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Making Small Business Look Bigger
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Starting
a small business can have many challenges for any entrepreneur, but
when you are starting a business based on intellectual property the
challenges are even more significant. Unfortunately, obtaining IP
protection takes a significant financial investment. Getting the word
out about your business, getting your website created or completed,
finding clients, having the means for your clients to contact you,
office space, (deciding is it necessary), hiring , book keeping and
everything else just further complicates the start-up process. It's
endless and makes starting a business seem like such a daunting task.
But just because you have or are starting a small business, doesn't
mean that you have to look like one.
There are many ways to enhance your small business, making it look
bigger, at relatively inexpensive costs. Everyone has to start
somewhere, but think about things from the customer's perspective.
Think about a time when you were searching for businesses that you
wanted to work with for personal use. Did you choose the smallest
entity you could find, one that did not have a website or even have a
business card to give you? Probably not! Chances are you decided to
look a little further to find someone you felt was more
"experienced" in their field. If that's something you've
done, then chances are your small business may loose customers for
the same reason. Starting a new business can be a very expensive
venture. Following are some fairly inexpensive suggestions that you
can execute in order to make your small business look more like a
larger corporate entity.
Business Cards
What better way is there to let people know how to contact you than
with a business card? In the business world, it is a given that you
will have a business card. When you meet knew clients, business
colleagues or prospective investors, more often than not you will be
asked for your business card. Although cards can be expensive
depending on the design, card stock and colors you use, you can get
free business cards for the cost of shipping through
VistaPrint.com. This is not meant to be a permanent solution, as you
have limited designs you can choose from, but it's a great remedy for
small businesses just starting out. Make sure you carry your business
cards with you at all times. You never know when the need to have one
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Checking Account
This is one area that you probably never thought about. When you open
your business checking account, make sure that the checks you order
start with a number no less than 1000, preferably 2000 or more. When
you have checks numbered under 1000, it appears as if you have been
in business for a short time. Even if you have, there's no need to
advertise that with your check book! The entity you choose to bank
with will often ask you what number you would like to start your
checks with. But if they don't, then you should ask them. Most banks
offer this benefit. Bank of America, M&T Bank (East Coast) and
Wachovia (East Coast, TX and CA) are a few banks in the US that give
you this option.
Email
If you have a website, it's important to consider using your
company's website name in the domain part of your email address. For
example, if your small business was IPWatchdog, then you could have
your email be either your name or a user name followed by
"@IPWatchdog.com." If you do not have a website yet, you
may want to consider looking for and purchasing the domain name you
will use when you are ready to create a website. You can search
for and purchase available website domain names for only $35
per year. Many people choose free email or reasonable priced email
addresses such as with Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and Juno. I do not
recommend doing this, because again, it gives the appearance that you
are just starting your business and that your business is in an
immature stage. Not to mention, we at IPWatchdog cannot send anything
via email to a Yahoo account. Yahoo is notorious for receiving large
amounts of Spam mail and so they tend to have "overactive"
Spam filters.
Email Solutions
There are many options that you can choose from in order to send and
receive email once you've decided on your domain name. Again, you do
have the option of using free email accounts, but I don't recommend
that. Once you've chosen your domain name, you need to set up a place
online where you can send and receive your email One choice you have
would be to host
your email on a remote server through Register.com. They
offer programs such as having 1 email address with up to 1GB of
memory for $34.99 a year. Yahoo!
Business Mail also offers similar functionality. For $9.95
per month, you get to use up to 10 of your own email addresses with
your company's domain name each with 3 GB of storage. Check out both
of these websites to see what else they have to offer for your email
needs. A third option that is available to you is Juno. You can use a Juno
webmail account to check and edit up to three external POP
accounts. You would need to sign up as a Juno Platinum or Megamail
Member to do this. A platinum account is currently $9.95 per month
and gives you 1 GB of email storage. They even have an Online
Tutorial to help you set it up.
The benefit of using business solutions like these is that you can
access your email on their servers from any computer no matter where
your travels take you. Therefore, if you travel on business, carry a
laptop when you are away from home, or simply need to use someone
else's computer, you can still have access to your email, with the
ability to send and receive. Your being away from the office will be
transparent to your clients thus making it appear as if your business
is not just a small start up business.
Professional Telephone Service
Do you want to give out your home or cell phone number to prospective
clients? Probably not! Otherwise you'd never "get off work."
It does not take much to set up a professional telephone service.
One thing you could do is to get a phone line through your local
phone company. For small businesses, this is not often advantageous;
especially if you don't spend much time at your desk. Instead
consider setting up a Virtual Telephone System. GotVMail
is a company that we at IPWatchdog recommend because we have
successfully used their services for years. GotVMail gives you the
option of having multiple mailboxes or extensions with unlimited
voicemail storage and it offers night after hours modes as many
corporate entities have. You do not need to have a separate business
line, because you can have your business calls forwarded to your home
or cell phone. The call will come in with caller ID, and you can set
it up so that when you answer the phone, you are given the
opportunity to either take the call or send it to voicemail. This
brings up the next point.
Voicemail
It's time to throw away that old answering machine. Virtually all
telephone companies offer free or inexpensive voicemail services.
Whether you choose to have a dedicated business telephone line , or
you set up a Virtual Telephone System, your voicemail should be both
professional and personal. Personalized voice-mail boxes not only
demonstrate efficiency. but also convey an impression that yours is a
sizable, established business. When you set up your voicemail, ask a
friend to set up your "voice messaging system" in a voice
other than that of the owner or CEO of your business. Again, this
will give clients the impression that your business is professional,
well established and bigger than a small start up business.
Faxes
Most large businesses have the ability to send and receive faxes.
Having a fax number on your business cards and website will certainly
give the impression to customers and clients that your business is
not just a small start up company. Some new businesses opt to use the
same telephone number for both inbound and outbound telephone calls
as well as for sending and receiving faxes. This is a red flag to
clients and customer that you are small entity, so I don't recommend
it. With current technology, you don't need to purchase a fax machine
or an All-In-One printer with faxing capabilities. Nor do you need to
be concerned about needing a dedicated telephone line for a fax
machine. Instead I recommend that you consider utilizing the
professional services of Send2Fax.com.
Send2Fax provides you with a personal fax number that receives faxes
from any fax machine and delivers them directly to your email inbox
as soon as the fax is received. You can also set your account
preferences to have inbound faxes delivered to up to two separate
email addresses, at no extra cost. Inbound faxes will be delivered to
your email and/or web inbox as a PDF or TIF file attachment (based on
your preference). You can then save the fax, print it out, delete it,
or forward it to someone else. They have 3 plans to choose from
starting at $11.95 per month which allows you to receive up to 200
pages per month.
So there you have it. I've given you some great ways not only to make
your small business look more like a sizeable established business
but by utilizing these suggestions you will also make your business
more efficient.
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