The story on the internet publishing dust-up is still pending, dear readers. I'll give it another few days before I tell the story of what will either be triumph or sour grapes, or some entirely unsatisfactory result in between. As a college friend used to say, "It's either Sydney or the bush." It took me a few passes before I realized what the hell he was talking about. And once I figured it out, this always seemed a curious metaphor, given that he was from south Florida and Chicago (parents divorced and he spent time in both places).
Avoiding work momentarily, I'll give the genesis of the Land on Demand name. People find it clever -- although I'm often asked if I'm in real estate -- but it came about rather serendipitously. Certainly it was not the result of any intensive marketing brainstorming session, or even of a particularly positive mix of chemical elements.
About 12 or 13 years ago I had started my full-time freelancing endeavor, and Tere (my wife) was working at a law firm about a mile from the house. This was, of course, in the days before emailing documents became standard, so same-day couriers were rather important in the legal community. And because of the importance of their service, they were able to charge ridiculous amounts for getting a document from point A to point B in a hurry.
Because my freelancing was (a) just getting off the ground and (b) almost entirely for Atlanta clients for whom I worked on-site (ad agencies, typesetting firms, etc.), I spent a lot of time in the car or in a position of downtime. I was talking with Tere while she was up at the office, and she mentioned that the attorneys were getting a courier service to take some documents somewhere. I said, "Hell, I'll do that for half of what those other services charge. It'll be Land on Demand."
And thus, dear readers, was the birth of a moniker that I spent about 7 years trying to build up, because I treated it not only as a name on a business card but as a mission statement, and 5 years trying to convince people that, no, really, I actually need some time to work on your document.
So Land on Demand began as a budding, almost imaginary courier service with exactly one client . . . who took me up exactly one time on my offer. And I wonder how many courier services have been put out of business by the ubiquity of email.
Back to work.
Avoiding work momentarily, I'll give the genesis of the Land on Demand name. People find it clever -- although I'm often asked if I'm in real estate -- but it came about rather serendipitously. Certainly it was not the result of any intensive marketing brainstorming session, or even of a particularly positive mix of chemical elements.
About 12 or 13 years ago I had started my full-time freelancing endeavor, and Tere (my wife) was working at a law firm about a mile from the house. This was, of course, in the days before emailing documents became standard, so same-day couriers were rather important in the legal community. And because of the importance of their service, they were able to charge ridiculous amounts for getting a document from point A to point B in a hurry.
Because my freelancing was (a) just getting off the ground and (b) almost entirely for Atlanta clients for whom I worked on-site (ad agencies, typesetting firms, etc.), I spent a lot of time in the car or in a position of downtime. I was talking with Tere while she was up at the office, and she mentioned that the attorneys were getting a courier service to take some documents somewhere. I said, "Hell, I'll do that for half of what those other services charge. It'll be Land on Demand."
And thus, dear readers, was the birth of a moniker that I spent about 7 years trying to build up, because I treated it not only as a name on a business card but as a mission statement, and 5 years trying to convince people that, no, really, I actually need some time to work on your document.
So Land on Demand began as a budding, almost imaginary courier service with exactly one client . . . who took me up exactly one time on my offer. And I wonder how many courier services have been put out of business by the ubiquity of email.
Back to work.
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