GoFaxer Blog

A lot of times people start their own small business might understand technology really well. They might know to use Internet fax instead of an old-fashioned fax machine. They might now how to make the right purchases that save them money. They might understand the best software to use for their business purposes. But they may really struggle at working with other people.

But there is perhaps no greater skill needed for an entrepreneur than working with other individuals. Carlolyn Kepcher, the former board member from Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice” says:

“Relationships are everything. No matter who you speak to, who you worked for, who worked for you — it is imperative that you don’t burn bridges . . . you never know when you may need to reach out to someone from your past.”

But you might say to me, “Wade, I’m not good at this.” My response: “Get good at it.”

Being good with people doesn’t require you to be a dynamic sales manager type. You just need to care for people, be sensitive to other people’s feelings, and make it a business priority to develop the right business relationships.

Being good at creating business relationships, along with smart and savvy understanding of technology and marketing will make your small business soar. Without attention to people, you’re likely to be very limited in your growth potential.

It used to be that environmentalism was an idealistic battle of a few extremists. Now the environmentalist has changed to a more pragmatic model. Now it seems to be associated with a number of very cool concepts. It’s clean. It’s stylish. It’s gourmet. It’s organic. It’s upscale. It’s cool. And more than anything, it’s economically mandatory.

Internet fax is a perfect example of this. Something that would have been touted as a moral choice 20 years ago is now seen from a cold logic as a new standard business practice and more than that—it’s conversationally cool.

On top of a newfound mojo, there’s the added fact that Congress will be passing a bill in the coming months to put a cap on green house emissions, decreasing them dramatically over the coming years. Even if the current president doesn’t sign it into law, all three of the major presidential nominees will in a year.

It’s for this reason that one of the hottest markets for young entrepreneurs is green technology. Because with those caps, all businesses and consumers will be looking for ways to meet those standards, methods that will be in their best financial interests.

I’m not sure if the old-school environmentalist will like the more practical approach to the issues of global warming and conservation, but they can’t argue with results. Mark my words. This new paradigm will see results like never before. Meaning, it’s a good time to start a business that caters to the movement.

Let’s be honest. When you’re starting a small business, you’re going to be working a lot! There’s just no way around it. Of course, you probably wouldn’t even be trying to start your own startup if you didn’t love what you were doing.

But then again, you might have a life too. We’ve all got family responsibilities, friends, and the need to grocery shop every once in a while. Life does not totally exist in the office.

This is why email fax is so perfect for the 21st century entrepreneur. It gives you total freedom to do business, even if you’re not in the office. In fact, these services allow you to not even have an office. Whether you’re running your operation out of your basement, a small rented office, your bedroom, or your laptop in the library, email fax works. You won’t have to miss your son’s birthday party if you’re waiting for that important fax.

With Internet based fax technologies, all you need is a web browser and access to the web and you’re good to go. No need to worry about downloading software and whatnot.

If you’re working weekends, traveling, or working from a corner office, Internet based office services are absolutely indispensable. I haven’t even mentioned the fact that it’s cheaper than old school fax machines. You can’t argue with that.

Miriam is a marketing consultant for a big firm. Tired off working long hours for modest pay, she decided that she wanted to start her own small consulting firm. She wanted to work with small local businesses. She wanted to contribute to the business community of the town she had grown up in and leaned to love.

Being the smart and savvy businessperson that she is, she knew that there are a lot of opportunities for small business owners to keep their expenses small, but still look professional. Image means a lot when you’re trying to convince companies to hire you to communicate their company’s image. If you can’t do it well for yourself, how could you do it well for others?

Needless to say, Miriam immediately fell in love with the idea of email fax. She signed up through GoFaxer, which gave her a phone number to use for her business. This number could then be placed on her card, along with her phone number, which connected to her cell phone, and an email address, that she monitored on her home laptop. She had the appearance of being big time, while remaining small time, the way she liked it.

So here’s the situation. You have this new and amazing business idea. You’ve thought about it for months now. You’ve done research. Everyone tells you that you’ve got a great idea. You want to do it!

But here’s the problem. You’ve never run a business before. In fact, you’ve never really done anything in the business world. Your profession up until now is hardly big finance. It has nothing to do with accounting or marketing or any of those other words that you’ve heard associated with business. You don’t know where to start.

The fact of the matter is that if your idea is in fact a good idea, you could be sitting on great opportunity. No doubt you’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to blunder. Hopefully they won’t be big mistakes.

Let me give you one very sound piece of advice. Don’t buy a fax machine. You don’t need one anymore. All you need is an Internet fax service.

This is one example of a lot of things that you won’t need. If you open your doors for business, there’s going to be all kinds of people trying to get you to spend money on things you don’t need. So follow this rule of thumb. Question every expense. Do we need this? Is there a technology out there that will help me do without buying this expensive thing?

Follow that first bit of advice and you could be off to a rousing start for a successful new startup.

A recent article at Businessweek.com by John Tozzi addresses the issues of starting your own business rather than retiring. He says:

“While starting a business is a challenge at any age, a first-timer starting a business later in life will encounter different obstacles than younger entrepreneurs, particularly when it comes to funding the business, securing health insurance, managing personal finance, and succession planning.”

The rule of thumb that I took away from the article is this: If you’ve got extra time, money, and energy to invest in a small business go for it. But don’t do it if you’re going to rely on the income from a business venture. It’s just too risky.

When you’re young, if the venture doesn’t work out, you can go back into the general work force and be caught up by retirement. But when you’re older you’ve got less time to make up for a failed business.

My other bit of advice is that you may be getting up there in age, but don’t run your business old-school. Make your company young and modern, taking advantage of all of the latest technology advances like Internet fax. You’ve got to use these modern advancements if your company has a chance at succeeding.

Megan decided to start her very own wedding planning business. She had worked in catering for the last 5 years and reported personally to the owner. She realized that she would never get any higher up in her company without being the owner herself. She knew that it was time to take all of the entrepreneurial spirit she could muster and take the plunge.

The first challenge that she faced was the fact that she had no money of her own to invest in her business. She would have to start with small functions and work her way up. Because she had no money, she would not be able to hire a staff or rent an office. Everything was going to be done from home.

As she was speaking with one of her first prospective clients they said the fatal words, “Will you fax me that quote?” Suddenly she realized that she in fact did not have a fax machine. Ten years ago this could have been her small business’s undoing. She would have been forced to admitted to the client that she didn’t have a fax machine, which would have made her look amateurish.

Fortunate for Megan, she went online and discovered GoFaxer, a company that offers a fax to email service. This let her send the fax to her client. No one would be the wiser.