Salutations™!!
In the last two days, I have done some “grown-up” things with my business, Such-N-Such Limited, Inc. I’ve gotten a lot busier and honestly, my calendar is filling up and when clients call or email or text and want to get a time, I have to look at the Google Calendar I have and wonder, did I put everything in that I needed to?
Well, I will usually put them down for when we agree on and hope that no one calls or shows up at that time. It doesn’t happen a lot but it has happened in the past. I started looking at online appointment booking tools and realized that I had a brand new tool right under my nose. I am a Square customer for payments, online and in-person. They have a service/tool called Square Appointments and it allows me to put a button on the Such-N-Such Media (the production wing of my business) website and Facebook page as well as The Less Desirables Facebook page.
Now, customers and clients can click on that button, they can click to find when I have availability and then schedule their appointment. It then syncs to my Google Calendars (and vice versa). I can still make my own appointments in-person and, again, it syncs up. Then I can bill the client or take payment from there. I dig it. I feel all “grown” now. At least on the scheduling side.
Then, I’ve been using my cell phone number for all my business stuff. Which is fine, really. I try to direct folks to send me an email over a phone call. I don’t like talking on the phone, to be honest. So, I got a Google Voice number to apply to all my business needs. This number allows me to get texts and voice mails via my email and I can reply there.
As much as I hate talking on the phone, I hate typing on my phone just as much. I don’t mind using it for all kinds of “smartphone” things, but I really don’t like typing on it for IMs, texts or emails. I would much rather use a computer for that. This allows me to do that. I can still do it on my phone if I need to, but also able to do it on the computer. Also, I can download voicemails and keep them. That also means that if listeners of any of the podcasts call and leave a voicemail, then I can play it on that podcast. It’s another way for interaction with those listeners.
Or… if you’re reading this blog, I’m going to give out my number so readers can contact me. I may use it here (if I can figure out how as this is a little different than the other blogs I post) if you send me something. If nothing else, I can use the transcript, right? Right. So, I had a few to choose from and I picked the one I did because I could use a word to talk about it. You know how places say “call 1-800-PICK-ONE” or something like that? Yeah, I found one that kind of fits me. After all, I am “less desirable.” So, here’s the number: 336-422-6862. I call it 422-NUMB. I like it. I go with it. Send me a text or leave me a voicemail on that number, I would like that.
Don’t worry, I’m not afraid of people blowing up my phone, I can ignore you fairly easily. It’s my “business” number and I don’t mind giving that out. Well, that’s it, I grew up, I guess. Finally, says The BCPF.
Until tomorrow, keep the digits and schedule an appointment…
Scorp out!
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“A Voice number works on smartphones and the web so you can place and receive calls from anywhere.” – Google Voice