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Those musicians. Give them a single paid gig, and a couple of good days busking, and suddenly they think they're, like, professionals or something, and go ordering business cards and stickers and all manner of frooforah. You don't even have a business, you have a guitar and a twelve-song repertoire. So what do you need business cards for? Get over yourself.
Yes, thank you, Niggling Self-Doubt. Your services are not required at this time.
In all seriousness, Friday was another excellent busking day, both cash-wise and interaction-wise; I even made one woman cry with a song one of my mother's high-school friends wrote and taught her. I was a little nonplussed, given that it's actually a sweet and fairly upbeat little ditty about being happy and in love, but emotional interaction is emotional interaction. And afterward we had a conversation about depression and loneliness; she seemed like a very sweet woman who'd hit a rough patch, and if nothing else, I think the song helped to remind her that there was happiness out there, too. I hope, anyway.
Meantime, life continues to be a series of ups and downs. I decided to order some business cards and stickers from Vistaprint; despite my fears about being premature (see Niggling Self-Doubt, above) it felt like now would be a good time. I figure I can sell the stickers for $1 while I'm busking, and the cards will be nice to hand to people that I talk to. It's true, I wouldn't say I have a "business" quite yet, but if people are already hiring me for gigs (well, "gig", singular) it seems like a bit of self-promotion is in order.
On another note, I'd forgotten how high-pressure-car-sales Vistaprint's website is. They make good-quality products, and if you do even a little bit of trawling the Internet you can find some pretty excellent deals (I got 500 business cards on premium glossy stock, sixty glossy 3" diameter stickers, and an engraved business card holder for just over $50 with free shipping). But they just don't let up on the upsales - "Are you sure you don't want a mug? A tote bag? A mousepad? What about calendars? Or possibly pens? Look, doesn't your logo look fantastic on this notebook? And what about our web-design services? We'll even manage your Facebook page for yoooouu!" On the "order confirmation" page, they were going "Look, address labels! Only a few dollars more! See, look - here's your order with them, and here it is without!" Even the "Thank you for your order" page has a bunch of "Buy these now on super-deep discount!" offers. It's like you're leaving the store and the salesman is still clinging to your pant leg going "Are you extra special super sure you don't want these? Cross your heart and hope to die?" Cripes.
Still, I'm pretty pleased with the designs I came up with, so I suppose I can't complain too heavily:
( Self-promotion ahoy! )
I swear, that sketch I purchased on a whim from my friend Alisa has turned out to be one of the best investments I've made. It's about a perfect logo, far better than anything I'd have come up with. And it even served as the inspiration for the slogan. (Alisa, expect to be getting a thank-you card in the mail with some samples once they come in - maybe they'd be good for your portfolio?)
There was an interesting moment when I realized that my potential order had gone from about $15 to about $50, and panicked over whether I wanted to spend that much money in one go on a project that's still very much in its nascent stages. (I've still got about a box and 3/4 of Rebel Bartender cards sitting in the closet.) But then I realized that I have a $50 cheque sitting on the coffee table for my first paid gig. And that more or less sealed the deal - if they're going to have that much confidence in me, the least I can do is invest that much confidence in myself. It does mean it's $50 that's not going towards my Dream Guitar, but if my efforts net me even just one more $50 gig they'll have paid for themselves. So let's cross our fingers, both that the effort pays off and that I don't lose my nerve.
And now, practice. All the self-promotion in the world won't help if I don't have a repertoire worth promoting...
Yes, thank you, Niggling Self-Doubt. Your services are not required at this time.
In all seriousness, Friday was another excellent busking day, both cash-wise and interaction-wise; I even made one woman cry with a song one of my mother's high-school friends wrote and taught her. I was a little nonplussed, given that it's actually a sweet and fairly upbeat little ditty about being happy and in love, but emotional interaction is emotional interaction. And afterward we had a conversation about depression and loneliness; she seemed like a very sweet woman who'd hit a rough patch, and if nothing else, I think the song helped to remind her that there was happiness out there, too. I hope, anyway.
Meantime, life continues to be a series of ups and downs. I decided to order some business cards and stickers from Vistaprint; despite my fears about being premature (see Niggling Self-Doubt, above) it felt like now would be a good time. I figure I can sell the stickers for $1 while I'm busking, and the cards will be nice to hand to people that I talk to. It's true, I wouldn't say I have a "business" quite yet, but if people are already hiring me for gigs (well, "gig", singular) it seems like a bit of self-promotion is in order.
On another note, I'd forgotten how high-pressure-car-sales Vistaprint's website is. They make good-quality products, and if you do even a little bit of trawling the Internet you can find some pretty excellent deals (I got 500 business cards on premium glossy stock, sixty glossy 3" diameter stickers, and an engraved business card holder for just over $50 with free shipping). But they just don't let up on the upsales - "Are you sure you don't want a mug? A tote bag? A mousepad? What about calendars? Or possibly pens? Look, doesn't your logo look fantastic on this notebook? And what about our web-design services? We'll even manage your Facebook page for yoooouu!" On the "order confirmation" page, they were going "Look, address labels! Only a few dollars more! See, look - here's your order with them, and here it is without!" Even the "Thank you for your order" page has a bunch of "Buy these now on super-deep discount!" offers. It's like you're leaving the store and the salesman is still clinging to your pant leg going "Are you extra special super sure you don't want these? Cross your heart and hope to die?" Cripes.
Still, I'm pretty pleased with the designs I came up with, so I suppose I can't complain too heavily:
( Self-promotion ahoy! )
I swear, that sketch I purchased on a whim from my friend Alisa has turned out to be one of the best investments I've made. It's about a perfect logo, far better than anything I'd have come up with. And it even served as the inspiration for the slogan. (Alisa, expect to be getting a thank-you card in the mail with some samples once they come in - maybe they'd be good for your portfolio?)
There was an interesting moment when I realized that my potential order had gone from about $15 to about $50, and panicked over whether I wanted to spend that much money in one go on a project that's still very much in its nascent stages. (I've still got about a box and 3/4 of Rebel Bartender cards sitting in the closet.) But then I realized that I have a $50 cheque sitting on the coffee table for my first paid gig. And that more or less sealed the deal - if they're going to have that much confidence in me, the least I can do is invest that much confidence in myself. It does mean it's $50 that's not going towards my Dream Guitar, but if my efforts net me even just one more $50 gig they'll have paid for themselves. So let's cross our fingers, both that the effort pays off and that I don't lose my nerve.
And now, practice. All the self-promotion in the world won't help if I don't have a repertoire worth promoting...
