Friday, December 21st, 2012 at 10:48 AM EST

By Jeb

With the holiday season upon us I always end up talking about entrepreneurship and starting businesses with family at our gatherings.  Sometimes starting a new business is scarier then running the business and I can only imagine the companies that haven’t started because of the fear of getting started.

I thought some of our Phone.com customers might like to read this.  Most of it is spot on and rings true to me.  I read it on Young UpStarts.
Here are some tips for starting a new business on a budget:

• Avoid expensive rent  - Use your garage or spare bedroom
• Delay hiring employees – If necessary hire remote workers
• Embrace social media – Save money on advertising and use social media
• Create your own website – I’m not sure about this one, if you have a knack for this kind of thing then go ahead, if not spend some money on it.  One thing to consider is using a blog template instead of a traditional website if you go the DIY route
• Take the law into your own hands – It’s easy to incorporate a business (at least in California), just make sure you obey the laws and take advice for your state in particular, not for the next state over
• Handle your own finances – There are so many free online options for this kind of thing and if you have to do payroll or more complex financing there are inexpensive web based services
• Sell products online – Depending on what your company does this is a great way to gage interest in products and variations of each product
• Take advantage of networking opportunities – I recently read to never turn down networking opportunities, I’m trying to live that now but it seems like sound advice

A few of more suggestions are:

• First and foremost – Get a business number to keep your work and personal life separate.  Obviously we recommend Phone.com
• Use the Phone.com PC Communicator for your empoyees.  It will work on their computer so you don’t have to buy them a desktop phone.
• If you buy computers for employees buy used
• By supplies for the entire office not for each desk, not everyone will ever need to use the 1 office stapler at once
• A great suggestion I read from Jason Calacanis a few years back is to  buy a cheap desk (for example a 6ft table or 2) and spend a little more on a chair.

Starting a small business is a process and not an overnight endeavour.  It will take a lot of work to get things going but Phone.com would be happy to be a partner in your business and serve many of your communication needs.