The Mighty Pen

This is what it means to operate a new small business: you ask for and receive samples of promotional pens, and you spend earnest time and consultation figuring out which pen really says what you want it to say.

It's a writing business so, of course,the pen has to write smoothly. But that is not all.

The pen that felt best in my hand had a nice hourglass figure to it, but within a short time of using it, the writing on the side of the pen -- the promotional part -- had already started to be scratched off. What is the point of buying hundreds of sixty cent pens if no one can read what they advertise? Another pen was jazzy -- crystal clear, cool grip, jewel colours -- but I've used that type of pen before and it falls apart pretty quickly. Pen Number Three just felt cheap, and while I'm all for economical, I'm not about cheap.

There is no end to the listening in this start-up process, the quiet feeling out what fits and what doesn't. The printer offers me notepads for a great price and I say no. I'm hoping throughout that my intuition, my spidey sense is on.

I don't even ask environmental questions along the way -- although the pens I choose are not manufactured overseas, so I'm hoping that means the standards are decent.

The pen I choose, in the end, has a slim barrel, a medium point, a click pen rather than one with a lid. It doesn't blob ink. The printing appears that it will be almost engraved on the pen. It's the kind of pen you'd like to stick in your purse or by the phone. It's the kind of pen that doesn't slow you down when it's time to write.