I haven't had business cards in years, thanks to primarily electronic communication these days, but recently I've had opportunities to use them and figured I'd better get some. I'd seen the cards from Moo.com and thought the ability to print different images on the back was brilliant. So I picked 50 images of my pattern designs and quickly got an order off. And of course, before I'd even received them I'd decided to change email addresses, leaving them obsolete before they'd arrived.
Once I had the cards in my hand I realized they could serve another purpose. They come packaged in a nice little box that's easy to tuck in my bag, so now I keep them with me at all times and use them as a mini-portfolio. I thought about punching a hole in the corner and stringing them together, but I find people like to play around with them - flipping, sorting and reorganizing them. I find it's a great way to engage with people as they can flip through them easily as we chat. I find it's great for impromptu meetings where it would be awkward to pull out my big portfolio and ask someone to look at it.
The good news, hoping you're reading this soon after I've posted it, is that Moo is having a sale through November 18, 2014 which brings the price down from $19.99 to $14.99. So head over & order a mini portfolio! It's a low cost, easy way to introduce your work to random people you bump into.