As an entrepreneur, you don't have a set schedule and things often come up - all you can do is enjoy the ride.
I met an awesome business owner a few weeks back while looking around for a place to print my business cards. I'll start with the two print shops I visited in Pleasanton: Alpha Omega Print & Imaging and Chromagraphics.
While Alpha Omega Print & Imaging was rather a "normal" experience - meet owner, shake hands, take business card, take postcard with pricing, leave - Chromagraphics has me quite stumped.
Chromagraphics was the first print shop I visited in Pleasanton. When I arrived at the facility, there was no one around, so I just looked around the front desk to find information or figure out how I can get help. Only about 5 minutes passed before a lady came out from their office located on the other side of the facility to greet me. I explained what I needed and she brought me over to their office. She took notes and I know I gave her the correct email address. A week passes and I don't hear from her, so I figure why not be the one to initiate communication - all I'm seeking is a quote.
Aside from sending her an email, I went ahead and filled out their online contact form. After allowing a couple more days to pass, I realized she made the decision to shrug me off as a "not so important client." I shouldn't even say client because we never really did anything besides wasting her time to give the details of the services I wanted to pay for.
Moving on, I remembered the very first print shop I visited in Hayward: On Time Signs. The first contact at this shop was weird. I looked them up on Yelp and noticed that the owner was Filipino based on the information given on their website. I was excited considering the potential to make a connection and maybe collaborate on a deal.
All I can remember from that meeting was the owner telling me that his son runs the business card portion of the business and that he'll be back:
Next week.
That was that and I told myself, well I won't be back next week. This came true, however, with uneventful experiences in Pleasanton, I eventually came back 2 weeks later.
The son was within my age range and so we easily broke the ice and got down to what I was looking for. Basically 3k business cards total. He showed interest in the fact that I'm planning marketing campaigns for independent locally-owned businesses. The only complaint I have during the visit is his lack of ability to show he is an expert in what he does.
I have no doubt he'll produce exactly what I want, however he didn't even come close to conveying that message to me.
So all of these visits led me to the owner I'm currently working with. Here are some of the pictures I had the opportunity to take today as I explored the world of print.
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