Business Cards - Opinions needed

BoDEAN

New Member
Well, Santa bought me "The Savy CFI" for X-Mas, and I've been reading it. I am reading about business cards right now.
Right now, we make our own, and they have a grey background, with our company logo. No color or special paper. They stress in the book to have a "GREAT PHOTO" on it of a plane or a sunset with a plane.

My questions are this.
1) Should I buy a color printer/nice paper, and make them on my own? Or does anyone recommend a good spot on the web to get them made?

2) Anyone care to share a place to get some really cool pics to put on the business cards to "woooo" people when they see the business card?


Thanks
 
Go to Kinko's and ask them if they can instert images into business cards, usually they have bunches of ones anyway. If not bring a nice looking picture (sorry cant help you on where to get it) and ask them if they can instert this into the business card.
 
Well be sure you don't use a pic that you don't have permission for. If you'd like I can see what I have between all my graphic programs, if you are more specific about what you want. As far as how to print-well, you can print them pretty nicely on a good printer w/ Avery "clean edge" cards. And if a good printer is something you wanted any way then it would be a good investment. However if you were thinking you won't need the printer much after that, Kinkos, Office Max, etc. all print cards and I believe it's around $50 for 1000 w/ a photo. I am positive any one of those places could handle putting a photo on it.
 
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Well, Santa bought me "The Savy CFI" for X-Mas, and I've been reading it. I am reading about business cards right now.
Right now, we make our own, and they have a grey background, with our company logo. No color or special paper. They stress in the book to have a "GREAT PHOTO" on it of a plane or a sunset with a plane.

My questions are this.
1) Should I buy a color printer/nice paper, and make them on my own? Or does anyone recommend a good spot on the web to get them made?

2) Anyone care to share a place to get some really cool pics to put on the business cards to "woooo" people when they see the business card?


Thanks

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Good buddy of mine owns a print shop. He can do you up, or price you anyway. He can e-mail you a proof, help you decide what you want. The URL is here. His name is Tim and there's a toll free number on the web site. Tell him Colonel Stephen sent you.
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I made my own but I have Quark and Photoshop and am slightly handy in the layout/design realm. Dont get the "business card paper" it looks cheap. Buy 110lb card stock and layout out 12 or so cards per 8.5"x11" sheet and then use a table cutter to cut the cards. MUCH cleaner look.

Best, of course, is to go to a shop that specializes in business cards. $50 should go a long way in any decent shop.
 
This is my current card. The advantage to using cardstock and a desktop-publishing program to make 'em is they are cheap and you can change them easily (I'll toss the 200 or so of these I have left when I get my MEI, and then again when I get the CASEL, etc. etc.)

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When I was CFIing, I had just a very professional, single font, black and white card. I used bolding to emphasize my name and "Certified Flight Instructor", and had my contact information in smaller sized font on the lower side. At the Women In Aviation conference, many of those who I passed my card to commented on how refreshing it was to see something so clean. I guess a lot of cards out there are highly decorated, etc. I'd say keep it pretty clean, with standard fonts, and very professional.
 
pilot602....
You just "handed out" thousands of copies of your card all over the internet world. Too bad you wont get any biz from it since your name and phone number are illegible
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Nah ... if anyone wants to reach me all they need to do is pm me! Besides my time is so low it doesn't matter!
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My friend at home put a sample flight plan on the back of his card. I use it all the time.

Just an idea.
 
An FAA flightplan isnt that bad of an idea....

But as far as a "GREAT PHOTO" on your biz card... I say definitely no. I always thought it looked very unprofessional to have a card like that. Mine was straight forward... "Flightline Group, Inc." logo at the top... Denny Jorgensen....Certified Flight Instructor, Pilot at the lower part with the phone number of the company and my cell number. Keep it simple, clean and professional. Everytime i saw one of those really razzy cards, it made me worry that the CFI was trying to make for incompetence.
 
Yeah, the flight-plan on the back of the card is a good idea, if I find one of those it stays in my wallet until it it almost falling apart. Of course, I don't need a flight instructor.
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So Vistaprint is one of the only alternatives out there?
I thought there was a site that allowed 1000 cards to be made for like $50
 
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I keep my business card simple and to the point.

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I dabble in graphic design a little....and I agree. The most important thing is that the information is correct, clear, concise, and the card looks professional overall. If you have a funky background or a photo in the card, it's going to have to be done very carefully or it'll be distracting and look cheesy and unprofessional.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I keep my business card simple and to the point.

[/ QUOTE ]

I dabble in graphic design a little....and I agree. The most important thing is that the information is correct, clear, concise, and the card looks professional overall. If you have a funky background or a photo in the card, it's going to have to be done very carefully or it'll be distracting and look cheesy and unprofessional.

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I should add to my original statement......"only because I'm cheap.
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" Graphic design would be cool if done good.
 
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I thought there was a site that allowed 1000 cards to be made for like $50

[/ QUOTE ] Office Max, Staples, Kinkos, they all do it, and it would be less then $50
 
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