Your Personal Business Card: Why you need one before quitting your job
Business cards are great. They cut through the fluff and tell people what they need to know about you. Your name, what you do and how to contact you. Boom, done. It's all there on a tiny piece of cardstock.
Typically, business cards refer to whatever we do for a living. In other words, our jobs. Whatever we do that brings home the bacon, that's on our cards.
Things like: Senior Software Developer, or Editor, or Accountant. You know, job titles. But, we're not talking about those. Forget your business card.
Today, let's talk about your personal business card. What do you DO? What makes you tick? What would your personal business card look like? And say? What's your personal job title?
Basically, we're talkin' about your passion, here.
Whether you happen to work a full-time job or not, we all have personal business cards. Only, they are typically stored in an unorganized fashion in our heads, like toys in a kid's messy playroom. Things are all over the place, aren't they? We do a little of this and that. We have 10 hobbies. All sorts of things make us happy. All the material is there. We just need to assemble it.
Here's a tip: Look beneath the surface-level
Your personal business card shouldn't just include the things you do. That's too shallow. Too surface-level.
For example, if you love to play pick-up basketball games in your free time, your personal business card might not say "Basketball Player". It might say something like "Fitness Fanatic" or something similar. Playing basketball is simply the implementation of what you love to do.
How would your personal business card look?
Things to consider include:
- Two-sided, or one?
- Minimal, or busy?
- Colorful, or shades of gray?
- Thick or thin?
In other words, what's the message that you're sending out with your personal business card? If you gave your card to 500 people, and 10 of them reached out to you, why are they reaching out? What do they want? Are you offering a service or giving a statement?
Remember, bloggers might not be "Bloggers" on their personal business cards. They might be Father / Mother instead. Or Woodworker. Or in my case, a "Content Creator". Look beneath the surface.
Who are you?
What my personal business card looks like
This is my current personal business card. I designed it shortly before attending FinCon17 this year. It conveys the exact message that I want people to know about what I do and how I can help or get involved.
And on the backside:
Challenge: Create your personal business card
Here's a challenge: Design your own personal business card. Don't just think about how it might look. Design it. Use a service like Vista Print and come up with your personal business card. Pick a theme. Decide on the font. But more importantly, what does it say? What message does it convey?
You don't actually need to order your personal business cards. This challenge isn't about spending money on something that you might not need, at least yet. This is about getting everyone to think about themselves and what you DO. Forget work. Forget your degree.
This is about you. If you retired tomorrow, what would your new card say?
Then, take a screenshot of your personal business card and share it with me - either through Twitter, or email, or heck, write your own post on your blog about what you came up with.
Just remember to post a picture of the card. :)