So, more on the worm biz ... as I may have mentioned, we're doing a "open house" down at The Plant on March 1st, and are trying, obviously, to get everything up and running as much as possible by then. This includes basic packaging for the various products (compost, vermicast, egg cocoons, bulk worms, select worms for pet food, and possibly even some "demo" vermimeal ... although we won't likely be into commercial viability for that until we've doubled up production several more times over), basic info kits, and organizational basics in the physical space. While I'd designed letterhead and some other "identity" materials (uh, like the Paganics.com web site), one thing that had been missing so far was business cards.Now, one thing to keep in mind on this project is that it is totally bootstrapping without any financial resources. When we need to get new bins to expand the worms' breeding space, we have to figure out where the money is coming from to get those, when we plan out a rack system for holding the bins, we have to figure out how to afford the piping and/or lumber to make that happen, etc. So we haven't just jumped into ordering stuff that a business with resources (like backers, or even principals having other incomes) would have early on. Frankly, we've joked that we'd be happy if an "angel investor" showed up with just a couple of grand for us ... which has got to be one of the cheapest investment opportunities out there!
Anyway, a number of years back I met a gal out in the Social Media and Nonprofit spheres who had a business card that really stood out as it was made with a rubber stamp on scrap cardboard. As you know, I go out to 2-4 networking events a week, so I end up with hundreds of business cards, and it's a rare one that stands out in my mind, and hers certainly did. She was doing a "green" web video program, and the "recycled" nature of her cards certainly fit in well with that. This popped up in my head for the worm project, and the image over there ===> is the graphic for one of our new business cards that I just ordered as rubber stamps. Using a paper cutter, it's pretty easy to turn cereal boxes, etc. into 2x3.5" cardboard blanks, and we're going to be using these to stamp out cards on those. Needless to say, I'm hoping that these will be as memorable as the ones that inspired them, and will bring home the "recycling" angle of Nature's Little Recyclers every time they're seen!
(sigh) Ah, if only one of these projects was actually paying me ... I get so tired of "interesting stuff to work on" that ends up as "maybe someday" on the money side ... but that is the only sort of work I seem to be able to find in the Obama Depression.