When was that last time you updated your business card?

When was the last time you updated your business card? 
Can people really still recognize you from the photo on your card?  I ask this because Brandi Pierce ofaShadow Web & Graphic Design in seattle sent me an invite to an event they are hosting where they are giving people's business cards a thorough make over and shooting new head shots for them at the same time.  This got me to thinking about the business cards I see floating around.

Most of the business cards I encounter are completely unremarkable, and a few are even a bit on the laughable side. 
As professionals we all think we can do everything, and that usually goes for designing our cards as well. Additionally I really hate it when people have photos of themselves on their cards from say 1973.  Our business cards are often times the first and only piece of marketing material that prospects will see, shouldn't they WOW people, or at least not make them snicker?

Pause for a moment and consider the value that those business cards of your have. 
Does the picture on it really look like you, and does the picture look good?  Does you card convey the right message to people, does it say anything other than 'YAWN....  Here is my phone number?'  Odds are that all of our cards could use a little punching up.  At the very least those hard working scraps of paper deserve a new picture of you on them.  So before you order your next box of cards, show them some love.  They are out there working for you day and night, so why not give them the tools to actually make a good impression?

Get professional help!
If you are in the Seattle area, you really ought to take advantage of the Headshot and Business Card Design event that Brandi and Summer Myers are putting on September 21.  For $150 they will not only shoot you a new head shot (which if you have ever had it professionally done isn't cheap) and give your business card a make over.  This is a really good deal!  If you aren't then right now, grab your box of business cards and put a note and a rubber band around the last 200 that it is time to go get your cards re-designed and new pictures taken.  The business you lose from having cards that don't wow people will cost you far more than the price of a new picture and having them professionally designed!