Ways to make your PERSONAL business card stand out

Feeling inspirational today.
I'm siting on my sofa with my beautiful, new (but not really) Mac and watching Team Canada vs. Russia.
Still working on designing my business card but need to take some professional pictures of myself to put on there. I'm loving www.us.moo.com. I especially like how you can have a variety of different images in one package instead of one design.

Designing your business card.

1. Have a really interesting image... And I mean REALLY interesting. Something that stands out. Especially when making a personal business card, you don't have a logo. All you have is your name. You want to tempt your cardholder into keeping your card forever because it is so unique.

I'm a lover of quotes so I decided to put some of these quotes onto the front of my business card. I'm going to add a picture to the back. I'm a believer of customizing. If I give you a card, I gave you THAT card for a reason. Maybe it's a bit too much detail but I think it's the small details that make the difference.

2. Create a tagline. People don't know who you are or what you are offering. Keep your focus on your client. Being humorous also doesn't hurt if it is aligned with your personal brand.

3. Phone number. Marketlikeachick made a good point about putting your personal phone number on your business card. Your card could be left anywhere. Do you want to risk randoms calling your number?

If you're not a brand, you're a commodity

I'm tired and the hockey game is going to be on soon so I'm going to keep today's blog short.

I apologize for not writing so much lately. Life drama; which hopefully, has been contained for at least 1 week.

Today, I want to talk more about personal branding. I'm currently reading Women, Work & The Art of Savoiur Faire. I just noticed that the title didn't end at "The Art". (Dyslexia? I think so).
I'm about half way through and quite enjoying the read. The author Mireille Guiliano is quite witty.

I'm still working on branding myself. I know it's a life long journey but I'm finally starting to get a good hold on it. I think the most difficult part of branding yourself is the "narrowing". You have to push back all the bullshit in your life and focus in on 1 or 2 things about you that make you stand out. Make you so incredibly unique that NO ONE can match you.
For a modest person, this might be a bit tough.

Last night, I realized that the two qualities that put me above everybody else is my ability to teach and present. I'm a formidable teacher (just ask all my swimming clients... I can teach ANYONE to swim. This is no exaggeration) and can put together an out-of-this world presentation in order to get the message across. These are not common skills. I hate it when presentation time comes around in school because no one really pushes the button. Everyone plays it safe... which ends up being really boring.

So I decided that I'm going to capitalize on this skill and actually help people. Like I said, presentation time is right around the corner, and I'm going to offer my expertise around school. I'm even going to have a business card. I'm so excited.

If you're not a brand, you're a commodity.

I refuse to be just another average face. I'm fantastic and I want to make other people fanshmabulous.

Blog Design Usability

Jakob Nielsen is the guru of web design usability. His tips are the foundation to building a fantastic website.

The article I found particularly interesting was Weblog Usuability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes.

The reason I'm posting a blog about this is because:

1. I'm still working on the web design of my new blog and I found these tips immensely helpful
   
2. I'm tired of reading other people's blog that are horribly designed.
   

Here are the 6 tips I found most useful:

1. Links Don't Say Where They Go
   

   I hate going to blogs and seeing every other word underlined and linking to somewhere. I never click on the link unless I know what to expect. People are already time-poor. No one has time to click on these unknown links.
   

   Using link titles is one way to create good links. (Link titles should be less than 80 characters, and should only rarely go above 60 characters. Shorter link titles are better). Or, you can just clearly state what the link is linking to.
   

2. Classic Hits are Buried
   

   Don't assume that everyone who comes to you blog has been there from the beginning. Link to past entries in order to help the reader understand where you are coming from.
   

   An easy way to do this is to clearly state at the top of your entry
   

   "Read this first: (link 1) and (link 2)".
   

3. The Calendar is the Only Navigation
   

   By nature, blog are listed in a descending timeline. Correctly categorizing your blog posts helps readers find related topics, thereby increasing the likliehood that they will return to your blog.
   

   Good categories are sufficiently detailed but not too long. Having 10-20 categories is good. Too many are just overwhelming and readers will glaze past them.
   

4. Irregular Publishing Frequency
   

   What's that saying? Less is more.
   

   This definitely hold true to blogs (and tweets for that matter). You want readers to come running to your website and devour your latest update. If readers don't know when to expect your blog post, the less likely they will return to your site. If you're serious about blogging, set up a publication schedule. That's what I do. I write my articles the night before and then upload them at an opportune time the next day.
   

   The same with tweeting. You want people to take the time and read what you wrote. If you saturate your readers with meaningless post after post, people will start ignoring you. Their eyes will automatically skip over your writing. You don't want that!
   

   LESS IS MORE!
   

5. Forgetting That You Write for Your Future Boss
   

   Here's one of my constant dilemmas. Is what I'm writing going to bite me in the ass? There are TONS of topics about my personal life that I'd love to write about. But I hold back because the contents might be seen as inappropriately personal to a potential boss. Until I'm successful and so valuable that bosses don't care WHAT I SAY, then I'll write without any boundaries.
   

6. Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service
   

   This is why I'm going through all this effort to create my own website.
   

   Neilsen says, quote, "Having a weblog address ending in blogspot.com, typepad.com, etc. will soon be the equivalent of having an @aol.com email address or a Geocities website: the mark of a naïve beginner who shouldn't be taken too seriously".
   

How much information is too much?

I applied for a Part time Assistant position last night. As I was writing my cover letter, I kept wondering how I could bring my personality to the letter. Cover letters are meant to be short. I debated giving the company my blog site. But then I thought about some of my blog articles that I just didn't feel comfortable with future-bosses knowing THAT much about my life.

However, it would've been so helpful for the hirer to get a better understanding of who I was if they did have access to my blog or twitter page. So much more faster and interesting than I cover letter I think.

The main question is: How much information is too much?

For example, many of my articles revolve around giving up the baby and the heartache involved with D. These thoughts may be viewed as controversial or too emotional. I don't want to be seen as a person with too much baggage. I've actually never associated myself as a person with baggage until now. I guess I do have a bigger share of problems that most people but, honestly, as long as I don't let my problems bring me down, they'll just make me a stronger person. I see my situation as just another part of life I'm supposed to learn from... not something that's meant to handicap me.

I think it's all in the presentation of yourself that makes or breaks you. Building my personal brand is something I've been working on for the last few months. The work has been more difficult that I expected. It's hard to crunch your entire being into one image. I started off with brainstorming a bunch of words that I thought really described me, my life and the essence of who I am. Next, I thought about what I wanted to give to people and get out of life. What was my message? I decided on focusing my brand on designing. It's what I love to do most in the world. I started designing my website revolving around this topic.

So far, my brand portfolio holds a website designed (just now programed yet) and business card. I think once my website is up and running, I'll feel more comfortable with giving it out. This blog is more like my personal diary. I hold nothing back and let all my thoughts, ideas and dreams flow out. This blog is kind of like my rough draft. It's where I started learning about writing and blogging. My website will be more revised and not all over the place.

Another sunny day and I'm sitting in my parent's room, where the sun always shines the longest. I painted my nails today for the first time in a while. Actually, I painted them blue a few days ago and then decided to go black. I read in Flare magazine that the newest fall color for nails is grey. I actually really like the idea. I'm going to go buy some grey nail polish now.

Listening to Rihanna's new song "Russian Roulette". Daydreaming about the future. I keep trying to picture where I'm going to be in 2 years. I'm thinking now about going to Chicago or Boston for fashion school. My friend Rachel is planning on moving to Melbourne, New Zealand for her masters. Maybe I'll follow her. :) I can't imagine a winter without snow though. Snow and Canadians to be more specific. Snow and skating..... and beavertails. Mmmmmm.

My daydreams usually focus on interior decorating a lot. Like, I can't imagine what my situation will be like unless I fully daydream up my apartment. Since I'm doing nothing during my third trimester, I think I'm going to do make a bunch of house products (like lamps, pictures, etc.) I have a really good idea for a lamp. I'm going to glue tiny pieces of glass onto a vase and put a lightbulb on top. I got the idea of making my own lamp off "Sara's cottage" when she made 2 lamps out of birch logs. So cool. I'll put up pictures of what I make.

I don't know why... but I let myself think of "him" today. The tall, cold one. haha... sound more like a beer than a person. I've been working really hard at never seeing him. I don't go to the pool anymore when he's working. It sucks for me because then I can't swim (which is where I get my best workout) but I think it just makes things easier for me when I don't see him. I've had to work with him twice but acted like he didn't even exist. Asha was super impressed with me. hahaha. She said that the entire shift, he kept staring at me like a lost puppy. I know exactly which look she's talking about. The one he puts on when he tries to get pity. Well, I didn't even look at him. But, sometimes I worry about the day when he'll finalyl confront me. What am I going to say to him? A big part of me just wants to tell him the truth. That he's hurt me so much that I can't take it anymore. That I still love him but have given up waiting. Another part of me just wants to tell him to leave me alone and stay out of my life forever. But, then I'll always wonder whether he would've come back if I hadn't scared him so much. The smart part of me tell me to not say anything and walk away. He'll probably just twist what I say anyways to make me look like the bad guy.

Christmas is coming soon. I've always loved Christmas season except last winter. Last year I had to do all the Christmas shopping for my family. It was hell! My mother would just give me a huge list of the people I had to buy for and sent me off. When I'd get home, she'd review my purchases and then send me back to return things and start again. This year, I refuse to do her shopping. I'm actually going to try and buy as much stuff online as possible. It'll be my first time shopping online. Ohhhhh!!!

I've been trying to learn about social media tactics recently. Just for fun. I find the stuff facinating. I'm trying to work on creating my personal brand..... or in other words, brand myself. So far, I've made this blog, a twitter account and FB of course. I'm going to work on a website with Bob and a business card. I just don't know what to focus on. I feel like this blog is WAY to personal for me to use to brand myself. I don't know whether I should focus in on the businesses I want to create or on my knowledge. Or both. I'm entering a entreprenuer competition this year for my Underwear Lovers business plan. Though, I still haven't found a designer to help me actually make the underwear. I have an idea for the models and everything. I really don't want people to get distracted away from the underwear with boobs and bras so I was thinking of just making my models wear plain bands or a wreath (my daydream involved a christmas fashion show). hahaha.