Of all the jobs I had to do when launching my business, getting a business card done was one of the last things on my mind. Once I had the overall brand figured out I guessed the card would arrive in its own time. After all I worked from home, and didn’t see real people that often.
This was a mistake. I had been freelance around three weeks when I was round a friends for dinner and met a possible contact. We were talking a significant deal within an ongoing project that could be lucrative for me and ideal as a steady job while I got the rest of my business going. I didn’t have a card, just about had a website and was still a little disorganized with the whole thing.
There was an awkward fumbling around for a pen and post-it so he could take my details. He promised he would be in touch within the week but I wasn’t hopeful, as I hadn’t come across as organized or professional at all. Even with my friends recommendation, nothing came of the opportunity as needless to say I didn’t hear from the person again. I can’t help thinking that history would be quite different if I had been organized and had a card on me.
I ended up looking online for a design I like that sort of fit with my brand identity and spent ages trawling through designers sites for a good example. I found one I wanted on a site called Themeforest where I paid my $15 for a template that I downloaded. It was close to my own branding but different enough not to be lost. Fortunately I had a passing knowledge of Photoshop and played around with the design until I had a completed, printable business card.
There are plenty of companies online who will print any design you like for a price. You can either use their stock template or upload your own images. This is what I did. I have a printer but had scrimped too much on the process as it was, and wanted to have a decent card at the end of it all.
The printer did a good job, and I am happy with the design. Better still it only cost me the $15 for the template and $40 for the printing! I could easily have spend ten times that on some of the designs and designers out there. In fact I almost gave up and contracted a designer to do the whole thing for me. While the end result would have probably been very good, it would have cost a lot more.
I wouldn’t suggest doing things this way. It’s much better to have your website, brand, stationery and business cards sorted before you even officially launch your company. But if you do get a little muddled up like me then it is fairly easy to make up for lost time by downloading a printable business card and doing it yourself. It just won’t help you make up for missed opportunities.
Filed under: Printable Business Card
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