My Card

One of the first things I figured on doing as I jumped back into the freelance pool was getting some business cards going. So I was glad to hear, in the career counseling orientation session, that the experts agreed with me.

"You really should get business cards as soon as possible," the orientation facilitator said. Then, she held up examples of the cards you can get on line for free (VistaPrint.com). She highlighted two cards, one cute and colorful, the other resembling the paper version of a gray flannel suit. Of the colorful one she said, "This card shows that I'm somebody's mom." Then she recommended the other one.

From this, I surmised that I should go for the gray flannel, especially since, I am nobody's mom. And so I did, creating a business card that gave all the contact info you would ever need and then some, making my new calling card as safe, non-threatening, and friendly to conservative hiring managers as possible.

My wife helpfully added a little typewriter graphic to give it a little pizzaz. The typewriter had all the pizzaz.

I gave a couple out, but never really felt that good about the new card. I tried to convince myself that I was doing the right thing. "One has to grow up sometime, doesn't one?" I would say to myself in a little British school boy voice for no particular reason. "You have to put on the suit. You have to be the suit. Your card has to be the suit," I would say in the voice of that guy from that movie.

A little voice in my head, which sounded a great deal like the career counseling seminar girl, said, "Your card needs to say, 'Hello there. I'm trustworthy and predictable. Not threatening. I have no ideas that you won't like. I am prepared to be only as creative as you want me to be."

Somehow, there was another little voice in my head that wasn't buying it. But he's less sure of himself than he used to be.

Then a few days later I met with my personal career coach, a great guy named Larry, who is full of great advice. I decided to show Larry my new card. His brow furrowed. "Kinda busy," he said. I translated that, "Kinda busy and not in a good way." That was the last nail in the new card's coffin.

So, I went back to my old card, which is on this page. As you can see, it's still busy. It's colorful. It's probably just a little unorthodox by some measures, crazy by others. But it's creative, it's bold, it's comprehensive, it's a bit edgy. It's risky. It's not dull. It's a lot more me.

I hope the new card doesn't scare off potential employers. But if it does, I probably don't need to be working for them anyway.