>Strictly Business
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Believe it or not, I didn't do any beadwork yesterday, because I was stuck in the office all day - Microsoft Office! I bought it the other day because I needed Excel on my computer, and yesterday, I spent a good portion of the afternoon installing it. This also included upgrading my email to Outlook 2007, and that took some time, as well...I know that change is generally a good thing, but I cannot stand the things you have to go through to upgrade softwares. It can be really time-consuming and frustrating!
After I did all that, I decided to try out Word 2007. I wanted to see if it would open my Microsoft Works documents that I had previously saved. It opened a couple of text documents, but for most of them, it said that the file was corrupted. Thankfully, I don't save a ton of documents, but that is really annoying. I didn't really expect a brand new programme to have the capability to read the files from an old programme with the same basic functions, but it would have been nice. And on top of that, Word would not let me save new documents to a disc! It kept saying something like the destination folder is in an inappropriate location or that it is password protected or something. So, after a little research, I figured out that I had to save a new document to my Desktop, then drag it to the appropriate folder...Thank you, Microsoft. You sure know how to make my life easier. :/
Anyways, the documents I wanted to save were files of Lone Beader business cards that I had created awhile back. That got me thinking. Business cards are one thing that all this new technology hasn't changed quite yet. Sure, there are electronic business cards, now, but businessmen still use the paper ones everyday. I think it is much easier to give someone your card, shake their hand, and look them in the eye. When you do that, you make a first impression. It's hard to get an impression from an impersonal email.
I've made a few different business cards over the past couple of years. Each design included my real name address, phone, email, and a few words to describe that I am a bead artist who loves to do bead embroidery. The first one was the flamingos (above). Then, I made the Tigress ones, but I didn't use those very much. Soon after that, I created business cards using Rudy's image. I've been using those for a year and a half now...
As you or your business changes, so must your business card because that is what represents you. This can also be a chance to promote a piece of art at the same time, depending how you design your card. Since I just launched my own dot.com, I figured I should have a business card to match. Below, you'll see scans of my two latest cards:
The first is the image of my beaded pink Triumph GT6 and skull driver. This is my new favourite! The exhaust was created using a graffiti font which looked like smoke, and that is where it says 'The Lone Beader'. On the back of that card, all I wrote was two lines:
extreme bead embroidery
thelonebeader.com
I figure less is more, and this will certainly make an impression! LOL. But, for the times where I actually need to give some contact information, I created the second single-sided card. I used the same signature that is shown on my website. I'm sure these business cards break all the rules in the book, but hey- that's what I do best:) Next on my very long to-do list, is to figure out how to use Powerpoint so I can create animation for my beaded images. I'll get to it eventually. But, first, I have to finish beading my Beatles Yellow Submarine. After I get more shell-coloured beads... :0
