Self-Marketing w/o Spamming/Littering?

[Becky Watkins]

I was told and read here to pass out business cards everywhere and not leave home without them, especially as a beginner, to get your name out there.

My question is where exactly can I pass these out? As a beginner, I still have a day job and putting aside the fact that I don't really want to enlighten my employer/coworkers to this new venture just yet, there are so many days before I run out of people to pass them out to. I know a lot of places have solicitation rules, and restrictions on passing out literature of any sort on their property.

Offline my community seems pretty small, and I'd rather NOT do business with friends, because it's human nature to involve emotions and expect discounts/handouts and such (I've seen this especially with artists - people abuse their talented friend's good deeds).

Any suggestions? Or should business cards just be something you carry with you but not market to heavily with out of context?