Business Cards

December 14, 2006 · Posted in innovation · 1 Comment 

Here is a little tip. Not having a business card when someone asks is the kiss of death for success. All sales people know to keep plenty of business cards on hand. What if you run out? Even quick turn around companies like Vistaprint require a couple of days to get you a new supply of business cards. So what do you do if you need business cards now?

Here is what I do. Keep a digital copy on a CD or USB Flash Drive. The best format is an Adobe PDF. When you need business cards in a hurry, go to the local instant print shop, such as Kinkos and have them print your business cards from the file on your CD or a USB Flash Drive. I ask the helpful people at Kinkos to print my document on glossy cards stock using the color printer they have behind the counter. You can also request a matte finish and colors if that is what you want.

A single 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of card stock produces 10 business cards and costs about $1.5 per sheet or $0.15 per card. It’s obviously not the most economical but it’s fast and produces high quality cards instantly. You can have them cut it for you but since my card is a full bleed design I take the sheets over to the manual paper cutter and do it myself, saving a bit of cash.

Now for your normal cards I use psPrint.com. You can upload your dual sided full color business card file then place orders any time you need more. This is super convenient and cost effective. Their quality is top notch. And as I mentioned before, you can try VistaPrint, they offer a similar service.

A really easy way to make your business card file is to use the business card template I have here and paste a high resolution JPG into each of the 10 cells in the table. Make sure your JPG is at least 150 DPI (dots per inch), I prefer 300 DPI. This file will be several mega bytes when you are finished.

Action Items

  • Make a PDF or Word Document of your business cards
  • Get a USB Flash drive
  • Keep the business card document with you ready when you need it

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