Finding New Contacts Was In The Cards

“We’re all guilty,” said Dorelle Raphael-Fishkin.

The Citrus Park resident and owner of Brides and Blooms, wholesale bulk fresh flowers, explained that at one time or another, everyone had met someone- whether at networking event or business meeting- taken a business card and simply shoved it into their pocket never to be seen again.

Raphael-Fishkin decided that her stack of business cards was ready to topple and it was time to get organized. So she scheduled a get together and invited her “Friendors” to join her at Upper Tampa Bay Regional Public Library located at11211 Countryway Boulevard.

“Friendors are friends who are also vendors,” Raphael-Fishkin said. “Organizing my cards was something that needed to be done and I knew I could never have as fun alone as I could with a bunch of ladies that I liked.”

A month in advance, Raphael-Fishkin sent out an email to her Friendors with three requirements: a notebook binder, plastic business card insert sheets and untabbed business card pages.

At the meeting held on Wednesday evening, each participant went through her business cards, gave away cards that were no longer needed and picked from other Friendor’s discarded cards.

“I may not need a piano teacher,” Raphael-Fiskin explained, “But someone else just might.”  

Business cards were organized by personal preference, in many different fashions, from preferred vendor to networking group, line of business to alphabetical by business name.

Cathy Johnson, owner of Sewing by CJ said, “I had a mess of cards. I really wasn’t sure how I wanted to organize them. Now I am starting with my networking groups and putting the people I come in contact with most up front.”

Karen Winship, Eco Smart Solutions agreed.

“I came tonight because I have a ton of business cards. It’s wonderful to make those contacts, but if you go home and the card gets set aside, it can easily get lost in the shuffle," she said. "By doing this, I will actually carry this (binder) with me and have a priority page – people I know that I really need to contact.”

Karen recommended making a note on the back of the card as a reminder of what was discussed for follow-up.

Jennifer Cummings, owner of Melt Away Massage summed up her experience at Wednesday's event.

“I’ve been in business three and half years and I have yet to sort out my business cards," she said. "This was my chance to get organized.”