I picked up my business cards today. We did a short run for an event tomorrow, the Ladies Who Launch LIVE Event where women entrepreneurs get together for a day of speakers, networking and shopping, and I really wanted cards to hand out. The media will be there and it should be lots of fun to meet other women starting their own ventures. Rhino Digital Printing did a great job and had them for me the same day!
So the business cards are beautiful thanks to Lia Miternique owner of Avive Design. She did such a wonderful job on the business card layout, and not only that but on the design of the logo as well. She really took everything Michael (my husband, business partner, and so much more) and I had told her and came up with the most beautiful logo – a logo that neither of us had thought of and yet is so perfect for the practice.
When Michael and I were discussing logo ideas with Lia we knew we definitely did NOT want the common dog and cat silhouette. If you look online or through the yellowpages all you will see representing veterinary practices it the silhouette... actually that isn’t entirely true, you can also find the paw print. With our concept of this new and progressive practice, an old logo style just wouldn’t fit. So Lia came up with some great ideas – honestly all I could think of was the mountain itself or some Douglas Fir trees. But Lia found a flower that grows on Mt. Tabor in the springtime and is ubiquitous in the northwest forests – Trillium. It had the element of 3 that kept coming up in our discussions – representing the pet, the client and the practice. It is local – growing on Mt. Tabor and it has a natural element to it. Well, it was perfect! Then I started researching Trillium and found that it was also used by Native Americans to ease the pain of child birth and it is a flower that requires the community for it to grow – the shadow of the trees for protection and mice and ants to help the seeds grow, and there are laws in Oregon protecting the plant from being picked - which can seriously injure the plant. All seemed like great symbolism for the practice and honestly, it makes a beautiful logo.
So the cards are done. We didn’t print the phone number on them yet because it wasn’t official, although of course as soon as the printer called to let us know the cards were done, the phone service called to tell us the number was indeed official which has to make you laugh. Since there is no phone in the building yet, it’s just as well. But with the cards in my hands the business sure does feel official and even with the millions of tasks ahead to get this practice off the ground I am excited to have something concrete to give away representing our new venture.