- The Temptation to Use Your Personal Phone for Business.
- 10 Reasons Using Your Personal Phone for Business is Problematic.
- How Can a Virtual Receptionist Reduce These Problems?
Q: Should I use my personal phone as my business number?
A: While it may be tempting to use your personal phone for your business, doing so has many major drawbacks. This article will explain 10 reasons why you shouldn’t use your personal phone and provide you with a better alternative.
You’re an entrepreneur. You’re ready to chase your dreams and start your own small business.
Thankfully, it’s never been easier to do so.
In preparation for your big launch, you have a series of important decisions before you. You have to decide what kind of business you’re going to be, what address you’ll use, and how you’ll handle your business calls.
Many people in this situation use their personal phones to conduct business. Nearly everyone has a cell phone these days, so this seems like an easy way to go.
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More people are running small businesses than ever before. Unless companies become more employee-centric and do more to recruit and retain top talent, this trend is likely to increase.
This option seems easy enough, and it doesn’t cost you anything extra, right?
Did you know that upwards of 85 percent of small businesses use their personal phone number to conduct business?
While it may not cost you up-front, using your personal cell phone for your business has some major drawbacks.
This article will explore 10 reasons why you should reconsider linking your business to your personal phone.
- Why People Use Their Phone for Business?
- 10 Reasons This Can Cause Problems.
- What is a Better Solution for Business Phone Calls?
The Temptation to Use Your Personal Phone for Your Business
It makes sense that so many entrepreneurs consider using their personal phones as a business line.
On the surface, this seems like a great way to simplify things.
You already have your phone with you, why not use it for work as well? It seems convenient enough.
Perhaps even more enticing is the fact that your personal phone costs you nothing extra. You can keep overhead costs low by making use of the phone number you’re already paying for.
This may seem like an easy, thrifty way to save yourself effort and money when starting your business.
With that said, let’s take a closer look at the impact of trying to run your business from your personal phone.
According to Tech.co, some of the reasons you might want to reconsider using your personal phone for your company are pretty obvious. Others, not so much.
“Running your business through the same phone number that you use for personal activities can put a strain on your work-life balance, your company’s reputation, your business’ potential growth, and even your overall security.” -Tech.co
10 Reasons Not to Use Your Personal Phone
1. Messy Write-Offs
You may think that using your personal phone for business will give you a nice tax write-off on something you already use.
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
While you can write off your cell phone if you’re using it for your business, you can’t just write it off entirely.
Your phone is only considered a business expense to the degree you use it for work.
For instance, if you only use your phone for business calls 30 percent of the time, you can only write off 30 percent of your phone bill.
That alone wouldn’t be so bad. What really complicates things is the fact that you have to track your phone usage meticulously to get this write-off.
You’ll have to keep a running tally on the amount of time you use your phone for work and calculate the ratio of work to personal use when filing your taxes.
2. Interruptions
When you use your personal phone for your business, you are directly responsible for answering all incoming calls.
This can quickly become an issue when you find yourself constantly interrupted throughout your workday.
You may be in the middle of an important project when suddenly the phone rings. Not only do you have to quickly transition into customer service mode, but your train of thought may be lost during the course of the conversation.
Plus, our phones are brim with distractions, whether it be a group chat with friends or social media apps.
This holds you back from bringing your best to your work and causes massive delays.
3. Full Voicemail
You’ll also be responsible for your voicemail. While this may not seem like much of a task at first, a deeper dive shows how burdensome this can be.
The voicemail box on a cell phone is typically pretty limited. When you have a high volume of business calls combined with personal calls, your voicemail can fill rapidly.
Having a full voicemail makes callers feel like your business isn’t professional and can leave you with missed opportunities.
To avoid this, you’ll have to consistently check each and every message prior to your voicemail filling up. This adds even more interruption to your already very busy schedule.
4. Number Becomes Public
When you register your business, the information you use to register becomes public domain.
This means that anyone that searches for your business will immediately have access to your personal phone number. Your privacy gets compromised.
Anyone can call you at any time of day, regardless of if you’re on the clock. This can be terribly stressful and in some cases can even lead to harassment.
5. Less Professionalism
You may think you can handle your incoming calls with a calm, professional demeanor each and every time, but the reality is, this is very unlikely.
The constant interruption of your phone ringing can make even the most tranquil people stressed.
What’s more, if your voicemail is filled or your response rate is too long, the company’s image may be diminished in the eyes of your callers.
When you answer the phone in this state, the person on the other end is bound to notice.
6. Accelerated Burnout
Running a small business is an inherently high-stress undertaking.
You’re responsible for a wide range of tasks, each of which requires a lot of focus and work.
Stress management is a crucial component of running a small business. You need time to unwind and manage your daily stress levels if you are going to stay consistent and grow your business over time.
Linking your personal phone to your business makes this much harder.
When you add handling your business phones to your already long list of responsibilities, it’s easy to find yourself burnt out.
This doesn’t just feel bad subjectively, it actually keeps you from producing your best work, which holds your business back from the growth you want to see.
7. Work Follows You Home
Having a healthy work-life balance is difficult enough for small business owners. It’s hard to let go of your work and relax when you’re your own boss.
This problem gets amplified when you link your personal phone to your business.
Like most, you probably carry your phone with you everywhere you go.
If your phone becomes associated with work, it’s much harder to mentally unwind and focus on tasks that are not work-related.
This problem only gets worse when you consider that incoming calls may be business-related, regardless of the time of day. These calls can tempt you to enter work mode, even during relaxing activities or time with family.
8. No Way of Separating Types of Calls
One of the major annoyances of using your personal phone for business is that you have no way of managing your personal and business calls separately.
All calls go to the same phone, making it nearly impossible to know if the incoming call is going to require a casual or a professional tone.
You’ll also likely wind up answering endless spam calls, as you won’t know whether the call is an incoming customer or a bot.
9. Less Time In Flow
A flow state is a psychological phenomenon wherein your work is just challenging enough to keep you engaged without being overwhelming.
When in this state, time seems to fly by. You’re less stressed and more productive, and your best ideas come to the fore.
Unfortunately, when you try to manage your phones yourself, this state is significantly harder to achieve. The constant threat of an incoming phone call means you’ll have a harder time giving your work full attention.
Without being able to bring your best to your projects, your workday will feel harder.
It’s a lose-lose.
10. Have to Manage Your Own Scheduling
Finally, using your personal phone for your business leaves you with the burdensome task of scheduling your own calls.
Not only will you have to make time to check your voicemail, but you’ll also be left to arrange your own online meetings and callbacks.
Your schedule is already busy. Having to carve out time to further schedule yourself can quickly become overwhelming.
Don’t do this to yourself.
Why a Virtual Receptionist is a Better Choice
So, your personal phone is a bad way to go about handling your business phones. What should you do instead?
The answer is simple: get a virtual receptionist.
Virtual receptionists are superior in a variety of ways.
For starters, a virtual receptionist alleviates the burden of answering your own phones. This means you’ll be able to work uninterrupted, making you more productive and less stressed.
Additionally, a virtual receptionist adds an air of professionalism to your business’ image.
Each receptionist is trained to provide top-tier customer service to your callers, ensuring each incoming phone call represents your business in the best possible light.
Finally, virtual receptionists take care of the burden of checking your voicemails and scheduling your callbacks.
They pass along any important messages and help you schedule return calls, making sure nothing important slips through the cracks.
Simply put, a virtual receptionist makes your workday more manageable and your company appears more professional.
Conclusion
With startups booming, many entrepreneurs find themselves trying to figure out the best solution to handle their business phones.
While it may be tempting to register your business with your personal phone number, doing so causes a host of issues.
You’ll face constant interruptions, higher stress levels, and add even more to your already busy schedule.
Starting a business with these obstacles isn’t ideal, but there is a simple solution available.
Hiring a virtual receptionist is an affordable way to avoid these issues.
Alliance Virtual Offices live receptionist plans provide affordable access to a trained receptionist. Each call will be handled with professionalism, freeing you from interruption, distractions, and helping your business thrive.
