The case for business cards

A couple of years ago, Spot and I decided it would be a good idea for us to have business cards. It's just so much easier if someone asks for your email address or phone number to had over a card, than to spend 5 minutes looking for a pen and piece of paper.

Both our cards are pretty simple designs. Mine has a cross at one side (based on a cross in my home church), with my name, address, landline and mobile numbers and email address. On the back there's a QR code with all the info, so if someone has a QR code reader, they can just beep all the details into their phone and it's there for saving, stopping errors in transferring the details. Strange thing about that is there has only been 1 person who's straight away got what it was (though were a little too impressed!).

Now, though, I'm wondering if I should have 2 business cards - one for professional use, one for personal use. Why, you may be wondering. Well, do I really want to be giving out my mobile number to every cat and dog that needs my email address (and, possibly, my landline)? I've heard too many stories of ministers being contacted at all sorts of times on their mobiles- on their day off, in the middle of the night, on holiday - because a member of their congregation thinks it's socially acceptable to contact them anytime they like. Frankly, if a congregation wants to contact me on a mobile, they can provide one for business use for me. If not, stick to the landline and allow me to re-route the calls to my phone if I know I'm going to be away from the manse for a while, but am working and need to be contactable.

At this juncture, it's worth pointing out I do not design or print my business cards - that's Spot's job (well, why have a gerbil and squeak yourself).

I suppose a lot of this boils down to how contactable should a minister be. I have heard of a couple of congregations which pay for the minister's mobile. In one case, it's the minister's personal phone bill they pay for. In another case, it's the business phone, for want of a better phrase, so when the minister's on holiday it's passed to someone else to deal with the calls. I can see the idea of the latter - so long as those who have the number respect there are times of the might when it might be switched off. In this day and age, it does seem a bit backward that minister's phones are tied to their landlines. Maybe that's something that needs rethought.

But, getting back to whether I need 2 business cards. At the moment I am doing some pastoral work for the Big Kirk. As per the minister's custom and practise, I am putting a card through those I've attempted to visit doors, to let them know I've been. At the moment, I'm scoring out my mobile number, but it looks unprofessional (and the details are still in the QR code). I don't want my mobile number to get too well known, though I am the sort of person who would ignore it!

Whatever I do, I know I'll need to take into account that many I'll be visiting are older members of the congregation, so the cards need to be legible.

For legibility, it's all in bold arial font in black. My personal details take up a good two thirds of the card face, so they should be legible to most people I would give one too. Unfortunately, I have seen too many business cards which have text in a slightly darker shade than the background colour of the card. How legible they are to anyone with declining eyesight it debatable - with my specs I struggle.