A somewhat goofy mini-collection of stuff I’ve been reading, stuff I’ve been thinking about and oh, some completely random crap.
Basically the stuff that never gets mentioned here because I’m not the kind of person who can just make some teeny little point. Not into the whole brevity thing, as the Dude would say.
Actually, I’m under the strict compulsion to write ten pages about anything on my mind. So this is me. Practicing brevity.
Still no plans for tomorrow. My gentleman friend and I will probably just take advantage of the One Day Of The Year that we don’t get insane amounts of email … to get some work done.
Or run around in the snow.
And play Boggle. And eat latkes. But not all at the same time.
Item! No matter how great your business name, prepare to confuse people!
So … you may remember the story of how the Fluent Self got its spots in which I tell the backstory to the naming process.
Well, I’ve been going through old correspondence as part of my Jen-Hofmann-inspired Clearing Out Of Things I No Longer Need.
And among the many highly entertaining things I’ve found were 1. a series of letters from the State of California Board of Equalization addressed to The Fluent Shelf …
… and 2. a picture of the giant, fancy, expensive checkbook from WaMu with thousands of checks, each inscribed with the name The Fluent Sefl.
In completely unrelated news, I wish you all an abundance of sefl-awareness and shelf-confidence this year.
Item! How to screw up the concept of “business cards”!
Here’s the thing. They’re supposed to bring you business.
My first week in Portland I picked up a business card that was displayed at a local business. It was pretty. I was intrigued.
Not so much by the pretty as the fact that it didn’t say what this person actually did.
There was a woman’s name, an email address (a hotmail address, for shame!), a phone number and a website that was the same as the name.
But nothing else that would hint at why I was supposed to email her, call her or go to her website. I mean, it’s a headscratcher. Clearly you want me to contact you as you’ve given me three different ways to do it, but where’s the part about what happens when I do it?
Still, on the offchance that is was a weird marketing gimmick and not stupidity, I went to the website. I did. Most people wouldn’t have, but I am a rather extraordinary person, as I keep telling you.
Unfortunately the website was just a “sorry, we’re in construction” placeholder. I put a little note on her card and put it in a folder to follow up with. That was in March. I went again today and the site is still under construction.
So WHY for the love of all that is good are you spending money on business cards? Give that money to your web designer so she can finish your site.
Or, if you must get your business cards ready for the public, just keep them in a coat pocket in case someone asks you for contact info but don’t start planting them places.
*tears hair*
Item! Ghosts don’t like being sprayed!
Black Hockey Jesus wrote a sweet post last week about his daughter who had a ghost in her nap. Named Larry.
He gave her lovely advice, but check out this brilliant solution (tee hee, I made a pun) from Anndi in the comments:
We used *ghost-be-gone* spray. Basically, water, vanilla extract and sparkles in a spray bottle. It worked!
Genius. I am going to have my gentleman friend prepare a bottle for me.
Item! Pretty!
I want to move into Lucy’s textile studio.
Item! Fat, happy yoga women!
They’re fat, happy and they do yoga.
Okay, so I’m not sure who would actually buy something like this but I have to say I do like the concept. Take that, stupid Yoga Journal and every other yoga magazine who thinks that it would be inspiring for us to look at a bunch of barbie dolls. Ugh.
But yay for fat happy yoga women!
Indeed.
Move along. There’s nothing more to see here. That’s all the exclamation points you’ll get from me today.
Until next Wednesday.
I’ll be here tomorrow (possibly being deep and insightful but I don’t want to make any promises or anything).
If you’re celebrating something, make it a happy one. And if not, come keep me and my duck company while everyone’s away!
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Ok, so, about that shameful hotmail address. Is it really so unforgivable?
I ask because I have a perfectly good email address at my actual domain name… but I’ve taken to giving out my gmail address instead (which at least includes my business name, not personal name). For why? The “professional” email gets stuck in spam filters. I do not know why. It may have something to do with the spamming scum who occasionally borrow my addy to make it look like they’re writing from my domain. Whatever, there doesn’t seem to be much I can do about it, but Gmail works. So. Is that really appalling?
Robynns last blog post..Something to look forward to
@Robynn – If your ‘professional’ email is getting stuck in spam filters, that’s a problem. I’m sorry!
You know … you can set up your official email to forward to gmail. AND you can configure also it so that you can use gmail to send from the [your name at your domain] address.
That should solve things for you.
Though if you try that and things are still getting spam filtered, I’m not sure what to suggest. Gmail is still better than hotmail – at least it looks like you spend time online.
But as a rule — just in general — using your domain name will always look more professional.
And given that most resistance-to-buying-things comes from doubt in various forms, you want to take any opportunity possible to quietly remind people that what you’re doing is a Real Thing.
The equivalent in the offline world would be … oh, maybe a sign saying “entrance at the back” or maybe a store banner taped over the old Subway sandwiches sign. It’s just another little thing that might possibly give someone pause.
It might not necessarily hurt you to not use your domain — it will definitely help you if you do.
But again, you don’t have to listen to me. This is all my take on things, as always. 🙂
“The Fluent Shelf” – The new shelf from IKEA that speaks Hungarian like a native!
The largest design agency in this province I call home has, for the last SEVEN YEARS, had a “under construction” website with absolutely nothing on it but the little construction dude. Not even an email address and this is a company with over a hundred people!
Happy Christmas/Kwanzaa/Hanukkah/Festivus/Yule/Secular Gift Exchange/Animist Sacrificial Ritual/Drunken Debaucherous Shenanigans, Havi and everyone else.
There’s something you can do, which I am now wracking my brain to remember (having done it so long ago on the sites for which I’m responsible) that *helps* prevent (nothing’s 100%, unfortunately) the spamjacker problem.
::thinking with both hands::
Aha. It’s called Sender Policy Framework, or SPF. It’s supposed to “help prevent spam being generated from your domain, or appearing to be from your domain,” according to the article in the help system of my web host.
I think you can find out more at http://spf.pobox.com/
I put an SPF record on my sites, and I *think* I saw an improvement, but I’ll admit it’s hard to tell!
Hope this helps a little bit.
And got a gazillion responses, among them:
— Having a great big “Coca-Cola Sign” with your business name on the bottom in cheap little plain, black letters. (Thanks @techherding)
— Sign on (locked) front door saying: “Open some days, closed others. Check back to see if we’re here.” (@HiroBoga)
— expecting your girlfriend to take you seriously when you ask her to move into your parents’ basement, which is where you live… (@JessRS)
— Glitter business cards. (@Communicatrix, god I love that woman)
— Business card with text all in Comic Sans and those little perforations around the edges. (@zoonini)
— handwritten business cards on paper? (@craftychica)
— Former Dunkin Donuts (now just “Donuts”) leaving up all the old stuff (pictures, descriptions, etc) and just SCRATCHING off “Dunkin” (@blondechicken)
— Please leave all businesses inquiries in this box, conveniently located on the corner of 1st and 3rd Ave, try to ignore the needles. (@sbspalding)
— Crossing out the front of someone else’s business card and writing your name on the back? (@shannonmw)
— Sharpie on cardboard displayed anywhere. (@melle)
— I think it’s the anonymous PO box. (@cfnoble)
Basically, everyone was pretty much in agreement. So yeah, it’s definitely become a “thing” that people react to.
@Grace – thanks for the super helpful bit! I am going to ask my gentleman friend. I think that happened to him a couple of years ago too.
@Peter – !!
(same to you, my dear!)
Wow. I’ve never felt ashamed of my *email* address until now.
Then again, I go for practical over pretty in almost everything else, so practical I’m sticking with.
@Heather – I’m sorry, sweetie. No need to feel ashamed! We’re talking about businesses that want to be taken seriously. I think for an artist or someone who isn’t regularly interacting with customers/clients that it’s probably not going to be as much of a big deal.
If you’re a company, and you’re planning on growing into something big, then presentation and “yes, we’re a real thing”-ness is important. And that importance can be underrated.
But in your case, I think you can use whatever you want.
It’s definitely not about pretty, either way. It’s about first impressions and about making it easy for people to remember how to reach you.
Anyway, sorry for being a jerk. I get way too worked up when I see starting-up businesses shooting themselves in the foot. But no reason to make everyone else feel bad. 🙁
Hugs, Havi – it’s ok.
I didn’t know I even had feelings about email until this, so it’s good to figure out where I stand on this before I get deeper into how I feel about (dot)com vs (dot)net vs (dot)me issues.
Seriously – Hugs. You voiced, we listened, and we think about things to see if they are important to us or not, or how they affect our lives. Thinking about things is good. You keep stirring the pot, I’ll keep thinking.
I’m stealing Peter’s: “Happy Christmas/Kwanzaa/Hanukkah/Festivus/Yule/Secular Gift Exchange/Animist Sacrificial Ritual/Drunken Debaucherous Shenanigans, Havi and everyone else.” (I wish my brain was as quick witted!)
Havi, have you seen the “Old Jewish Gentleman” pillow at Etsy? Thought of you… http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18181435
Happy Whatzits!
ah yes…we are so sensitive! i have that same habit of looking at biz cards and thinking: you have a domain…why don’t you use @domain.com?
and then i just think, oh well…no need to upset someone and make them think i’m a smarty pants (which i am!) or a tech geek (which try as i may i’m not).
and then there are those 500 biz cards i still have that list me as my_domain@mac.com because i hadn’t set up the domain mail account when i ordered them (see what i mean about no geek!). and without a new shiny logo i’ll be darned if i’m going to spend the food money on new cards with the correct address (me@mydomain.com) on them.
please do let us know in english what your gentleman friend says about the spam filter thing…
enjoy your day of peace!
chass last blog post..mmm4!, the podcast.
I know you know Marcia Hoeck. At her place of business, they used to have a wall of labels that had come off of mail that had somehow made its way to them.
Heck Associates
Hock and Associates
Heckt Associates
And my favorite: Heck Ass
Johnny Truants last blog post..Unfortunately, pants
@Johnny Truant – Heck Ass is *awesome*. She should totally change her business name. It sounds so authoritative. Don’t make me open a can of Heck Ass on your sorry company!
@Heather – HUG!
@Chas – I shall wrangle. Hold on. And yeah, I still have biz cards with a gmail address and a ridiculous tagline and a list of about a hundred things that I thought I did … back from when I was teaching in Germany.
Sunk costs. I know that’s hard to remember when you’re not eating because you bought business cards, but yeah, sunk costs. Recycle.
One new client will more than pay for new cards, and you’re more likely to get that client if they think you’re the real deal.
@Karen – okay, that pillow is just weird. But whatzits! Happy those indeed! 🙂
Shenanigans! ShenANigans! This is fun.
Happy all that and more!
Asked the gentleman friend. It was a couple of years ago that his domain got hijacked. He reported it to his ISP and never heard back, but it stopped being a problem fairly soon after that.
So … did it help? I guess? Maybe? Yes?
Other than that, I don’t have any wise words except to commiserate and say that yes, that sucks. I’m sure someone much more clever than I will weigh in with something useful. Though, on the other hand, it’s xmas eve which is probably the worst time of year to depend on someone clever randomly showing up here since everyone is drinking egg nog or whatever. Whatzits indeed.
Oh dear I’ve managed to order moo cards without my picture on the one side and incomplete info on the back… I’ve obviously not got the hang of the website yet…
I have to say Glitter cards sound rather fun – not even just for xmas?
The changing to a more serious email thing is complicated by old emails having more contacts and therefore being easier and quicker to use than new ones…
creativevoyages last blog post..twas the night before Christmas
Merry happy shenanigans to you, too. Have a nice quiet day. I have just managed a pleasant several hours with my parents. Have a cold so bowed out of the church thing and am alone in the house for a bit. Wishing I had trashy DVDs to watch but might just go to bed.
That business card thing seems v. weird. And not just for the hotmail address and un-website. It would never occur to me to leave my business card lying around, except maybe after a presentation I’ve just given. And having at least some kind of tag-line to suggest what you do seems kind of obvious. Sounds like she wasted money on those in about 6 different ways.
Now that I’ve bought a domain and hope to have a website there soon, I’ve been pondering the new e-mail address thing and have been assuming that I can just forward the old one to the new one and have the replies come from the new one and it’ll all eventually sort itself out. Though I bought new letterhead right before making that whole decision and made a bad guess about how much I needed. But I can probably deal.
JoVEs last blog post..Update on goings on around here
I’m overjoyed not to be the only person online on xmas eve. Watching my gentleman friend making latkes.
@JoVE – thanks for Merry happy shenanigans! That is now officially my new favorite greeting EVER.
Sorry about the cold. I wish you had trashy DVDs too. You can watch Betty Boops and 30s era Popeye cartoons on the Internet Archive. It’s all stuff that’s fallen into public domain and is therefore free.
Betty Boop!
@creative voyage – that’s what gmail is great for. I know it’s a pain, but so so worth it. It’s one of those “I’m not a million dollar company yet, but I’m projecting the image of a serious business and it’s totally going to pay off” things.
It really does make a huge difference.
But now I totally feel bad for making everyone else feel bad. Next time I’ll give my bitchy advice in a less obnoxious way. i.e. not on a Wednesday!
Latkes! yum! send some this way!
I’m watching the first Harry Potter movie with my knitting and drinking Scotch and eating (sorry, Havi) cookies. 🙂 So you’re not the only one hangin’ out on Christmas Eve.
I was so disappointed that the fat happy yoga women were figurines rather than real live women! I think I need to seek out more information about fat yoga . . .
Hi Sweetie,
No, you are not alone being online on Christmas eve. Tim and I are in Death Valley for the past few days getting a little R&R and we just had a fabulous buffet dinner at a swanky restaurant and I ate FOUR WHOLE DESSERTS! Well, maybe 5 but they were small and now I’m back in my hotel room, merrily stuffed and entertaining myself in one of my favorite ways which is to visit your blog!
Fun to see you doing all the technical business stuff. And it’s great to see all the fabulous community involvement that you are generating with your blogging/business/therapy posts.
I don’t even HAVE business cards. Haven’t for years. But one thing that absolutely turns me off is going to someone’s site and seeing one of those “Under Construction” thingies. Even if it’s only on one page I go away and never come back. It’s like someone inviting you over to their house for dinner ( Food is still on my mind? 4 maybe 5 desserts was not enough???) and their house is in the middle of being remodeled and plaster is falling in your soup and a nail gun is going off in your ear. It’s just hard to feel like you are a welcome guest under those circumstances!
And about what you are calling your bitchiness? I like it! You are very straightforward and PASSIONATE about what you think and believe. It’s why we all love you and keep coming back. And your strongly held opinions are always in the service of the greater good, i.e. effective, successful, biggification. And you also know what you’re talking about. I, for one, always appreciate a little ass kicking when it helps me to reach my goals. And really. What you are calling bitchiness hardly even registers on the Universal Bitchiness Scale.
Love you bunches and hope that your latkes are scrumptious!
Chris
chris zydels last blog post..PAIN FREE CREATIVITY: YOU DON’T REALLY NEED TO SUFFER FOR YOUR ART
Havi my new year resolution will be to start using my nice shiney new email addy and re-order biz cards !
creativevoyages last blog post..twas the night before Christmas
@Paulita – Oh, sorry! I don’t know where you live … there are generally “yoga for larger bodies” classes happening in more urban places. Definitely here in Portland and there’s also a movement in San Francisco.
These classes are, annoyingly, hard to find. There’s a mention here about one of the Portland ones but you have to read to the end.
I don’t know of any dvds or anything but it seems like someone *must* have made one by now. Down with the barbie doll hegemony!
@Chris – yay! Happy Shenanigans! I love you for everything, including your proud declaration of five desserts.
We had ridiculously great latkes, once my gentleman friend remembered that yes, all my recipes are basically just “throw some of this in and then add some of that”. Oh they were so good. With homemade yogurt and homemade applesauce. Outrageous.
And yeah, under construction bits are annoying. I hardly ever use business cards either since I don’t, you know, “network” or anything. Or leave the house, for that matter.
But I love my cards. They have Selma on them. Also if it hadn’t been for my business cards I never would have met my gentleman friend. So they are dear to my heart.
Thanks Havi and all for the responses. Sadly, none of the anti-spamjacker suggestions have worked out for me yet (I am *all* over the Gmail re-routing thing – but it’s actually confusing for some people – don’t ask), but I’m looking at SPF now.
I’m taking comfort in the fact that (a) my actual website, an online store, is totally professional and most customers interact with me through that, rather than through email; and (b) my industry – knitting – is very cosy and friendly, and I think customer expectations are rather different than in a lot of other industries, where the hotmail thing would be more of a big deal. I hope. But I’ll continue to work on solving this problem.
Robynns last blog post..Something to look forward to
@Robynn – I hope something else will come up. And yes, your website is absolutely fine and you are also right that knitting people are more fun and laid back than most. I’ll write another related post on some of these themes soon!
Good luck with this! Thanks for your insights!
Also, @Grace – I totally approve of Scotch and cookies! Just because I can’t join you doesn’t mean I’m finger-wagging. Enjoy enjoy enjoy. I had a wonderful boyfriend once whose dream it was to open a Scotch and cookies bar. Sadly, it never came to pass.
Oh, my. A scotch-and-cookies bar – what a delightful idea. Beer and warm chocolate chip cookies isn’t such a terrible combination either.
I truly didn’t think you’d ever finger-wag. I was actually just feeling sorry for you – or in the end, maybe for me! – ’cause I can’t send you any of my cookies, which I love making and sending to people who deserve them. 🙂