How important is a business phone number in business? In this episode, Patrice Jordan shares how you can make your business look big with a toll-free business number. Patrice explains why your cellphone number should be separate from your toll-free number. Tune in and learn more from Patrice Jordan to build your business today.
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Having A Business Toll-Free Number Is VERY IMPORTANT
If you guys had a moment to review episodes 1 through 4, I told you that in episode 5, we're going to be putting the final stages to be able to incorporate our business. In episode five, we're going to be talking about toll-free numbers versus your cell phone number. Here's a major mistake that a lot of you guys make when it comes to your business. You forget to separate business from personal. Every one of you guys should have a toll-free number, 800, 844, 866, or 833, and never a local number. Here's why.
When you put a toll-free number in your business, it makes your business seems bigger than it is. If any of you guys have ever incorporated a business with the Secretary of State and the IRS, you notice that one of the things that they ask for, especially with the IRS, is your business phone number. 9 out of 10, most of you guys are not putting your business phone number. You're putting your cell phone numbers on those applications.
It’s the same exact thing with your Secretary of State documentation. It is always best when starting a business to do it the right way. Toll-free numbers make your business seem bigger than it is. Let's think about this. Let's break this down. If I was a lender lending you $100,000 for your business, why would I lend money to a business I cannot find versus lending money to a business I can find?
The probability of you running off with my cash because I can't find you are worse than a company that I can find and know how to track down that company. Let's go over a few things when it comes to moving forward with your incorporation. Before you incorporate your business, we're at the stage of incorporating now on episode five. Everything that we talked about in episodes 1 through 4 is important that you guys put together.
Make sure that you guys get that unique business name. Make sure that you guys get that toll-free number. Make sure that you guys get that virtual address as well. The reason that we do this is to make sure that when we are submitting our corporate documentation or our EIN documentation, we are putting everything business-worthy on there, never personal. We always want to separate ourselves from the liability of our business.
Make sure you get a unique business name, toll-free number, and virtual address.
You are the president of the company. A lot of people love the title owner. If you have not heard this saying before, “Own nothing. Control everything.” As you guys become bigger bosses in your city, you're going to start to understand this a little bit more in-depth. Let's keep going with those business phone numbers. When you guys put a local number on your application, it makes your business seem small.
A lot of this stuff is a lot of mental stuff when it comes to the dealerships, the banks, or the lenders. They're always playing this mental game, not only with you but with themselves as well too. They want to see a business that they know is legit that they're able to fund or help grow, help scale, or lend money to or go into the dealership to get in a vehicle and to be able to put these vehicles under your business and so on and so forth.
Separating your cell phone number from your toll-free number is important. Let me go into a little bit more detail about this. Your toll-free number should be just that. Your cell phone number should also be just that. When it comes to the toll-free number and the cell phone number, here's what separates you as a business owner.
Once you get that toll-free number, most of the companies that you get a toll-free number from have an app. You download the app on your phone. For instance, Grasshopper. You download the app onto your phone. Anytime that business number rings, it rings to your cell phone. There are two different purposes. Now, about your cell phone. Should your cell phone be in your business name? Absolutely but again, keep in mind that your cell phone is not your business number.
Business Toll Free Number: Most of the companies that have a toll-free number have an app.
I want to break that down to be very clear. For instance, my main business is Her Secret Vault. Her Secret Vault has a toll-free number. Her Secret Vault has a cell phone. Anytime my toll-free number rings, it rings to my cell phone. Now, I have a toll-free number where my business seems much bigger than it is and here, I have a cell phone that I can write off.
I'm writing off my toll-free number plus my business cell phone number because I'm operating a business on this cell phone. You can do this. Most carriers besides MetroPCS do business with cell phone numbers. If you have a personal cell phone number, and you are operating a business on that number, you need to switch that plan over to a business line.
What you're doing is that you're selling your cell phone rights to your business. Your business is now in a position to pay the bills, and you can write them off. The beauty about separating these two is simply because of business purposes. A toll-free number makes your business seems bigger. A cell phone number tells lenders that you're not serious about your business or a local number. It tells lenders that you're not serious about your business because, at any point in time, you can cut your cell phone off.
A toll-free number to them, even though you can cut it off as well too but we got to think like the lender. We got to think like the bank. We got to think how they think, and the way that they think is that if we have a toll-free number versus a cell phone number, we know at the end of the day that one is way better than the other when it comes to building a business or building a business, building business credit and being able to do anything under your business.
Before you guys run to incorporate your business, make sure that you guys lock down a toll-free number. As I said, I love Grasshopper. One of the main reasons why I love Grasshopper, in particular, is because, with Grasshopper, you can customize your phone number. If I wanted to do a phone number like 844-HER-VAULT. Now, VAULT is too many letters, but you get the picture. If I wanted to market on a vehicle now where it says 844-HER-VAULT, 10 out 10, I'm also branding my business. You guys can do the same.
Keep those things in mind. When you guys are looking for a toll-free number, you can customize the number to make the number your own. If you have a particular type of business, like a rental business, you can do 1-800 and instead of you using numbers, you're using letters. When we are using the phone number, we absolutely cannot use the letters when we're submitting the application. I'm giving you guys an idea of all the different possibilities when it comes to being able to get a toll-free number and how to use a toll-free number correctly.
If you are in the rental game, for instance, and you have a phone number such as 1-800-NV-RENTS. I'm in Nevada. That's NV-RENTS, Nevada Rents. Those numbers go together. You can do the same exact thing as well. Let's say you're in Atlanta and you got 1-800-ATL-Airbnb. You can customize these numbers to better suit you so that when you are marketing your business, you come off very unique not only to the people but also to the lenders and the people who are important. It's the people who make a difference within our business.
Having a toll-free number versus a cell phone number is super important also in the process of building a brand. Let's break this down quickly, Bosses. You guys are at the stage now where you guys should be speeding to go and incorporate your business. Make sure you put that virtual address in place, AKA that corporate address in place.
First, make sure you pick a unique business name. Make sure you have a toll-free number. For those of you who do have the business name, make sure that you guys buy that domain as well. You can also buy the domain from GoDaddy, Namecheap, or Private Email. When you buy the email, you should only be using your business email for business purposes. You should never be using Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo. Those things are getting you guys flagged fast.
When you purchase your domain, make sure that you're also getting a business email. It should always be followed by your business name. Something like Info@HerSecretVault.net or Info@BossesBuildBusinessCredit.com. The importance of submitting anything under your business, again, shows us as a lender that you guys are bigger than what you guys are.
When you guys are submitting those Secretary of State and those IRS documentation, utilize your business email. Do not use a personal email. Anytime you're submitting anything for your business, utilize your business email, not your personal email. You're looking to get corporate leasing. Get Airbnbs, buy land, buy a house, or whatever you are looking to do, always add that business email. Nobody is taking you seriously with Gmail, Hotmail, or anything other than a business email.
We're at that stage of incorporating. I want you guys to go over episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 first before you guys run to incorporate your business. Everything that I taught you guys within the last five episodes is super important to helping you set up the foundation for your business correctly. As we move forward to the rest of these episodes, we're going to start getting into vendors and business credit. The different things that can help you guys along your process on this journey of becoming business bosses and entrepreneurs. I thank you guys as always for tuning in. As a reminder, Bosses Build Business Credit. I’ll talk to you guys soon.
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