Great business doesn’t have to be cutting-edge.

Many small businesses survive recession and stand the test of time. The businesses are typified as having long business life cycle, non-seasonal trend, and fulfill a need in the marketplace.

One of those strong survivors is ID card printing business.

ID Card printing business 101

In essence, ID card printing business involves card printing and the provision of complementary products and services.

The complementary products and services ranges widely, and are the main reason ID card printing business remains a lucrative one for a long time.

Some of the products and services include custom lanyards and badge reels, ID printer accessories and supplies, and ID card printing equipment, such as card printers and slot punches.

ID Card printing business prospects

Like I mentioned above, ID card printing business does survive recession. I know this because I have a small ID card printing shop :)

ID card printing shops definitely fill a need for ID in many organisations in wide array of industries – Employee IDs, member IDs, student IDs and event IDs (e.g. expos, conventions, seminars, etc.) to name a few.

Regarding the prospects, the potential of this business is actually limitless. For example, the recent issue of child safety creates a niche in ID card printing business – Child safety ID business.

Moreover, the characteristics of ID card printing business itself enable this business to be a work at home business, and even an online business!

Tips on starting an ID card printing business

From my experience running an ID card printing business, I can offer you several tips to help you getting started:

• Choose the right supplies and suppliers
  Many can provide you with ID card printing necessities, but choosing one takes time and through some trial-and-errors. Choose the one offering you the best deal (not always the cheapest), the best supply quality and, more importantly, the best support.
• Choose the right printer and printing supplies
  Since you are dealing with printing, choosing the right printer and the printing supplies is paramount. I experience some negative feedbacks on my business, not because the turnaround time, but the printing ink or toner quality. To tell you the truth, at that time, the ID cards I supplied smeared due to a wet environment! Not good :)
• Custom design well
  The key point – if you can’t offer good custom design, consider outsourcing your design job, or don’t offer custom design at all! Bad design is almost as bad as bad printing quality.
• Have a system to minimise error
  This is the where most overheads originate from. Errors cost you electricity, ink/toner, base materials, and time. Find a way to minimise this – one way is to test print in a draft printing quality on a low quality base materials.
• Secure a good relationship with your clients
  As important as in other businesses, maintaining a good relationship with your clients help you securing repeat orders. Competitors are lurking behind your back, ready to take your business if you fumbled.

If you run a similar business, please share your tips by commenting on this post.

Ivan Widjaya
ID card printing business

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