There are some reasons to have a business card even if you don't have a job - for example getting access to trade-only showrooms. It probably won't be as useful for job searching though, as prospective employers don't expect you to offer a card.
In many states unlicensed people can't use any title with "architectural" or any other variation of the word "architect" in it - so you don't want to be handing out cards that say that, as it's one of the most common ways that people get on licensing boards' radars and get fined.
"Designer" alone is acceptable and won't get you into trouble. Spelling out your degree ("Master of Architecture") after your name is also ok.
Everyone is right here. You don't have a title yet; you'll get one when you land a job. Until then, it can be useful to have your own card, yes. For that: just your name, degree, and contact info is fine at this stage. Simple and non-presumptuous.
Of course you need business cards. Have your name, degree, college or university, date graduated and contact info. You might even meet someone while unemployed that could lead to a job for a firm you are trying to get on with.
the point of the business card is to identify yourself and provide contact info
do that
Feb 5, 19 11:58 am ·
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Volunteer
If someone asks for your card what are you going to do, ask for their business card with their email address on it so you can send them your virtual card? That's new definition of 'inane'.
Feb 5, 19 12:48 pm ·
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poop876
Again, you are wrong! It's card with contact information for an individual and it does not have to be associated with a "business". You are spending too much time analyzing this shit!
Feb 5, 19 12:49 pm ·
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Volunteer
So, what if you are unemployed and looking for work and someone at a social function asks for your business card what do you do since you do not have a business card?
Feb 5, 19 1:08 pm ·
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poop876
Nobody wants a business or any other card from you!
Feb 5, 19 1:45 pm ·
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Steeplechase
Many people write down notes on the back of business cards to help them remember people. People who may not be hiring or are in a different field sometimes refer people to others. People sometimes just socialize because they enjoy each other’s company. Social events provide an opportunity to get to know someone beyond a piece of paper.
Feb 5, 19 1:51 pm ·
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Steeplechase
Notes about the person. The whole point of using the business card is that the notes are then automatically associated with contact information. It’s a very common networking suggestion.
Feb 5, 19 2:24 pm ·
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Steeplechase
Why remember and write down something I can get for free?
Feb 5, 19 4:18 pm ·
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proto
_
Feb 5, 19 4:42 pm ·
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Fivescore
I'd find it rather off-putting to have someone taking notes about me in a little notebook while I'm interacting with them! I'd rather just hand them my card. Besides, I have a business card app on my phone that i use to scan others' cards later - so I'd prefer to get cards from them too, because they're easily scannable into my contacts.
And if somebody handed me an index card with their contact info, in a social or business situation I'd think they didn't understand normal interactions. Balkins are you seriously advising students to not make business cards, but carry around handwritten 3x5 cards?
Feb 5, 19 7:40 pm ·
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Steeplechase
If they use 3x5 cards nobody would be confused and think they own the business and have all of the paperwork to run that business.
Feb 5, 19 8:12 pm ·
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Fivescore
Yeah, I know what Rick is saying, but he's off on a ridiculous tangent with this, as usual. Even if the OP is in a place where you're required to register a sole proprietorship, having a card with his name, degree, and something like "Designer" on it is not the same thing as operating a business. It's explaining his qualifications, and establishing his role in the profession. It's normal to have business cards, as new professional grad. Rick wouldn't know that, as he's not a professional grad and has no real professional interactions.
In any case it's a total non-issue in many states in the first place, where if you use your own name as your business name and the business is not incorporated then you are not required to register anything or file any paperwork (other than your taxes) - even if you are in fact operating a business.
Feb 5, 19 8:20 pm ·
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Fivescore
I'm sure that if he chooses to open a business he will look into any applicable fees. I have been operating a sole proprietorship for more than 20 years and there are absolutely 100% zero fees for that in my location - no state, county, or municipal requirements. The one thing I do pay for is a $12 permit every two years, which allows me to have a small sign - but that is optional and not a requirement for operating the business.
None of which has anything to do with whether he can and should have business cards. Cards are a normal, expected accessory of any professional - whether unemployed, self-employed, employed by others, retired, or any other current state besides dead.
Rick you're getting yourself into trouble again by pontificating on things with which you have no experience.
It's pretty normal for architecture students and new grads to make cards. Getting cards made was even a requirement of the pro prac course I had to take in my final year of architecture school. One reason is what FormerlyUnknown mentioned above: a business card is usually the ticket in the door of trade showrooms, some professional conferences (particularly ones where design professionals are comped but product reps aren't), and for trade discounts, etc. It's also still pretty normal to have cards tucked in the front of your portfolio, that you can hand out to anybody you meet at an interview (yes, it's still typical to bring a physical book portfolio to an interview.)
Another reason is just that if somebody hands you a card it's always good to have one to hand back, just because that's still polite convention. Sure, if you don't have cards it's fine to say "sorry, I don't have a card on me right now" - but it's better if you just have one to trade! You know, for somebody who is so obsessed with history, I would think you'd know that and be enthusiastic about it. It used to be common for people to get their first cards made as young teenagers - even if they had nothing to put on it except their name - because polite convention was to exchange cards even in social situations. That's not so normal anymore, but it's still normal to exchange cards when you interact with people in a professional setting. Even unemployed students and recent grads commonly attend professional conferences, product lunches, and other events where they'll meet others in the profession, product reps, etc. All you have to do is put your name on your card, and any title that won't get you in trouble with licensing laws (designer, M.Arch, whatever).
I don't know where you're getting the idea that only high-level employees and owners of firms have cards. In most firms everybody has cards - they're routinely ordered for new employees when they start - it doesn't matter if they're a senior project manager, or a fresh grad in their first job, or some back-room assistant IT person. The firm wants you to be able to professionally exchange cards with anybody you encounter.
Feb 5, 19 6:49 pm ·
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Fivescore
Agree. Lots of times when i was job searching, by the time I got to a 2nd interview the firm would have me spend time talking to someone in the firm at the same level or in the same role - like another intern or young designer. That wouldn't be somebody who was receiving my resume, but would be somebody I'd want to send a thank-you email to later, so I would ask for their card - and then it was good to have a card to exchange with them. It's just typical office behavior.
Feb 5, 19 7:11 pm ·
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Fivescore
You've got your reasons for not going to conferences and events. Somebody who is young and unemployed may have time to go to those things, and may be interested in the subject matter and/or in the networking opportunities. You're once again arguing against an entire well-established convention because it doesn't happen to suit your own personal purposes at this moment.
They're called "business cards" because they're used in a business setting. It is 100% normal for new grads to have business cards, and for every person in a typical firm to have them too. Your concerns about people misrepresenting themselves as business owners is unfounded - there's no expectation (by normal, experienced people) that a card that says "Joe Schmoe, M.Arch, Designer" means that "Joe Schmoe" is operating a business.
Feb 6, 19 9:46 am ·
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Flatfish
Rick most architecture schools encourage students to make cards as soon as possible and use them - not wait until hiring. You could probably become more comfortable with this idea if you just think of them as "calling" cards, like turn-of-the-last-century debutantes exchanged, rather than "business" cards. Just mementos of one's visit or conversation with someone.
You have little to no actual business Rick, so you find your validation as a "businessman" in the process of filing paperwork and paying fees to record the existence of a "business". You reflexively object to anything that forwards anyone's career without involving that sort of bureaucracy, because it obviously undermines your legitimacy, which is built on nothing but paperwork. But you don't have much use for in-person socializing, so I think you shouldn't feel as threatened if you'd just view the exchange of cards as a social convention, not one with an inherent job-seeking or advertising goal.
Feb 6, 19 10:43 am ·
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Flatfish
It's a non-issue. The OP never said anything about a business name. He wants to put on his card his name, degree, and the role he's seeking. There is no business. And even if there were, how do you know where he is and if a business license is required or even offered there? My state has no business licenses. You can file a trade name (totally at your option - there's no requirement to do so), and you can file incorporation documents. But there is no application or registry for unincorporated businesses. In some cities and towns you'd have to apply for a permit if a business is in your home. In others you'd only have to apply if it were creating traffic. In still others you don't need any permits at all. So how can you give one-size-fits-all advice to someone who hasn't even indicated that they want to start a business, and when you don't even know if they're located somewhere that even cares if they do? All he wants to do is make a card, to hand out to people with whom he interacts, as is customary in our society and recommended by people who actually work in this field - which you do not, regardless of how much paperwork you file.
Feb 6, 19 2:56 pm ·
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Fivescore
You're clearly not even reading or understanding anything that anybody's writing. You're a lost cause. Good bye.
Feb 6, 19 3:07 pm ·
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Flatfish
This is patently false. There are many areas of the US in which there are no licenses or permits required for unincorporated businesses. There are several states where it's not even possible to register such a business if you try. Many smaller towns have no license or permit requirements at all for home-based businesses that do not create traffic, noise, or have business-related exterior signage or lighting. They just have no reason to regulate those small businesses - and the fees generated from doing so wouldn't offset the extra personnel hours required to process the permits. Look Rick, it would be one thing if you were even humble enough to say "this is how it works in Astoria" - but you don't do that - you make proclamations, in big capital letters, telling people that they MUST do things that, in some cases, they couldn't even do if they tried.
Feb 6, 19 3:58 pm ·
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Steeplechase
“‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’
’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’
’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.’”
Feb 6, 19 5:15 pm ·
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Flatfish
See Rick, there you go with the assumptions again. I do not want to be specific about my current location, but I will paraphrase the regs for you: at the state level there is no registration required as long as you're using your own name in the name of your business there is no registration required. At the city level there are no permits required when you meet four rules: 1. no exterior lighting, or signage over 4 feet square. 2. the work of the business is conducted by at least one person who lives on-site. 3. there are not more than two employees who do not live on-site. 4. the business doesn't generate in excess of 10 vehicle trips per day.
Feb 6, 19 5:34 pm ·
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Steeplechase
Matching names isn’t hard. Business registration regulations have absolutely nothing to do with business cards.
Feb 6, 19 6:45 pm ·
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Steeplechase
I am just stressed enough to find this hilarious. Students in creative fields are encouraged to include things like a personal logo. Consistent individual
branding is considered a positive.
Business cards used to be one of the things you'd order from university printing at the same time that you got your personalized graduation invitations, thank you cards, and stationery. I suppose in the age of email and VistaPrint that's probably a quaint or extinct practice? Nonetheless new grads are still getting them printed somewhere and they're still fundamental etiquette in professional settings. Your name and contact info is the bare minimum, M.Arch is good to note for somebody just entering the profession but you probably won't keep that on your cards later, and any title isn't critical but is ok unless your state's got an issue with it (don't use "Professional Designer" in New York, and don't use "Architectural" anything in most states, though some do specifically allow "Architectural Associate" for people actively enrolled in AXP.) I've got Rick on permanent Ignore and highly recommend that - it makes threads much shorter and more useful.
Feb 5, 19 9:31 pm ·
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proto
there used to be this thing called a visiting or calling card...I'm sure Balkins has a chapter on it
Feb 6, 19 12:03 pm ·
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Bloopox
Yes, visiting cards of that sort still do exist, for very formal occasions, such as if one is invited to the Boston Cotillion. Balkins probably wouldn't like those though, since a gentleman's card is supposed to include his title and profession (along with club affiliations and other nonsense.) But what I was referring to were just run-of-the-mill business cards from university printing, that I was offered, circa 1995, in the same brochure as graduation invites and such. I don't know if that's still a thing, but I do know I receive lots of cards from people 20 and 30 years younger than I, so somebody somewhere still prints them and people still routinely carry and use them.
Many architecture firms also do graphic design which often includes stationary and (gasp!) - business cards. To maintain they are only for people actively involved in a business is too absurd to comment on. Many are innovative and clever in their composition and artwork. What is the cost of having a few cards on your person at all times, employed or not? Essentially nothing. What is the cost of not having a card when someone asks for one?
Feb 6, 19 8:41 am ·
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Non Sequitur
The best business card I've seen was from an associate at SHoP. I visited their office and the card I was given had a hole where the low case "o" is. Simple, but damn was it sexy. That was 11 years ago and I don't think I've seen a nicer design.
Feb 6, 19 8:44 am ·
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Wilma Buttfit
Did you take the card on a date?
Feb 6, 19 9:07 am ·
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Non Sequitur
Does hitting up a few swanky bars in NYC later that evening with the card still in pocket count?
Feb 6, 19 9:20 am ·
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Wilma Buttfit
of course!
Feb 6, 19 9:51 am ·
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Non Sequitur
in that case, we had one helluva good date.
Feb 6, 19 9:56 am ·
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Flatfish
A former classmate has a card with a printed square with a big circle cut-out in it, about the size of a nickel. He's had that card since we graduated in the mid-90s - it looks a little dated at this point - but his cards are good for spinning around a pencil and flinging at things in my office.
Feb 6, 19 10:03 am ·
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citizen
Is that a card in your pocket, or are you... nevermind.
When I was in grad school one of the assignments in the Project Management sequence was to get cards. All through the semester we had to base everything on an imaginary firm, and I'd named my firm after a feature on campus - kind of an inside joke - so my cards had that firm name. After I graduated I continued to use those cards and that firm name for all my freelance work. There's no rule in my state to register businesses or trade names so I didn't register it until almost 20 years later, and then only to prevent anyone else from someday using anything confusingly similar. It costs $40 here to register a trade name for 5 years, so not a budget breaker - but I don't think the OP should worry too much about it one way or the other. Everybody you meet in a professional setting is going to expect you to have cards - and nobody but Richard Balkins, Professional Busybody is going to check up on the filing status of your or your imaginary firm's name!
Feb 6, 19 11:15 am ·
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SpontaneousCombustion
I don't have any local or city or county licenses. There are none required. I'm not in California, and have no reason to think sidewinder is either. Rick if you go back to your first post in this thread you'll see that mostly what you were insisting at that point was that business cards shouldn't be in the clutches of anyone but firm owners and senior-level key personnel. Having been educated on the utter falseness of that assertion, you shifted to this obsession with getting a license for a non-existent business. Why don't you call any city or state you choose, and ask whether there's anything in their laws preventing a job seeker from making business cards with their name and degree on them, if they do not hold a business license. Do that and report back on it, with documentation. Until then shut up. All you're doing is repeating the same nonsense. It doesn't make it more true, it just makes you look more stupid.
I am writing my representatives now! We need comprehensive card control, and it cannot be at the local level. We must demand federal action on this scourge that harms young as old, Democrat and Republican. Stores like Staples and Office Max allow anyone to just walk in and purchase business cards without identification. Shadowy websites like VistaPrint and Moo careless ship thousands of cards to people’s homes, where children live, without a thought or care. We must demand action now!
Ah, that sweet moment at the end of a meeting when business cards might be exchanged...Should I take mine out first? Does that make me seem to eager? What if they don't give me theirs? Quelle horreur!
Feb 7, 19 2:28 am ·
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Gloominati
Is the meeting at your place or mine? I was taught in middle school that in the US the visitor should offer their business card first, and preferably at the start of the meeting. (But if you share Rick's views that having cards when you're not an owner is an unseemly example of "outdressing the boss" then unless you know you're talking to a principal you should never offer a card, lest you create awkwardness if the other person ranks too lowly to be able to reciprocate!)
Feb 7, 19 7:49 am ·
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randomised
They never taught us anything business related, ever. I'm totally clueless at that and other fronts, but luckily the people I'm dealing with as well, ha!
University printing services where I teach does business cards for recent grads and current students - $18 a box for 300. Students usually have cards as soon as they start interviewing for internships. some of their templates/past examples are ones where students give themselves a company name (like "DaveCo"). Personally I think that's cheezy and reminds me of Kramerica. But if you insist on doing that you're not going to get in trouble over business licenses -- you're just gonna be cheezy. The most versatile thing to make the cards stay applicable longest, if you've already graduated, would be to put your degree and year of graduation. As long as you're looking for a job in architecture and your degree is in architecture that should be enough info, any other title would be optional.
Feb 7, 19 12:25 pm ·
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Steeplechase
Wait, do you think Kramerica Industries wasn’t registered with the proper authorities of the City, County and State of New York?
Feb 7, 19 1:18 pm ·
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eeayeeayo
Hmm... did it need to be registered in NYC? Or in LA, where it was filmed? Or both? Or neither, as long as neither Kramer nor Darren handed out cards?
Feb 7, 19 1:49 pm ·
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3tk
11 entities with 'Kramerica' listed in State of New York. No Kramerica Industries listed.
My school in college gave us cards with expected year of graduation on them (engineering). We had events throughout the year where alumni came back and they would give us advice on how to network (how to exchange business cards while having a drink or finger foods, writing down non-work facts on back of the cards you got with date/event to connect later with, etc.). I ran out before I graduated but had a lot of contacts that I stayed in touch with from those years. Some are now consultants I work with. In some ways they are the old calling cards.
Feb 7, 19 5:12 pm ·
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Archinect
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What's my title?
I'm making a business card for job searching...I have a M.Arch. So, am I an "Architectural Designer?" I don't know why this is so confusing...
I'd wait with the business cards until you actually have a job...much easier to put the right thing on, just look at your contract :)
you get a contract when you start a new job?
Apparently.
You even get to sign on the line which is dotted...
Let your employer decide what your "title" is.
There are some reasons to have a business card even if you don't have a job - for example getting access to trade-only showrooms. It probably won't be as useful for job searching though, as prospective employers don't expect you to offer a card.
In many states unlicensed people can't use any title with "architectural" or any other variation of the word "architect" in it - so you don't want to be handing out cards that say that, as it's one of the most common ways that people get on licensing boards' radars and get fined.
"Designer" alone is acceptable and won't get you into trouble. Spelling out your degree ("Master of Architecture") after your name is also ok.
My non-company business cards say "Person"
Everyone is right here. You don't have a title yet; you'll get one when you land a job. Until then, it can be useful to have your own card, yes. For that: just your name, degree, and contact info is fine at this stage. Simple and non-presumptuous.
i.e., Side Winder, M.Arch.
Intern.
*unemployed intern
"Sidewinder: Purveyor of Taste"
(Borrowed from elsewhere)
My favorite linkedin job title: "Actively seeking new opportunities".
Nice way to say unemployed.
Citizen J. Architect, Casting Pearls Before Swine
Many current students or recent graduates use business cards as a means of connecting during a job search.
I would suggest either --
I recommend:
sidewinder, M.Arch
I'm your Huckleberry
"Drafting Bitch, M.Arch."
Sidewinder - "Aspiring Entry-Level Employee".
Rick, you're a bit intense there with the business card analysis. Sometimes it's ok to breathe and take a step back. Have some crab and relax a bit.
Of course you need business cards. Have your name, degree, college or university, date graduated and contact info. You might even meet someone while unemployed that could lead to a job for a firm you are trying to get on with.
the point of the business card is to identify yourself and provide contact info
do that
If someone asks for your card what are you going to do, ask for their business card with their email address on it so you can send them your virtual card? That's new definition of 'inane'.
Again, you are wrong! It's card with contact information for an individual and it does not have to be associated with a "business". You are spending too much time analyzing this shit!
So, what if you are unemployed and looking for work and someone at a social function asks for your business card what do you do since you do not have a business card?
Nobody wants a business or any other card from you!
Many people write down notes on the back of business cards to help them remember people. People who may not be hiring or are in a different field sometimes refer people to others. People sometimes just socialize because they enjoy each other’s company. Social events provide an opportunity to get to know someone beyond a piece of paper.
Notes about the person. The whole point of using the business card is that the notes are then automatically associated with contact information. It’s a very common networking suggestion.
Why remember and write down something I can get for free?
_
I'd find it rather off-putting to have someone taking notes about me in a little notebook while I'm interacting with them! I'd rather just hand them my card. Besides, I have a business card app on my phone that i use to scan others' cards later - so I'd prefer to get cards from them too, because they're easily scannable into my contacts.
And if somebody handed me an index card with their contact info, in a social or business situation I'd think they didn't understand normal interactions. Balkins are you seriously advising students to not make business cards, but carry around handwritten 3x5 cards?
If they use 3x5 cards nobody would be confused and think they own the business and have all of the paperwork to run that business.
Yeah, I know what Rick is saying, but he's off on a ridiculous tangent with this, as usual. Even if the OP is in a place where you're required to register a sole proprietorship, having a card with his name, degree, and something like "Designer" on it is not the same thing as operating a business. It's explaining his qualifications, and establishing his role in the profession. It's normal to have business cards, as new professional grad. Rick wouldn't know that, as he's not a professional grad and has no real professional interactions.
In any case it's a total non-issue in many states in the first place, where if you use your own name as your business name and the business is not incorporated then you are not required to register anything or file any paperwork (other than your taxes) - even if you are in fact operating a business.
I'm sure that if he chooses to open a business he will look into any applicable fees. I have been operating a sole proprietorship for more than 20 years and there are absolutely 100% zero fees for that in my location - no state, county, or municipal requirements. The one thing I do pay for is a $12 permit every two years, which allows me to have a small sign - but that is optional and not a requirement for operating the business.
None of which has anything to do with whether he can and should have business cards. Cards are a normal, expected accessory of any professional - whether unemployed, self-employed, employed by others, retired, or any other current state besides dead.
Rick you're getting yourself into trouble again by pontificating on things with which you have no experience.
It's pretty normal for architecture students and new grads to make cards. Getting cards made was even a requirement of the pro prac course I had to take in my final year of architecture school. One reason is what FormerlyUnknown mentioned above: a business card is usually the ticket in the door of trade showrooms, some professional conferences (particularly ones where design professionals are comped but product reps aren't), and for trade discounts, etc. It's also still pretty normal to have cards tucked in the front of your portfolio, that you can hand out to anybody you meet at an interview (yes, it's still typical to bring a physical book portfolio to an interview.)
Another reason is just that if somebody hands you a card it's always good to have one to hand back, just because that's still polite convention. Sure, if you don't have cards it's fine to say "sorry, I don't have a card on me right now" - but it's better if you just have one to trade! You know, for somebody who is so obsessed with history, I would think you'd know that and be enthusiastic about it. It used to be common for people to get their first cards made as young teenagers - even if they had nothing to put on it except their name - because polite convention was to exchange cards even in social situations. That's not so normal anymore, but it's still normal to exchange cards when you interact with people in a professional setting. Even unemployed students and recent grads commonly attend professional conferences, product lunches, and other events where they'll meet others in the profession, product reps, etc. All you have to do is put your name on your card, and any title that won't get you in trouble with licensing laws (designer, M.Arch, whatever).
I don't know where you're getting the idea that only high-level employees and owners of firms have cards. In most firms everybody has cards - they're routinely ordered for new employees when they start - it doesn't matter if they're a senior project manager, or a fresh grad in their first job, or some back-room assistant IT person. The firm wants you to be able to professionally exchange cards with anybody you encounter.
Agree. Lots of times when i was job searching, by the time I got to a 2nd interview the firm would have me spend time talking to someone in the firm at the same level or in the same role - like another intern or young designer. That wouldn't be somebody who was receiving my resume, but would be somebody I'd want to send a thank-you email to later, so I would ask for their card - and then it was good to have a card to exchange with them. It's just typical office behavior.
You've got your reasons for not going to conferences and events. Somebody who is young and unemployed may have time to go to those things, and may be interested in the subject matter and/or in the networking opportunities. You're once again arguing against an entire well-established convention because it doesn't happen to suit your own personal purposes at this moment.
They're called "business cards" because they're used in a business setting. It is 100% normal for new grads to have business cards, and for every person in a typical firm to have them too. Your concerns about people misrepresenting themselves as business owners is unfounded - there's no expectation (by normal, experienced people) that a card that says "Joe Schmoe, M.Arch, Designer" means that "Joe Schmoe" is operating a business.
Rick most architecture schools encourage students to make cards as soon as possible and use them - not wait until hiring. You could probably become more comfortable with this idea if you just think of them as "calling" cards, like turn-of-the-last-century debutantes exchanged, rather than "business" cards. Just mementos of one's visit or conversation with someone.
You have little to no actual business Rick, so you find your validation as a "businessman" in the process of filing paperwork and paying fees to record the existence of a "business". You reflexively object to anything that forwards anyone's career without involving that sort of bureaucracy, because it obviously undermines your legitimacy, which is built on nothing but paperwork. But you don't have much use for in-person socializing, so I think you shouldn't feel as threatened if you'd just view the exchange of cards as a social convention, not one with an inherent job-seeking or advertising goal.
It's a non-issue. The OP never said anything about a business name. He wants to put on his card his name, degree, and the role he's seeking. There is no business. And even if there were, how do you know where he is and if a business license is required or even offered there? My state has no business licenses. You can file a trade name (totally at your option - there's no requirement to do so), and you can file incorporation documents. But there is no application or registry for unincorporated businesses. In some cities and towns you'd have to apply for a permit if a business is in your home. In others you'd only have to apply if it were creating traffic. In still others you don't need any permits at all. So how can you give one-size-fits-all advice to someone who hasn't even indicated that they want to start a business, and when you don't even know if they're located somewhere that even cares if they do? All he wants to do is make a card, to hand out to people with whom he interacts, as is customary in our society and recommended by people who actually work in this field - which you do not, regardless of how much paperwork you file.
You're clearly not even reading or understanding anything that anybody's writing. You're a lost cause. Good bye.
This is patently false. There are many areas of the US in which there are no licenses or permits required for unincorporated businesses. There are several states where it's not even possible to register such a business if you try. Many smaller towns have no license or permit requirements at all for home-based businesses that do not create traffic, noise, or have business-related exterior signage or lighting. They just have no reason to regulate those small businesses - and the fees generated from doing so wouldn't offset the extra personnel hours required to process the permits. Look Rick, it would be one thing if you were even humble enough to say "this is how it works in Astoria" - but you don't do that - you make proclamations, in big capital letters, telling people that they MUST do things that, in some cases, they couldn't even do if they tried.
“‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’
’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’
’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.’”
See Rick, there you go with the assumptions again. I do not want to be specific about my current location, but I will paraphrase the regs for you: at the state level there is no registration required as long as you're using your own name in the name of your business there is no registration required. At the city level there are no permits required when you meet four rules: 1. no exterior lighting, or signage over 4 feet square. 2. the work of the business is conducted by at least one person who lives on-site. 3. there are not more than two employees who do not live on-site. 4. the business doesn't generate in excess of 10 vehicle trips per day.
Matching names isn’t hard. Business registration regulations have absolutely nothing to do with business cards.
I am just stressed enough to find this hilarious. Students in creative fields are encouraged to include things like a personal logo. Consistent individual branding is considered a positive.
Business cards used to be one of the things you'd order from university printing at the same time that you got your personalized graduation invitations, thank you cards, and stationery. I suppose in the age of email and VistaPrint that's probably a quaint or extinct practice? Nonetheless new grads are still getting them printed somewhere and they're still fundamental etiquette in professional settings. Your name and contact info is the bare minimum, M.Arch is good to note for somebody just entering the profession but you probably won't keep that on your cards later, and any title isn't critical but is ok unless your state's got an issue with it (don't use "Professional Designer" in New York, and don't use "Architectural" anything in most states, though some do specifically allow "Architectural Associate" for people actively enrolled in AXP.) I've got Rick on permanent Ignore and highly recommend that - it makes threads much shorter and more useful.
there used to be this thing called a visiting or calling card...I'm sure Balkins has a chapter on it
Yes, visiting cards of that sort still do exist, for very formal occasions, such as if one is invited to the Boston Cotillion. Balkins probably wouldn't like those though, since a gentleman's card is supposed to include his title and profession (along with club affiliations and other nonsense.) But what I was referring to were just run-of-the-mill business cards from university printing, that I was offered, circa 1995, in the same brochure as graduation invites and such. I don't know if that's still a thing, but I do know I receive lots of cards from people 20 and 30 years younger than I, so somebody somewhere still prints them and people still routinely carry and use them.
"RickB-Astoria is ignored by you."
Many architecture firms also do graphic design which often includes stationary and (gasp!) - business cards. To maintain they are only for people actively involved in a business is too absurd to comment on. Many are innovative and clever in their composition and artwork. What is the cost of having a few cards on your person at all times, employed or not? Essentially nothing. What is the cost of not having a card when someone asks for one?
The best business card I've seen was from an associate at SHoP. I visited their office and the card I was given had a hole where the low case "o" is. Simple, but damn was it sexy. That was 11 years ago and I don't think I've seen a nicer design.
Did you take the card on a date?
Does hitting up a few swanky bars in NYC later that evening with the card still in pocket count?
of course!
in that case, we had one helluva good date.
A former classmate has a card with a printed square with a big circle cut-out in it, about the size of a nickel. He's had that card since we graduated in the mid-90s - it looks a little dated at this point - but his cards are good for spinning around a pencil and flinging at things in my office.
Is that a card in your pocket, or are you... nevermind.
When I was in grad school one of the assignments in the Project Management sequence was to get cards. All through the semester we had to base everything on an imaginary firm, and I'd named my firm after a feature on campus - kind of an inside joke - so my cards had that firm name. After I graduated I continued to use those cards and that firm name for all my freelance work. There's no rule in my state to register businesses or trade names so I didn't register it until almost 20 years later, and then only to prevent anyone else from someday using anything confusingly similar. It costs $40 here to register a trade name for 5 years, so not a budget breaker - but I don't think the OP should worry too much about it one way or the other. Everybody you meet in a professional setting is going to expect you to have cards - and nobody but Richard Balkins, Professional Busybody is going to check up on the filing status of your or your imaginary firm's name!
I don't have any local or city or county licenses. There are none required. I'm not in California, and have no reason to think sidewinder is either. Rick if you go back to your first post in this thread you'll see that mostly what you were insisting at that point was that business cards shouldn't be in the clutches of anyone but firm owners and senior-level key personnel. Having been educated on the utter falseness of that assertion, you shifted to this obsession with getting a license for a non-existent business. Why don't you call any city or state you choose, and ask whether there's anything in their laws preventing a job seeker from making business cards with their name and degree on them, if they do not hold a business license. Do that and report back on it, with documentation. Until then shut up. All you're doing is repeating the same nonsense. It doesn't make it more true, it just makes you look more stupid.
I am writing my representatives now! We need comprehensive card control, and it cannot be at the local level. We must demand federal action on this scourge that harms young as old, Democrat and Republican. Stores like Staples and Office Max allow anyone to just walk in and purchase business cards without identification. Shadowy websites like VistaPrint and Moo careless ship thousands of cards to people’s homes, where children live, without a thought or care. We must demand action now!
Ah, that sweet moment at the end of a meeting when business cards might be exchanged...Should I take mine out first? Does that make me seem to eager? What if they don't give me theirs? Quelle horreur!
Is the meeting at your place or mine? I was taught in middle school that in the US the visitor should offer their business card first, and preferably at the start of the meeting. (But if you share Rick's views that having cards when you're not an owner is an unseemly example of "outdressing the boss" then unless you know you're talking to a principal you should never offer a card, lest you create awkwardness if the other person ranks too lowly to be able to reciprocate!)
They never taught us anything business related, ever. I'm totally clueless at that and other fronts, but luckily the people I'm dealing with as well, ha!
simple solution. Include a 100-200 word explanation of title law and your situation on the card in .5 pt font.
Dont get too many. They get outdated quickly.
University printing services where I teach does business cards for recent grads and current students - $18 a box for 300. Students usually have cards as soon as they start interviewing for internships. some of their templates/past examples are ones where students give themselves a company name (like "DaveCo"). Personally I think that's cheezy and reminds me of Kramerica. But if you insist on doing that you're not going to get in trouble over business licenses -- you're just gonna be cheezy. The most versatile thing to make the cards stay applicable longest, if you've already graduated, would be to put your degree and year of graduation. As long as you're looking for a job in architecture and your degree is in architecture that should be enough info, any other title would be optional.
Wait, do you think Kramerica Industries wasn’t registered with the proper authorities of the City, County and State of New York?
Hmm... did it need to be registered in NYC? Or in LA, where it was filmed? Or both? Or neither, as long as neither Kramer nor Darren handed out cards?
11 entities with 'Kramerica' listed in State of New York. No Kramerica Industries listed.
Name, Designer
M. Arch year of graduation
My school in college gave us cards with expected year of graduation on them (engineering). We had events throughout the year where alumni came back and they would give us advice on how to network (how to exchange business cards while having a drink or finger foods, writing down non-work facts on back of the cards you got with date/event to connect later with, etc.). I ran out before I graduated but had a lot of contacts that I stayed in touch with from those years. Some are now consultants I work with. In some ways they are the old calling cards.
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