I was wondering what everyone recommends I put as my title on my business card?
I have a small web design business, but I’m the only person. What should I put, or should I put anything at all? For example, President, Owner, Lead Designer, etc…
If you’re not incorporated, then neither Director, President nor CEO will apply.
My recommendation is you choose a name that means something to your prospects and puts you in a peer-to-peer relationship with them. That requires you to know whom you’re targeting and what’s important to them. For instance, if you’re targeting Mom-and-Pop shops, then “CEO” may sound a bit pretentious. In that case, “Owner” may be more appropriate. If you’re targeting CEO’s, then “Web Designer” certainly isn’t going to put you on equal footing with him, is it?
This comes up a lot, and I just want to give my opinion and tell you a little about my experience with this subject. When I was 18 I started an e-commerce website. Back then, everyone was starting up online companies and it was right after the dot-com bust so it was hard to even get people to take you seriously if you told them what you did.
Well, we started up as a general partnership but myself and the other owner called ourselves “President” and “Vice President” on our business cards.
It’s an easy mistake to make when you’re just getting started in business… you want to sound professional - maybe sound a little bigger than you are. But the reality is that legally unless you’re incorporated (or an LLC) there isn’t a position of President, CEO, etc.
It actually makes you look even more like an amateur for trying to call yourself one, because anyone with half a brain will see right through it. See, if you were incorporated your company name would have to have an indication (such as Inc., Incorporated, Corporation, LLC, etc.).
I’d recommend just calling yourself either Owner or give yourself a position like “Creative Director” or “Head of Web Development.” They’re very professional sounding titles, and won’t draw any attention to you like “President” or “CEO” would.
The funny, whimsical titles never sat well with me. “Web Guru” and the like just don’t sound professional. You might get a few cutesy comments aboutt them but in the end I think the potential for a prospect to think that it was immature or unprofessional outweighs the benefits (are there really any?).
I feel you should just put your name. Especially if you are a small design firm, made up of 1 person. Sounds much more informal. And informal is a way that works very fine for me. I try to have a good laught he first time I see a client, and keep the relation on this level. Without being unprofessional, off course. Just the name.
For my first cards, I just put “Web and Graphic Design” for my title as I just wanted them to remember what service I offered. I didn’t want to put just graphic or web designer as I wanted to be clear I did both.
I was wondering what everyone recommends I put as my title on my business card?
Never, ever put something as wanky as “president” or “managing director” or any such rubbish. By all means put a meaningful job title but make it relevant to your prospects.
I use “business systems consultant”, even though the bulk of my time is spent programming and testing software.