Save money, save trees
Maybe it’s time to finally get rid of loads of business cards.
Okay, recently I was standing at 42nd street Times Square and telling people about my new project. Most were excited about it, and went ahead to download it, an app. But to further assure them of my identity, I’d pull out my business card and simply have them take a photo of it with their phones.
This is not how I started. In the beginning I had lots of cards that I handed out. With time, I run out of cards but people kept asking me for them. So I thought, ‘Why not just let them take a photo of it?”
This felt different since I knew that’s not the traditional way of trading business information. Yet the more I thought about it, and with an unwillingness to go to Fedex to have new cards printed out, I realized this made more sense. So, I simply kept having folks take photos of my card.
First, the excuse was, “I have one left; please take a photo of it.” With more time, I heard people saying the same thing: This is actually a better way to give out cards. And then the reasons became clear in my head: It saves me money, and who wouldn’t want to save trees in the process?
That’s how “let’s save money and trees” came about. So since then that’s all I have done.
I simply reach into my pocket and have folks take a photo of my card. A few more reasons, you’d want to follow suit.
- Digital cards can be shared, stored, and retrieved. No more rummaging through pockets and bags looking for lost business cards.
- Most people go through their photos in their downtime, and that’s when they could run into your card and remember you, if that’s your goal.
- It’s hard to mail a business card to a friend, but I can simply share the photo with you.
- It saves you money.
