Think Outside the Box - I Did

By Ron Doak

Six inventions that were patented, manufactured, and marketed worldwide created true stories true stories that could educate, influence, or just inspire. Four true stories about buying, removing, and selling government surplus property created many sleepless nights. Three true stories of adventure, danger, and humor.  All are personal experiences that required thinking outside the box to be successful. There are four story features  that may provide a budding entrepreneur information to aid in creating a product, a market, or a business model.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ron Doak
• Release date: Apr 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215128961

Ron Doak

Author: The Nickel Bag Think Outside the Box - I Did! Raising Chickens for Fun & Eggs Importing/Exporting - Covering Travel Expenses.

Book preview

All material is copyright protected

––––––––

I have titled it

Think Outside the Box – I Did

An amalgam of true stories and entrepreneurial adventures

Ron Doak, PhD, MBA, BCS

Author:  The Nickel Bag

––––––––

It is my belief and experience, that if you allow yourself to 

‘Think Outside the Box’, your mind can create almost anything.

Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think and Grow Rich’, lists 13 Principles

that could inspire and push you to do just that:

Think Outside the Box

This list of true stories and experiences are results from my reading

and applying some of the Principles of that book.  Hill’s book was published in 1937

and Mr. Hill attributes much to the success and words of Andrew Carnegie. 

I hope you will enjoy and, hopefully, take to heart knowing that

you too can do more than you can even imagine.

––––––––

Quit just dreaming About Something - DO Something

––––––––

Warren Buffet has proven how to be extremely successful.

and among his many down-to-earth utterances is one that lists just

four choices in life that separate the Doers from the Dreamers:

Pick Your Friends

Humans tend to move in the direction of the people they associate with.

Select carefully. Someone considered a Nerd today may be the next Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jack Ma, or Michael Dell. 

Why is a ‘Nerd’ usually successful?

They are focused on reading, education, and the natural world rather than fashions, hip hop, and parties.  They usually choose to be smart rather than popular.

Go to Bed every Night a bit Smarter

Reading is imperative to gaining knowledge and knowledge is power.

Read something each day to ensure you are smarter than the day before.

Try Napoleon Hill’s, Think and Grow Rich.

It is only 238 pages; your future could expand exponentially.

Improve Communication Skills

Improved communication skills will increase your worth by as much as 50%

with both written and verbal competence. If you can make others understand you when speaking or writing your perceived communication skills can be highly rewarded.

Learn to Say NO

Okay, you have heard this in conjunction with drugs, sex and jumping off a

bridge but learning to say NO is critically important in social and business interactions too. There will be many opportunities afforded you throughout life and learning to say NO could give you the power to choose the right choice from several options.

Stories by Number (20 total + Bonus)

Inventing and patenting an electronic dipstick for internal combustion engines and all the issues that developed, not the least of which was a resulting lawsuit that ensued. This and many other stories are presented here for your reading pleasure.

Story 1 - Fish Grabber (page 7)

Creating a product as a joke and on a whim from scrap materials is shown how the same could be developed into a money-making operation.

Story 2 - Another Road Less Traveled (page 20)

Experiencing Scuba dives was much more than just seeking out exotic sea life on near& seamounts but included modes of transportation many may never know.

Story 3 - Railroad Tracks (page 29)

Understanding that history has roots in the current day to include space travel that will amaze as well as enlighten you as to how small our world really is.

Story 4 - Electronik Dipstik (page 32)

Inventing and patenting an electronic dipstick for internal combustion engines and all the issues that developed, least of which was a resulting lawsuit that ensued.

Story 5 - What is a Corporation (page 40)

Explanation and reasoning on how to and why various business entities can and should be examined by all that contemplate starting and/or running a busines

Story 6 - Pretty Legs (page 46)

Foray and experience into the world of mail order business utilizing seconds that upscale merchandiser had rejected.

Story 7 - I Nuked the US Army (page 55)

War game played during the cold war that resulted in the author calling for a nuclear missile strike on an opposing group comprised of a United States Corps.

Story 8 – Tons of Tape Recorders (page 65)

Buying, removing, and selling tape recorders that weigh over 500 pounds each from a space made for items half that size.

Story 9 - A Ton of Cutting Tools (page 75)

Carbide cutting tools that are made to manufacture wing panels for a 747 make for some unusual strategies for disposal.

Story 10 - 1410 Computer System (page 83)

A huge CPU, numerous reel to reel tape drives, miles of cabling, a gang printer and all the ancillary components just ready to make someone lots of money.

Story 11 - Hanger-Eze (page 91)

Creating a product, patent, develop, and buy tools for manufacture before anyone even knows about such a devise makes a sales curve more difficult; plus, expensive.

Story 12 - The King (page 102)

Everyone has met someone famous at some time in their life or at least been in proximity that they have fond memories and mine are meeting The King

Story 13 - 1967 Lincoln Continental (108)

Lincoln Continentals have historically been large, luxurious automobiles but when you find one with an additional provocative tale, you cannot forget it.

Story 14 - Bottle Terminator (page 121)

Does the glass break?  Certainly, but what if you could be paid for what sometimes happen merely by accident?  This is one way a patented machine accomplishes both.

Story 15 - Backs+Plus (page 130)

Surely you have shopped or dined at a chain store or franchise at one time

another.  Ever wonder just how they get started?  This is just one example

Story 17 - Chain Grabber (page 134)

Drilling rigs use chain compounded together to produce horsepower. A chain break can take hours to repair.  Chain Grabber reduces the time by 70%.

Story 18 - Qwyk-Plan (page 138)

School teachers are required to develop & provide lesson plans prior to the end of the school week.  Qwyk-Plan was developed to speed up the creation time.

Story 19 – Vacapayday (page 141)

People love to travel.  Those that have some international travel know it can be costly. This method gives examples to help reduce vacation expenses.

Story 20 - Avocational Fun and Income

Most people would love to have an avocation that is fun, healthful, flexible, makes money for school or vacations and is available year around.

Bonus – Sandcastle – Not!

Ever hear about an opportunity that sounds extremely simple but financially rewarding and you go all in to realize unconscionable fortune? Do due diligence to make sure.

Fish Grabber

My travels were occasionally taken through East Texas.  East Texas is hugely forested, so it stands to reason there were numerous loggers and conversely, sawmills.

One time I was visiting a large sawmill in Diboll.  It was in the afternoon and most of the crew was doing final cutting and the necessary maintenance that most, if not all, similar businesses required to just keep everything running.

Sawmills are especially susceptible to daily, if not hourly shutdowns due to some malfunction in the process of moving logs onto the moving carriage that moves the logs back and forth past the 40’ x 18" band saw.  The sawdust, noise and moving equipment can create quite a spectacle, not to mention the danger, if one isn’t conditioned to being in and around just such a place.

Dangerous? Yes!  If the blade should hit a spike that some forest terrorist had driven into the tree trunk, the band saw would shatter into hundreds of pieces and spew saw blade shrapnel all over the area.

Breakdowns?  Oh yes, from the Pillow Block bearings on the loading frame carriage to the breakage of the green chain cut lumber unloading conveyer.  Also, the crew has to change out the huge band saws periodically as they become dull. 

The green chain is the name of the conveyer that moves the cut lumber away from the cutting area to a sorting area where the cut lumber is offloaded onto stacks of other cut lumber that match the sizes being cut.  Green cut lumber that needs to go into a kiln to cure; dry out.  As a log is cut, it can create pieces of lumber from 2x1 up to 12x12 pieces.  The finished cut lumber size is based on the size of the log being cut.  Obviously, one cannot cut 12x12 pieces if the log is only 12 in diameter to start with.

Yes, I know this is probably more information than you ask for but just wanted you to get an idea of the process so I can tell you how my Fish Grabber came into existence.

Back to my visit.  As I said, it was afternoon, and I was chatting with the sawmill foreman.  I noticed his hands were all cut up and looked very painful. 

What did you do to your hands?  Put them too close to the saw blade? I asked.

Nah, nothing like that, he said, I was fishing this weekend on Toledo Bend Lake and caught over a hundred bass. 

Okay, I replied, but what did you do, catch them with your hands?  You should have worn gloves. 

I did but after about 20 fish, the teeth start to wear through.

"Sounds like you should have used a pair of gloves you get with your chain