Do you have a business card? No, I'm all out.

[biophase]

Are you Really Working to Make Money or Are You Just Doing Busy Work?

I don't have a business card. Snowbank doesn't have business cards either. Every time we are in business meetings people always ask us for our business cards and we always say we don't have any. We usually end up giving them our email addresses and they put it into their phone.

I've been in business for over 4 years now and never had the urge to get a business card. Maybe it's finally time to. I mean now I have a real business, with a real address. Solictors come in all the time asking for a card. I'm sort of glad I don't have any, who needs them calling you?

So why am I talking about business cards so much?

Well a few weeks ago, I met some guy at a casual business type lunch. We talked about our businesses and he gave me his card. I obviously didn't have one so he took down my email. He talked alot of game about his business. He also told me about his "new" retail store and what he's going to sell.

I go back to my office and type in his website and there it is, a single page website that says coming soon, asking for all my information to join his mailing list. Then I look at his card again. A nice double sided, black, thick card, good logo, nice design, indented printing, etc... the works. I look at his website, nice professional different logo, rest of the site sort of crappy.

I tell me employee to come here and look at this. I say, look at this business card, nice and professional, look at the website it brings me to. There's nothing here for me to do. I am willing to bet that this person likes the thought of being in business more than being in business.

Why do people spend money on things that don't make them any money? He talked a good game, but in the end, he had nothing to sell me. Why spend days designing your card and logo when all it does is bring me to a unfinished webpage? Finish your website first! or at least put something on it so I can buy something!

I knew someone that registered an LLC, got a logo, trademarked his store name, got business cards, got a PO box and THEN went to open an online store. All that busy work being done and none of it went towards generating any revenue. It took them 2 months to get to that point. No revenue.

When you start your business, you should be trying to MAKE MONEY. All your efforts should be towards MAKING MONEY. When you start making money, then go get your logo redone, get your business cards, get your LLC, etc...

So let me ask you, are you working to make money or are you just do busy work?

When I opened my first store, it was crappy. It cost me $50 for the SSL cert which I ironically didn't need yet. It made it's first sale within 8 days. I was profitable within 14 days. I concentrated on making sales. My site sucked, but you could buy from it. It had a crappy logo, paypal checkout, horrible SEO, pretty much shitty everything. But you could buy from it!

PS. What's ironic about business cards... people lose them, but they don't lose your email address or phone number in their phone. The guy emailed me a few days ago wanting to do business. Sometimes, it's better to not give cards.

 

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[Jcapuano]

Very true, and if someone really wants to use your company they will make it a point to get your direct contact information

 

[PPC Coach]

I just had a lady ask me for a business card the other day and I'm in the same position, I don't have any.

I guess the old school business world loves them, so maybe it's time to get a couple?

 

[deepestblue]

I think it helps with positioning in many respects to NOT have one, you are seen as not needy in any way ESPECIALLY with the ability to have them being able to enter your info into their phone if they really want it. Could even qualify them before giving up the info by saying "I don't give out my info much, I only work with businesses that fit a set of criteria." Then asking a couple of questions to see if they might be a fit for what you do. This way you're not wasting anyone's time.

If having a business card, stand out with a headline, subhead, call to action - all speaking to the target audience with the word "YOU" (them) as the focus. And some testimonials on the back. It's a mini sales letter rather than a "John Smith - Title" 'who cares' card.

 

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[DeskSnacker]

Are you Really Working to Make Money or Are You Just Doing Busy Work?
I don't have a business card. Snowbank doesn't have business cards either. Every time we are in business meetings people always ask us for our business cards and we always say we don't have any. We usually end up giving them our email addresses and they put it into their phone.

I knew someone that registered an LLC, got a logo, trademarked his store name, got business cards, got a PO box and THEN went to open an online store. All that busy work being done and none of it went towards generating any revenue. It took them 2 months to get to that point. No revenue.[/I]

I completely agree. At the beginning of my business, people thought I was crazy for not having a business card and by people, I mean my fellow colleagues. If I met a client, however, I would just give them my email address and we would be off doing business immediately. If they didn't have email, I didn't want to do business with them and my colleagues thought I was crazy. I like to work efficiently and for me, email was the most efficient method to do business. I figured they can have those people who don't have email. They can work twice as hard to get in touch with this person and have small talk. Meanwhile, I'm sending email any time of day and get straight to the point in my message. I learned over the years that people who ask for my business card are usually other salespeople who plan on putting me on their mailing list, argh.

I also agree with the 2-month that company put in designing their image. The business should have just started what they're doing, then let the image develop itself. Working backwards is just that. How can they think they have an image when they don't have a business yet, silly.

 

[deepestblue]

I knew someone that registered an LLC, got a logo, trademarked his store name, got business cards, got a PO box and THEN went to open an online store. All that busy work being done and none of it went towards generating any revenue. It took them 2 months to get to that point. No revenue.

Exactly. There are soooooooooooooooooo many people on this forum with "ideas" and that is great I guess. Better than having no ideas. But there really is a lot of "I just launched my Fastlane business," Etc. Did you? In most cases the answer is "no". Or others who have an invention and are spending years developing it before finding out if a single soul has an interest in forking over their cash for it.

To channel Alec Baldwin from 'Glen Ross' minus the salty language... SELL YOUR THING TO TWO PEOPLE AND UNTIL YOU DO THAT YOU ARE NOT IN BUSINESS. NOW GET TO WORK (at selling). ;-)

An actual quote from the film... "Because only one thing counts in this life: Get them to sign on the line which is dotted."

 

[Kak]

There is a business card scanner app for my phone that I use. I just snap a picture of the business card. It thn does 2 things. It puts the information in my contacts and it files the picture of the business card on the cloud for use on multiple devices.

I can throw away all the business cards I get.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Great post Kenric -- you must be sleepless after softball. =)

I think the point here is people love to work on the appearance of being in business -- but really, actually being in business (moving product) is another story.

In fact, when people start businesses ... whats the first thing they do? They get business cards. Totally worthless.

The first thing you should be doing is trying to find your first customer. Build a business. Business cards, t-shirts, water bottles and all that other BS can come later.

BTW, is this the card you got last nite?

 

[Davidla]

I agree with the point made about doing business vs "being in business".
I think there is another important point worth noting:

Formal education and work (9-5) teaches people to value Time & Effort over Effectiveness and Results
In some way, it programs people to feel satisfaction from their work as a direct result of how much time they spend on it and how many things they "get done".

After serving in the military for some years I got very accustomed to this type of thinking, and in my first two business attempts I focused on working hard instead of working effectively.
I now see this happen every day here with people "launching their fastlane business", working months developing ideas, learning how to program and building products just to realize they worked hard instead of being effective.

Being Sales and Money concentrated like Biophase & MJ mentioned definitely solves the majority of this problem automatically.

I see this every day in school too: people spend countless hours "studying" in groups, sitting til 11 p.m crunching homework instead of working effectively. I get the same things done and get better results by working 1/6'th of the time - but really working and not "pretending to work".

 

[theBiz]

i think all new members should have to read this... its true and it happens to many people... who cares about a logo, you haven't even found a customer yet... when i see people planning logos, and worrying about business cards before they have even testing a potential client i feel bad for them almost like, just stop the whole attempt now.


Every now and then when people meet some rich guy they say.. what does he do? and someone responds oh he owns XYZ.com, they go to some terrible website with messed up logos and 2 static pages only to find out he distributes over 100 million worth of product per year, i love seeing amateurs face's in such surprise like a logo and clean looking website is going to make the difference in every businesses success.

Its similar to cars, you see so many broke people driving crazy cars and millionaires driving whatever gets them from point A to B (sometimes that is... cough MJ and JackEdwards)

 

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[JEdwards]

20 years of being in business for myself, I have never had a business card until this year.

Never needed one before, now I only give it out to people that just need my info as an easy way for them to get in touch with me. Never to a salesman.


Richest guy I know personally and call a friend, picked me up from the airport in an old camry and that was his daily.

But his house has 13 bathrooms and everyone of them have one billion count towels.. Some people just dont care about cars.

 

[cashflow3000]

hey biophase thanks for this thread and thanks MJ for the Facebook link to it.

I stopped printing biz cards about, oh, 20 years ago, for all the reasons you mention above.

I have a stack of other people's cards but for the most part I never refer to them.

Especially in this day and age of emails and cell phones if you meet someone you really want to keep tabs on you will find a way to keep tabs on them without getting a piece of paper involved.

+speed for you biophase

 

[dnice]

Great post biophase. I have met a lot of people that can play the part but most never get any business done!

 

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[911Carrera]

I agree with you partially. It's human nature to want to feel special so lots of people want to have a business card and title to get the feeling that they're important and running a business. It's the same reason why you see a lot of people with CEO titles of small companies on their social network profiles. 99% of these CEOs aren't even making any money from their business or running a legitimate business.

With that said, it depends on what line of business you're in. You NEED a business card for certain positions in certain field. An example is if you play a sales person role who goes on meeting with potential corporate clients. If you don't have a business card, they won't even take you seriously.

 

[Talisman]

Spot on Bio. The only reason I got some done up was because someone wanted a pile, so they could give out to clients they wanted to recommend my business to.

As for email... I made sure the business card has a QR code on the back with the URL to my site, and my email, that way they can just scan it into their phone as well, rather than mistype it.

 

[biophase]

BTW, is this the card you got last nite?

You mean at Yard House? I didn't get any cards last night??

 

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[biophase]

An example is if you play a sales person role who goes on meeting with potential corporate clients. If you don't have a business card, they won't even take you seriously.

You know the only thing the business cards are good for in sales meetings is that they help you remember the persons' names during and after the meeting. I don't know how many times I've had to glance down at a business card before addressing someone to find out his name.

Also, business cards help establish a hiearchy in a meeting. When a sales team comes to visit and they hand out cards, I always look at the name and title. That way I know who to ask technical questions to and who are sales personnel and usually there's a big wig within the team, either a director or VP if its a big potential contract. It's nice to know who's who. But when the meeting is done, you only hear from one of the guys afterwards. It's mostly the salesman who needs to collect your business card because he will be the one who needs to send you additional information or a quote later on.

 

[biophase]

True story, about 2 months ago a person probably mid 30's comes into my office trying to sell boxes and office supplies. I tell them I already have a company supplier. He says give me a chance, I can beat their prices. He gives me his business card. The email address is something like sixpack100 @ cox.net. He says, "I got that email address in college, I don't drink six packs all day. Just in case you were wondering."

There were so many things wrong there. I never did email him.

 

[Runum]

I do have a business card that I give to potential renters and house sellers/buyers. On the front it has my pic, name, and contact info. No title. On the back it has a QR code that leads to my website.

 

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[wade1mil]

The email address is something like sixpack100 @ cox.net

What an idiot. I remember one card I loved. Daniel Ocean in Ocean's 11. Just his name on a nice embossed card. Clean.

 

[Vigilante]

If I walked into a meeting, and someone didn't have a business card, my "clown" alert would go off. VistaPrint. $20. Not difficult.

It's not a badge of honor to not have one. My phone contacts are reserved for people that earned a place on my contact list... not a guy that was seemingly too busy to spend the 5 minutes required to get organized. I would decline your offer to add you to my phone, but would welcome you to email me your contact information if you couldn't afford to get a business card.

But... I agree with your sentiments regarding people that are all hat and no cattle. Life is too short to screw around with wanna be pretend businessmen. Having a pretty business card but no business to back it up is one way to make that assessment.

 

[Vigilante]

I don't understand gmail email addresses. It takes less than $10 and less than 5 minutes to get a professional email address and domain.

 

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[DeletedUser2]

Networking is an important part of my business.

but I hate being "out of cards"

so I went to a mobile solution

you text my name to a short code, and it bounces back all my info. email, website, phone number, what I do ect.

this has worked well for me, because not only does it give them my info, and when I speak on stage I can give my "card" out to hundreds of people at once, but it also ads them to my internal list, and send their phone number to me.

I can give my business card over the phone, in an email, in a conversation. as long as they can send a text.
it works out well for me, since a biz card is critical in networking.

PM if you want to test it

 

[ageofz]

I don't understand gmail email addresses. It takes less than $10 and less than 5 minutes to get a professional email address and domain.

That's great..until they visit the domain and see it's still parked at Godaddy. I'd rather see a gmail than a professional email with a terrible site.

 

[LightHouse]

Funny you mention about the feeling of being in business. Last night I was thinking about all the people i've met that tell me they started a business or own one, i look up their info and they are listed as CEO of xxx and have a picture of them with sunglasses on.

If you just started a one person sole proprietorship you are not the CEO of shit. people just want to do the event and gratification they get from people after hearing CEO vs actually making money and being a success.

 

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[biophase]

If you just started a one person sole proprietorship you are not the CEO of shit. people just want to do the event and gratification they get from people after hearing CEO vs actually making money and being a success.

That's why my business card title will say "Assistant to the Regional Manager". At least it will make people think wow, this company has regional offices, they must be huge. LOL

 

[LightHouse]

That's why my business card title will say "Assistant to the Regional Manager". At least it will make people think wow, this company has regional offices, they must be huge. LOL

Mine has always been lead thinker, it doesn't mean anything but you cant really be like what does that mean either. I also don't have business cards either, no purpose for them when people can just take my email. I dont have a website that shows all of my business anyway and i have no intention of telling tons of strangers my store urls, because all they think is now they get a discount on everything cause they said hi.

 

[ManWithABeard]

I hear ya on the business cards. I think with the extreme popularity of smart phones and even tablets, it's a lot eeasier to tell someone your email address and they save in their devices, later to be easily found at the press of a button, or swipe of a finger for those with touch screen devices.

My girl had got me some business cards made as a surprise, complete with a customized shiny case with my name engraved on it and everything. I have like 500+ business cards and still have like 498 left LOL. But I give out my email adress and/or site name like crazy. It's just easier for people to bust out their smartphones than it is their wallets these days.

Which is a big reason why I will be having QR codes put onto my apparel and other products. So if anyone asks "hey where'd you get that shirt?" my customers will just say "dude, scan the QR code that's under my sleeve" haha.

But in all seriousness, just like others have said, I keep the business cards for important meetings with potential clients/retailers.

 

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[TK1]

I always enjoy the CONTROL factor about NOT having a business card.

If someone asks me for a business card I say "I don't have one, but you can give me yours."

In that case I have the control about getting in touch, or not.

I guess it's kind of similiar to taking a womens number or giving yours to her and hoping for her to call you one day

 

[sonny_1080]

I've been in business for almost 4 months now. At this point I think its better to have a business crd and not need it then need a business card and not have it. I agree with everything said above. But for prospecting, marketing, and overall professionalism, I think I can use them in my arsenal to get out of obscurity.