King Pin Business Cards

When creating a brand from scratch it is tempting to go for free stuff every time. There are compromises to be made when shopping the free way however, the biggest being quality and originality. If you are shopping for free templates for a website or stationery then you can guarantee other people are too. Everything from nametags to business cards are available for free online, with varying degrees of success. It is tempting to just accept the norm, or to be conservative, especially when first starting out. We are often risk averse until we know our field a lot more, or have been in business a while. After all, just starting up on your own is risk enough, right? The problem with that mindset is that more often than not without risk there is no reward. Unless you have a unique selling proposition you are going to need to do all you can to stand out from the crowd and get noticed.

One of the most prized accomplishments in business is originality. It can make or break a company, product or service. A newcomer to any market isn’t going to get anywhere if they just offer the same thing for the same price as everyone else. When shopping, people tend to go with what they know. Established brands spend millions of dollars creating an emotional connection between their brand and their audience. They want buyers to think of their products as the only one to buy, the most reliable, best value or whatever. Unless you have an advertising budget of at least seven figures you aren’t going to be able to compete with this. This is where originality comes into its own.

If you can devise a product, service or offering that’s original, or done in an original way then you don’t need millions of dollars to sell it. Once you can spread the word about it, it will sell itself if done correctly. The same with your business brand. Come up with something original and it instantly becomes memorable. Go with the standard and it becomes forgettable. When competing in any field, with any competitor you have to have or offer something they don’t in order to win, succeed or often to even be noticed.

Think twice before doing something supposedly mundane like ordering business cards online. What does the design say about you? Is it going to grab the attention of your target audience? If it sits among others on a table does it say “look at me”? If it doesn’t, it needs to. It is a marketing and promotional tool, just like your website, flyers, leaflets and whatever else you use to advertise yourself. Being run of the mill isn’t acceptable nowadays, especially if you want to be a success. Business cards like anything else need a great deal of thought and most of all originality in order to make them worthwhile.

Personalized business cards are the ideal platform to promote yourself as a professional person doing a professional job. It doesn’t have to cost the earth to have them either. Nor do you have to order hundreds at a time in order to keep a few in your wallet. With a few simple steps, a computer and a printer you can create professional looking designs and print your own business cards.

First of all you need a concept, and a brand idea in mind before you even turn on your computer. You also need a good idea of your target market and what they would like to see in their supplier or vendor.

Using Word or Paintshop or something mock up a business card template from one of the built in ones or make it yourself. Using a template is an effective way of starting the process as it gives you the dimensions and a basic layout to work with. Although you have complete freedom to do what you like, it is advisable to stick to the standard business card size. This will make your card much more acceptable as it will fit into card wallets and Rolodexes. Two of the most used business card tools around.

Have a play around with the program and devise a logo or design for your company. If you want to cheat you can always buy one off the internet or use freely available pictures or clip art. You can always download one of these and modify it to suit your needs. It isn’t always worth the effort to spend hours trying to come up with your own design to begin with. You can always develop your brand as you go.

It is always a good idea to have an idea of how many cards you want in advance so you can buy enough art board to make them. The card is available in most office supply stores or hobby shops and shouldn’t be that expensive. If you use an online card supplier they may even have card templates that you can use.

Once you have completed your logo or image, add all the relevant information to the card. At the very least you’ll need to add company name, your name, phone number, office address, website and email. If you use social networking, and have the room, it might pay to add those details too. Play around with size and positioning until you are happy with the finished product. Your text will need to be small enough to fit it all on the card but big enough to be clearly legible.

Word and Photoshop templates allow you to duplicate your design across an A4 sheet. I assume other programs will offer the same facility. By doing this you can squeeze as many cards onto a single sheet of card as possible eliminating waste and needless expense.

Place the card carefully into the printer and align it correctly. Run a single sheet test print before doing anything else to make sure the alignment and print quality is what you wanted. If everything is okay set the print run for as many sheets as you like. If your design is double sided you will need to turn the sheets over once dry and repeat the process for the reverse side. Take extra care here in the alignment so nothing gets trimmed off when cutting.

Once all dry cut the cards out with a pair of very sharp scissors or guillotine. Trim of any excess fibres and you’re all done. Now you can print your own business cards as and when you need them!

First impressions are everything when it comes to business. You will be judged on how you look and act as well as how you negotiate. All these things mean that the modern businessman must be schooled in many arts. The international businessman needs many more tools in his arsenal to be able to effectively represent himself and his company abroad. It is well known that us Americans aren’t too good outside our own country. When we do travel we expect everything to work just like “back home”, and complain often loudly when it doesn’t. That kind of attitude just won’t work when travelling on business.

The European and Asian business world is founded on quality. That isn’t to say ours isn’t, but there is much more emphasis on it over there. From the quality of your suit, to your manners and observance of local cultures. All these things will be studied and either marked for, or against you.

For example, doing business in Italy, you would be marked down for not having a stylish suit or quality business cards. Style and quality is everything there, and the outward display of it permeates every facet of their society. France is much the same on a more conservative level. Style and quality count for a lot so turning up to a meeting in an off the shelf suit isn’t going to win you any friends. You would have to work very hard to convince either the Italian or French of the quality of you or your company like that.

Russia on the other hand couldn’t care less. They are interested in doing deals and making money. They are much less interested in you, what you wear or the quality of your business cards. Here what you have, and what you can provide them is paramount as far as they are concerned. Even though there is a hunger for money, and doing deals, it will take forever to get one signed. A relic of their communist past is the monolithic bureaucracy which not only stifles their government but most of their older more established businesses. New money or companies are less constrained by this though.

Doing business in the Middle East isn’t an inviting prospect for a lot of businesses. The relative instability of the region (mainly caused by us), makes this a shifting foundation for any deal. The almost universal prevalence of Islam is something that has to be taken very seriously and observed strictly by any visitor if they want to even be considered as business partners. It has its own rules that need to be observed and treated with respect to get anywhere with the people. Learn the culture and demonstrate respect for it and the region has some of the friendliest and most hospitable people in the world.

As you can see, doing business internationally isn’t just a case of grabbing a passport and buying an airline ticket. Research has to be done so you can get started on the right foot before you can make a success of any foreign visit.

The first mention of magnetism was between 625 and 545 BC, where Aristotle attributed a discussion about it to the Greek thinker Thales. It was around a similar date that an Indian surgeon called Sushruta allegedly used in it medicine. He is regarded as the father of medicine and was the first to recognise that Angina or heart attack was related to body size and obesity.

The next earliest mention of it was in China in the 400’s BC in a book called “Book of the Devil Valley Master”. Things have moved on a lot since then. We have navigated with magnetism, repelled objects, run trains cured disease with it. The latest use for this wonderful discovery? Business card magnets.

Many people like to have contact information handy for businesses or service companies without having to sort through piles of paperwork or going on the internet. Magnets are a fun yet practical solution for being visible in these situations as business card magnets can be stay on refrigerators and filing cabinets for years. It is a sure fire way to remain accessible to your clients while also providing other uses, such as holding up pictures or recipes.

Any business can take advantage of the marketing miracle that business card magnets can provide. All you have to do is hand them out whenever you are pout and about, doing business or otherwise. A novelty type card is a great way to break the ice or avoid the awkwardness of foisting your business card on someone, especially if you are actually doing business.

Your audience will be able to stick you on refrigerators, filing cabinets, vending machines, lockers or any other metal surface. This exposure makes a magnet card a very powerful advertising tool. If your clients have your stick on business card magnets, you already have an advantage over your competitors as your business cards are always in front of your customers eyes. For example, if you sell organic vegetables, providing your customers with a magnetic business card is ideal. Your details are right there when they are thinking about food, which is an ideal emotional connection to make. Alternatively, if you sell tools or auto parts, a business card magnet could be placed on the case for each item, or on the clients toolboxes. Chances they will be there for years to come.

Using a little imagination and proper placement can make these ideas work for you. They don’t have to be exactly like these examples, but making a connection between your product or service and the type of magnet or design used can directly influence how much extra business it gets you. If you can add a practical element to the card too like having a magnet strong enough to hold shopping lists on someone’s refrigerator or “stop stealing the paperclips” sign in an office the likelihood of it staying in place for a while increases exponentially. It just goes to show what a little imagination and creativity can achieve, even with such a normal item as a business card.

Setting up a new business in Florida is a fairly simple process. Running it is the hard part! You have three options when first creating it, becoming a sole proprietor, partnership, Limited Liability Company or corporation. If your business comprises a single self employed person offering services locally without much in the way of assets or liabilities then sole proprietor is a good way to keep things simple. The downside is that any business debts you may accrue can be collected from your personal assets like your car or home.

A partnership is useful when two or more people want to offer services in an equal manner. It means everything is split evenly between the partners, unless specified otherwise. It is nice to have someone to share the burden of being in business with, but it also means you share the responsibility when things go wrong.

A limited liability company is like a corporation in that it is much more formal and has to have legal documentation filed with the local and state authorities. It is slightly harder to run the administration but protects the business owners from liabilities should things go wrong.

Incorporating your new business offers some real benefits, but is a slightly more complicated process. The main advantage is that it separates your business from the personal, so whatever happens to the business, your car and home are safe. Your directors, stockholders or company officers are also protected from liability for debts should the business fail. The maximum liability for any of you is whatever the business and its assets are worth.

Tax laws are also friendlier when working in a corporation too. The rate of tax is much lower than you would pay as an individual and you can own shares in other companies and receive dividends of up to 80%. If the business expands you can offers stocks, and go public. This is a great way of making money available for expansion or other projects. The downside is that you will not own all of the company any more, and depending on the size or structure will have a lot more accounting to do.

Any of these company structures can be formed online, and maintained online. In fact they can be run completely virtually. All of the branding, stationery, contact information and administration can be bought on the web. The internet has revolutionized creating and running businesses. You can even make business cards online. This has simplified owning and running a business significantly if you are web savvy. Filing and tax returns, accountancy, virtual assistants can also be managed over the internet.

Setting up your own business used to involve meetings with the bank, accountant and at least an afternoon at Town Hall or somewhere. It was a laborious process involving lots of paperwork and administration. Now it can be done with a few keystrokes and a credit card. Never before has it been as easy to go it alone than now.