Building a Better Business

    Your Business: Maximize your Money – It’s your dollar, spend it wisely

    by David Lewis

    I don’t know about you, but I’m not in some big company that can spend money like water and somehow use creative bookkeeping so it ends up saving me money at tax time. So, naturally, I want to stretch my  hard-earned dollar to its extreme.

    So, what can you do to make the most of your buck? Well, lots of things. Let’s take a look.

    • Office space: Physical or virtual: If you need a physical office once in a blue moon, consider renting a hotel’s meeting room or space in a local business center. But if it’s only virtual space you need, the Internet offers a slew of virtual offices.
    • The Internet: Internet access, E-mail, and Web sites all come free, but check the fine print before you agree to use them.
    • The phone/fax/cellular: Check out package deals and freebies attached to plans.
    • Bartering: Make a trade; exchange your services for the products or services you need, but make sure you get the details in writing.

    Office space: physical or virtual

    As I’ve mentioned in an earlier column, I have the luxury of working from a home office. Meeting clients generally isn’t an issue as most of that is done by phone or E-mail, and many of my clients aren’t even in  my time zone. On the odd occasion that I do need to meet a local client, I always visit their office. Fine for them, as they don’t have to go anywhere; fine for me, as I don’t have to clean my office. ;-)

    But, what do you do if you have a meeting with important clients, and they want to come see you? My home office, though very functional, does not lend itself well to a few folks in business suits—and I doubt they  will want to play Barbie with my 4-year-old daughter. So, in such a case, what would I do? Here are a few options:

      Physical space
      • Book a meeting room in the hotel where your clients are staying.  Most hotels have meeting rooms of various sizes although there is a cost involved. But, from a professional standpoint, you maintain an image, make it more convenient for the client, and most meetings rooms can be set up for flip charts, projectors, and coffee.
         
      • Call a local business center. They seem to be popping up everywhere. These centers rent or lease everything you need to run your business, from receptionists to fax machines to boardrooms. And the best  thing ... for a small cost, you can project a big image. Many small companies even pay a small monthly fee to office centers to use their receptionists, who route all calls, not to an internal office,  but to their home office. The advantage of this is that instead of your “corporate” address being a P.O. Box in a subdivision, you can have it appear as if you are in a “high-end” address in your area’s  business sector.

        To locate one in your area, I recommend having a look in your phone book under “business services” or “business centers”, or, ask your local chamber of commerce There are some  national chains that provide these or similar services.
      Virtual space

      The Internet is flooded with companies that give away virtual offices for nothing. Cool ... for us anyway! Hmm, there’s a business model that’s doomed to die. Imagine if we ran our businesses by giving away  our products or services for free? Yep, we’d be around a long, long time! Sorry, I’ll get off my soapbox. :-)

      In one search on the Web, I found a bunch of companies offering solutions to setting up a virtual office. These virtual offices are neat in that they offer you a central place where you can “meet” with  clients on-line without having to incur the cost of traveling, plus, they are also a good way to keep in touch with distant contractors.

      These virtual offices include some pretty cool services such as:

      • On-line meetings
      • File sharing
      • On-line calendars
      • Contact lists
      • Chat
      • Bookkeeping
      • Notes
      • On-line business presentations
      • Web-site building and hosting

      One example is WebEx — It provides services like on-line meeting locations and virtual offices.

    The Internet

      Well, to follow along with the free theme, here are some other free things.

      Now, as with any warning when something seems too good to be true, check the fine print, check the terms, and check what is required of you, such as  personal information or a term contract. Best to be an informed consumer. Besides, if something is free, there almost always is a catch. :-)

      Internet access

        Yep, you can get free Internet access ... of course, it depends on where you are and if you have the stomach for lots of advertising or giving up personal information. Personally, I live in a rather  remote area and the free stuff doesn’t apply, and I get flooded with enough advertising, so this isn’t a route I’d go. But when you are starting out, I can’t think of a better money-saving angle.

      E-mail

        Yes, there are literally hundreds of free E-mail offers—Hotmail and Yahoo to name a few. All are free, and all are handy in that you can check, send, and receive mail from any computer.

        Now, free is nice, but professional it isn’t. Free E-mail is a good starting point, but if you want to establish a presence on-line, spend a bit and register a domain name, and utilize it and some of the  available E-mail-only domain services. Look at it this way, if you received an E-mail message from ACME Bootstraps, which would you think more professional?

          a) acmebtstps@jimmysfreE-mail.com

            or

          b) sales@acmebootstraps.com

          Remember, image IS important, even in E-mail.

          Here are a few places that offer E-mail-only domain services:

      Web sites, get your free Web sites here!

        Well, you’ve taken the E-mail step, why not just go one more and get yourself a Web site if you don’t already have one? Ah, but the cost of buying and learning Web site software is something you can’t  swing, or, your budget doesn’t allow for hiring a Web slinger to get your shingle out there. No problem. Do it yourself and do it for free! Notice that free trend I’m going with? :-)

        In yet another bold business step, there are many on-line sites that will allow you to build and host your Web site for free. With some, you get what you pay for, but several of them do offer some cool  features, all for the sum of nothing. And, if you like what you get for free, most of the providers make available extra features, for a modest amount, such as e-commerce, credit card processing, and the  like. It’s a great way to start.

    The phone/fax/cellular

      Not so long ago, death-by-phone-bill was rather common. This doesn’t seem to be the case these days as every company is offering extremely low rates for long distance or flat rate plans or something along  those lines. So, what can you do to get better deals? Here are a few thoughts:

      • Get a package deal. If you currently have your business line with “X” company and your cellular service with “Y” company, approach either one to see if they can offer you a package deal on your services.  Chances are, because competition is so tight, your Telco may be very keen to work out a plan for you that not only saves you some money, but also saves you the headache of juggling several phone bills.
         
      • Get free long-distance with some cellular plans. More and more cellular companies are offering free long distance with their plans. So if you do a lot of long distance calling, it may actually be less  expensive to do it on your cell phone. (Warning: Cell phone calling may be hazardous to your health. I recommend buying a “hands-free” earpiece for something like $30—it’s not free, but it’ll keep those  potentially brain-scrambling microwaves away from your sensitive little brain.)
         
      • Check out your long distance carrier’s rates. They often have packages that, for around $5 a month, give you much lower long-distance rates. They can be confusing, though, so read the plan’s details  carefully.
         
      • Make sure your fax/data line isn’t being charged to you as a business line. An interesting little fact ... most phone companies make available the option of paying for a data-only line. This would be  used for faxing and Internet connection. My Telco has such a beast and it saves me $10 a month. :)
         
      • Check out the rate or business-only plans. Whether you are using a cellular phone, a business line, or a dial-up Internet account, check your month-to-month usage and contact your telephone company to  see if it has a better plan or package for you. I have one for $20 a month that includes one hour free long distance anywhere in North America, a discounted per minute long distance  rate, voice mail, call forwarding, and caller ID plus discounts to local calling areas. When I figured all this out as separate things, it would have cost me an additional $10 to $15 not to mention the cost of additional long distance!

    Bartering

      This one is my favorite.  In the old days, if you could shoe a horse and  your neighbor could make a mean fence, well, you’d shoe his horses and he’d make your fence—and no money would change hands. Of course, nowadays, this may fall under some taxation jurisdiction (ick), but it’s still a great way to do business.

      In the past, I’ve traded hardwood flooring for a Web site, consulting services for some firewood, design services for business cards, and if anything else comes along that fits the bill, I’ll do it again.

      There are a few things to keep in mind when doing a barter deal. First off, unless you totally-100%-cross-your-heart-hope-to-die trust someone, get the deal in writing. While no cash is changing hands, there  is value there, so make sure things are set out clearly. For example, if you charge $50 an hour as a consultant, and you want to trade your local computer store for products, make sure you have a dollar for  dollar trade and nothing is hidden, even taxes (you may want to check with your accountant on how barters are handled). You shouldn’t discount your services especially if they don’t.  I learned that one the hard way.

      Also, keep a record of the barter if your tax situation requires it ... did I mention contacting your accountant first?

      In addition to dealings with local companies, there are some “official” barter networks and exchanges that you may want to look into.

      Now, before you take the plunge, I haven’t tried these places. I just found them via a Web search, so do your homework first.

      One other option, if you are game, is to set your own network up among local businesses. Now, that’s a whole other area of discussion, but it is something to think about!

    A penny saved ...

      I am a good capitalist. I like earning and spending money, but when I earn it, I want to get the most from it and I hate wasting it! So, I’ve used much of what I’ve mentioned above to wring out the most from  my bucks ... now, if I could only stop the bank from nickel and diming me on every little transaction ... I’ll work on that. :)

    About the Author

    David Lewis - HeadshotDavid Lewis owns and operates an 18 year-old electronic publishing company, taybridge.communications that provides a broad range of online services.

  • Prior to starting his own business, David did several tours in the private sector - selling everything from e-learning to guns. Yes, guns. For the past several years, David has been in the public sector.
     
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