Well! ... Do you use your Computer to its full potential? Some how I doubt it (Regardless of what machine you use).
You know Its strange, Most of us Buy a Car and say to ourselves, Well I need one ...Either to get to my work, For family trips, or even just for the weekly Shopping. Nine times out of ten, all these things could be accomplished by using "Public Transport" However the benefits of owning a car is that your not tied down to other peoples Timetables. Suddenly before you know it the Car has become a vital ingredient in your daily life.
Now when people Buy a Computer ... What is their reasons? ..The main one today is Internet access ...Great ...Up to date News on tap ...Does this mean we stop buying Newspapers?
Perhaps its Games ...Either for you or your children, Maybe You have convinced yourself that (a) Your children need a computer for their School Work or YOU need it to handle your Finances or even Work at home.
Regardless of what excuses you make to yourself, At the end of the day, Your computer will probably become VERY Under-used.
I Have both an Amiga & PC lined up side by side, Yes I have spent a lot of money ...Either in the Purchase of the Modern PC or in the Constant Upgrading of the Amiga. So how do I (On a reasonably tight Budget) Justify the Expense.
Easy! .... I make Money from the Computers, Just as in some of the High running costs of todays motoring can be off set by no longer having to fork out high fares for public transport, A little extra cash CAN be made from Your Computer (Yes even an AMIGA).
Business Cards:
Almost every Town Street will contain someone who runs their own Small Business ...Either the Man of the house running a carpet cleaning Company to a self Employed Painter & Decorator or the Female doing Dress alterations or catering.
Designing/Printing Business cards is really Easy. I normally use a DTP Program like Pagestream but this can easily be done on a word Processor like Wordworth and a good clipart CD.
Simply draw out a box (Business card size) install a nice border, a piece or Two of suitable clipart and the Persons/Companies Name with Telephone Number. Print on to a high quality card and cut out using a sharp craft knife and Steel Ruler.
Advertising Cards :
Really the same as the Business cards but in a slightly larger format, So the Person can leave them as free advertising in Shops Notice boards etc.
Advertising Flyers :
Flyers advertising a Business are slightly different in that they are normally produced on a full sheet of normal quality Paper as opposed to card. With very little experience a high quality coloured Flyer can be designed and Printed, Good enough to impress anyone.
Menu's :
Know anyone who runs a Home catering Business. You know the Type that will happily deliver hot or cold food to your door for a party ..Or do your complete catering for a Birthday bash.
You can very easily produce very professional personalised Menus for such occasions.
Party Invitations :
Yes you can buy these at most Stationary shops, But for a nice personalised affect and Quality product you can achieve a lot better by using your Computer.
Celebration Cards :
Cards can be done on any computer ...However the high cost of Printing ..Compared to the low cost of buying them in the shops means that Greeting cards should be done on a personal basis only. It would be impossible to cover the costs of printing some 20/30 cards for someone else. However present a handmade Christmas/Birthday card to someone and you would be the talk of the Town :)
Shop Advertisements :
Yes! How many of us living well away from main Shopping centres receive those horrible hand written "Special Offer" flyers from our local shops. Most shop keepers use those Letter stencils you draw around and then Photo copy the results (YUK)
I received one of these and within 20 minutes I had a much more professional Printout done. The next day I presented it to my local Shopkeeper and asked him which HE Preferred.
Now every month I print out One Shop flyer with his Special offers (In Colour) he then gets them Photo Copied ...I get £5.00p
Decorating Stencils :
Did you know that most Inkjet Printers can easily print onto Transparencies. Recently a friend was looking for an unusual Stencil for decorating the Border of one of her Rooms.
As she was a lover of Fushia's I printed out one on a transparency film and with careful use of a sharp pointed scissors and craft knife easily produced a stencil that she used to "stipple" the design on to her walls :)
Disk/CD Labels :
Anyone who have seen the Disk version of the CRYPT Magazine will know that we print our own custom Disk labels. This easy procedure can easily be adapted to the CD case inserts or even Music Cassette inserts.
Odds & Sods :
A friend of ours own and rent out a Studio Flat in Tenerife. I designed and printed out a load of "Welcome" Tentcards (Left to welcome the Guests) and instructions for working the Water heater/Shower etc. (These were printed on Gummed paper to easily stick onto Cupboard doors or walls).
Conclusions :
Well no one is saying that You will become a multi millionaire by trying some of these ideas. However you may just make a little extra cash from your computer and have a lot of creative fun during the process.
Note: Most of these projects can be done on a Good word processor, However I do use Pagestream a dedicated DTP Package. The latest Pagestream (4) will set you back £180 from Haage & Partners! However Older versions of Pagestream (2) can be obtained for as little as £25 and well worth the Money.
The main difference is that Pagestream re-sizes graphics with very little Distortion (scaling does not produce the Jaggies). Also the Handling/Moving of Graphics and text is so much easier in Pagestream.
Should anyone require a little more Information regarding these projects or help with Pagestream please feel free to contact me privately anerret22.freeserve.co.uk> or at my postal Address (See Submissions in the CRYPT) and I will gladly help.