How Individual Business Cards Can Help You Earn Extra Income

In tough times like these, there are two ways to survive: You can either 1) save more or
2) you can earn more.

In today’s piece, we focus on how you can earn more just by having business cards. We are not talking about the business cards you get at work, but hobby / skill type business cards such as computer repair, gardening, fundraiser, new websites and the like. In short, by having these individual business cards, you will be taken more seriously and others will be more interested in bringing you “Business” for your hobby.

Not long ago, I had 1,500 business cards printed up with the logo of a business I was working on, a ten word description of the business, my name, my email address, and in large letters along the bottom, the name of our website. When these arrived in the mail, my wife rolled her eyes at this: "Do you really need business cards to promote yourself? Isn’t that a waste of money?"

Yesterday morning, I participated in an interesting breakfast conversation with an old friend. At the end of the conversation, I casually mentioned that I had been having great success with my new business and handed him the card. Last night, he sent me an email that he had spent four hours spending time on our site and had sent the URL to a bunch of his acquaintances. And in turn, one of these people contacted me to be a paid consultant.

In a nutshell, individual business cards are only as useful as you are. Here are some reasons why individual business cards may be worthwhile for you, whether or not you run an individual or small business, or have a hobby or talent that can be commercialized.

It’s a tangible reminder of what you have to offer. I actually have two different sets of business cards now: one for individual computer consulting in the community (I help people select computer systems, set up home networking, and the like) and another for my side internet businesses.

It lets you jot notes on the back to give away. I do this all the time with my consulting cards: I’ll write things like the specs they should look for when looking for a digital camera or something to that effect right on the back of the card. That way, they take the card with them and have a reason to look at it again; reinforcing the meeting we had in their mind.

It provides a portal to accessing what you have to offer. In the instance of my consulting cards, it contains my phone number and also appropriate contact hours. In the instance of my business card, it contains the site URL, for seeing what exactly it’s all about, and my email address, for getting in touch with me. In short, it’s just a quick way of making sure people remember who you are. If the interaction is positive the card will create a positive reminder of the meeting and will often result in being contacted for some business purpose.

Should I have a business card? If you are providing any sort of service at all in which you would like the person you’re conversing with to recall at a later time, then having a business card is a must. Are you involved in any sort of individual consulting? Do you sell anything? Do you have a talent of skill that someone would pay for (Doesn’t everyone?) If any of these are true, then you should have a small pile of business cards.

What should a card contain? A business card should contain three elements:

1) Something that is visually striking: – so you will be remembered…

2) A written reminder of what you have to offer: Make sure the text actually reflects what it is you offer: a word, phrase or “tag line” that defines the reason you would want them to remember you and remember what’s on the card.

3) Contact info:
– Name and phone number are a must
– Email is almost always recommended
– Website URL if you have one
– Hours to call – if this is only part time
– Physical address – an option, but usually gives you credibility

How does this save or make money? Directly, business cards don’t save or make a dime, but indirectly, they set you up for success if you present them well. For example, giving the business card to my friend actually cost me the amount of the card and didn’t give me anything directly, but I did gain a very happy reader and a person who is now evangelizing the site to others, which is far more valuable than that card will ever be.

The Bottom Line
Now the question is, "Where should I get business cards?" From a decade of experience, we have found that absolute best place to get business cards is online at Vistaprint. Why? Because you get 250 great cards for free. Yes, really for free. No games, no gimmicks. You even get glossy paper for free – (a $9.95 value) Just pay the $5.45 shipping and handling fee and you can choose among 42 different styles of business cards. If you want more cards or a higher quality card stock, you can add that on that for a very reasonable cost. Why is it free? For same reason you get sample products of candies or detergents in the mail – to have you experience their products, so you can become a long term customer. And it worked. We at BeatTheRecession.com have been getting our cards from Vistaprint for the past several years.