Simple ways to reduce small business expenses

It’s funny how complicated people can make things sometimes. They’ll create elaborate plans that require a lot of work and effort to carry out when often there are simple answers right in front of them.

Take cost-cutting. We all know the economy is tough right now, and everyone is trying to save money wherever they can. Yet many people are missing the most obvious stuff.

Take the lights, for example. When you were young your mom or dad probably told you to turn off the lights when you left a room. Well, that’s still good advice today – especially in conference rooms and other common areas. If no one’s in there, turn off the lights. If there is natural daylight coming in from a window and you can see well enough, turn off the lights. If you’re going out to lunch and your office has a switch, turn off the lights. Every time you do it you’re saving a little money. Do it often enough and it will add up.

The next time you need office supplies, try heading to Sam’s Club, Costco or another warehouse club instead of the local office supply store. You can save some significant cash on your consumable supplies by buying there. Just be sure you need as many of a given item as the clubs will sell you. Paying for eight plastic “in-boxes” and using only one is a waste of money, no matter how much money you saved. On the other hand, if you know other small business owners maybe you can pool your purchasing needs, helping all of you reduce your costs.

Switching from a fax machine to an Internet fax service such as MyFax helps in several ways. It cuts the up-front cost of the machine. It cuts the cost of supplies such as paper and toner. It cuts the phone costs since you don’t need a second phone line. (Don’t forget you pay for maintenance on that second phone line as well as the service.) It cuts your power consumption since you don’t need to have a separate machine that’s left on just in case you receive a fax. And it also cuts some other, less obvious costs, such as file cabinets to store the faxes, space to put the file cabinets in, and the gas you use going to and from the office just to check on your faxes. Add all that up and your savings can be significant.

Finally, try renegotiating the cost of some of the goods and services you’re paying for each month. Remember that you’re not the only business that’s concerned about the economy. Even the big companies are focused on keeping business wherever and however they can. It takes some courage to ask, and you may still be told “no.” But if that’s the answer, you’re no worse off than you were before you asked. If the answer is yes, though, you’re ahead of the game.

Remember, a plan doesn’t have to be elaborate to be good. Do enough of the simple things and you’ll make it through these tough times.

MyFax wins Gold Award for the Fourth Year in a Row!

That's right, we are very pleased to announce that for the fourth straight year TopTenREVIEWS has named MyFax as their Gold Award winner for Top Internet Fax Service!

Established in 2003, TopTenREVIEWS, an Internet publisher of expert expert product reviews for software and web services conducted performance reviews of more than a dozen competing Internet fax services, before awarding MyFax its “Gold” or No. 1 ranking.

TopTenREVIEWS says MyFax “beats out the competition by offering up to 300 faxed pages per month for $10. In addition, those that prefer Mozilla Firefox can now use this service.”

Moreover, the publisher finds MyFax out performing others by including a “high level of compatibility with many document formats and web browsers. It also accommodates those that need a high level of security with SSL encryption and additional data encryption devices.”

Winning a Gold Award for the fourth straight year “is accomplished through great interaction with and feedback from our thousands of customers,” says Joseph Nour, our CEO. “TopTenREVIEWS contacted us through our live chat service and said our customer service was helpful and quick to respond. Implementing enhancements based on user feedback combined with an excellent customer support team continues to make MyFax a winner.”

Read the full review
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MyFax – the backup plan for lawyers moving too fast

In the infamous “perfect world,” lettuce would taste like chocolate, children (and some adults) would come with volume controls, and we’d never rush out of the office leaving important papers behind.

Of course, we all live in the real world where none of that is true. I mean, does anyone really like the taste of lettuce versus tolerate it?

Dinesh Kandanchatha, just returned from speaking at LegalTech New York 2009. He’s heard the stories about lawyers rushing out of the office without important documents, too. It can certainly be embarrassing to show up at a customer’s or partner’s location without the handout you prepared. But it can be a lot more than embarrassing for lawyers. It can be unrecoverable.

Think about it. They spend days preparing their cases – doing research, writing notes in the margins of printouts, maybe even preparing diagrams. Then they grab the wrong folder on their way out the door and suddenly all that work is lost. And unlike the rest of us, who simply have to admit our mistake and beg to reschedule, a lawyer either has to stand in front of a judge and ask for a continuance – never easy under these circumstances, and understanding it could be denied – or wing it. If he/she is lucky, someone from the office can run the papers over during the trial.

Of course, that’s not an issue if the law firm is using MyFax. As long as the courtroom or a nearby area has Internet access or the attorney has a PDA, he/she can call back to the office and have the missing notes faxed over instantly. They’ll show up in all their glory as an attachment, complete with all the handwritten additions. Which means the lawyer will be in a better position to win his/her case.

It’s easy to get overtaken by events sometimes. Fortunately, MyFax makes a great backup plan.