amount of time. Identify, avoid and eliminate distractions. Any distraction that takes you away from preforming the task at hand is a time waster that can push you further from your goals.
5. Don’t let the things you can’t do get in the way of the things you can do. Sometimes effort is stymied because there are no resources available to accomplish things that will further your goals. Remember there are always things that can be accomplished and focus on them until other things become available.

*Keep your eye on expenses as a small leak can sink a great ship.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

See if there is a need or void in the market that your idea will fill. Determine if this is something that is worth pursuing. As Arthur Ash succinctly put it: “Start where you are — use what you have — do what you can”. Sometimes not having certain things such as funding for an invention, specific project or goal can paralyze efforts to push forward. I have always gone by the saying: “Don’t let the things you can’t do get in the way of the things you can do”. The most important thing is to get in the game and use what is available to you. One other important item is to have a plan to continue to educate yourself with whatever means available. Study your subject and be armed with the best information for success.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

As with any consultant or expert, they are only as good as their education and proven track record. If you have the funds, an industry expert may be the best way to minimize the time of getting an idea to the market. If not, do your research. The internet has made this easier than before. The point being, if you believe in what you are doing, try not to let anything stop your efforts.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

First, get in the game with whatever legal and ethical means possible. Once you’re in motion and committed, you’ll be able to attract and explore more funding possibilities, whether through sales or outside investments.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

I’ve been able to produce green products that are used to also turn buildings green by waterproofing and restoring their surfaces. The products are also used to safely seal in place solid toxic materials such as Asbestos, Lead Based paint and Polychlorinated Biphenyl’s (PCBs) that can contribute to Sick Building Syndrome (SBS ) and Building Related Illness (BRI). They are also additionally used to restore large surfaces instead of removing and replacing them: such as with roofing that requires precious natural resources for replacement materials. By restoring, we avoid generating harmful waste that needs to be transported and stored in overflowing landfills which give off tremendous amounts of harmful CO2 emissions grossly contributing to global warming and climate change. My team and I do all this to help better the world as we pass it off to our children.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

The world peace movement with education especially for the world’s youth.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Oprah Winfrey and talk about her philanthropic efforts and also be part of her ongoing effort to help humanity through her Angel and other networks.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.