[quote style=”boxed”]Take vacations. Spend time with the family. You aren’t productive as you think you are working 70 hours a week. Outsource and delegate.[/quote]
Gabriel Goldstein is a creative thinker who likes solving engineering problems. Gabriel is passionate about helping businesses and inventors bring their ideas to life. He is the owner and chief engineer of Anidea Engineering, a product development company of electronic centric products.
What are you working on right now?
Right now I’m working on an LED controller system for the entertainment industry. It is a pretty complex control system with various power supplies, a microprocessor and and programmable logic. The work was referred to us by an old co-worker I worked with over the ten years ago.
What does your typical day look like?
Depending on the day, checking emails, address any issues (put out the fires), check in with the other engineers, and then work on any projects that I’m working on.
What is the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?
I was a proud sandwich artists for about 6 months at Subway. I learned how to interact with customers and to take pride in what I do no matter what the job.
3 trends that excite you?
LED lighting, wireless technologies, cloud computing. They aren’t incredibly new, but I believe they are still exploding and the best is yet to come.
How do you bring ideas to life?
We are very excited about what we do here. We feel we are making the world a better place and helping inventors and companies achieve their dreams. We are always applying what we know and finding new ways to apply technologies for our clients.
What inspires you?
Solving hard problems. Making things work.
Where did you grow up and how did that influence who you are today?
I grew up in South Florida. My family was the greatest influence. I was surrounded by entrepreneurs and a few of them were technically minded.
If you were to start again, what would you do differently?
I would get in touch with my inner salesman/marketer much earlier. For a long time I would just be an engineer and my sales would come just by word of mouth. Learning to sell and how to stay in front of potential customers was a lesson I had to learn the hard way.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Take vacations. Spend time with the family. You aren’t productive as you think you are working 70 hours a week. Outsource and delegate.
What is one problem you encountered as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
Stay organized. There are a ton of free and cheap software and services out there to help you keep track of contacts, tasks, production, and general project management. Research them and use them. Implementing these systems from the start is time consuming, but as your business takes off, you can grow more efficiently and effectively.
If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be and how would you go about it?
I’d solve the energy problem with the desalination of water.
Tell us a secret.
I don’t know how to do whistle. I’ve tried for years. I just can’t seem to do it.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Automatic latex glove applicator.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read, and why?
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. It tells a great stories about how and why people are successful. Practice makes perfect; and some luck.
Three people we should follow on Twitter, and why?
I don’t suggest you use Twitter. It’s for mindless lemmings, and movie stars. 🙂
But if you do, these are some worth checking out:@entmagazine, @inc, @ideamensch because it’s fresh “in the know” entrepreneurial/company news, tips and interviews.
And of course follow us .
When is the last time you laughed out loud? What caused it.
Today at the beach. My daughter playing in the ocean.
Who is your hero?
Thomas Edison.
What should a potential client do to prepare to meet with you?
It would depend on the type of client they were. We typically have two types, companies looking to subcontract out development and independent inventors with new ideas.
Companies usually know what they want, but need to work to be sure they have realistic expectations. Independent inventors need to make sure their idea is indeed original (by researching it a lot) and they also need to be prepared for the long haul. It is hard, difficult work to get a new idea developed.
When did you know you were an engineer?
I knew I was an engineer when I was 5. I’ve always built things (and took them apart) for as long as I remember. While I have a degree for computer engineering, my experience and hobbies has developed an expertise in mechanical and electrical engineering as well. I’ve built add-ons to houses, my own hydroponic equipment and a CNC-router to name a few projects.
Connect:
AnideaEngineering on Facebook: www.facebook.com/AnideaEngineering
AnideaEngineering on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/anideengineering
AnideaEngineering on Twitter: @anideaeng
AnideaEngineering’s Website: www.anidea-engineering.com
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.