Buy our e-booklet 'Starting A Greeting Card Business' now for only $5.00 and you will immediately have access to this 16 page booklet. Once you complete your secure purchase through Paypal you will be directed to a web page to download your copy. The e-booket is an Adobe Acrobat file. You will need a pdf reader to view it. If you need a reader you may download  it from  Adobe.

In 1983 I began a Greeting Card Business with a few pen and ink drawings I drew of Park Slope, Brooklyn. Over the past twenty five years Ira's Peripheral Visions has grown and evolved into a company offering hundreds of custom designed invitations, announcements and note cards.

The e-booklet offered here was written a number of years ago as a handout for a lecture I gave at The Learning Annex of New York. Below is the outline of the lecture.

Ira Shapiro
March 2008

How to Start a Greeting Card / Graphic Design Business

Do you have great ideas for a greeting card business, or  have you been making cards, invitations or announcements for yourself and friends? Why not turn this into a profitable business?

The $7.5 billion greeting card industry is constantly looking for new designs and ideas. This information-packed course will tell you how to cash in. You'll learn how to:

* Design a product to show to prospective customers
* Market your products and get orders
* Deal with suppliers, manufacturers, buyers and customers
* Produce products with a minimum investment
* Produce your products and fill your orders
* And much, much more!

Plus, you'll learn tips worth thousands.  Bring your ideas or designs, and our instructor will discuss them during class!  Materials fee $5.

Ira Shapiro, an Architect practicing in New York city for 17 years, is owner of Ira's Peripheral Visions, a family operated greeting card and graphic design company.  His products have been selling throughout New York City and the United States for the past 20 years.

Last modified  12/22/11