Monthly Archives: May 2011

You can start your own business but don’t expect us to buy from you or anybody we know to buy from you –

Posted by cricketdiane on

About business in America

Well, somebody should’ve told me that when offering a business card to someone they would give it back – over twenty people have done that already. Now, either it is the worst business card design in the world – which is possible, or people want nothing to do with it and don’t even want to go look at The America the Beautiful Show websites it describes (or my blog.) Maybe it is too much trouble to take a business card and look up what is on it. Maybe people just don’t want anything to do with anything I have built regardless of what it is and are trying to tell me that. Even their curiosity isn’t awakened to go see what it might be – very bizarre.

But, at the very least – books about business should say, “oh and by the way, most people will either give back your business card after a half-assed look at it or throw it in the trash on their way out the door with it. That is to be expected.” It could say that. I would’ve read it and expected that to happen. Or, if it means something specifically – like, “this indicates you have managed to create the crappiest business card of all time,” that would be helpful. But, no.

Maybe it is too much to read – with website addresses, email address, phone number and blog address. Maybe that makes it too hard to figure out and the person handing it back is literally saying to me by that action, “look, I’m really not going to try and look this up – so give it to somebody else.” Well, isn’t that special. I’m so glad to know that my project isn’t worth the ten minutes it would take to look it up and see it right quick. Surely that isn’t right.

And, I don’t really know what business cards any of them do take and look up the info on them. Is it the one for a locksmith? For a vacation condo? For the plumber nearby? What do they think is valuable enough to keep and want to have handy? Well, okay – the truth is that more than twenty cards were given out and handed back to me with only about five of those cards given to family members – which were handed back or a few taken to give out which they then set in a cup on a desk at home or in a desk drawer with junk on top of them. Little help that was. None of them were given to anyone and strangely enough, most of my family members didn’t want to tell anybody about it either. Where they would forward emails about some of the most trivial, stupid, obnoxious or simply untrue crap to everyone they know, none of them wanted anyone to hear about The America the Beautiful Show project or other things I’ve created online. Well, there you go. Maybe it is a bad project without any real chance of doing anything significant or an embarrassment of some kind and I don’t realize it. That could be it.

My parents have told me often enough, “don’t tell anybody you know us.” And, it wasn’t because I was falling down drunk or something – they didn’t want their friends to know we are related or even that we know one another. There is something significantly wrong about that. And, business books ought to warn that family and family friends won’t want to know you when you start a business venture of any kind – and that they won’t want to be associated with it, nor put any money in it, nor hear about it, nor tell anyone else about it, nor have anything to do with it – no matter what it is.

Thank God I didn’t open a restaurant.

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You can start your own business but don’t expect us to buy from you or anybody we know to buy from you -

How could a restaurant or any other business get off the ground with the people in the community, in the family, in the neighborhood, neighbors, family and friends acting that way about it? Are they kidding?

They don’t act that way at Wal-Mart or when offering $450 to buy two tickets for a single event one time that they could care less about seeing . . .

What is up with that?

Or when their kids are paying $1300 for a cabana at poolside to blow through a couple thousand dollars at the Hard Rock Cafe drinking and gambling and buying other “stuff”.

Durn.

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Women just aren’t supposed to be interested in cars? What?

Posted by cricketdiane on

Just had to mention that I was walking up to the store and got to see the 1963 Studebaker and a 1988 25th Anniversary Edition Avanti – all amazing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studebaker

I also saw one with a bullet nose – all restored beautifully – all wonderful American innovations from another time. Tucker.

And, apparently these cars live in Georgia with their owners from the North Georgia Studebaker Drivers Club. Had the chance to meet and talk with them for a little while because they had their cars a couple blocks from where I live. It was wonderful. To get to see those cars up close and personal with their owners who had restored them was a very special gift and I’m glad I saw it when I did on the way walking to the grocery.

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The negative part of this experience is that I only lived a couple blocks from where these Studebakers were sitting and a.) didn’t know about it, b.) didn’t have my cameras or phone with me, and c.) I’m not only too ugly to look at, but it is apparently uncommon for a woman to be interested in cars. Something is way wrong in America.

I could have run back home and gotten my cameras, but then I would not have gotten to see the cars at all. One couple who live up near my parents’ house were so busy backing away that I didn’t have a chance to tell them that my blog has enough people reading along to actually tell about their club and its activities. Or maybe I did tell them that and they just didn’t want anything to do with it. That’s possible.

It so happened that I had just made a 3×5 card with all my sites on it and YouTube channels, blogs, America The Beautiful Show project, and websites for cricketdiane – including the zazzle stuff – but no, I didn’t give them that even though I had it with me. I did think to offer a business card for the America the Beautiful Show and it must be the worst business card design in history – because people shun them, don’t want to take them, give them back to me, throw them away, don’t look at them and don’t want them generally. I don’t get it – or maybe its just me. I can tell when people are backing away from me and although these Studebaker owners were friendly, those folks definitely kept backing away from me. I must smell bad or look worse than they expect or talk funny or I don’t even know what. If it had been my car club and I did have someone there who lived nearby and wanted to put it on a blog (for free) to tell others about it – I’d have taken them over to get their damn cameras. Or at least said to go get the cameras and waited for them to get back to take pictures, filled their notes with all kinds of nifty details including where the next spit and polish show would be held and told about how the club was formed, about the cars in the process of restoration and all kinds of other nifty stuff. But, no.

I don’t know what it is. I”m just ugly I guess.

- cricketdiane

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And, on a happier note -

The store at zazzle has made it possible to see how a lot of artworks that I’ve been sitting with for a long time – having created them and then set them aside, actually look on products from beach bags, to shoes, to men’s ties and iPad covers. Very nifty actually. I like the skateboard deck designs best – even though they don’t look like the ones everybody else is creating for skateboards. Seems like the same designs I’m offering would be great on surfboards, snowboards and on skates and roller blades, skis and boats like SeaDoos.

And, I’ve put a couple new designs on since coming home from the store and seeing the Studebakers on display. I have to say that one lady and her husband were so nice and she answered a lot of my questions about the car, although she noted that they have another one just starting the restoration process which is a 1951 Studebaker – maybe with four doors. The one they restored that was there had been from Indiana where there is a lot of salt on the roadways and hence it had a lot of rust. It was a 1963 Gran Turismo and was absolutely beautiful in midnight blue with the Studebaker emblems and everything – the interior had been completely redone in silvery blue original vinyl from the plant where someone bought out the last of it when the plant closed.

They had someone in Knoxville do the interior upholstery. The dash had the walnut hand-polished burled and elegant, the steering wheel gear shift stick has what looks like the original ivory nobs on it as did the turn signal indicator stick. There was a tiny ashtray in between the front seats and the backseat had the original style ivory pinhole vinyl on the sidestruts by the windows. On the back of the trunk, the owners, Bill and Charlotte, had made the aluminum Studebaker placard polished – which was a rare feature for cars at that time (to incorporate aluminum design elements into the outside features.) Its very beautiful and they’ve done stunning work on it.

But, Charlotte also designed the t-shirts for the N.Ga Studebaker Drivers’ Club and seeing them made me really wish she had designed my business cards. Very fun – and the design even had a Studebaker in it along with some of the places where the club can be found.

Well, aside from not knowing who I’m with – to be able to answer that question when asked by someone at a situation like I experienced today with the Studebakers owners’ club, and only essentially being with myself as cricketdiane – which really doesn’t lend itself to be a good answer, apparently – I had lots of fun looking at the cars and admiring the work that has been put into them. The American innovations displayed in the Studebakers is absolutely worth seeing and if anyone ever gets a chance to see them or get up close to them, they should. And, don’t let them put down the hood before seeing inside that amazing engine block – truly stunning.

And, I want to say it was disappointing to hear that the next time these cars will be nearby where I can walk up to see them – will be next year and several times that I asked who I would need to talk into bringing them back sooner – it was made clear that it isn’t really a possibility. So, I’m going to say it right now – if you have a car club in Georgia or just about any other nifty thing like that – motorcycles, horses, antique goodies – or just a club you want people to know about – come up the street from where I live and I will take pictures, put it online and tell people about it.

And, don’t expect me to look wonderful and pretty and professional and all that – cause I don’t. And, I don’t dress well either . . .

Just ignore that part and I’ll ignore it when you act stuck up about me not looking just right or dressing just right or smelling just right or talking about the right things the right way to be an American woman . . .

Aw – go to hell – it wasn’t the folks from Calhoun that were stuck up – it was the ones who live around here – figures.

And, worse than that – I think I know them.

- cricketdiane

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At least I didn’t speak to them in Russian. I checked on the way home thinking through what I said to make sure none of my words or expressions included the “f” word. But, no – that wasn’t it. And maybe people don’t know this -

1-sold - 11 - ford truck - folk art - created by cricketdiane pastels 18 x 24

1-sold - 11 - ford truck - reated by cricketdiane pastels 18 x 24

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and before somebody says – I don’t get it – what is that?

The above is a photograph of a “painting” that I did after scrubbing around in weeds to take a picture of it along with several others out in West Georgia. I have also done pencil drawings, pastel chalk “paintings,” pen and ink drawings, oil paintings and acrylic paintings of Rolls Royces and did the above painting twice for two different buyers and of Alfa Romeos – like this one – (intended for a calendar set to raise money for the owners’ club which they never even had a chance to see) -

2008-07-17_143548_cr_cricketdiane - 2 (Alfa Romeo original artwork for calendar)

2008-07-17_143548_cr_cricketdiane - 2 (Alfa Romeo original artwork for calendar)

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And that is a watercolor and ink of an Alfa Romeo – there are a couple pencil drawings of it I’ve done, too.

- cricketdiane

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