For my entire life, I've always answered to Steve, Stephen, Stevie (thanks Grandma), Steve-O... and as a kid, Beau. I've even answered to "hey you", "shithead" and "you f-ing kid"... (that last one made popular by my elderly, childhood neighbors). Frankly, you can call me what you want.
However, it has become increasingly clear that marketing myself using my given name, Stephen Beaudet, may not be the best plan. In order for people to remember me, or find my website, they need to remember my name... and know how to spell it. Phonetically, my name's a bitch. In my first name, the "ph" sounds like "v". On what planet does this happen? OK, so we'll go with "Steve". Then comes that whole "eau" string in my last name... too many vowels in a row and together they're supposed make the long "o" sound. Why not just use an "o" then? And if someone with two years of high school French under their belt, gets the whole "eau" thing, sure as shit they're going to try and spell my last name "Beaudette"... 'cuz that's how my parents pronounced it all my life. However, if I had taken high school French, I could have told my parents the correct pronunciation based on their spelling would be "Bö-day". No wonder it's impossible to find me with a Google search.
Meanwhile, when trying to give someone my website address over the phone... the spelling problems become more obvious. Out of the twelve letters in my URL, www.stevebeaudet.com, nine of them ryhme!... T, E, V, E, B, E, D, E & T! I sound like a military communications officer when spelling it out for someone... Tango, Victor, Bravo. I even registered www.reallyfuckingcoolphotography.com, out of frustration (Not kidding... go ahead and try it.) Face it, I might as well be named Siobhan Farfegnugen.
So, to remedy this situation, I spoke with my old friend Steve Snyder (www.flying-anvils.com) about a possible solution. Now you can find me by going to www.boshoots.com... Problem solved!
