There are literally hundreds of thousands of services small business owners can use to increase business and reduce expenses. These services have exploded over the last few years primarily because of easy Internet accessibility and the fierce competition for Internet-based applications. This fierce competition essentially lowers the cost of the services to the consumer … many of them to the lowest common denominator … ZERO. In fact, if you search hard enough, you’ll even find a few services where the provider will pay you to try them out. How much more “free” can you get?

Some of the services small business firms should consider trying are those that they already use on a daily basis. For example, at a minimum, every small business needs telephone service, accounting for income and expenses, advertising and marketing and, increasingly, some type of web or social media presence. There are plenty more services small business owners can expand into as their business grows, but this a good start.

Telephone service is a basic necessity. You can’t conduct business without being able to communicate with your customers. Some business owners will opt for the “traditional” services of AT&T, Comcast or other standard telephone providers. Others might forgo a separate line and just use their mobile phone as the “business” number. While these options make sense for many, there are a number of other great alternatives which work really well and are downright cheap.

These telephone services small business firms should consider work on a concept called VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol). Basically, they run using your existing Internet connection just like the old telephone companies worked using old telephone lines. In fact, in my business we use several different VOIP services from Skype to MagicJack to RingCentral.

We use different services for different reasons. Skype is great for calling people within your sphere of contacts that are already using Skype. Calls made to and from users who both use Skype are free. Calls made to a land line or mobile phone costs money but is relatively cheap on a per minute basis. MagicJack is great because you get a dedicated phone number from your choice of area codes. It has advanced features for voice mail, call forwarding and even three-way calling for $39 the first year and $19 per year thereafter. While it works by being plugged into your computer, you don’t have to have it plugged in for the features like call forwarding or voice mail to work.

Slightly more advanced telephone services small business owners should consider fall under the category of virtual PBXs. They allow you to have multiple extensions, custom greetings per extension, call transfer voice mail, “hunting”and a whole lot more. The service we use is called RingCentral. It’s great for us because we literally have a virtual team that reside all over the world. We give our customers an 800 phone number and / or a local number if they desire. The client calls in, enters an extension, and voila is then connected to one of our staff. For what this service provides the value can’t be beat.

Accounting is surely one of the basic services small business companies need to have. Some really small companies might use Excel to track their income and expenses. However, another great FREE option to Excel and other Microsoft Office products come from OpenOffice.org. Their productivity tools compete very effectively with MS Office, but don’t cost you a dime. More complex accounting needs, though, can be easily accomplished with Quicken’s online QuickBooks service. You can use this service for as little as $7.96 per month. Not exactly free, but darn near  for such a sophisticated and battle-tested service.

And, what about web site services small business owners should consider? The traditional print ads from newspapers to brochures and flyers are increasingly moving online. The number of people who search for companies through the yellow pages has dropped off precipitously. Replacing this advertising / marketing model is the search and discover mode of And, what about web site services small business owners should consider? The traditional print ads from newspapers to brochures and flyers are increasingly moving online.

The number of people who search for companies through the yellow pages has dropped off precipitously. Replacing this advertising / marketing model is the search and discover mode of Google, Yahoo and Bing search. If you don’t have a website to direct people to, you’ll be a big disadvantage compared to your competition. There are a plethora of free or downright cheap services that allow you to build a simple web site, including one from Homestead, which is now owned by Intuit. I used this product for many years until we hired our own in house website developers. It’s as cheap as $5 per month.

As explained, services small business companies can use today vary from sophisticated accounting systems to telephone service to web site design and hosting. There is simply no better time to be a small business entrepreneur like today … technology is abundant and prices have never been better.

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Online meetings for any size business are smart, productive and downright cost-effective. But they are especially beneficial for small businesses, because they not only save your company money, they allow you to “be there”, without really “being there.”

One of the keys to success for any business is constant communications with your client. If you’re in sales you know all too well the importance of picking up the phone and calling your client on a regular basis. Of course, it’s also useful to drive or fly to meet your clients in person, as well. But, with the high cost of travel these days and the amount of time out of the office, sometimes you can accomplish an “in person” meeting by going online.

Online meetings are so easy and cost-effective these days, that it should be part of every small business’ toolkit. Here’s an illustration of how they work. Essentially both you and the client meet at a designated web “space.” This web space is a private area that only you, the client and other designated parties have permission to enter. Any of the parties can display their screens, collaboratively navigate web sites, share documents and even draw on the screen. In fact, you can also give control of your computer to the other party(ies) in order for them to point to something on your screen and vice versa.

Online meetings can also be useful for working with your team members or employees. Let’s say that you are working on spreadsheet budget and one of your employees lives an hour from the office or perhaps even in another state. With online meeting software, you can both be looking at and modifying your budget in real time just as if that person were sitting right next to you.

Online meetings can also be useful for training purposes. In my small business, I have team members in northern and southern California, as well as a few abroad. Every week, we all get online to train each other on new research techniques, marketing tools and even technical support.

Speaking of technical support, one of the side benefits of some of these tools is the ability to support someone remotely. On occasion one of our colleagues has a problem with email access or similar problems. We are able to join a meeting, have that person give the keyboard and mouse control to one of our technical staff and voila … problem solved. This is remote access feature is extremely valuable.

The cost of one online meeting will literally pay for itself by saving you the cost of travel. This is easily illustrated by how much it cost just to go from northern California to southern California, not even including hotel and meals. If you were to drive from San Francisco to LA for example, you could easily spend $200 in gas alone. Alternatively, flying might cost you about $300 and then add another $150 or so for hotel and then meals.

If you are a small business and you work with others; whether clients, employees, partners, etc., you cannot afford NOT to investigate using online meetings, especially if you can try them for free!

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I have plenty of small business tips for the neophyte who is just starting out. Over my career I’ve probably started a dozen or so small businesses. Of course, not all of them have been successful, but I’ve learned a great deal about what to do and what to avoid. Probably the most important lesson that I’ve learned, though, is to not get too far ahead of yourself. There’s nothing wrong with thinking big, but every million dollar home run started with a lot of strikes and lucky singles.

The best small business tips come from careful planning. What do I mean by this? I don’t necessarily mean writing detailed business plans and complex spreadsheets, but really understanding the market you’re trying to address. How large is the market? Who are your competitors? Where can you find customers? I find it funny when people tell me of their next great idea and say that there’s no competition out there for their product. To me, that’s a bad sign. No competition could very well also mean nobody wants your product or service.

So, careful planning involves researching the viability and desirability of your product or service. The great news is that with the Internet, you’re able to dig pretty deep to find answers to your questions. For example, very few people realize the power that is at their fingertips with Google’s search engine and its advanced search options. In addition, Google has several tools that allow one to see “trends” and anticipate what people might be interested in. This tool is found at www.google.com/trends.

Other small business tips related to planning are creating proformas. A proforma is essentially a listing of all your sources of income and your expenses. This is where most small businesses fail. They (and I count myself in this category at times) put their rose colored glasses on and think that “all is good.” I’m going to sell TONS of this stuff and get rich. But, the devil is in the details. For example, how long will it be before you get paid? Do you have to extend credit or cash before you get paid? If you’re not paid for 30 days and you have to pay to get product immediately, you could have a cash flow problem.

A proforma does not have to be complex. In fact, the simpler, the better. As your company matures, it can get more sophisticated, of course, to keep up with the dynamics of your business. The most important small business tip here is to really look at and manage your expenses.

I was with a small startup company in the Valley that raised an astronomical $100 Million, while I was with them. Within a few years or so, the company had less than a tenth of that amount left. The reason? Virtually no sales, high payroll and expensive offices.

Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong! Have you ever heard of that phrase? My advice is to always have a contingency plan. If this product or service doesn’t fly, do I have enough cash to try another approach or how can I jettison a bad idea for another?

There are many more small business tips that I’ll share in the next article, especially as they relate to small business tools that will save you money.

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