The Small Business Starter Pack Every New Owner Prints First
Starting out, you meet three different rooms in the same week. A studio visit, a job site, and the meeting you actually needed to win. This pack covers all three with cards chosen for the situation rather than the color swatch, so the first print order you place is one you keep reordering.
The small business starter pack is three business card formats that each own a different selling moment. Artist business cards are the everyday card you give away by the handful. Automotive business cards are built to survive a shop, a glovebox, and a working hand. 3D lenticular business cards are the short run you save for the pitch. Print the everyday card in volume, the specialty card in small numbers.
The picks
Three cards, $17.57 for 100 or $690.88 for 500 lenticular
Start here. These are the three cards the pack is built on. Two are everyday spend at $17.57 for 100. One is a deliberate splurge at $690.88 for 500, and it takes 22 business days, so order it long before the meeting that pays for it.
Design and print help
One owner name across three card formats
The pack only works if the three cards look like they came from one company. These tools handle the repeatable parts, the layout, the stock choice, and the deadline, so the identity stays fixed while the format changes.
How they work together
Buy the everyday card before the memorable one
Each card owns a stage of the first year. The everyday card builds volume and reach, the trade card converts the people already looking at your work, and the specialty card protects the handful of relationships worth real money.
The card you carry by the hundred. Cheap enough to give away freely, printed well enough that nobody throws it out on the walk to the car.
The card that lives in a glovebox, a toolbox, or a service invoice. It needs a finish that survives handling and a number readable at arm length.
A short run reserved for the pitch, the trade show table, and the referral you cannot afford to lose. Motion earns a second look and a kept card.
1. Artist business cards: the everyday card that carries your work
This is the workhorse of the pack. It exists to be given away by the handful at openings, markets, studio visits, and every conversation that starts with someone asking what you do. Because it goes out in volume, the unit price matters, and because it represents creative work, the surface has to hold color without going muddy or chalky.
Give the card one job on the front and all the answers on the back. A name, a discipline, and a single image or mark is enough to earn the flip. Then put the phone number, the email, and one link on the reverse, set in a size you can read without hunting for glasses. If you are working type only, typographic business cards that actually work covers the layouts that survive at this size.
One card is an introduction. A box of them, actually handed out, is a marketing channel. Order the quantity you will spend, not the quantity that feels safe.
2. Automotive business cards: built for the glovebox and the toolbox
Trade cards live a harder life than office cards. This one gets pulled from a wallet with a working hand, stapled to an invoice, clipped to a visor, and read in a parking lot at dusk. Every design choice should serve that reality. Bigger contact type, high contrast between text and background, and a finish that handles a thumbprint without holding it.
Put the thing you want called about on the front in plain words. Brake service, detailing, mobile repair, fleet maintenance. A customer keeps a card because it answers one need at one moment, not because it lists nine services in six point type. The same principle drives every trade specific card, and business card ideas for personal trainers shows it worked through for a different trade.
Leave a clear strip of space on the back. Shops that write the next service date or the mileage on the card by hand turn a business card into an appointment reminder, which is why those cards come back.
3. 3D lenticular business cards: the short run you save for the room that matters
A lenticular card shifts as it tilts, so the recipient turns it in their hand instead of pocketing it flat. That physical pause is the entire point. It is the most expensive piece in this pack by a wide margin, and it should be treated the way you treat a good suit rather than a daily uniform.
Design it around one transition. A logo that gains depth, a before and after, a product that turns. Two competing effects cancel each other and read as noise. Keep the contact details on a flat area so they stay crisp, and proof the artwork with the interlacing in mind rather than assuming a flat layout will translate. Broader positioning advice sits in affordable small business branding strategies.
Print a small run and spend it deliberately on the pitch meeting, the trade show table, and the three referral sources who send you real work. Used that way it stops being an expense and becomes a tool.
Specs and pricing
Artist card sizes, corners and the price ladder
The everyday card sets the stock and finish the other two answer to. Check the specs, then price the quantity you will actually hand out over six months rather than the one that looks cheapest per order.
| Quantity | Price Per Unit | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 17.6¢ | $17.57 |
| 200 | 11.5¢ | $23.07 |
| 300 | 9.15¢ | $27.46 |
| 400 | 7.96¢ | $31.86 |
| 500 | 7.25¢ | $36.26 |
| 600 | 6.77¢ | $40.64 |
| 700 | 6.43¢ | $45.04 |
| 800 | 6.18¢ | $49.43 |
Wally explains the starter pack
Three cards, one identity, printed to win work
Wally sees the same mistake in every first print order. Owners buy one card, in one stock, for every situation, then wonder why it feels wrong in half of them. His fix is simple. Decide which conversation each card is for, print the everyday one in real volume, keep the showpiece rare, and repeat your logo, colors, typeface, and phone placement across all three so they still read as one business.
Shop the business basics collection →See it in use
First cards new owners have ordered
Explore more
Where to go next
By the numbers
One pack, printed to win work
Common Questions
Common questions about the small business starter pack
What is in the small business starter pack?
Three business card formats chosen because they cover three different selling situations rather than three different color schemes. An artist card for portfolio and creative work, an automotive card built for handling in a shop or a service vehicle, and a lenticular card held back for the rooms where being remembered is worth more than the unit cost. Each is quoted on its own product page.
Why is the whole pack business cards instead of flyers and banners?
Because the first ninety days of a small business are spent in conversations, not in foot traffic you have not earned yet. A card is the only piece that travels home in a pocket and gets pulled out weeks later. Flyers and banners matter once you have a location and an offer worth promoting, and the business basics collection carries those when you get there.
In what order should I order these three cards?
Start with the everyday card in the largest quantity you will realistically hand out in six months, because unit price drops fast with volume and a card you ration is a card you never give away. Add the trade specific card next, once you know where you actually meet buyers. Order the lenticular run last, in a small quantity, aimed at named opportunities.
Do I need all three cards to look identical?
They should read as one company, not as three clones. Lock four elements and let the rest breathe. The logo file stays the same, the two brand colors keep the same hex values, one typeface carries every line of contact detail, and the phone number sits in the same corner on each card. Stock, finish, and shape can change freely once those four repeat.
How many cards should a new owner print at once?
Print more than feels comfortable of the everyday card and far fewer of the specialty card. Owners consistently underorder the workhorse, then hoard it, which defeats the purpose. A card sitting in your desk drawer costs you the same as one in a customer pocket and earns nothing.
What does the small business starter pack cost to print?
There is no bundle price. Each piece is quoted on its own product page, so the total moves with quantity, stock, finish, and turnaround. The everyday cards start at $17.57 for 100 on 14pt gloss cover in 3 business days, and the lenticular card at $690.88 for 500 with a 22 business day build. Configure the everyday card first at the quantity you need, then the trade card, then decide how many specialty cards the calendar actually justifies.
Can I add more pieces as the business grows?
Yes, and most owners do. The pack is a starting point, not a ceiling. Once the cards are working, the natural next steps are the pieces that support a location or a campaign, and other trade specific sets on this site show how a full print program assembles once the basics are in place.
Get Started
Order 100 artist business cards at $17.57 to start
Order the everyday card in volume, add the trade card for the work you actually do, and keep a small run of the showpiece for the meetings worth winning. All three price live at 4OVER4.COM.
Legal Disclaimer
Gold Standard guarantees apply to all standard orders placed through 4over4.com. Price match requires verifiable proof of a competitor's published price for an equivalent product with matching specifications and turnaround time. Satisfaction guarantee covers manufacturing defects and print quality issues. Contact support with order number and documentation. On-time delivery rate based on tracked orders 1999 to 2026. Individual results may vary based on shipping carrier performance.
