Do You have a Business Number?
July 5, 2009 by Allison Boyer
Filed under Jobs
As a freelance writer, you own your own small business. So that begs a question about phone lines – should you own a business number? Here are the pros and cons:
Pros to having a Business Number:
- You’ll never tie up your phone line wen other members of the family want to use it, or worry about tying up the line with personal calls when a client is trying to call.
Image: sxc.hu
- It helps to legitimize your business.
- You don’t have to worry about accidentally dialing a client when you meant to call a friend at 2 in the morning.
- You can turn off the phone during weekends and holidays.
- It can be a business expensive if you use it just for business.
Cons to having a Business Number:
- Clients are more like to email freelancers, so your business phone may go unused most of the time.
- You’ll have to get your business cards reprinted with your new number.
- It’s an extra monthly expense, even if you do get to write it off.
- Sometimes, it is better to email a client than call so you have a written record of what needs to be done; a business line could encourage clients to call more often.
Personally, I don’t have a business number – I have a single business/personal line. I just don’t call people often enough (for business OR pleasure) to make it a financially sound decision to have another line. For you, it may actually be a great business decision.
Do you have a business line or are you considering getting one?
There are two ways to get a business *number* without getting a business *line*. The first is to sign up for a non-geographic number, such as 0845, 0870 or 0800 in the UK or 1-800 in the US. You can then change which real line this redirects to without changing the number people call. This may or may not have a subscription cost, and a cost to receive calls (free-to-call numbers typically have both, my 0845 number is completely free to me, and is local rate for callers).
Secondly, you can use SkypeIn to obtain a physical number that is redirected to your Skype account. Though this does have a cost, it’s not as high as a physical phone line, and has the advantage that you can answer the call wherever you are, as long as you have a good-enough internet connection.
I do both: my 0845 number redirects to my SkypeIn number. If I ever get a real business line, I can seamlessly change my 0845 number to call that, and no-one would be any the wiser.