Business Update for 2013

Hello everyone! The all-new Cardcandy.com is up and running. It's an exciting time for my business because we're hosting our first design competition on the site. So far, we've had 14 submitted designs and each day we're getting closer to our goal of 20. 

Design Challenge #1

We already have designers from New Zealand, Australia and The United Kingdom. It's great to see designers from outside of the United States participating on the site. The winning designers will receive cash prizes and 10% commission each time someone purchases the design in the future. My goal is to take care of the design community and the designers participating on the site. 

Ideas for the second design challenge? Possibly a children's birthday card design contest. The goal for the second competition is double, so we hope to have 40 designs.

Stay tuned!

Tchau,

Reg

Brazil

I've been in Joao Pessoa, Brazil with my girlfriend, Ingrid for the past two months. Time flies and it feels like I've been here for two weeks.

The sky had a dusty tint on the ride from Recife to Joao Pessoa and there were dudes cooking food and burning trash on the side of the interstate. On my second night in town we were driving to get ice cream and three men on two motorcycles crashed into the side of the car. I went to buy bubblegum to cover the beer on our breath while Ingrid waited on the insurance guy to show up. He showed up and said it wasn't anything major and hopped back on his moped and rode away.

Crab & Skol

We went to the beach on Sunday and had hairy crabs for lunch. Ingrid really got down on it, sucking the juice out of the legs. My favorite part was the brain, it tasted like chewy sand. A Brazilian guy told me that American dicks were smaller than Japanese dicks. I didn't understand Portuguese well at the time and I don't understand how he knows dick sizes of men from other countries.

Quick Fact: hotels in Joao Pessoa are used hourly for sex, not really for travelers like in the U.S.

I traveled to Guarabira with Ingrid, Ilkson and Fernanda. It's a small town to the west of Joao Pessoa. Ingrid and her family were there handling some legal issues and I mainly stood outside on the sidewalk. People stared at me- it was apparently obvious that I was from somewhere else. Two small girls walked past me 4-5 times just staring. I didn't feel uneasy because I was also staring at them.

A frozen Caju

The food is amazing and I regularly have 2-3 cooked meals each day. Beans and rice are the main staples. There's a fruit called Caju that looks like an apricot, but it also has an edible nut growing out of the top- I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the concept when I first saw it. There's also a Frosted Flakes style cereal called Moca Flakes and it's the best cereal in the world. I can't explain it, but I love it. Acai is also amazing- it's eaten cold and it has a sandy/ice cream texture. It's slightly sweet with a vegetable aftertaste.

I've been running frequently and I participated in a 10k a few weeks back. I finished 9th out of approximately 500 runners and afterwards I was interviewed on Brazilian TV. I told the interviewer (in English) that the first half of the race was hard and the second half was easy. Then in Portuguese, "I love feijoada (beans), I love goiaba (fruit), thank you Brazilians!" I also signed up for a race on December 16th, but I decided to stay in the bed that morning. I have a t-shirt from the event though.

With Ingrid at Cabo Branco

Brazilian Race Stats:
Meia Maratona 10K: 9th
Corrida da Vitoria 10K: DNS

The beach is amazing. Interestingly, you will not find many sea shells, but you will find sand dollars. Ingrid also beat me pretty bad at a paddleball-type game on the beach a few weeks back.

I have around one month left, unless I extend. I'll be updating (frequently/infrequently) mainly because I need to remember it all!

Tchau and Merry Christmas.

Hello to you

I felt compelled to start a blog as I'm approaching (or perhaps already passed) the one-year mark of self-employment.

So, what in the hell do I do? I design, print and sell customized invitations and greetings- it's that simple. If you would've asked me the same question a year or two ago, you likely would've heard a weird, incoherent answer from a nervous “businessman.”

The nerves have calmed and the past twelve months have been amazing. Here's a quick run-down of some things that have happened:

1. Hanging up the apron and leaving a lucrative career as a bus boy to focus on my growing business.
2. Took a 33-day working vacation to Argentina. A lot of work didn't get completed, but it was a very important learning experience in many ways.
3. Traveled to Argentina for another two months (a lot of work was accomplished this time).
4. Bottle fed an adult tiger
5. Months of intense project management to prepare for the launch of a new and improved cardcandy.com.

So, how did I get started? My first business attempt/idea wasn't a success. My first idea was to start a running/fitness website, I designed a logo and that was about it. I also repaired and sold Xbox360's on Craiglist for a while...pretty cool. Then, I tried to sell strange bird paintings on Etsy...0 sales. Oh well. 

My mom who runs the successful Simple Beauty Veils on Etsy suggested that I should start designing wedding invitations. Even though I knew nothing about wedding invitations, I decided to give it a shot because I didn't feel like returning to any previous business ideas or working day labor again.

I got my first sale after about one month- it was a Thank You Card with an owl illustration on it. I was so excited that had made my first sale ($9.99) that I went straight to the store and bought two Four Loko's.  If you've ever had the original Four Loko (now off the market) you won't find it unusual when I say I woke up on the bathroom floor the next morning. 

I'm not sure if you would call it a proper celebration, but I know the rush from that first sale triggered something inside of me and I knew that this was the direction I was going to take my life in. 

I modeled my Etsy shop after a seller named "GoodFrau", I believe she is still designing and selling. Being a typography nerd, I started designing save the date cards that people were responding to. After a few months, I blew myself away by being able to pay my rent with my little Etsy shop. I continued to research and design and print and sell and answer emails and etc. . . while splitting time between busing tables and dating women. 

Fast forward a bit to when I barely had time to keep up with all of the work I had to do. Mix that in with cleaning up broken glass, greasy spoons and half eaten barbecue plates and I wasn't a happy camper. I left the restaurant industry and went full steam ahead into my passion, my budding design business. Within four months of going solo, I was running my Etsy shop along with a standalone website at cardcandy.com. 

It feels unbelievable to think about how my business has grown and where it has taken me (physically and mentally) in the past two years. Now, I am on the verge of launching a new and improved website that will put my business in the lead pack of the wedding paper industry. By the way, if you're a graphic designer or photographer and would like more information on my new website leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

Life is interesting right now and I'd like to share it. I'll be using this blog to talk about life. I don't know if anybody will even read it! Enjoy yourself. 

Cheers,

Reginald