My Irrational Fear of Business Cards and How I Got Over It

I recently faced one of my biggest fears. My fear of business cards. And I don’t mean other people’s business cards. Those I’m completely okay with secretly judging. 😈 My fear stems from believing that having business cards printed will jinx by business and forever doom it to the cemetery of failed small businesses. 

Let’s start with the origin story of this unreasonable phobia. For about half a decade before I launched RAW Made, I had come up with 4 different business names, purchased at least 4 URLs, set up 4 sets of social media profiles, and printed 4 boxes of business cards for 4 failed business attempts. In all of those instances, I had prematurely designed and printed business cards before I even had a logo.

Yes, you read that right. Before I even had a logo.

I was so eager to start working with clients, guiding them through their branding process that I completely skipped my own branding. Looking back now, I could easily be hard on myself for breaking my own cardinal rule:

Branding comes first.

But, I’m not going to be hard on myself because just like many of you, all I really wanted to do was to get started doing what I loved. 

After the 4th box of business cards sat in my drawer completely intact I began to fear the cards themselves. I blamed them for jinxing my businesses. For being the cause of why I was getting no traction and going in circles. The reason why I spent more time tweaking my websites than actually interacting with people. The reason why I spent hours searching for the perfect font when they all looked pretty much identical.

The cards became a bad omen and a disguise for what was really going on. Even though I knew exactly how to successfully brand a business, I was afraid of what would happen once I succeeded at branding my own. 

And then came RAW Made. I took this iteration of the business through my own full branding process and treated myself as I would any client who hired me. Before I knew it, I not only had an amazing logo that represented the heart and purpose of my brand, I also had a cohesive brand to go with it! And then, a few months ago, I realized I'd given those little 3.5x2 inch pieces of paper too much power. The cards weren't jinxing me, I was jinxing myself through doubt. Once I had a strong brand that communicated exactly what I wanted to put out into the world, every other piece of the puzzle fell into place. I faced my fears, designed my cards, and sent them to print within a week.

It all goes back to my cardinal rule:

Branding comes first.

If not, you’re just designing business cards in the dark and killing a bunch of poor, innocent trees. Dare yourself to brand your passion the right way and face your business or personal fears. And then tell me all about it!

I want to hear all about your irrational phobia stories.