Wednesday, October 1, 2008

How to make business cards pay for themselves

TITSATAAFL*

I get my business cards from VistaPrint -- and I always pay for the cards, rather than take their free ones that have advertising (usually for their own printing services) on the back.

(Even if you're a fiction writer, you're still a business person -- so present yourself as such; cards with ads for somebody else on the back are just one step above painting a big "L" on your forehead ...)

Anyway, the cards are cheap enough as is, but mine always end up paying for themselves, because whenever I go to a restaurant, I drop one in the fishbowl or box that says "You could win a free lunch." I find my card gets selected somewhere every few months.

Today's free lunch: Swiss Chalet, my favorite barbecue-chicken chain. Woohoo!

* There Is Too Such A Thing As A Free Lunch

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site


7 Comments:

At October 01, 2008 2:52 PM , Blogger Tobias Buckell said...

I love Vistaprint LOL. I like their magnets :)

 
At October 01, 2008 6:29 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congratulations on catching yourself a chicken. Chickens can fly, you know. If you live in a bubble on the outside of a Dyson sphere, that is. :)

Stephanie

 
At October 01, 2008 7:03 PM , Blogger Amy Sisson said...

Hmm, I've gotten the free 250 cards from Vistaprint (and paid $6 or so for shipping them) and they've never had advertising on the back. Perhaps they've changed their free offers since I last got them.

I hadn't thought about dropping them in the fishbowls -- thanks for the tip!

 
At October 01, 2008 7:09 PM , Blogger RobertJSawyer said...

Hi, Amy. It says here that "Free Business Cards come with the VistaPrint logo printed on the backside. Premium Business Cards come without the VistaPrint logo." The ones I've seen do in fact have a VistaPrint ad on the back.

 
At October 01, 2008 10:00 PM , Blogger Kerry aka Trouble said...

This is the first time I've seen "as a free lunch" abbreviated as AASFL

 
At October 01, 2008 10:04 PM , Blogger RobertJSawyer said...

Oops! Thanks, Trouble! I've fixed it. :)

 
At October 02, 2008 1:58 PM , Blogger JCS in SATX said...

I love Vista Print too, and if you keep an eye on their promotions, they'll sometimes give away the premium cards (ie the ones without an ad on the back) for free.

I'm using mine as mommy cards anyway, so I wouldn't mind the line on the back. It's nice to get the plain backs for free when possible though!

I wonder if those "free lunch" fishbowls would accept my mommy cards?

 

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