Recently I was introduced to a young journalist, who naturally asked the quintessential networking question: Do you have a business card?
For many years I was on the opposite end of that question, asking anyone whom I felt was in a position I wanted to be, or had the power to plug me in, for their card. If I was fortunate they would dig in their purse or wallet and pull out a card.
Before everyone carried a cell phone or had their own website, Twitter, Facebook, business cards were the key.
I’ve had a business card for every position I’ve held. Now, I don’t have a card nor do I want one. For starters, what would I list on the card? In today’s world, no one has only one job. There is the 9-5, the 6-10, the side hustle and the “I do this because I love it but it doesn’t pay and I don’t care” project. How exactly do you fit that all on one card?
I’ve been handed cards like this before and never took them seriously.
Then you have people who are a little creative but still leave you clueless as to what they really have to offer.
I have a stack of business cards that I’ve collected over the years and while I’m sure that 90% of the people no longer work at the places listed on the card, I still can’t seem to throw them out. Consider them relics of a time past; a time when people interacted personally and had real conversations. This was long before we could scan each others barcodes or text.
I don’t have business cards because even when I did, I barely gave them out. I’d push past my business card holder (actually I had three, two of which were college graduation gifts), grabbing for my phone and have the interested party enter their information and vice versa.
While I do care, immensely, about the environment and watching my waste “Going Green” is just one small part of the reason why I’m card-less. However, no one can refute my response. They laugh gingerly and it spins the conversation in a completely different direction, one in which they drop the issue of why I don’t have a card.
I could just tell them to google me, but that would make me sound like an egomaniac.
thiII enjoyed this post!
I have a business card graveyard from my previous employers. Now I find creative uses from them, such as mini to-do lists.They make really good drink coasters. After I was laid of from my last employer, I decided to follow in the foosteps of one of my gay best friends. Get a card made, with your name, the email address you use for “business”, and a phone number you don’t mind people calling. No title, no address, maybe a photo, or stick figure. When people asked what I did, I told them, everything.
I have stacks of cards for my job that I never hand out, the only thing that they are good for are entering contest for free food for the office. I like your blog glad I found it take care
I never had a card, but I do seem to have everyone elses. If I did have a card it would read…WHO GAVE YOU THIS CARD AND WHY? FIND ME WHEN YOU REMEMBER.