Sending Birthday Cards Is Still Important For Business

Sending a birthday card to a business partner or even a competitor can be a delicate situation. Personal or professional? Comical or creative? Choosing the right card to send is as important as sending the card itself.

Know Your Audience – Someone who appreciates a humorous card that works at a law firm is the same person that appreciates a humorous card who teaches ‘comedy and tragedy’ at your local university. If you are sending a card to an individual, it is crucial to tailor that card to their personality.

Variety – There are cards for all emotions and all walks of life, so don’t be afraid to get personal. However, if the relationship is one of a strictly business or causal manor, sending a more generic card can work in your favor to still show you care, but are also someone of a professional ilk. This tactic will avoid sending the card with a tiny cat in a bowtie blowing out candles to someone who frankly, wouldn’t get it.

To Send or Not to Send in Bulk – That is the question. The answer varies depending on your company, and the company you are sending birthday cards to. Is it crucial to send a birthday card to every business contact you have? Probably not. But, sending a card to as many connections as possible can only help extend the good will and keep you and your business relationship fresh on their mind. Buying just one box of business cards can, in all likelihood, cover almost all of your business-related birthdays. This purchase can be beneficial financially for you, and also make you look savvy to your business partners for remembering their special day.

In our technological world, the personal touch of sending a greeting card is becoming a lost art form. There is definitely something to be said for opening and reading a physical card rather than an e-card with a cheesy popup message. Sending a birthday card to your colleagues and associates is a small but important touch to keep you on the forefront of your business relationships.

Greeting Cards Highlight – Thank You Cards

Chances are that there are people in your life who have helped you along the way, contributing positively to you or your business. We all have people in our lives who we are thankful for and sending them a thank you card is the perfect way to express that you acknowledge their impact, work or business.

Here are five great Thank You cards that will help get the message across:

First, the Thank You Scroll Card is the perfect card to thank your clients or customers. The “Thank You” message is written elegantly over a swirling tonal backdrop and stamped with embossed gold foil. The overall design on cream matte card stock looks polished and well-put together.

Another great thank you card for your clients or customers is the Thank You For Your Business card on a navy blue background. This thank you card is less formal than the “Thank You Scroll Card” but looks equally great with the gold lettering on navy background. The interesting lines underneath the “Thank You For Your Business Card” works as the focus point and is sure to draw in your customers.

If there is someone you’d like to thank during the holidays, the Regal Thank You card is a great card to send. The royal red and gold design on cream matte stock features subtly embossed details that remind one of the holidays, without being too specific as to which particular holiday. The classic card can be sent to employees, coworkers or loved ones, making it a great all-purpose card for you or your business.

One of my favorite thank you cards is the Peacock Thank You card because the design features just the right amount of detail to make a colorful impact. The “Thank You” message is simple, embossed in gold, while three peacock feather plumes featured in blue, red, and yellow stylishly wrap around the “Thank You” message. The embossed details on each feather stand out, leaving a tasteful impact. This card would be a great personal card or even a stylish card for your clients if you want to leave a lasting impression.

Last but not least, if you prefer a background design over a “Thank You” font design, why not express your gratitude with the Water Lily Nympheas card? This famous background by Claude Monet is outlined in a thick gold embossing and leaves room in the inside of the card to personally sign or handwrite your gratitude to your customers or loved ones. If you enjoy the Claude Monet backgrounds, there are also many other Monet landscape cards you can choose from in the Thank You card collection.

Remember what your mother always taught you: Always say please and “THANK YOU!”

How to Handle the Work Commute Stress

One thing I noticed about long commutes was that they tended to take all my energy away. By the time I got to work my coffee was gone and I was tired again, I had wasted precious energy on 40 minutes or more of car-dancing, I had already talked to seven people at red lights, and I had panicked about traffic as well as mostly everything in the world.

I couldn’t sustain this any longer and I knew I had to do something. I’ve kind of narrowed it down into four basic strategies:

1. Wake Up Early and Leave Early
The classic mistake: wake up late, leave late, freak out for an hour in the car, get to work late. It’s true that the initial moment of getting out of bed is close to impossible, but when I wake up early, stretch, and drink a little water, I’m eternally grateful for the extra few minutes. I can leave earlier, too. And then in the car when I have to stop and let a pedestrian cross the road, instead of shouting “WHY IN GOD’S GREEN EARTH IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?” I can let the pedestrian go in a pleasant manner.

2. Pace Yourself
I’ve started trying different things to conserve my energy in the mornings. The first thing I realized is that, as much as I may want to listen to energetic rock-and-roll while chugging espresso at 7 a.m., it helps a lot to put on some soothing music and just calmly zone out during the car or bus ride. It saves my energy for when I get to work and keeps me in the right mood for it. The other thing that helps is to get your lunch and/or breakfast ready at night, so you can just grab it without rushing on your way out.

3. Or, Don’t
Feel free to get excited on your way to work. Car rides can be fun if you have the right tunes, the right weather, and the right mood. Roll down your window, drink your espresso drink (or your green tea), and think happy thoughts.

4. For Goodness Sake, Talk Yourself Out of It
As the cars creep inch by inch down the highway, stopping short just so, it helps to keep reminding yourself: I will not stress. It’s okay. I will not stress. This is not the end of the world. This also has to do with pacing yourself. What’s the point of wasting all that energy so early on? I ask myself all the time: Is this situation really worth feeling pure terror over? If not, just relax. Breathe. It’s going to be all right. Calm yourself with words.

Going nuts in the morning is no fun. But when I wake up early, pace my energy (or don’t), and remain composed in the face of unfortunate driving conditions, I find that the long morning commute is totally manageable and even a good chance to start your morning off right.

Why You Should Send Business Birthday Cards

Business birthday cards are sent to acknowledge a very special day in everyone’s life.  I can remember when I was working at a job years ago, the day came and went with no acknowledgment from anyone that it was my birthday.  Ironically, I was the one who always picked up the cake and arranged for everyone else’s birthday.   As I left the building, not only was I feeling sad, but I also felt unappreciated for the job I did.

No matter what position you hold in the company you work for, it is a major part of your life and you spend many hours with fellow workers.  Many people have no one at home to share their birthdays and holidays with and this may be the only acknowledgement they receive.  It is a wonderful feeling to know that you are being thought of and it creates that warm and fuzzy feeling inside. With the world of cell phones now, people feel it is ok to send birthday wishes on Facebook and other applications.  It then loses its personal touch.  A card takes that extra effort and makes someone’s birthday special.   It can become a keepsake forever.

Why You Should Send Thank You Cards

What ever happened to sending someone a Thank You card? Technology evolved and took over every aspect of the manner in which we do things. It has made us lazy and quite insensitive. We no longer write personal notes or sentiments to those we appreciate as a symbol of our gratitude. Instead we shoot them an email or a text that conveys a simple, emotionless message. Sometimes we are too busy to even complete a word that we resort to text slang, SMH (Shaking my Head)! Did we ever stop to think of how impersonal those texts and emails are?

Knowing that someone actually took the time to pick out a nice card, chose the words they wanted to use in describing how grateful they felt towards you can bring about quite a remarkable feeling of importance. Receiving a personal Thank You card always gives you a wonderful conversation piece because it is something you will want to display in your home upon receiving it. One quickly forgets the text or email that simply says thank you, but a card lasts longer than a quick enter on the delete button. Let’s take a moment to reconnect in the manner we used to, send a personal Thank You card.

8th Annual Create-A-Greeting-Card Scholarship Contest – Finalist Showcase

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The 8th Annual Create-A-Greeting-Card Scholarship was our most successful one yet with over 13,000 entries submitted. Through monthly voting rounds, those 13,000 entries were narrowed down to the below 109 finalists.

These 109 finalists were then narrowed down to a top 10 which consisted of the 5 top vote getters and 5 designs that were chosen by our scholarship team. You can see the top 10 by going here.  Check out the 109 designs that were a part of the Final Voting round in the slideshow below.

How to Watch What You Eat At Work

Do you eat like a gem on the weekends and then, at work, find yourself torn between the cheeseburger and the $3 mozzarella sticks?

It can be difficult to maintain your diet during the week, but I’ve found that a few things work really well for me:

Fruit
Fruits with skins are cheap, healthy, and easy to bring to work because you don’t even have to worry about keeping them on a clean surface. As a germaphobe I am particularly into bananas, kiwis, oranges, and grapefruit and it’s fun to just have them rolling around on your desk, waiting to be eaten.

Easy Sandwiches
There’s a lot you can do with just some bread, arugula, already-cooked chicken sausage, a piece of cheese, and a microwave. Just saying.

Leftovers
This is probably the holy grail of maintaining your diet at work. If you just muster up the mental willpower when you get home at night to cook a big dinner, you can bring your leftovers the next day. You won’t even have to consider the $1.25 Cup ‘O Noodles.

Raw Veggies
This is for the go-hards… A Tupperware of raw veggies never hurt anyone. Just eat them along with your granola bar and your easy sandwich. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, even cucumber (although you’ll have to slice that up and at that point you might as well make a salad). Also—if you do bring a salad, pack your dressing separately. Salads aren’t gross, wet mushy salads are gross.

Be patient with yourself and try to bring one healthy thing a day. Or, at the cafeteria, buy one healthy thing instead of one unhealthy thing. It’s easy to eat healthy on the weekends, when you’ve got time and the willingness to spend a bit more money, but it’s important not to let work get in the way of a healthy, happy lifestyle.

Why You Should Send Thank You Cards After a Job Interview

With the job market the way it is, finding a job you love can be a challenging venture.  Once you get that key interview, I can guarantee you that there are many more applicants also interviewing for the position.  Sending a follow up Thank You Card after a job interview can be a special thing that sets you apart from all the others.  So many great candidates are out there vying for that one awesome job.  Standing out above the others is the one aspect you need to make a mark.

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A thank you card after a job interview keeps you fresh in the mind of the interviewer.  A person can make a major impact by presenting themselves as well versed during the interview but so can many other people.  Most applicants will have on that classic business suit, their hair and makeup groomed to perfection and the firm handshake necessary to win the job of their dreams.  But how can you make yourself be remembered if everyone else is also putting their best foot forward?

When the person in charge of hiring is finally alone after the interviewing process and in a state of total confusion by all the wonderful prospects, wouldn’t it be great for him to find a thank you card from you on his desk?  It will show him that this wasn’t just any old interview, but a job you care about and are willing to go the extra mile for.  Sending a Thank You Card after an interview will make you remembered by human resources!

Why You Should Have an All-Occasion Card Assortment Box

You can never go wrong having an assortment of greeting cards on hand.  The Gallery Collection assortment box is ideal for individuals that prefer to be organized and on time in their card giving.

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If you are an advent card giver like myself, you should never be without a collection of cards.  This will save you time, money and the agony of looking at all your card options.  It’s not just me, but I like to give cards that are personalized.  I like them to be a good quality paper and print instead of those crappy 99 cents cards.  That is a pet peeve of mine.  Ask my Aunt Queenie, she will never do that again!

I like the all occasion card assortment box because they have a little bit of everything in them just like a box of chocolate; but in this case you know exactly what you are getting. This will ensure that you will never miss an opportunity to share a special occasion, a life milestone, a thinking of you, etc., kind of moment.

So remember to give a card to that neighbor that gave you those sweet, tasty tomatoes out of their garden with a “Thank You” card.  I guarantee you will get a pumpkin pie the next time!

Gallery Collection Scholarship Contest – Top 10 Finalists

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The Gallery Collection is excited to announce the Top 10 Finalists for the Create-A-Greeting-Card Scholarship Contest. Over 13,000 entries have been narrowed down to these 10 finalists which are made up of the top 5 vote getters from the final round along with 5 designs that our Scholarship team chose from the final round as well.

It will be from these 10 finalists that the 8th Annual Create-A-Greeting-Card Scholarship winner will be chosen. The announcement of the winner will take place on Friday, April 24th, 2015.

TOP 5 VOTE GETTERS

5 SCHOLARSHIP TEAM PICKS