Experimental Me

I love being experimental.

Tonight, as an experiment, I made and ordered two different kinds of business cards from VistaPrint Japan as a test. They had a special offer in the Amazon.co.jp package that arrived today with the new digital camera I bought (time for an upgrade). I have run out of my real biz cards, and had a hard time digging up three with my last interpretation job two weeks ago. I was seriously worried that I wouldn't have any cards to give the Americans who were there auditing the client...

One of the name cards I made has my full address (in English) here at this address, with a simple address in Japanese on the back. Amazon offered a "special" of JPY 100 for 250 cards so I thought I'd try. I paid a bit extra and put Japanese on the back (in greyscale, as full colour on both sides would have made them much more expensive, but still cheap as heck). So I can hand it out in both languages. (You can click it if you want to see it larger, but it isn't really necessary.)

I also got "free" sticky labels and a JPY 100 ink stamp with my address on it so that I don't need to hand write any envelopes anymore. I chose the slow delivery which will take 3 weeks (NOTHING takes three weeks to go anywhere these days except the slow boat from .... oh yeah... China!). The shipping and the "process fee" of course ended up costing me about JPY 1800 which is obviously mostly free money for them because that little stuff never costs that much to ship from anywhere anymore, especially in 3 weeks delivery. But still... for 250 business cards (in colour), and 140 address labels, and a plastic address stamp, a total cost of JPY 2,500 is peanuts! It used to cost me JPY 2500 for 100 business cards.

I think that those 250 cards will probably outlast our living here at this address (not much work here these days, not enough to be handing out 250 business cards that's for sure) And of course, if we make a move, those cards, the labels and the stamp will no longer be any good.

So, after dinner, a brilliant thought came to me, and I made, then ordered another much simpler "global" card in black with a globe on it.

All I wrote this time was Intrmarket Solutions / Cameron Switzer / email address / business website address / and a catch phrase: "Bridging the gap between Japan & the World". And that is it.

These cards I can use internationally anywhere I go after leaving this house, and I think it is kind of cool. After all, who needs a fixed address when your business can travel through the net, right? And telephone numbers are always changing, so no number, either. I have to admit that this was not an original thought; when I visited Texas and met the Y.E.S. Supplements CEO for the first time, his business card had the company name, his name, and his email address. And that was it. And I thought... "that's really smart because everyone has email these days." Also, with this kind of thing, you cannot always answer your phone, but you can always access your email and write back when you have the time. This is how Ken described it to me, as he is often in meetings and unable to take phone calls. "Hmmm.... I thought... very interesting." And I tucked that thought away for a future day (one when I thought I might be as busy as he).

I chose standard templates from VistaPrint to keep the price down to the minimum. The one with the address... it struck me at the moment, having some colour, but not being too outlandish. The fixed image of the earth on black sky background worked out well for my concept of my business. I chose matte finish as well to keep the price at the JPY 100. It doesn't matter if it's not good quality. I just want to test it and am willing to pay the JPY 1300 for these cards as an investment to try out a technology that I know many other people (Jen and Stefnee for example) have been using for some time now. 250 cards for JPY 1300 is a really cheap price (JPY 100 + JPY 1200 for shipping and "processing" fees).

I realized when I saved these low res images that I forgot to include an F: by the fax number, but it allows me to chat with the recipient a little bit more. Again, I don't mind. Most people will figure out that the 090 is my cell number anyway.

Just a little experiment that I thought I would do with some of my free NOW moments yesterday.

I love you!

Cam