King Pin Business Cards

There is a lot to consider when starting your own business. Whether deciding to take the plunge straight from a job or through unemployment or redundancy, there is a lot to do before you even think about servicing your first client.

First there is the concept. What will the business do? Do you already have the necessary skills and qualifications or will there be a training need? Is there a demand for the service or product, locally and further afield? This is probably the crux of starting your own business. The proposition must be good and in demand, otherwise it isn’t going to work. In essence you need something to sell, and customers to sell it to. Depending on the proposition this can be real life, face to face transactions or online, mail order, phone or all the above. The wider you can cast the net, the more chance you have of doing business.

Once the idea has been formed and nailed down, it’s time for the details. What is the business going to be called? What kind of company is it going to be? What equipment are you going to need? Premises? The list is endless. It pays to be organized here and make a list of all the things you can think of. Then talk to someone else who owns their own business and ask them what is missing, because there’s bound to be at least a few things.

Naming a company is pretty straightforward. Merely think of something meaningful and original, check its availability and then think about what kind of company you want to register. Is it going to be a sole proprietor, LLC or something else? This decision will be based entirely on what you plan to do and who with. If you’re a freelance designer then maybe a sole proprietor would be most suitable, if planning to offer plumbing or electrics with a brother or friend then a partnership or LLC may be the way to go. Once you have an idea of what you want then it’s time to make it formal. There are plenty of company formation services available online for not much money and it doesn’t take long to complete the form and register the company. Normally you’ll get the paperwork within a few days.

Now it’s time for practicalities. Do you need tools or premises? Time to start looking for those now. It may take a while to get just what you need so it’s much better to start that as early as possible. You will also need an accountant. Unless you are one yourself, married or related to one you should get one straight away. They may seem like an expense you don’t need, but they can offer a lot of help and advice about the administrative side of running a business. If you get a good accountant then they will save you a lot more in tax and liabilities than they cost anyway.

Next comes branding. Get yourself a website, a logo design, and all the marketing stuff ready to promote the business. This doesn’t have to cost a lot as you can print business cards online, and there are plenty of free website design templates you can use. Getting it all set up doesn’t have to cost the earth and can be done relatively cheaply. It doesn’t have to cost the earth to get started in business by yourself, it may just seem that way.

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!