The path to Self Employment

I have often told people how I started Quickscrews over 25 years ago. Rarely do I ever explain why I did it. As a young man coming out of college at age 24 with a degree in business I started out working in a construction company as a cost analyst. I worked for a small privately held company where the owner and his partner were very active in running the company. I worked in the operations department which was responsible for running the crews that were doing the building. I learned a tremendous amount on that first job but the most important lesson I learned was that in small companies much work that needed to be done was simply not assigned to any one person and if your were ambitious like I was you could simply take over the work and make yourself more valuable as an employee. The other lesson I learned is that is not always a good thing to try and make or suggest improvements in your company, or in other words tell your bosses what they were doing wrong. As I moved on from that job I began to realize that I had a penchant for seeing the weaknesses in each company I worked for, and continued to inform my bosses about those weaknesses. Again not exactly the politically correct thing to do. So it began to become apparent to me that possible I wasn't quite suited to work for others. Although I was a high producer and tireless worker, I also could not keep my mouth shut about the flaws and continued to point them out to everyone who would listen. I became a blessing and a curse for those I worked for. As I continued to find myself at 27 I ended up at a small private company selling nails and staple to a wide variety of industries including the Woodworking industry. I was and still am a very good salesman. I opened a great deal of new accounts for the company and since I was on commission I controlled the amount of money I could earn by working hard. I liked being out on the road daily and interacting with a wide range of individuals and businesses and felt this was something I easily understood. However as usual I couldn't stop myself from trying to tell the owner how to run his business. In the end it was this trait that tipped him off that I was going to leave and start my own company. In December of 1986 I had decided that I could no longer work for others and began the thought process of how I would start my own company. I continued to work diligently at my job while planning for the future. In early July of 1987 my boss called me in and asked me what was up. I wasn't quite ready to quit so I kind of played like I didn't know what he meant and then he said this: " Look since the day you got here you've been telling me what to do; how to run my business and so forth and so on, then for the past 3 months I haven't heard a peep from you, so I know something is up! Are you going to work for my competitor? Are you starting your own business?" So I told him yes I want to start my own company with his help. I would buy the product from him and continue to sell that product to the customers I had created while working there. He saw the logic in that and agreed. That company was Natco Fasteners and the owner is Dave Natali. I am proud to say after 25 years we continue to do business together, I buy and resell some of his product and his company buys and sells some of ours. I will always be grateful to Dave for he gave me the ability to start Quickscrews.
 

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nanosponge

Nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego say they have created a "nanosponge" that is capable of safely removing a broad class of dangerous substances from the bloodstream - including toxins produced by MRSA, E. coli, venomous snakes, and bees.

In a study using the toxin from MRSA, inoculation with nanosponges enabled 89 percent of mice to survive lethal doses. The team has published details of their work in Nature Nanotechnology.

Researcher Liangfang Zhang said nanosponges can neutralize a range of pore-forming toxins, which destroy cells by poking holes in the cell membrane. Unlike other anti-toxin treatments that need to be custom synthesized for individual toxin type, the nanosponges can absorb different pore-forming toxins regardless of their molecular structures.

The nanosponge is made of a biocompatible polymer core wrapped in segments of red blood cell membrane, allowing it to evade the immune system and remain in circulation in the bloodstream while it collects the toxins.

The researchers are aiming to translate this work into approved therapies as quickly as possible. "One of the first applications we are aiming for would be an anti-virulence treatment for MRSA. That's why we studied one of the most virulent toxins from MRSA in our experiments," said co-researcher "Jack" Che-Ming Hu. The next step, he added, is to pursue clinical trials.