Ever since the first phone system was installed in an office, phones and businesses have been inseparable. Business phone systems have evolved over the years, as have the phones themselves, but with the widespread adoption of smart phones, tablets, and other smart devices, the business phone system is now experiencing something more revolutionary.

Today a business of any size can manage their entire phone service with a smart phone or other smart device. That means no multi-line phone installation in the office is necessary, and when employees work off-site they can carry all their office phone functionality with them. This allows workers to be more un-tethered to the office than ever before without compromising productivity or availability. This concept works great across a wide range of industries, from consulting to event planning to real estate.

Cloud-Based Phone Systems

Cloud-based applications have proliferated in recent years, and now entire phone systems can be cloud-based. Today, any smart device can turn into a smart business phone. Users can control their phone settings, access voice messages and faxes, and even add new users to the system. Integration of cloud-based phone systems with services like Box, Dropbox, and Google Docs allow users to fax documents stored in the cloud regardless of where they are.

Setting Up New Smart Business Phone Systems

Administrators can add employees, activate new phone numbers, and set call handling rules on mobile devices, and employees can customize their business phone settings as well. And none of this requires tech skills because these systems come with an intuitive user interface. Two adjectives used to describe today’s workforce – mobile and distributed – now apply to today’s business phone systems as well.

Cloud-based phone system features include:

• Virtual PBX
• Toll-free numbers
• Call screening
• Call forwarding
• VoIP service
• Voicemail
• Music on hold
• Message alerts
• Multiple extensions
• Customized greetings
• Internet and email fax
• Dedicated fax numbers
• Comprehensive fax service without a fax machine

The Cloud as Phone Platform

These new cloud-based phone systems work just like an automated switchboard: when someone calls your business number, you can prioritize where you want it to ring. The number can ring first a cell number, then a work number, then a home number, or it can ring all three at once. It can also be set not to ring any numbers and go to voicemail during important client meetings or other situations where taking a call is impractical or impolite.

What this means is that even a very small business can communicate just like a major corporation without having to install an expensive business phone system, because everything is set up and managed in the cloud. When landlines, mobile phones, tablets, and fax machines are managed from the cloud, users avoid problems like hard drive freeze-ups, Windows crashes, and other catastrophes.

Scaling Up Painlessly

Furthermore, the system can be scaled very easily: when new employees are hired, it is simple to add them to the system, allowing their smart phones to function their business phones seamlessly from day one. No more estimating how many phone lines a business will need, because they can be added on demand.

Today’s cloud-managed smart business phone systems let businesses avoid the expense of hiring a full-time switchboard receptionist while also avoiding automated systems that drag frustrated callers through endless menu options. They combine the best features of both personal service and automation, and they are affordably priced even for very small businesses.

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We’ve all endured appalling job interviews.

Whether it’s the guy who came in wearing spandex bike shorts, the woman who talked on her cell phone for 15 minutes without stopping, or the college grad who brought his mom in, awkwardness and bad fits abound in the interviewing process.

Imagine taking those bad in-person encounters and putting them on the phone.

How would you know who’s likely to wear neon yellow spandex to the office? How would you weed out the kids who are still using Mommy as their security blanket? It seems like it would be even harder to hire good staff remotely, but it’s entirely possible to find great hires from afar. You simply have to know what you’re doing.

Create the Right Interview Process for Your Company

If you run a company that has employees scattered across the country – or the globe – you’re going to have to do some remote hiring. As you develop a remote hiring system, keep an eye on what works best for your business in its day-to-day operations. What makes you most productive will also help you locate the right hires.

For example, my company has a large Facebook fan base. We’ve moved to posting positions on Facebook – because we have a large pool of people using our page, we’re not shorting ourselves on quantity or quality. (This also works if you have a solid client list or a professional association you work with.)

We know that these people are already passionate about our brand and the market space we occupy, which is tremendously important. Skills can always be developed, but initial interest is crucial. You don’t want people who hardly know what you do trying to explain it to other people – then you’ve created the awkward situation.

One good way to create a real-life interview experience is to do video interviews via Skype. This allows you to see the person you’re interacting with and get a feel for their communication style. (Non-verbal signals count just as much as speech. If you don’t believe that, imagine Bill Cosby without the exaggerated facial expressions. Jell-O seems a lot less appealing without them.)

The best way to pull people out during Skype interviews is to chat them up as if you were meeting at a social event. The benefit of a webcam is that you can pick up on people’s personalities more clearly. You want to know if they’d be a good fit for your company, even if they’ll be thousands of miles away. People can still be very annoying from distant zip codes.

Narrow the Field Selectively

The first thing you’re looking for in a potential employee is ability.

The most accurate view you’ll get of their skills is via their past work – always ask for samples. People who’ve struggled to produce good work in the area you’re hiring aren’t going to suddenly become talented overnight. If you don’t want to be the person to build them from scratch, carefully look over their old work.

Test projects also allow you to see people’s capabilities, particularly if they’ve completed work that’s so different from what you’re looking for that you’re having difficulty gauging their fit. Once you’ve eliminated the people who aren’t up to snuff, send the remainder a test project. This doesn’t have to be something you actually need, but it should be something that requires a 30-60-minute time investment on the candidate’s part.

If it’s a design position, you can have them create a small banner; if you’re hiring a writer, you can ask them to craft a short email. A lot of people will blow the assignment off, so that cuts out the tire kickers who are too lazy to go the extra mile. These tests also let you evaluate how the candidates respond to your needs. People who develop samples that reflect your way of thinking will immediately rise to the top, as will the people who improve upon what you yourself would have done.

Eliminate the Bad Fits

Once your field is down to just a couple of people, you need to check references.

A true former employer, supervisor, or co-worker counts as a qualified reference; the neighbor who paid the candidate to mow his lawn doesn’t. Contacting references is time-consuming, but these people will be able to give you a firsthand account of what it’s like to work with the fabulous-seeming people you’re considering.

But don’t just rely upon former employers’ impressions.

Think about how the candidate responded throughout the hiring process. Did she respond on time? Was she easy to communicate with? Did she fully answer all the questions you asked? Did she behave appropriately? It’s easy to overlook these things when someone’s work has blown you away, but fit is crucial. You’ll have to work closely with the person you hire, so finding out how they’ll act in the environment you’ve created is important. One ill-fitting hire can scare off the rest of your superstar squad.

It’s true that people can find ways to hide their true natures during the interview process, no matter the format. But following these steps will make it much harder for candidates to hide their rude phone manners – or the spandex bike short collection that would make Lance Armstrong jealous.

Take the extra time to vet your remote candidates, and you won’t spend the rest of their tenure avoiding them!

About the author: Nicolas Gremion is CEO of Free-eBooks.net, a source for free eBook downloads, eBook resources, and eBook authors, and Foboko.com, a social publishing network.

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If you’re starting a business, are feeling stuck with your current business, or simply need a reminder that all of this hard work and effort is worth it, you could probably use a little motivation. Sometimes you need to hear some tough love from a family member. Other times, the best words of advice are those that come from someone who’s been there.

Thanks to some sourcing on Twitter and the addicting nature of surfing Tumblr, we uncovered 20 incredibly inspiring words of advice, many from entrepreneurs, writers, and busienssmen you know, and from some you may not know:

“Let me think about the people who I care about the most. And when they fail or disappoint me I still love them, I still give them chances, and I still see the best in them. Let me extend that generosity to myself.” –Ze Frank (To be honest, we could’ve listed 25 quotes from Ze’s video, “An Invocation for Beginnings.” If you’re just starting a business, or are hesitant to take that first step, and can handle a little NSFW language, carve out 3 minutes of your time to watch this video.)

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” –Steve Jobs

“If you’re opening a hot dog stand, you could worry about the condiments, the cart, the name, the decoration. But the first thing you should worry about is the hot dog. The hot dogs are the epicenter. Everything else is secondary.” –Jason Fried, co-founder, 37 Signals (By the way, his book, Rework, should be on your must-read list. This is another case where we could’ve pulled 80 quotes alone from him.)

“The most dangerous poison is the feeling of achievement. The antidote is to every evening think what can be done better tomorrow.” -Ingvar Kamprad, founder, Ikea

“I try not to make any decisions that I’m not excited about.” -Jake Nickell, co-founder, Threadless

“If you’re going to put your product in beta – put your business model in beta with it.” -Joe Kraus, partner, Google Ventures

“A bigger business is like a cruise ship: There are lots of amenities and you can go a lot further, but it’s harder to turn quickly.” -Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos

“No great programmer is sitting there saying, ‘I’m going to make a bunch of money,’ or ‘I’m going to sell a hundred thousand copies.’ Because that kind of thought gives you no guidance about the problems.” -Bill Gates

“If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears.” — Simon Sinek, speaker and author

“The only real limitation on your abilities is the level of your desires. If you want it badly enough, there are no limits on what you can achieve.” –Brian Tracy, author

“Get going. Move forward. Aim high. Plan a takeoff. Don’t just sit on the runway and hope someone will come along and push the airplane. It simply won’t happen. Change your attitude and gain some altitude. Believe me, you’ll love it up here.” –Donald Trump

“Sustaining a successful business is a hell of a lot of work, and staying hungry is half the battle.” Wendy Tan White, founder, Moonfruit

“The next 30 days are going to pass whether you like it or not, so why not think about something you have always wanted to try and give it a shot for the next 30 days?” — Matt Cutts

“Lots of people were skeptical, but that’s always true when you do something that hasn’t been done before.” –Jessica Livingston, co-founder, Y Combinator

“I’d build stuff that’s awesome and get people using it. Investors will come out of the woodwork when you do.” –David Cohen, Co-founder, TechStars

“Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Gandhi — all these peopled described themselves as quiet and soft-spoken and even shy. And they all took the spotlight, even though every bone in their bodies was telling them not to.” — Susan Cain

“We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes – understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.” –Arianna Huffington, Co-founder, the Huffington Post

“If you give people really big jobs to the point that they’re scared, they have way more fun and they improve their game much faster.” –Mark Pincus, co-founder, Zynga

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. Companies need time to figure out where they want to be.” –Bart Decrem, co-founder, Tapulous

“You have to utilize who you are in your work. Nobody else can do that: nobody else can pull from your background, from your parents, your upbringing, your whole life experience.” — David Carson, well-known graphic designer

What are your favorite quotes or stories from others who have been there?

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A well-chosen business phone system makes your business more efficient and plays a vital role in your company’s success. A poorly-chosen or dysfunctional phone system can lead callers to hang up, give up, or go to your competitors. A good business telephone system simplifies communication with customers and among staff members and is designed to address a company’s unique communications needs. Here’s how business phone systems have evolved over the years.

The Manual Switching Board

The manual switching board was introduced in 1878. It allowed many phones to connect through a single exchange, and the first switchboard was located in New Haven, Connecticut. The first switchboard operators were boys, but a shift was made to female operators because of their “better behavior.”

Early Business Phones

By the 1950s, direct dialing that bypassed operators was introduced, and from 1950 to 1960, most households went from shared party lines to individual phone service. During this time, business switchboards became more sophisticated as well.

It was in the 1950s that the dial tone replaced an operator’s voice saying “Number, please.” Automated long distance switching arrived in this decade as well, and that allowed one operator to make the connection by dialing a series of routing codes to activate an electromechanical switch. By the 1960s, however, area codes obviated the need for these actions.

Private branch exchange, or PBX systems, came into their own in the 1950s and 60s, allowing up to 60 lines to be connected at a place of business, easing internal communications among employees and with outside callers. The Western Electric 608 was a PBX switchboard from this era that could serve up to 2,400 lines. This switchboard also marked a shift from wood construction to plastic and fiberglass. Cordless PBX switchboards were also introduced. Though cordless switchboards could only accommodate 12 lines, they were perfect for smaller businesses with lighter phone traffic.

Pre-VoIP Business Systems

By the close of the 20th century, PBX systems had services like caller ID, call forwarding, conference calling, intercom service, and voice mail. One hallmark of PBX systems was control over numbers that could or could not be dialed from within the system. This kept employees from calling long distance and international numbers or “900″ numbers that would have been costly to the business. Today, smaller PBX systems cost in the hundreds, rather than thousands, of dollars.

VoIP Business Systems

VoIP stands for voice over internet protocol, and is the future of business telephone systems. VoIP systems optimize efficiency and reduce costs. The systems work by breaking down voice data into digitized “packets” of data which are segmented and transmitted by a packet switching network to a designated internet protocol address. The call is received by another computer that reassembles the data into a voice on the receiving phone. These systems all but eliminate the need for landlines.

Because telephone functions are digitized with VoIP systems, and due to the huge capacity of the internet, VoIP systems virtually eliminate overburdened phone lines and many of the expenses of traditional phone services.

Businesses today are migrating from traditional landline telephone systems to VoIP to cut costs. By 2008, some 80% of new PBX lines were VoIP systems. VoIP systems are evolving into unified services for all business communications, including phone calls, voice mail, email, and fax. By allowing both voice and data communications over a single network, business infrastructure costs are greatly reduced.

Mobile VoIP

Mobile VoIP (sometimes called “MoIP”) is the next evolutionary step in VoIP telephony. Mobile VoIP allows voice calls to be made on mobile phones using VoIP and are available as an additional phone option for VoIP subscribers. Many VoIP systems allow subscribers unrestricted calling to other subscribers in the VoIP network. When mobile phones can access WiFi hot spots, users save even more money on voice and data charges, particularly during international travel. Though it is primarily marketed to ordinary consumers, mobile VoIP is rapidly becoming popular among those who use smart phones for business as well.

In 2012, mobile VoIP users are expected to exceed 100 million, and some even project 288 million mobile VoIP users by 2013. The biggest adopters of mobile VoIP systems are expected to be campus and corporate users. An open source project called Asterisk uses software including many popular PBX features — like voice mail, conference calling, and interactive voice menus. Because Asterisk supports traditional and VoIP telephony, businesses can either build new phone systems or migrate existing systems to the new technology.

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Investing in a new venture can be exciting. In addition to the potential to make a profit, many people invest in start ups for the thrill of being involved with helping a fledgling company make its mark. The possibility of funding a breakthrough company is enough to get many investors enticed, committed, and involved.

However, it’s also a fact of life that many, if not most, start up companies fail. Alongside that, some investment opportunities are fraudulent, being promoted by people only looking to swindle you out of your money and then move on to pursue other ventures (and victims).

This can be the case even if it appears on paper that the company has a fantastic business model, an intricate plan, or even an extensive list of key assets. While not all promoters of start up investment opportunities are out to do such a thing, the smart investor needs to gather important information before considering investing in a business – good or bad.

• Determine if the Promoters are Legitimate: Conduct a Google search on the person promoting the opportunity. If the person is in the financial industry or works as a securities broker, check out his profile on brokercheck.finra.org. If you find any history of securities law violations, fraud, lawsuits, or criminal conduct, it should function as a huge red flag.  A history of bad conduct means the company is likely to continue with such actions in future endeavors.
• Ask for the Company’s Offering Memorandum or Financial Statements: If the company doesn’t have some kind of offering memorandum or due diligence packet, that’s a red flag, as it alerts you that the company either is unwilling to provide information to potential investors or simply lacks the patience to put in the work the goes into compiling such information.  That being said, a small company may not have the money to produce a formal offering memorandum; in this case, you should ask for its financial statements. These should be prepared by an outside accountant in order to provide some degree of independent verification. The reliability of such documents is further enhanced if they’re audited.  Finally, it’s also a good idea to require copies of past tax returns in order to verify their claims.
• Obtain a Copy of the Company Business Plan: A company’s business plan is the ultimate road map that will guide a company to success. Not only does it provide the main objectives of the company, it also tells you the demographic they’re marketing their goods or services toward, along with the resources it will take to accomplish the company’s plans.  Companies that take the time to prepare a business plan have demonstrated that they have put some thought into how they are going to use your investment to produce a profit.

As an investor, you should have an informal team consisting of a lawyer, an accountant, and an investment adviser (one who’s paid a fee to advise you, not a broker who receives a commission on the sale). Your lawyer(s) should specialize in business law – don’t use the family lawyer who wrote up your will.  Having a team can be very important to you, as an investor, in several ways:

• Negotiations between You and Company: If the deal is negotiated between you and the company, rather than a prepackaged securities offering made to a number of investors, a lawyer experienced in start up finance can help you negotiate protections and better terms.
• Understanding the Contents of Legal Documents and Disclosure: Your team also will be able to help you understand both the economics and the legal terms of the transaction.  Having an investment team is important when it comes time to review the documents binding you to the start up. If you don’t understand something, your team of advisers is there to help. You pay them to help you sort through confusing and complicated issues.
• Establishing Credibility: Having a team is not only smart for legal reasons, but it also lends you a level of immediate respect.  Parties without lawyers show they don’t take themselves seriously, or don’t have the means to prepare their documents in a professional manner.  In addition, if the other party drafted the documents without a lawyer, the documents will likely contain serious problems and key issues will be overlooked.

If you’re an individual with a high net worth, it’s beneficial to join an angel investing group. These are local organizations comprised of individuals looking to invest in promising companies.  Joining such a group is beneficial, as it allows you to compare your notes about the companies with other potential investors. It also allows you to invest more money as a group.

While investing in a start up company can be a gamble, proper investigation and preparation, from researching the promoters to working with your investment team, will allow you to make smarter and more profitable investments. The better investments you make, the more likely you are to invest in that breakthrough company.

Photo credit: articles.businessinsider.com

About the author: Alexander Davie is an attorney with DavieLawGroupPLC. Alexander represents entrepreneurs, financial advisors, and emerging companies in their corporate, securities, and real estate matters. For more legal information, follow Alexander’s blog at StrictlyBusinessLawBlog.com.

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Starting a café or a coffee shop is an incredibly popular option for someone who wants to start a business. Coffee consumption has increased 7% overall, moving coffee ahead of soft drinks, according to the National Coffee Association. Gourmet coffee consumption in particular has grown: in 2011, 25% of Americans claimed to have had a gourmet coffee in the past 24 hours, while in 2012 that number is 32%. Knowing how to start a café will help you figure out if you’re ready to take on the challenge:

Finding the right space

Figure out if you want to rent or own. The biggest benefit to owning the actual café real estate is to have greater, more predictable control over the cost of the real estate as it contributes to your overhead. With leasing, your costs are controlled by the market, which may force owners to charge a higher amount as specified in your contract. There are pros and cons to both options, and you must weigh them carefully if you truly are in it for the long haul.

Commercial real estate is a much different beast than residential. It’s important you work with a commercial broker whom you trust to help navigate the market and identify ideal properties, and a mortgage broker to help figure out what you will be able to afford. These experts will help you determine if the property is the right space for a café, whether it has the bones and necessary upgrades, or whether you need to consider working some negotiations into the offer.

Purchasing supplies

There are two types of “supplies” you need to consider: 1) the appliances, cookware, and necessary technical equipment that you’ll need to (hopefully) purchase once or infrequently, and 2) the ingredients and perishable goods you’ll be purchasing on an ongoing basis.

Coffee shop equipment

There are many places you can look for coffee shop equipment and supplies. First you’ll want to get a sense of the largest items you’ll need – everything from refrigerators and freezers to pantry storage and display cases. List these items out and work your way down to the heavily used café supplies that will get more hands-on use – this means coffee makers and carafes, mugs and saucers, espresso machines, spoons, airpots, and more.

To purchase this coffee shop equipment, you can look to a number of sources, from major restaurant supply chains to an appliance warehouse. You can even look online if you’ve done the right research and feel comfortable buying this equipment sight unseen. Online options and major appliance warehouses are likely to offer both new and used equipment.

Perishable food & coffee

You’ll be ordering the proper food and beverage items for your café from multiple vendors every week, or perhaps more frequently than that. More than anything, it is crucial that you’re working with companies and suppliers that you are comfortable with. If you work with companies solely based on price, you’re likely setting yourself up for sacrifices in the way of customer service, quality, consistency, and flexibility. It’s important you select your suppliers on quality of goods and customer service, as you’ll work closely with these companies and want to be able to rely on them. You’ll also want to try to find a vendor that can supply most, if not all, of the items you’ll need to create your menu. Managing multiple vendors and multiple invoices can be taxing if you’re not properly organized.

Determining what to order and when is also a huge part of successfully running a café. Figure out your inventory levels and speak with your suppliers to get a feel for what you should order to start. Soon after opening, you can use sales and trends in your usage to determine what your true order amounts can be on any given week.

Hiring Employees

Depending on the size of your business and your hours of operation, staffing your café will likely require the help of mostly part-time workers, but there are a number of questions to be answered before you begin recruiting: How many workers does your business need? What’s the best way you should budget for hiring? Is it wise to staff many part-time workers or should you look to employ full-time workers as well? Can you afford health insurance and taxes associated with having a full-time staff?

You’ll also need to have a solid idea of the types of skills you need in your employees. It would behoove you to look for candidates that have experience working in a coffee shop or food service setting, or you may look for employees who have strengths that you lack. Look for people that can positively resolve customer complaints, can move orders quickly, and work well under pressure.

Don’t forget to look into the training necessary to become a successful coffee shop employee. This means creating and making new and interesting beverage combinations, and consistently preparing drinks and food items.

Announcing the opening

Once your menu is decided on, your operations are staffed up, your supplies are in order, your café is furnished, and you’re feeling prepared to open the doors to the public, you’ll want to get your café’s name out and drum up excitement for your opening. This isn’t something that should be done only when you’re officially open – you’ll want to start spreading the word early on. Use the many resources at your fingertips to get your neighborhood and greater community excited about your offerings.

• Use social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare to connect with customers in your area, and prepare to drive some foot traffic through these channels with special deals and incentives.
• Get friendly with your local news reporters and influential bloggers, and let them know how your café differs from any others in the area.
• You might consider doing some advertising at the onset, and either target new customers through Facebook, or offer customer coupons in your neighborhood flyers.

Photo source: austinbushphotography.com

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What Makes Your Small Business Stand Out

One of the best things smaller businesses offer customers is a personal touch. Knowing your clients and their tastes and needs is a big part of what keeps them coming back. Whether you make designer cakes or install high-end electronics, treating your customers as individuals is one of the keys to building loyalty. Believe it or not, your business phone service can be used in ways that reinforce the personal service your clients have come to expect.

How Your Phone System Can Help Your Business Maintain a Personal Touch

It’s no secret that people don’t like making calls and spending time navigating endless phone menu options. If your business phone service helps customers avoid the frustration of dealing with phone menu options, you’re already a step ahead. And today there are new options you can add to your system that will help you do that, and that customers will appreciate. Here are 7 terrific options to consider when it’s time to upgrade.

1. Automatically greeting callers by name. When a repeat customer calls, a window with his or her name and information pops up, letting you know when the customer called last, who they talked to, plus any other relevant notes about the customer. Imagine how refreshing it will be for a customer’s call to be answered personally: “Hello Sara, this is James with Amalgamated Designs. How may I help you today?”

2. Remembering which representative a caller spoke with last time. If you call a business and receive excellent customer support, you probably want to speak with the same representative next time you call. Today’s business phone services allow you to make that happen. Imagine calling a business back and being automatically routed to the representative you spoke with last time. Not only does it save time, it builds a stronger bond with a customer than routing them to a random representative each time they call.

3. Attaching VIP status to some callers to route them to a human rather than a machine. There are some clients you don’t want to have to put on hold. For these VIP clients, you can automatically route a call to a live person rather than having them leave a message. It’s a small gesture, but it shows special customers that they are remembered and appreciated.

4. Routing to a mobile number after hours. If you want to be sure that a potential client is given personal service no matter what time he or she calls, you can set up your business phone service so that the call can be automatically routed to a mobile number after regular business hours. The caller will be pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a person rather than shunted to a voicemail system.

5. Blacklisting callers. Unfortunately, there may be the rare occasion where you need to prevent a particularly disruptive caller from bothering you or your staff. While you certainly don’t want to overuse this feature, having the option to cut off an abusive caller is a nice trump card to have up your sleeve.

6. Time-based routing. This phone feature lets you schedule auto attendants to handle calls at different times of the day or on weekends. This gives you better flexibility and control of your business’s call handling procedures.

7. Offering custom “hold” music. This is a great option that can make the difference between an annoyed caller and a relaxed caller. With many systems, you can load MP3 files that will play whenever a customer is put on hold. It’s also a great way to tie in your hold music with the nature of your business. Do you specialize in booking Caribbean vacations? Why not use some cool reggae, or steel drum music with your phone system rather than the old “elevator music”?

It’s always exciting when your business is growing enough that you need to upgrade your phone system. Today, upgrading your business phone service doesn’t mean giving up the personal touch your customers love.

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Start-ups and small businesses are the lifeblood of America.  In 2009, there were no fewer than 50 million businesses with under 20 employees, providing over 189,500,000 jobs, and paying out a mind-boggling $6 billion in payroll.  In 2011, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers, nearly $3 billion in venture capital was seeded across the United States.

But what states are the best for entrepreneurs?  The answers might take you by surprise.

1. California

Total Venture Capital in 2011: $14.5 Billion

Number of Deals: 1477

California may be facing some rough times economically in some sectors, but in terms of sheer volume, if you want to be a start-up, the Golden State is a great place to do it.  Part of this is just the fact that some of the Internet companies that began the decade as tiny have become behemoths: imagine being in on the ground floor of Facebook, with its potential $100 billion valuation.  True, not every bet in Silicon Valley pays off.  In fact, most of them don’t.  But those that do make their investors billionaires turn right around and sink that money into California start-ups.

That’s reflected in the sheer number of venture capital deals: California is the only state to have four figures in 2011.  In fact, California had more venture capital deals than the rest of our top five combined.  So if you want to build your start-up, it’s as true now as it ever was: go west.

2. Massachusetts

Total Venture Capital in 2011: $2.9 Billion

Number of Deals: 383

Coming second is the Bay State, and for good reason: it has a long, long history of technical innovation.  Harvard, MIT, Boston University, and Boston College, all highly respected institutes of learning, make their home in the Boston area, which makes it both a hotbed of innovation with tiny companies started up by ambitious science graduates commercializing their research, and huge corporations coming to take advantage of the talent being cranked out every year.

Massachusetts has a long, long history of success: Polaroid, Raytheon, Draper Laboratories, ThermoFisher, Akamai, and legions of others got their start or took off in the Bay State.  Currently, Massachusetts is witnessing a boom in robotics, biotech, pharmaceuticals and industrial software, with companies like iRobot and Genzyme employing thousands in the area and turning out everything from the latest disease cures to cute robot vacuums.

In short, Massachusetts may not have quite the venture capital of California, but if you don’t want to move across the country, consider Massachusetts your next stop.  Or, if you want sun but no beaches…

3. New Mexico

Total Venture Capital: $2.3 Billion

Number of Deals: 309

Hot on Massachusetts’ heels in 2011 is New Mexico.  Which may sound odd until you stop to remember its unique history.

New Mexico is host to a number of esteemed government laboratories: White Sands for missile testing and satellite tracking, and Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, two of three locations where the government studies nuclear physics.  In short, New Mexico is one of the key states in the aerospace industry, especially for government contracts, and that makes it a thriving ground for physicists and other scientists in the private sector.  New Mexico has a lot of brainpower in its borders.

It’s not shy of other start-ups, either.  For example, the Santa Fe Business Incubator, a non-profit, is thriving, housing everything from a boutique distillery to pharmaceutical companies to nanotechnology.  Helping is the relatively low rents and the government businesses, allowing the state to thrive even in tough times.

Another surprising state is…

4. Tennessee

Total Venture Capital: $1.4 Billion

Number of Deals: 153

What makes Tennessee the venture capital jewel of the Southwest?  Pretty simple, really: its strong focus on the medical industry and key role in the music industry.

Tennessee was where the revolution in healthcare began; the first major health management organizations got started in Tennessee, and that’s reflected in its strong business base of medical start-ups, focusing on everything from surgical technology to pharmaceuticals.  The second, and just as important, leg is Nashville; country music is one of the best-selling, and thus most important, music genres in America, selling 42 million albums in the US alone.

This combines to create a diverse range of start-ups and small businesses, from musical instrument makers and online music streaming companies to medical nanotechnology companies.  Even car companies have taken notice: increasingly, the car you drive comes from the Volunteer State.

And, last but not least in our top five:

5. Illinois

Total Venture Capital: $683 million

Number of Deals: 89

Illinois has a long industrial history, but what drives it as a start-up hub is its thriving online and biotech industries.  Anchored by respected science schools such as the University of Chicago, the Windy City alone has more than 700 startups.  In fact, many of the hot new Internet startups actually have their roots in Chicago.  Belly, a startup that offers loyalty cards services to businesses large and small, is just one rising star.

Helping considerably?  The state’s strong financial sector, which both generates money and allows investors to offer their funds to smaller companies as a chance to get in on the ground floor.  Multiple venture capital firms and incubators mean many start-ups get a stronger chance in Illinois than almost anywhere else in the country.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that just because a start-up didn’t get venture capital doesn’t mean it’s not successful in its own right.  Many, many giant companies started with one person having a dream, and putting all they had behind it.  In the end, the best start-ups don’t succeed because of where they are, although location can help.  They succeed because of the people and ideas behind them.

Sources

We found the data in our opening paragraph courtesy of the United States Census Statistics of U.S. Businesses.  The rest of the information came from PriceWaterhouseCoopers annual venture capital MoneyTree report, the only state-by-state breakdown of venture capital publicly released.

Image Credits:

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If you find that the only calls you’re getting on your landline are from telemarketers (and your weekly check-in with Aunt Mildred), it might be time to consider ditching it altogether.

More Americans Giving Up Landlines

The U.S. Census Bureau found that between 1998 and 2005, the percentage of households with cell phones increased from 35 percent to 71 percent. At the same time, the number of households with landlines went from 96 percent to 91 percent.

While the decrease in the number of landlines might seem insignificant, consider the fact that landline usage for households 29 or younger dropped from 93 percent in 1998 to 71 percent in 2005.

And the younger generation might be on to something. These days, between cell phones and VoIP phone service, paying a bloated telephone company to provide you with a high-priced phone service seems a little silly — especially considering you can get all the benefits of a landline for a lot less money.

Switching to VoIP a Smart Move

If you’d prefer not to rely solely on your cell phone, take a look at replacing the landline with VoIP phone service.

“The transition from a conventional home phone line to a VoIP account using the same number went without a hitch. Considering the money we’ll save each month, the only question is why we waited so long,” writes CNET blogger Dennis O’Reilly.

If you’re still on the fence, here are six reasons to switch to VoIP:

1. You’ll Save Money: If you’re already paying for high-speed internet, the savings you’ll find switching from a landline to VoIP can be significant. Popular providers charge anywhere from $9.99 to $24.99 a month for unlimited local and long-distance calls in the U.S. and Canada, plus low-cost international calls. The cost of a landline varies widely depending on where you live — but can be upwards of $20-$50 or more a month plus $0.10 per minute for long-distance. If you make or receive long-distance calls frequently, switching to VoIP is almost a no-brainer cost-wise.

2. Improved Call Quality: At it’s inception, there were many complaints about call quality with VoIP. Customers experienced dropped calls, jitter or latency. But with the proliferation of high-speed internet and the focus of providers on improving call quality, those initial VoIP hiccups are becoming a thing of the past.

3. You Can Keep Your Phone Number: Don’t assume that giving up your landline means you also have to give up your telephone number. Many VoIP providers offer you the opportunity to port your number for a small fee, making the transition that much easier.

4. You can Still Fax: There’s no need to keep a landline dedicated to sending and receiving faxes. Depending on the provider, your fax machine (even an older model) can be hooked up to your VoIP line just like your telephone. Or, you can choose to receive computer-based faxes, in which faxes are converted to PDFs and sent to your e-mail.

5. Easy Set-up: For most VoIP services, connecting your current phone requires little more than an adapter that your provider should send to you with easy instructions for how to set it up in minutes.

6. Amazing Features: A big reason to switch to VoIP is the array of useful features that come along with the service. In addition to being able to make and receive calls at a low price, depending on the provider, VoIP offers all the services you’ve come to expect from traditional landlines (caller ID, call waiting, voicemail) as well as plenty of extras like video calls and conferencing, call transfer and forwarding, instant messaging and file transferring.

Learn more about what VoIP can do for your at Business.com.

Photo courtesy of Stock.Xchng

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With the continued improvement of mobile technology, expansion of Cloud-based software programs and data storage, and the desire for lower startup costs, many new businesses are ditching the traditional office space and opting to go virtual — using the Web to connect employees, clients, customers and partners.

According to experts, the benefits of establishing virtual headquarters for your business include increased productivity, lower overhead costs, and environmental friendliness.

Here’s a look at what one business found when they tried going virtual:

Virtual Experiment

In 2010, the editorial staff of Inc. magazine experimented with becoming a virtual office for a month. Reporter Max Chafkin highlighted some of the pros and cons of the experiment in his article, “The Case, and the Plan, for the Virtual Company”:

Pros

• Save on overhead: Savings on going virtual include leasing office space, paying for utilities and internet, and purchasing office furniture. Companies should still plan on reimbursing employees for equipment they need for work, including computers, software and cell phones.
• Utilize free services: Inc.com noted that businesses can also save on using enterprise software, instead relying on the free or low-cost programs that consumers use every day like Skype, Gmail and DropBox.
• Increase talent pool: When it comes to hiring, being a virtual company is a boon. Not only do potential hires like the idea of working from home, they see the company as being more flexible and valuing productivity more than attendance.

Cons

• Decreased collaboration: Since they’re not sharing a physical space where they can pop in to chat with each other or have spontaneous brainstorming sessions, employees need to seek out space to share ideas online. While it’s possible to use chat rooms and video conferencing as virtual water coolers, these meetings don’t have the same informality and ease that working in close proximity has.
• The virtual stigma: Virtual offices and working from home comes with a stigma — customers can be skeptical and distrustful of companies that don’t have a central location. Tony Conrad, founder of Sphere, told Inc.com that businesses should never refer to themselves as a “virtual company” and that it might even be wise to lease a small office to use for meetings with clients and investors.
• Isolation: Employees can end up feeling isolated or out of the loop. Managers need to be cognizant about checking in regularly.

Communication is Key

As noted by Inc.com, one of the most important aspects of any business is the ability of employees to communicate with each other and the ability of the company to communicate with clients.

While the lack of a traditional office changes how some of these crucial interactions happen, it doesn’t mean that a virtual office is any less effective about sharing information easily with all interested parties.

In fact, with the improvement of mobile technology, the ability of virtual businesses to share information on a variety of platforms is better than ever, especially when it comes to new phone systems.

Picking a Business Phone System

One of the keys to ensuring seamless communication is picking the best business phone system for your virtual business.

Without a physical office, there’s no need to consider purchasing key-less, KSU or expensive PBX-based or phone systems that are tied to a landline and often require specialized maintenance.

This leaves a Voice over IP (VoIP) phone system as your best option. With VoIP, regular voice calls are sent via the internet, rather than a traditional landline. Keep in mind, in order for the highest call quality, you and your employees will all need access to high-speed internet.

The cost savings for long-distance and international calls are significant compared with traditional telephone service (most VoIP providers offer free local and long-distance calls anywhere in the country and very low per-minute rates for international calls), making VoIP ideal for companies with employees and clients based across the country and around the globe.

What Does VoIP offer?

Not only will a VoIP phone system save your company money, but the fierce competition among service providers means you’ll also find improved service and cooler features (think high-def video conferencing) than with older phone systems.

Here are some of the features VoIP can offer your virtual company:

• Local phone numbers anywhere you want to do business
• Toll-free number for your business
• Auto attendants to help route calls to the appropriate person
• Calls forwarding to business, cell or home phones, meaning you’ll never miss a call
• Dial-by-name directories
• Holiday and after-hours special greetings
• On-hold music
• Call screening
• Caller ID
• Virtual fax
• Visual voicemail
• Call logs
• Call recording
• Video conferencing
• Instant messaging
• Call encryption
• Integrated messaging

Hosted phone services like VoIP also mean you don’t have to hire anyone to maintain your office phone system — your service provider manages any technical and service problems.

Depending on the service provider you choose and the number of added features you use, VoIP can actually help you better manage all the incoming and outgoing communication for your company. Faxes, e-mails, texts, chat, conferencing and calls can all be accessed from your computer desktop, smart phone or tablet, meaning you can take your business anywhere there’s Web access.

What more could a virtual company want?

Learn more about choosing a business phone system on Business.com.

Photo courtesy of office-designz.net.

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