King Pin Business Cards

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.

Microsoft Publisher comes as part of the Office suite of products but is little used except for a select few people. It is something of a niche product but is surprisingly useful in creating marketing material for the small business.

Business cards are an ideal way of introducing yourself and your business, then maintain the relationship after the transaction. It is a good way of staying relevant and contactable even when you’re not there. It introduces your company, but also reinforces it once an initial relationship has been struck. A card shaped reminder of who you are and what you do.

To make your own business card in Publisher, follow the guide below.

Open Publisher and in the New Publication pane select the Publications for Print option, then Business Cards. Browse the ready-made designs and select one that you like, or that you could modify into something you like.

In the Business Cards Options window, make the choices about using a logo or design element, whether you want it printed landscape or portrait. Some designs will look great one way and not so great the other. Try them out and see what they look like. It always helps to look at your business card from all angles, because that’s exactly what your customers might do.

Where it says Copies Per Sheet, select the number you want. The default is 10 per sheet to minimize waste. It may be an idea to change this to 1 until you have your design finalized to save ink, especially if it’s a full color design you’ve chosen.

Once on to the Publication Designs window, select Color Schemes and Font Schemes that you want to use. This may take a while as there are plenty to choose from. Adequate time should be taken here to ensure you get the end result you are after.

Once ready, click the dummy test in the card template to replace it with your own. Publisher automatically resizes it to fit into the space available but you can override it if you want. Some designs or effects will require oversize text so don’t be scared to tell Publisher what to do. To force text size, click on the Format menu, select AutoFit Text and click Do Not AutoFit. This will turn off the option and leave you to make your own decisions about how your text appears on the card.

That’s it for a single sided card. Save and print a single one and see how it comes out. If you like what you see, change the Copies Per Sheet option back to 10, add your Avery stock or whatever you use and print a batch. Once the ink is fully dried, use a pair of sharp scissor or a craft knife to separate them. Avery stock has the scoring already on the card, but it sometimes needs a little encouragement to come apart.

That is all there is to it. A few simple steps on how to make your own business card.