Expanding your business is no easy task.  But for those business owners who decide that expansion is the right move, one must make careful decisions when looking at the resources currently used in the business and be practical when adding or eliminating resources. Even small decisions made in the wrong direction can be the difference between growth and defeat.

One such resource that is often misused or just plain overlooked is the office printer.  Utilized properly and efficiently, this piece of equipment can save money, manpower and prevent adding unnecessary expenses that most business owners may feel are unavoidable. Here are just 3 ways your office printer can help you expand your business without having to expand your wallet:

• Postage…Do more in less time
• Producing New Marketing Materials In-House...Save $$
• Purchase an All-in-One Printer…the Upgrade that keeps on giving

Postage is a common expense for most small businesses that increases dramatically when adding the actual cost of postage to the labor involved getting mailings out.  Larger businesses endure the expense of procuring their own postage meter from the United States Postal Service and loading it with pre-paid postage via telephone or online. This is efficient, but also costly.  Small business owners make trips to the Post Office which is cost effective, but not as efficient. The solution? Register the business and create an account with the U.S. Postal Service online www.usps.com. Business owners can buy stamps, create mailing lists and print postage right from the office printer and request a pickup of the mail each day.  Printing postage from your office printer saves time and money.

Producing New Marketing Materials In-House can seem quite daunting.  As well it is tempting to outsource this task to a mass print company or copy store in an effort to save time.  The problem is that although some manpower is conserved, one usually must purchase a large volume of materials to see any value.  Print items such as business cards, letterhead, etc. that will not change are worth the volume. NEW Marketing Materials, Flyers and Brochures announcing the expansion, specials or promotions are not needed in large quantities, as they will change over time to reflect new promotions and ads as your expansion progresses. Tip: Print these items using black ink on colored paper to control the cost of ink.

Purchase an All-in-One-Printer; otherwise know as a Print/Copy/Fax machine. Although this is a suggested expense, it is one piece of equipment that a growing small business cannot do without. An All-in-One will allow you to streamline the way that your company paper trail is handled as a one stop shop for multiple tasks, saving time.  Having only one machine will save electricity; thus saving money.  Finally, one machine, one type of ink; needless to say the potential for savings are endless.

Proper use of your office printer can aid your expansion, save time and money; Money that perhaps in the not-so-distant future could be used to take a well deserved vacation.

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Despite the fact that this is the technological age and most work gets by e-mail or over cell phones, there are certain times that meeting in person is required.  Meeting others in person is still the best way to network, whether it is to get a new job or to find contacts for your present business.  For decades, the best way to get your name out there, and to remember the names of those you have met, is by exchanging business cards.  Business cards are often also used for personal interactions, as a good way to give your name and phone number to a potential date.

Now that you know the importance of business cards, the question becomes a matter of how to create them.  Many regular print shops will print business cards for you.  Likely you will need to come up with the design and text yourself and give it to them in digital form.  There are also companies online that specialize in printing business cards.  They focus only on that aspect of business and you can make sure they will do a good job.  Some stores, both online and brick and mortar, will have a minimum amount of cards to print so that it is worth the effort to them.  For that reason, you may want to consider printing them yourself.

In addition to only wanting a small number of cards, there are other reasons to consider printing them yourself.  One reason is if you want to change your design every so often.  Rather than printing hundreds of the same card, you can print smaller batches of various designs.  Perhaps you want one look for personal use, one for business.  Or maybe you want one card to give out at certain networking events and other for another purpose.  It could be expensive to print all those different kinds at a print shop because each different design will cost extra.

If you decide to print your business cards at home, you will need to make sure that you use a good word processing program in which you can properly print the design of your card in the proper dimensions.  You will also need to get high quality heavy card stock paper.  You can chose matte or glossy paper per your preference.  You can use color or black and white ink, depending on how you want your cards to look.  In either case, make sure you are using good quality ink.  Don’t forget that you can save money by having your cartridges refilled rather than having to buy new ones.

For cutting the business cards, you will need to invest in a paper cutter.  That will ensure that you can have a nice, even, straight cut.  There is paper available that has perforated edges, but it does not look as good as using a paper cutter.

While it will take some work to make business cards yourself, the creative freedom and the lack of limitations on quantity may make it the best choice for your business.

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