Wasted Money Creating A Boring Actor Business Card 6 Interesting Ways to Stand Out

Have you ever wasted money creating really boring actor business cards? Well, if you watch this video, you're going to learn 6 ways to make your business cards stand out. And if you watch to the very end, I'm also going to share with you a great link to a video that I know is going to be helpful to you. Okay, let's get started. Hey, I'm Aaron Marcus, and welcome to the Actor and Model Quick Tips channel and the Actor Career Center. Where I share information that I've learned from my 36-plus years working as a full-time actor, and I'm just trying to help other people in the industry have more success and also avoid some of the pitfalls that I hit when I first got started. Hey, by the way, if you haven't done this yet, don't forget, click the subscribe button and the notification bell, and that way every time I upload a new video, You will know about it. And by the way, if you like the video, give it a like. That way it helps let other people know about the value of the video. So about business cards. Some actors use business cards, some actors don't use business cards. I like them. And look, I get it. You know, the world has changed and we are doing things electronically today, but I still think having a business card It can be really helpful to you. So the very first thing that I wanted to share with you is your business card absolutely has to have either your headshot or a photo that helps describe how people can cast you. Look, we are salespeople. We are selling ourselves. We are the product, and people need to know what kind of product they're going to buy. So that's why it is crucial that you have a photo on your business card. Number 2, you need people to be able to reach you, and you've got to be a little bit careful with this. Uh, look, if you have an agent and everything is going through your agent, then you're going to have your agent's contact information. That would be the best way. If you do have an agent but you also market yourself, then you can always have separate cards made up where your contact information is there as well. And by the way, if you do have an agent— and this is just my own personal belief— yes, you should be marketing yourself. I think I like the idea of being proactive. I do that all the time. But I would still send things through my agent or agents depending on which one I would like to send it through because I do have agents in different markets for a whole variety of reasons. Number one, they will appreciate it. And once again, this is assuming you don't have an exclusive contract that stipulates any job you get has to go through them. So let's say legally that's not a factor, but it's just really, it's in your best interest. They'll negotiate better for you. They will make sure the job is legit. And when they see that you are actually producing income for their agency, well, why wouldn't they start submitting you even more for projects? And it's a great way to just remind them that you are bringing in money for them. So, but you can still have your information. People can still contact you, but make sure that— at least my suggestion would be still send it through, through the agent. Now, as far as contact information goes, Look, if you're going to have your email there, well, first you're going to have a phone number and you've got a choice. You can either, you know, if you still have a landline phone, you could use that. If you have a cell phone, which I assume you do, that's something I would highly recommend that you put in there, especially if you're using it mostly for business. Something in case you're not familiar with this, It's called Google Voice, and I will share the link below with you. I don't want to go off too far in a tangent here, but it's just how my mind works. It's like I get an idea and I think, oh, I want to share this with you. Google Voice can be phenomenal. It's free. This way, if you don't feel comfortable giving out your personal cell phone information, you can just go to using the link below. Go to the website. It's absolutely free. You put in a zip code and you'll get a list of phone numbers that you can choose from, and that will become your personal Google Voice number. And that way you're not giving out your personal number. And then what you do is you set it up so that when anyone calls the Google Voice number, you have it transferred to your cell phone. You just have it forwarded to your cell phone. And that way, number one, it's going to ring differently. You're going to know that it's a business call. And two, if they leave you a message because you couldn't pick it up, you'll get it in a text format. So you might want to use that on your business card. If you are going to put your email address, which you should, you want people to be able to reach you via email, just make sure that your email address sounds professional. You don't want to have hot rod motorcycle gang member You know, at gmail.com. You want to try to make it as easy for people as possible so that they can easily identify you. So I have a few different email addresses that I use. They all point to the same email page. For me, it's all in Gmail, but like one of them is aaron@aaronrobertmarcus.com. Pretty simple. Sounds professional. They know who I am. So anyhow, definitely want phone number. You want an email address, a website. And number 3, you want all your social media platform links there so that people can easily get to you. And by the way, and once again, I'm jumping a little bit. I'm going to create a video for you guys at some point soon. It's going to be really good. I highly recommend that you use a QR code and for, for your next business card. My next business card, no question, I'm going to have a QR code. Didn't have one on my last one and it's a little bit outdated now. I've done some really interesting projects that I would definitely want to list there, but you can have a QR code so people can scan it. And it will take them right to your resume. You could do that. So it takes them right to your voiceover reel, your film and television reel, you know, wherever you want to send people, but having a QR code is really phenomenal. And what I will also do for you, not only just below, you'll see a company that you can, you can use. It's a link to create a free QR code. I also, I'll leave it in the show notes as well so you can use that. But that's a great way to allow people to easily scan your card, get information. Because honestly, people really aren't going to hold on to cards very long if they even look at it. Sometimes they just grab it, they take it, thank you, and then they throw it away. But at least this way, if they can just easily scan it and get more information from you, that can be really helpful. One thing you definitely do not want to have on your business card, your acting business card, is you don't want personal information like your home address for a whole variety of reasons. One is, first of all, nobody needs to know where you live. Number 2, it's just a safety thing. All of a sudden you start— you can start running into personal information and people can grab it and do things with it. And the other thing too is if you are willing to travel to a long— some kind of audition or do a job that's out of your area, maybe even out of your state, if they see a home address and they go, oh, well, that person lives in this state, that's kind of far, I don't think they would be interested or they might not show up, but you're willing to do it. Just avoid the whole thing. Don't ever, ever, ever put your home address or Social Security number or anything like that. Make sure, and this is number 4, make sure that your business card isn't too fancy. This is not the time to just really show all of your artistic abilities. And by the way, you can see my business cards here, or business card. I use a front and back. I figured, look, I've got a, um, I've got a billboard here, I might as well use both sides of it. And what I do is I have one side where it's strictly acting information, and then when you flip it over, you'll also get information about my book, How to Become a Successful Actor or Model, as well as workshops that I do and private mentoring. And so that way I've got both sides giving out different kinds of information. But feel free to use both sides depending on what you're trying to do. I'm sorry, number 5 was the QR code, but I just said it earlier. But that is the 5th thing. And the very last thing on a business card is if you are a member of an actors union, if you're a member of ACTRA, which is the union in Canada, or SAG-AFTRA for film and television commercials in, in the States, or Equity if you do theater, if that's your union, make sure you put it in there. Personally, if you are non-union, I wouldn't spell out non-union on, on your business card. People will assume that you are non-union unless, you know, unless you have a union listing, you know, on your card. This is where I had mentioned I was going to give you a special bonus. Let me just make sure I got the exact, exact wording of it. It's 4 ways to make sure that your acting or modeling job is legit. You can use Um, the link right up here and you can click on it. It's a really good video. I know it's going to be helpful to you. And, and by the way, once again, if you haven't done this yet, uh, please subscribe, uh, click the notification bell so you always know a new video is being uploaded. I try to do them every Tuesday, if, you know, depending on my schedule. And if you like the video, you know, just, just click on the like button and please share it, share it with other people. That's why I do these videos. My goal here is to really truly help others in the industry either break into the business, learn more about the industry so they can jumpstart their career or take their career to the next level. I know what it's like to get started on your own. It's hard. And I spent years just doing things by trial and error. And certainly I learned from everything. But I wish I had somebody that, you know, would have helped guide me. And that is also why I spend 5 days a month just mentoring people. But anyhow, please share, share the link with your acting friends or modeling friends and let them know so they can learn more about the industry as well. Okay, I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya. See ya.