A Pat on the Back and a Punch to the Face.

So, the whole marketing thing is new, and somewhat uncomfortable territory for Blackbird Tees. That said, once the novelty of launching a business wears off with friends and family, I am actually going to need customers. And so, today I dipped my feet into the frigid water of self-promotion to see what happens. Will I lose a toe, drop a toaster in and end my misery, suffer lasting hypothermia? Well, the jury is still out.

After creating an account on craigslist, I submitted a post to the job market forum, describing my business and how I screenprint people’s resumes onto their shirts. Well, within seconds, a stranger responded with some words of encouragement, “fabulous, innovative idea.” Great, I’m feeling good, embraced by the community at large…at one with my people. Not even thirty seconds later, another user, who identifies him/herself only by the alias ‘fartedatwork3′ replies to that post by writing “for tards like you, maybe.” And that’s all she wrote, folks. So ends today’s plunge into the Arctic cold, and I’m walking away feeling like I’ve taken a hit. A little like our friend the dog.

The experience reminded me of an NPR report I heard several months ago. Someone rummaging through the archives at Knopf Publishing happened to discover a series of rejection letters that had been sent out to various authors. Among them, Sylvia Plath, Jack Kerouac, and George Orwell. Each was rejected for different reasons, and I am in no way attempting to draw parallels between my little ol’ business and the literary geniuses of the world, but the story raises an interesting point that we can all take comfort in. You can’t please everybody, and there will always be people that think your idea totally sucks. All you have to decide is whether or not you will let that stop you.

Listen to that NPR report here!

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