Two things that I set in motion for the upcoming batizado e troca de corda are printing up Tribe of One T-shirts and getting a credit card swiper for my smartphone. Both endeavors have had hidden challenges.
First of all, the original credit card processing company I wanted to go with would have given a percentage of the credit card processing fees to my school of choice. Of course, I immediately leapt on that. But after talking to them about how small my small business was, they suggested that I should go with a cheaper option since they would not be set up to deal with such a small business as mine until the summer. So, it’s still a possibility, but not for this upcoming event. The freaky thing is that the company is based in Texas and they were planning to approach school districts in Austin the very week that I had contacted them.
After contacting a couple of other credit card processing companies, I then focused on getting my T-shirts together. One thing that makes my book cover so beautiful is how colorful it is and that is also the challenge of getting T-shirts made. I’d have to pay for every color since there would be a different screen for each color. I chose four main colors and since the color of the T-shirt would be will, the design would include five colors. Then I chose a different color for the web address on the back.
The first challenge was the book cover file was poor quality. That’s when I learned the difference between JPEG and PDF. Fortunately, I had a usable PDF for the bookcover that worked. The T-shirt guy just needed to edit the file to squash it to the four colors that I wanted.
I knew he was busy and that we had merely discussed things without me actually putting in an order and paying a deposit. In order to get a jump on things, I asked my unemployed graphic artist sister, Carla, to edit the file. I talked to her about it on a Saturday, sent the file with detailed instructions to her on the following Sunday. She called me once she got it and said she’d have it ready for me on Tuesday morning.
Come Tuesday, I anxiously checked my email several times, but never received one from Carla. During my lunch break, I called her. She spun a story about how she had to get some food together for her church since they had asked her to cater at the last minute and she also had to pick up her son from work and blah, blah, blah. I cut through the list of excuses. I reminded her that she had 5 hours in between the present and leaving for her church meeting. Then talked her through how much time it would take her to complete the food preparation, pick up her son and finish editing the file.
A couple of times, she told me that she could finish editing the file after she returned from church. I repeatedly reminded her that that would be too late since I wanted to go to the print shop after school that same day, which is what I’d told her on Sunday when she agreed to have the file ready by Tuesday morning.
Part of the problem that I had to help Carla overcome was the timelessness of her existence. She’s been unemployed for so long that she’s lost the meaning of urgency. She questioned why I couldn’t go to print shop Wednesday versus Tuesday. I told her that I had something to do after work every day of the week up until Friday. She then asked why couldn’t drop by the print shop on Friday. I explained as best as I could without giving into my temper that the difference of going three days later may result in getting my order in too late.
I then temporarily forgot that she was my sister who I loved and switched into firm teacher mode. I reminded her that she’d given me her word that the job would be completed at a certain time and that if she expected to run her own business that she would have to honor her word to people. I could hear her discomfort as I told her more things that she needed to hear.
A few hours later, I received the file and her apology for dragging her feet. I thanked her for her work and told her that she’d be so happy once I brought her T-shirt in June. After school, I raced to the print shop.
In the meantime, the guy from one of the credit card processing companies called me to let me know that I’d been approved to receive a credit card swiper that attached to my smartphone. I was so happy that something had come through on that pursuit. Of course, the hidden steps revealed themselves. The guy sent an email, but I couldn’t access it until we hung up. Then once I received it, I couldn’t sign the agreement electronically by holding down my cursor key on my phone nor could the phone’s screen be used as a touch screen. Now aware of my smartphone’s limitations, I told the guy that I’d sign the document electronically once I returned home, but at that moment, I needed to rush over to the print shop.
Fortunately the print guy was in even though he wasn’t expecting me. I downloaded the file Carla had edited. I knew that it wasn’t good enough quality to be used, but he said that seeing it helped him with editing the good file. I chose the type of white T-shirt I wanted, made a down payment and left with the assurance that the shirts would be ready the day before I actually wanted to pick them up.
The first thing I did when I got home was to sign the credit card agreement, using my netbook. The other hidden step in getting my credit card swiper didn’t reveal itself until this past Friday when I called three different numbers to see when the device had been sent. From what I could gather, someone had left a partial message earlier in the week, and needed to talk with me in order to send it out.
Now, I’ve got another thing to do Monday before school starts. Hopefully, whatever issue there is, can be resolved in a few minutes. I’m also hoping that I’ll receive my device by the end of the week.
Plus, I’m picking up the T-shirts on Thursday and at some point next week, my new business credit card will have arrived. That endeavor took me three times to convince the credit card lawyers that I owned the art, which is my book cover. Now part of my book cover will be on my credit card.
I know that things are going to come together since I’m determined that they will. I also know that one day, I’m going to look back at these stressful weeks of trying to take my business to the next level while still maintaining a full-time job and laugh. For now, I’ll continue taking deep yoga breaths.