Thursday, October 23, 2008

Old Business Cards -


So, yesterday's post, in consideration of Fall's arrival and my seasonal drawer/closet purge, there were lists labeled - GOING, SHOULD BE GOING - NOT YET, and GONE AND REGRETTING - lists of items fitting into neat categories - items currently headed out and those long gone or way too old to keep.

That post actually began "brain percolating" in my office closet. Although that was where the post began its birthing, I never made it back to the initial premise until now.

One of the treasures I came upon in my urge for order, among letterhead and envelopes printed with out-of-date logos, staples, paper clips, blank binders - you get the picture - there was an almost full box of - tadah - business cards emblazoned with information telling the world all about me......but I'm retired now. Wouldn't you expect those business cards to immediately hit the recyle bin?

Those little cards told everyone WHO I was - right? The company that employed me was prominent on the card, a prestigious firm, my department tagline with description words like "talent" and "success", my name - mandatory for a business card - my job title and contact information, address, phone, fax, e-mail, cellphone - wow, all sorts of ways to contact ME - whoopee! Wow, that card made me look important - is that why there was a moment of hesitation before pitching them? Was my identity now gone? Was I truly gone when the cards hit the bin?

Well, you say, of course not! You must now have one of those corny cards that you're asked to produce even more frequently than you ever did your official business card. Red, white and blue, contains your name WITH an initial you probably "never" used but the government thinks is necessary to your true identity, your social security number in plain site - for heaven's sake, even though one is supposed to memorize that number, chew and swallow and refuse to relinquish it on pain of it being your fault that someone stole your identity....whoops....a little carried away with the new red, white and blue card!

So the business, scratch business.....calling card I have and prefer over the red, white and blue one is the new cream colored one with lovely purple, script font featuring my name (no middle initial), address, phone and e-mail. My spouse produced this for me in order to label luggage or whatever with it. Quite uncluttered and efficient - but now I'm wondering what descriptors or labels would I be most pleased to see on that card if I decided to label myself?

For consideration -

Devoted to the practice of Christianity
Loving Mother, Stepmother, Spouse, Sister
Dedicated Episcopalian
Trustworthy Friend
Entertaining Blogger
Talented Artist
Thoughtful, inquisitive, passionate member of the mostly human race

What about you? We all know the value of those "in the job market" business cards, but what might your secondary card put forth to the world? Any thoughts out there? If you could only use ONE word - you don't have to tell me but consider for yourself, what would that be? And give me a list if you feel like it:)

10 comments:

  1. How on earth did some marketing guy find his/her way onto your blog, which, is terrific by the way, but then I'm prejudiced.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i'm with CP...that totally cracks me up...maybe you should order your new cards from her (i guess that's the point :-)

    while you did not ask for this, my favorite choice of yours is "thoughtful, inquisitive, passionate member of the mostly human race."

    i have thought of these little cards for myself, but the pressure feels too great to get it absolutely perfect :-) the idea of trying to capture my essence on paper when it seems to be changing moment by moment seems daunting...better stop before i turn this into a post!

    xoxoxoox

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:30 AM

    Allow me two words SRS!
    Retired Hippy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh the age of the internet - that business card person probably has some fascinating search engine that scans through millions of posts to see if "anyone" is writing about their product - what else could it be?

    Lucy, I agree that putting ourselves down on paper is a little tricky - I left out loving Grandmother and I certainly consider myself in that category. I found I couldn't do just ONE word. Thanks for your selection of my descriptors - nice:)

    And RM - Am I to assume you like to hang on to stuff, or you don't accumulate a lot....the Retired Hippy remark brought a smile to my face but I wouldn't want to misinterpret what it means to you.

    Thanks all.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey to "easy postcard marketing" - well, why in the world would I look you up! I have no need for your marketing - but then again I was fascinated that you'd "found" my blog.....you see what I wrote above about the likelihood, etc.

    Anyway, so like a good internet, curious hb that I am, click and I found your blog. Very, very interesting. I note that you too, like me and gillions of others, are a Saggitarian, that you like movies - same here although I only watch mine on Netflix - never in a theater, have read your favorite book, liked it very much and see that you're young enough to be my daughter OR my granddaughter, but in this day and age age different meetings and conversations often prove extraordinarily interesting.

    I read a post on http://www.christinekane.com (I think that's her URL) months ago about beginning a blog and changing her business profile, in essence her life. So I'm wishing the same success for you - that's assuming that at 26 you still have lots of room for lots of success in your life.

    Thanks for droppin' by!

    ReplyDelete
  6. OK, so what would I put on my card?

    Semi-confidential counseling (Hey, it's a small town)
    Faux wisdom offered on any subject
    Dog poop pickerupper
    Kitchens cleaned to my personal standard (flexible)

    ReplyDelete
  7. CP - your card contains all the requirements for what we women would call, in our single state, a "good catch." Particularly those last two points!! I better keep an eye on you!!

    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  8. My current alternate card reads "Mai" in Chinese. It's our Chinese family name since McMullin does not translate very well.

    Here in Taiwan, everyone has a family card. The front of the card gives you all of the information on the family including names, phone numbers and your home address in English. The backside of the cards is a map in Chinese. These cards are used to give to taxi drivers since most of us can't speak Chinese.

    I never really thought much about it but I can't even imagine giving out a card like that in the US with all of your personal information... which, in some ways is kind of sad that we live in a society that is so fearful and distrustful of how information is used...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your business cards make all the sense in the world......except, wouldn't you know that here in the "land of the free and the home of the brave" we can't trust our neighbor enough to give them a full info business card. A very apt observation!

    xoxo

    ReplyDelete