I've been mentally preparing for Surtex and doing little things to get ready for months now. But in terms of hard-core prep, I have been in the tornado for about a month. There is still so much left to do, but I am finally feeling like I am in decent shape.
To pull things together the way that I want it has been an interesting exercise. My banners have all been designed, sent, proofed and approved, and are in production now. In some ways, it's a load off. In other ways, I'm flying blind. I've never sent such a 'physically large' or 'important-to-me large' job to print. Plus, I know what they will look like (well, for the most part I do. I certainly hope I do!) But, I am not a technical genius, and there was a fair amount of measuring and numerically-figuring-out involved. So, once they make it up on the walls, I'm sure hoping that they all fit properly and correctly. And, I hope none of the colors decide on a whim to clash at the last minute. All told, It's going to be exciting to see everything come together. I've also designed and placed orders for print and promotional goodies, getting all of my my materials all ready for the show. Most are off and printing now. Aaaahhh. No matter what happens, I'll be smiling, I'll be happy, I'll be grateful, and I'll be ready.
The Press Kit. I actually quite hemmed and hawed on doing this. It was such a huge undertaking to make happen, on top of everything else that needed to be done. It was so BIG... I'd never done one before, and well, it's a little nervewracking to take on this type of project for the first time.. As such, at the last minute, I bailed.. But then, at the 30-seconds-to-go mark, I renegged! I switched gears, I got really inspired, did some research, got even *more* inspired, and then bang, as if possessed by the Easter Bunny banging out all those baskets for the big day, I did it.
I just hate missed opportunities. It is important to be ready for anything. I generally walk around feeling like I am ready for anything which, let's face it, is the gift of delusion (thanks mom!), so in order to keep that going, I at least have to come through and make the physical effort with the Press Kit. So this weekend, I went for it, just Tasmanian Devil'ed it into creation. And I'm so happy I did. I think it is going to come together just great. I look forward to seeing all of the printed pieces once they arrive, and then piecing it all together. Hey, the first time at anything is an expiriment— there is not a hard and fast rule roadmap for a Press Kit. There are guidelines (thank goodness!) but most of the work is creating and putting together the content, and that comes from you and you alone. Therefore some personal excavation, list-making, organizing, time-mapping all come into play in the process. (No wonder people can get overwhelmed at the prospect of making one of these things!) I learned a whole lot more about myself and my business by going through the process. Now I'm so 'in it' that I might have really caught the bug! I also do marketing & advertising illustration and design as it is (and am a total marketing/ad geek at that). Turning the tables on myself, dissecting and pulling apart WellerWishes became much more than just the process of creating a Press Kit. It also served as a great brainstorming process to further distill the philosophy, ideals, target market, current offerings and services and present and future goals of WellerWishes. (Kind of like writing a business plan!) So all in all, though it may have hurt (a little), it was, overall, a HUGE positive. I now look forward to creating my Press Kit version 2.0, because, of course, after barely finishing version 1.0 there are now 101 revisions I want to make. But 2.0 is bound to be a whole lot easier, now that I have the general framework completed. Yee-ha!
So, creating the Press Kit and accompanying materials has really put me in a great headspace (albeit an exhausted one). I highly recommend doing it, if you have not already. I plan to do a dedicated post on this at some point soon, to share my experience, show you what I've done, and share some resources with you that I found particularly helpful.
I'm excited to do some showing-and-telling, but that will have to wait a bit! Until then, I'm going to continue to PRESS ON and get ready for the big show! 'Til later!
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