I got frustrated with trying to feed inkjet paper into printers years ago. The microporous surface tends to "glaze" the rubber feed rollers after a while, making sheet feeding tough. Then too, I found the combination of ink, paper, and labor too high relative to a wholesale income of maybe $1.25 to $1.50 each.
Having a commercial printer entailed investing lots of money into printed stock that may or may not move. The solution for me was the comparatively inexpensive laser printer line from Konica-Minolta with 9600 dpi resolution. I have owned three generations of these printers, the latest being the 4650EN. When working to their potential, they deliver prints that rival commercial printing quality. The main trick is to try out various paper stocks, until you find the one that prints well, and suits your tastes.
I order the paper pre-cut to 7x10" size and prescored by a commercial printer. My cost is about 10 cents a sheet. I figure the toner for the printer ends up costing about 15 cents a sheet. The printer kicks out card stock sheets at about 15 per minute--much faster than an inkjet, with rarely a misfeed in a stack of 30-40 sheets.
The quality does not quite meet what is possible with ink jet, but then the costs and time invested is considerably less. Also, it does not require printing hundreds of copies that may or may not sell. It's very quick and easy to experiment with finding images for customers.
Cards are not a huge money maker, but they do provide advertising for your photography business. Finding a way to produce them quickly and painlessly is the key!