Behind the Business (Cards)
For the longest time, cutting straight lines was a nightmare. Anything professional-looking has straight lines (or perfectly curved lines). The second something looks like it was hand-cut by scissors is when it loses credibility.
I cut hundreds of bookmarks by hand for my Moosey Club, but that practice never resulted in perfection, and even years later I still cannot hand-cut a perfectly straight line.
That is, until I got a new office chair.
So you see, Staples offers a warranty option with chairs, so when we bought the chair, we got the warranty with it. Thank goodness too, because within a week my hundred dollar chair had a massive rip in the seat. I stuck a pillow case over it, so it works just fine, but since we got the warranty we called Staples up. Instead of giving me a replacement chair, they refunded me the purchase price in a gift voucher for their store. So there I went to buy an incredible, eighty dollar, guillotine-style paper cutter from Staples with all the justification in the world.
Boy has it been worth it. I can make birthday cards, bookmarks, trim laminated papers, cut down posterboards, cut cereal box tabs off, and most importantly: make business cards.
I came up with the idea of making business cards out of cereal boxes shortly before the opportunity to purchase the paper cutter arose, so when I got it, I jumped straight to making them.
I tested a couple sizes, found the best one, then cut hundreds of them. Hundreds.
Of course, if my intent was to produce a professional-looking card, there’s no way I could handwrite my information on these things, as that’s the opposite of professional. So there I went to Vistaprint.com to order myself a large, self-inking stamp. So worth it. And
So. Satisfying.
Yeah, factory work turns tiring eventually, but for me nothing was more enjoyable in those moments. Try self-inking stamps sometime… they’re quite therapeutic.
My first batch of cards included my name, a nice-looking scissor line I found on canva, and then my phone number, email, and instagram.
My newer cards are basically the same, but rather have the Cardboard Enthusiast title and my website (which you’re on! congrats) replacing the phone number and instagram, as my Instagram is on the website, and I’m not sure if I needed to be giving out my phone number anyways. I also made the font a bit clearer, and marginally larger.
The response I tend to get when I hand someone a business card is one of surprise. I’m not saying cardboard business cards are unique to me (in fact, Western Michigan University’s Paper Pilot Plant produces recycled paper cards out of their food service’s boxes for their outreach coordinator) but I am saying it’s a bit rare for a sixteen year old to hand someone something so professional-looking and resourceful. They tend to ask what it’s made out of, and most of the time I can identify the exact box just by the small rectangle (often the nutritional facts side bar of the original box). It’s quite a fun little game. (The part where I have a .com website is always fun to get reactions for as well).
Anyways, if you want to surprise people, don’t necessarily make business cards out of cereal boxes (that’s my thing), but do something unique. I read a book recently in which the author explained his deliberate wearing of bright yellow shoes to networking events. He was able to have a lucrative talk with a high-demand venture capitalist thanks to his outlandish shoes attracting their attention. People will notice something of importance in you, beit good or bad. You might as well design it yourself in the greatest way possible so as to leave the most accurate impression possible.
