Personal Branding: The Business Card

I had my second iteration of my business cards turn up today. I’m extremely pleased with how they turned out. The first iteration is the white one at the top, it’s functional but plain. The second iteration is 80% recycled paper and is more on brand. This blog post is a reflection on all of the feedback that went into my kraft paper business card:

First Design

Outsourcing the design

I used fivver to get a personal logo. The first time I just needed something quick. I gave someone a few sketches and links to images on the internet. I said I wanted a bug like this example:

They actually just copy pasted that same bug onto the logo, which was inbreach of copywrite. I find with getting freelancers, you get what you pay for. If you pay someone from fiverr $10-$30 for a quick job, you’ll get the minimum effort needed to get the job done.

On my second logo redesigned, I had a better idea of what I wanted and I wasn’t in a rush. I actually paid someone $250 USD instead of $25 USD for the logo and got something I was more pleased with.

Getting Feedback

I reached out to my awesome marketing mentor, Edward Zia for feedback on the initial design. He recommended adding my qualifications. I also made a few other tweaks myself using Adobe Illustrator. It’s worth asking your mentors for what they think.

Getting business cards designed

I also paid someone else on Fiverr $100 USD to design me 3 different business cards design. My first one I just hacked together on Vistaprint just to get something functional. They gave me a few different designs to choose from. Like this one:

Printing

My first card I just printed with vistaprint. There’s nothing wrong with this service but they don’t print on Kraft Paper in Australia and I wanted to support a local business. I met Gareth Tice in a pub one day who works for a local printing company; SKS Printing. I asked him to generate a quote for printing on recycled card. SKS has been an awesome company to work with and I’m super pleased with how my cards have turned out.

Personal Branding is an investment

It’s worth investing in your own branding and supporting local businesses where you can. Do you have a business card or personal branding story? Let me know in the comments below.