Powerful & affordable business tools I use Part 2

Talking about tools I have used in my office to save money & with great features. Okay - so last time I raved about Google with iGoogle & Google Voice. I just upgraded from GrandCentral to Google Voice this week & it looks super cool. I left a test voice mail for myself & was emailed a text transcript of my message. For a CrackBerry user like me - this is a great feature. If you consider that your voicemail may be auto transcribed, it kinda makes you rethink what you say when leaving a voicemail. That rambling message will be posted in its text version - careful!

Moving on, today I wanted to feature two other phone technology options - 1. is for conference calls; and 2. is for a mobile phone system that travels anywhere throughout the world with you.

magicJack - About two years ago, a client told me about this little magicJack USB device because he had been traveling internationally for months. magicJack, he told me, allowed him to be on his trips to Asia or Europe & still make local (without long-distance charges) calls back to the States. Pretty cool. I think most people are attracted to magicJack because of the price: $39.95 gets you the magicJack & one year of free local and long distance calling to the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Basically - for $40 - free calling all year for folks making domestic calls. Very cool, considering Comcast & Vonage are about $24-$30 per month!

Other magicJack features include Caller ID, ability to change your phone number, Voicemail, call-forwarding, etc.

Cons - You can tell by visiting the Web site that this is a great product invention that needs some adult supervision. When going to the Web site to research for this blog post, I even had trouble finding info like basic features & pricing. This shallow-level of thinking extends to the product at times when you have technical problems. My office had two days where we couldn't use the system & finally figured it out after several machine reboots, etc. It also is a VOIP solution, so performance depends on your Internet connection (if I'm on a call I can tell if someone is downloading a large Internet file because the call get choppy). Overall, a great solution for someone who travels, has patience with lack of documentation & support - and a super speedy Internet connection. Honestly, I will keep the magicJack as a back-up number - perhaps a direct line for someone in the office. But for my main office phone line, I'm exploring one of the more expensive VOIP solutions for greater reliability.

Free Conference - Well, most of its key services are free, and offers some professional services, such as automated email invitations w/ RSVP's, real-time conference management controls like self mute, different conference modes like Conference Mode, Q&A Mode & Presentation Mode - I should use these more. You can upgrade and get a toll-free line, online support - and even desktop sharing (think Web X). I have a marketing team in San Diego as we're working on the San Diego Sockers indoor pro soccer team's marketing. We have weekly coordination meetings and Free Conference has proven to be a perfect solution for this - there are four people who join the call & is pretty reliable.

Cons - I have only had one problem with the service. During a client call for Costa Vida, the Baja-inspired fast casual Mexican restaurant & we were presenting the marketing plan for the year to franchise owners/operators across the nation. There were several people on the call - and after I left the call, apparently the quality dropped significantly. It could have been one bad connection - we could have overcome the problem by using the Q&A section, etc.

For an important meeting with clients or customers, I would recommend upgrading and using one of the more professional services. For internal meetings, I think Free Conference can be a perfect solution.

There you go. Still on the hunt for more new cool technologies to make my life easier! Next we'll review some of my fav music services.

Powerful & affordable business tools I use Part I

This is a quick post to highlight some of the business tools I use at Rutledge Consulting Group that are 1. affordable or free; 2. allow me to utilize technology to be more productive. I'm always on the hunt for new tools to make my life easier - aren't we all?

Google Rocks
I know I've only scratched the surface on the tools & capabilities that Google keeps putting out there - but I've discovered a few key tools that I use on a daily basis - and each doesn't cost anything.

• Grand Central or Google Phone - This is a super cool & useful feature that is great for small businesses, consultants - or anyone wanting ONE number that people can always use to reach them. When you sign up, you select an area code & request a number. If the system is still accepting new number requests (I've seen it where new numbers have been temporary blocked) - you'll have a choice of available numbers with that area code. You pick the one you like - and BOOM - you're up and running. Some of the features include (Call Screening, ListenIn, Call Record, Block Callers, Notifications via email or SMS, ability to ring multiple phones at once - or change phone you want to ring, personalized voicemail per caller (this is a cool feature for clients - you can have a vm that starts, "Thanks for calling Allen, I'm not available right now ...") -- some of the other features that are available that I haven't tried yet include a WebCall Button - people call call you w/out seeing your number, ability to switch phones in the middle of a call (when the cell battery is dieing, and Visual Voicemail for your mobile phone).
• iGoogle - I know a lot of people already use this - but it allows you to set up ONE page where you can see and interact with other key Web apps or news feeds. I use mine now for Twitter, FaceBook, Pandora, Wall Street Journal, YouTube, Comics, Photo Galleries, Weather, Movies, etc. - I'm just now getting into this & it rocks!
  

Next I'll overview some low cost business lines and free conference calling
magic jack, free conference

Then, some of my favorite online radio stations
slacker, pandora

Is Busines Ever Usual?

So, earlier this year, we celebrated the start of the 4th year of operations for Rutledge Consulting Group. It was quite an eventful year for the business. We experienced significant spurts of growth in the Summer, followed by several clients going by the wayside in the Fall. The downturn in the economy was to blame.

It was about one year ago, that Rutledge Consulting Group decided to find digs of our own. We had been sharing an office with a small graphic design shop - but we have obviously outgrown our space and it was clear our businesses were headed in different directions. We found an inexpensive space downtown Salt Lake that allowed for month-to-month rent. We were several flights up in the old McIntyre Building overlooking the Downtown City Creek Development. Other than the excitement of watching 5+ concrete trucks pour concrete & dozens of tiny construction workers run around & pour floor after floor of parking structure, it was good temporary location - but bad long-term fix.

After my wife & I bought a house in Holladay - I found a great office space in downtown Holladay, just 0.8 miles from our house. I walk as often as I can & love it.

Being mid-way through our 4th year, I have been thinking of a few lessons.

BEING DIVERSIFIED IS GOOD When some clients went away, we had enough business to maintain, without too much pain. At one point I thought, if I were employed by this business, I would have just been laid off. It was having a diverse mix of clients that helped us sustain through this brief period of contraction.

Additionally our approach of working with talented contractors was a positive as well, because we could more easily trim back those monthly budgets - it's a great system that allows us to more easily ebb & flow with the market conditions.

GROWTH IS GOOD - BUT ORGANIC GROWTH IS TOUGH We experienced significant growth in 2008 - doubling our revenue & client base. But, I've always heard it - and now have experienced it. Organic growth is tough. You have to be very thoughtful of your decisions & only make the move to add additional resources (liabilities) when the time is right. Otherwise, cash flow can become an issue. I know just enough to be dangerous & am pretty conservative with finance. It's the classic Chicken or Egg dilemma. How do I get the new business without the resources? Well, I'd hate to bring on someone I cannot afford, and make a big bet that later leads to disaster. Company's deal with this issue daily, but as a small business the stakes are much higher.

As we're looking ahead, the economy is stabilizing and confidence is growing. The demand to perform is very high & I feel like we're positioned to do this. Sometimes you have to retract to hit that next big growth spurt. We're ready.