Who Needs Business Cards?
May 22, 2009 by Allison Boyer
Filed under Jobs
One of your first purchases as a freelancer should be business cards. It might seem silly at first. If all of your clients contact you online, why do you need a physical business card? You won’t have anyone to give it to, right? Wrong! Here are just a few people that I’ve given my business card:
Image: sxc.hu
- The owner of a local restaurant, who mentioned she wanted to start a blog for the restaurant on her website
- My best friend’s mother, who wanted to recommend me to a friend who needed work, but couldn’t remember my website’s URL
- A member of my church, who mentioned that her daughter’s boyfriend was interested in getting into writing online
- My boss at my part time job, who mentioned he’d like to start a hobby website, but had no idea how to go about doing that
- Almost everyone in my book club, just in case
You don’t need 1000 business cards – but if you don’t have any, you’ll be sorry. People WILL ask you for your card, and saying that you don’t have one looks unprofessional. If you ever have to mail a contract or something else to a client, you shoudl attached a business card so that they have one on file.
There are many companies where you can order business cards. Shop around before you jump on a “free” purchase. After all, most places where you can get cards printed for free actually charge you for shipping, so for just a few bucks more, you can get nicer cards at another website. Remember – your business cards are a business expense!
If you really want to be frugal, you can purchase special business card paper and print your own. I’ve actually done that in the past because I wanted special cards centered on a single blog I help to run, but I knew I didn’t need 500 or even 250 cards. For about $10, I printed my own smaller batch of cards at home. If you have a decent printer, that’s definitely an option.
Like what you’re reading here? Sign up for Allison’s One Prompt, One Product weekly newsletter.
Such a good point! I saw the light about…hmmm, maybe nine months ago? I was frustrated with not being able to give my info out easily to people. I just got a pretty simple card made up at Staples. Now I keep a dozen in my purse, and I give them to people I interview and to people who ask for my contact info because you just never know. When I run out of my current batch, I want to make some that look a little snazzier.
Great post! I agree completely. I just bought some new business cards about a month ago. I got the mini moo ones and adore them!
Since I write and do photography, I had some flickr pictures put on them and give people a choice when they want a card. It’s fun seeing people choose and feels a little bit like giving out candy.