This is a question I ask myself multiple times a day. It’s not asked in the context of forgetting what I got up for, but in a more general ‘what I’m doing with my life?’ way. I was under the impression that life was a lot simpler. You dream about growing up in grade school, move to college where you’re able to realize your dreams and start to plan them out. You get a job doing something related to what you studied, and with a steady job, you evolve your plans accordingly.

Apparently, it doesn’t actually happen that way. The things you learn in school growing up were either how things used to work decades ago or how they’re supposed to work, I haven’t really figured that one out yet.

How did I get to working with hundred plus year old technology in this age when electronics dominate almost every aspect of life?

Well, let’s start with what I’ve done with my life so far: Grew up by San Francisco in the east bay and moved to Portland in 2006 to study graphic design and marketing. In 2010 I graduated and started to get myself out there into the world. Had a few great design internships, one at the local discovery museum, OMSI, and at some local small businesses Green Clean Queen and Letterpress PDX.

With that, I got really interested in the letterpress process and its history with graphic design and wanted to do more. The challenge was that there are many limits to letterpress printing, especially with the Chandler & Price press that was available at the studio. 

[a beautiful piece of machinery]

So I got busy thinking about what I could print that was small, useful and most importantly, unique. The local market was saturated with letterpressed greeting cards, postcards, coasters. Anything I could think of that was small and paper made had already been perfected by the many different printing studios in the local area alone. I tried to market myself as a letterpress printer for business cards and wedding invites, but with all the competition it was really difficult to establish myself. 

Then one day last spring I went out for some Chinese food with my girlfriend and when the fortune cookies came I asked “wouldn’t it be cool if you could give the restaurant a fortune with the tip?”. That’s when the idea first hit me: thank you and other comment notes for your server in order to personalize your tip and hopefully make your server’s day a little better. 

[an inspirational fortune]

As everyone knows, people who work in the service industry are notorious for complaining about how bad customers are and how little they are paid. Tip Toppers are meant to bridge that gap between server and customer, so we can be a little more thankful and also have a little fun. I believe it’s very important to give thanks and positive feedback to the people around us, especially in these times of constant status updates and online venting. It’s a small step toward letting the people around you know they’re appreciated instead of blocking them out with headphones and talking about them behind their backs.

After studying design and marketing I knew I couldn’t just start making them, I came up with a brand name, logo, business strategy, Etsy shop, blog, Facebook page, Twitter, started advertising campaigns with multiple companies (StumpleUpon gives the most views btw), and of course walked around to local shops pitching my product. 

So far business is going well, I’m featured in six stores around town and growing. However, the biggest challenge continues to be explaining the product to people. I knew that creating a completely new product means there is no demand to start with and no particular community to market directly to. The closest product it’s linked to is the fortune cookie note, and most people don’t look to buy those. Luckily, anyone that does understand what they are really likes them.

[note front and back]

What the future holds, no one knows. For 2012 I hope to further the reach of Tip Toppers into stores nationally, create some buzz and build a community around the people who use them and the people who receive them. I will be participating in craft shows, and if there is enough content in the community I will write a book. Maybe even get them featured on the Food Network or Travel Channel. I have plans for a redesign of the packaging and message backs in order to clear up some of the misconceptions servers may have when a Tip Topper is given to them. Along with the redesign I have plans to launch more specific product lines (bar, restaurant, general thank you notes, fortunes).

[current packaging]

Winning the giveaway would grant me a number of possibilities. First of all, it would create interest around the product in the handmade community. Additionally, a professional improvement on my logo and branding would result in the product gaining value and becoming more attractive to customers and retailers. Finally, the business consulting would allow me to learn how to increase my effectiveness in reaching my target audience. In truth, I would be more than satisfied with an honorable mention on the site when the winners are announced.