I got the nicest compliment today. I dropped off Jacob and Austin at their mom's house and then decided to take the next hour and look for more retailers for my cards. I tried a wine merchant ("If you have cards about wine, we'd be open to it.") and a couple other stores ("No, thanks.") and then went to the local "art" district here in West Des Moines, which is called Valley Junction. I went into a store for local artists to hawk their wares. I gave my spiel. "Hi. My name's Brett and I'm an artist here in Des Moines. I've created a line of greeting cards based on my art and was wondering if you folks might carry them. Here, let me show you..." and then I reach into an envelope with three cards and my business card and let them see for themselves. The woman behind the counter pleasantly reached for my envelope and then pulled the cards from within. A big smile came across her face. "Oh! You are an artist." She was looking at my latest card, "April." That was the nicest thing she could have said. She also pulled up my cards' web site and loved what she saw. As did the other woman behind the counter. "We'll recommend that the owner carry your cards," she asserted. "They're wonderful." Yayy! More of that, please. If they decide to carry them, that would be store #3. The second would be the cafeteria in the building where I work, which has agreed to carry my cards. They have several other locations, but I want to see how the cards do in my building first. I also stopped at a deli near the new mall that I like, and dropped off my cards in the envelope. And I have my pitch in to another deli that I hope will carry them. Let's see if I can have 4 retailers by April 30th. I have 10 racks on order: 5 to be delivered in three weeks, and then 5 more to be delivered shortly after that. I'm having such a good time with this. I suppose this is a bit of what it is to be gambling, but since I've never stepped foot in a casino, I wouldn't know. I do feel like my odds are better than sheer luck with cards or slots. Time will tell. | 
