Fax to Email – Are You Up With It?
Posted by admin in Business General on May 21, 2013
Many people may mock faxes, but it looks like faxing is here to stay. As much as many businesses still rely on paper trail due to its easy mode of filing, if organized well, the reality is you can still send and receive faxes through paperless solutions that don’t need an actual fax machine.
Fax to Email is a service where you use your email to send or receive fax, as opposed to using only phone networks with a fax machine. The good thing with this service is that you don’t necessarily need a landline phone number (traditional faxing), fax machine or fax modem card connected to your computer. All that you require is an account with a fax to email provider, Internet connection and email program.
These providers charge a certain fee for use of this service, and if you are one of those that don’t send faxes that much often and would rather prefer a free service, there are a couple of online resources actually. Examples include GotFreeTax, FaxZero, PopFax, TPC Fax among others. The problem with these freebies is that they limit the number of faxes you can send in a day and some also allow for advertising on the cover page of your fax. That’s how they pay for it.
Let’s take a look at the better, paid option.
Getting Started
First and foremost, carry out a search to determine which fax to email provider offers the solution that suits you best. Examples of companies in Australia include Mbox, Ozetel, UTBox, Ozefax, just to mention a few of the established ones.
Sign up and the service providers will give you a fax to email number depending on your location. It’s also possible to get a 1300 or 1800 if you prefer. All faxes will be stored on your online account that you create. All that you need is a device that can send and receive emails (computer, tablet, smartphone etc), a registered account and an Internet connection, of course, and you are good to go.
Sending your Fax
Sending a fax is as easy as sending an email only that in this case you have to attach a document every time on the outgoing email. The best document format is usually in pdf format. After attaching your document, the fax to email service proceeds to send it as a standard fax.
It is also possible to send faxes directly from applications like Microsoft Word with services that are compatible with the Windows Fax Printer Driver.
Benefits of Fax to Email
Fax to email offers your business many benefits. For one, it is offers mobility in that you can access your faxes from any device with an Internet connection, no matter the time or location. You no longer need to wait by the fax machine to send pages or receive the transmission receipt, no paper jamming or going someplace else to send a fax.
Fax to email is simple to set up and use within just a few minutes. You can transfer your fax number or get a local one in no time. You don’t need a fax machine, telephone line or software. You are able to send faxes to numerous countries straight from your mailbox-Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo!, Hotmail or any other.
Fax to email is far cheaper than traditional fax. You don’t need to rent a phone line, buy a fax machine, meet costs associated with paper, ink, cartridges, toners etc.
Environmentally friendly-in a world that is changing and going green, it is only wise to shift from the traditional mode of faxing to the digital era that requires less paperwork as we strive to save our flora.
These are just a few of the numerous benefits fax to email can offer.
1300 Numbers Improve Your Business
Posted by admin in Business General on February 22, 2013
1300 and 1800 NUMBERS CREATE A LARGE PRESENCE FOR ANY SMALL BUSINESS – The Ozetel Promo Video from OzetelTV
Healthy Mind, Healthy Business!
The success of your business depends on you!
You are your business’s greatest asset. Essentially, if you are not at your best, neither is your business. That is why it’s so crucial that you take good care of yourself, so you can be the successful business person that you always knew you could be.
There are several different areas that you should focus on:
- your personal well-being,
- emotional health,
- health of your mind and,
- successful relationships with the staff.
Once all of these are performing at their optimal levels, you will see how your business can truly take off.
When your personal well-being is involved, you have to make sure that all of your affairs are taken care of appropriately. On a personal level, you want to be sure that you are physically well and healthy. Get sleep, eat nutritious food, drink water, exercise – these basics will make a huge difference in your life and thus extend to the life of your business.
Your family life should be rewarding as well. As a businessperson, you want to make sure that you don’t have any pressing family matters that can distract your attention away from your business. Make sure that you are keeping the lines of communication open with your loved ones to resolve any issues before they take a toll on your business.
Your emotional health is just as important, if not more important than your physical health – when it comes to running your business. Your emotional well-being must be attended to and maintained at all times. If your emotions are out of whack or if you are too emotional, you aren’t able to make the rational and reasonable decisions that are needed to run a successful business.
Basically, you need to keep your “stressors” to a minimum to ensure a productive business. For example, if you have a particularly stressing day, you need to look for ways to combat that stress. Take a long walk, take a hot, relaxing bubble bath, or go to the movies. The key is to find an activity that will help put you in the right frame of mind.
You can’t forget that the health of your mind is intricately linked to your business. There is no doubt about this. If you want positive business health, you want to make sure that your mind is clear and not littered with negative thoughts. You want to ensure that your mind is focused on your business as much as possible. To achieve and maintain a clear and healthy mind, you might want to focus on activities and items such as quiet breaks, meditation and green tea. You want to avoid too much caffeine, which can leave your mind racing.
Finally, a business is only successful as its people. Once you’ve assembled the right cast of people, you need to work on connecting with them and maintaining healthy, lasting relationships with staff.
A business won’t go anywhere if there’s too much friction or discourse. Get to know your workers. Find out what their interests are, their family life, anything that helps you connect with them. Return the favour. Allow your workers to get to know you. Once you all feel connected to one another, you will be surprised at how much easier it is to work together and get along since you all know each other on a personal level.
The phone lines will be gone!
Posted by admin in Business General on January 26, 2013
The NBN has been a buzz word for quite some time now and most of us are really just coasting along with it, not aware of what the outcomes will be in the next 10 to 15 years.
It has been rolling out for the past 3 to 5 years and is becoming more and more established in many areas around the country – you can have a look at that roll out, seeing how much has been done and how much is happening in the near future. NBN SO FAR.
One of the things we need to take in pretty seriously is that the existing copper phone network WILL be gone. Once the NBN is established in a particular area, the existing copper lines will be taken out. There will be no copper lines and we will have to set up our phones over the NBN at that point. It isn’t the case of choosing not to go with the NBN! No, we will be forced to take up the NBN if we want to maintain a phone line – business and home.
An article written by NBN Co, the company set up by the government to administer the implementation throughout Australia – Did you know that our copper network is being switched off?
It is a positive thing. It is the way we need to go to keep up with the world of telecommunications. If we are to keep up with the world then we need to allow this change and embrace it in my view. This new network will accomodate a quality phone service as well as dramatically enhance our internet speeds and efficiency.
One of the benefits I see is that the monopoly of phone companies in Australia will be greatly lessened. If we want a fixed line currently we really only have 2 solutions- Telstra and Optus. And really we only have one carrier that has the infrastructure, namely Telstra.
With the advent of the NBN, this increases dramatically – there will be a host of companies with wholesale relationships with NBN Co and therefore a host of choices for the consumer when it comes to setting up the phone lines (over the internet or NBN). Competition increases and thus pricing will reduce. It is a great story for the end consumer, both for the price of the service and the enhancement of the service itself.
So mark my word – you will not be able to stay on the fence! The phone lines as you know it WILL be gone and you will have to keep up with the trends. Once the NBN has been established in your neighbourhood, you will need to get on board the train and set up the NBN and the phone lines you require.
Employee V Employer – A view from both sides.
Posted by admin in Business General on January 18, 2013
So in my 25 odd years of being in the workforce and business world, I have experienced what it is like to be an employee and an employer. The roles in life are very different from many aspects, financially, emotionally and from a sense of responsibility.
So why do we choose to be an employee?
Well I guess there are two main reasons;
- we are that character of person who wants the security of being an employee or,
- we are made to choose by our financial situation.
As an employee, I remember knowing that I had security and that my employer took the financial risk. Of course, if push came to shove, I would be let go to ensure financial longevity for the business owner, but generally I knew that I could move to another situation to accommodate my needs. There was no risk to me other then the slight stress of having to search for another job.
At early time in my life of course, I wanted to experience money and the quick way to do that, was to get into the workforce and get a salary. I didn’t have the time (well emotionally anyway) or nouse to plan and implement a business. I wanted the car, I wanted the lifestyle etc etc.
But the same is the case for later years also. I didn’t actually decide to build a business and go for “freedom” (I will speak more of this later), until I was 35. Up and til then I really didn’t have the financial backing to be able to set up a business. It would have meant taking a big risk and forfeiting alot of lifestyle.
It wasn’t until I had experienced nearly 20 years of being an employee that I then realised that the risk was worth it.
See the downside with being an employee is that you do not have the control of how much you can earn. Your employer has that control because they choose what wage you will be paid. Once you have a business, you an potentially remove that ceiling of income and take back control over how much potential earnings you can achieve. So once I realised this, and life presented a wonderful opportunity, I took the risk, lived on the vegemite sandwiches and pumpkin soup and well, went for it!
Choosing to become an employer.
As I mentioned, it was a case of experiencing one side of the equation over 20 or more years that led me to decide to experience being an employer. I was offered a great opportunity and took it – perhaps the first step that you need to take when looking to make the change. Life will present you the opportunities, it is what we choose to do with them.
The benefits of being an employer;
- freedom, open up your life and lifestyle,
- open up your potential earnings,
- be the regulator not the regulated…
The last point, while a little bit tongue in cheek, I guess the basis of the point is it feels much better to have control of your own destiny. And this point extends to the potential earnings discussion. When I moved to building a company, I knew that I was also moving to controlling my own destiny from an earnings point of view. As an accountant, the potential for was probably a maximum of $80 to $100K salary and this would take a long time to achieve because I was not specialising in any particular area of tax or accounting. If I had specialised say in tax then maybe $150 to $200K but still, it’s a ceiling that I have no control over.
As a business owner, this was completely different. Of course it would take time to build but the potential really is unlimited. The company was and is the hand that feeds me. Nurture and build it and it can feed more, and more. As long as I understood the mechanics of company structure (which I thank my accounting background for), then I can potentially smash that ceiling and pay myself higher incomes.
However, the biggest pull to step into building a business – freedom! It was more the case with the industry and business model that I was able to get into, but I was suddenly opening the ability to have a free lifestyle. I could work from home, from different states in Australia and indeed from anywhere in the world. As long as the internet is good, effectively the Telco model can be run from anywhere.
The freedom to choose times that I worked also. I could choose, if I wanted to, to start work at 11am and work 2 days a week. It was completely up to me because I had that freedom. Of course I didn’t because it was very exciting and (I still do), I really enjoy working in the industry. I also wanted to build security and achieve financial freedom as soon as possible.
How Do I Choose My 1300 Number?
Posted by admin in Business General on January 9, 2013
Hello everyone and a Happy New Year to you all!
One of the most common questions posed to us in my company is how to choose a 1300 number when setting up a new number for a business.
Well, once you have chosen to use a 1300 or 1800 number, there are basically 3 options to deciding which number to use.
Pick a number from the Public Available List.
This is a large list of numbers (usually in excess of 3000 numbers for 1300 and 1800), issued to every telecommunications company in Australia on a regular basis. It is a list given to us by the controlling body in the Australian government that manages “inbound numbers” or 1300 and 1800 numbers. That company is called Industry Number Management Services Pty Ltd (INMS).
The benefit with this list is that numbers are free with respect to a capital cost. A business will simply choose 4 numbers in order of preference and submit them in their application.
The current available list can be found at The Ozetel 1300 numbers page.
Buy a number from the government auction.
If a business wants a number that spells a word or doesn’t find the number they want within the free available list, then they will need to purchase the number from the government auction system called smartnumbers. This will come at a cost in that the public reserve price for auction numbers is $250 and can extend to any price based on the premium nature of the number they are looking at. Of course once they have purchased the number, they own it and it is theirs for ever.
Lease the number from a Phoneword company.
Finally, if the number has already been purchased by someone else, the business owner will be forced to lease that number off the owner. It is a quite a large business in Australia now with Phoneword companies purchasing 100′s of numbers and leasing them back to Australian businesses at a monthly fee, again ranging from $100 a month to 1000′s a month, depending on the number.
That is a brief run down of how a business owner would go about choosing their new 1300 or 1800 number. Getting the number you want is much more difficult then 5 years but following the steps will get you the desired result.
Business Will Fall, It’s Part Of The Game
Posted by admin in Business General on December 4, 2012
Business is a volatile world and it cannot be taken for granted. There is a series of reliances on multiple people, be it customers, staff, suppliers etc etc.
Things that effect those people can inevitably effect us as business owners and that is something we cannot change. We can prepare but we cannot influence the paths chosen and the decisions made by those parties that we interact with and rely on. It is not a reason to shy away from the business world but it is a reason to;
1. Be prepared,
2. Take action to adapt.
It may be that a customer uses your services for a long period of time and build to a certain level that they do not need you anymore. Bypassing you and going to the source is simply an economic decision and one that any business owner would make. It is difficult because the emotion around the loss of client that you depend upon may make you lose the clarity that it is simply business and that this is always going to happen.
Be prepared for these downturns and losses. Make sure that you have in depth knowledge of your cash and what is available to you. If you rely on this client excessively or they are a large part of your turnover then take the time to consider the implications of them leaving. Knowing where the cash is will help this. And this is not on a basis of having the figures in “your head”, you must have it on paper and know the calculations are real and absolute. Consider all possible debt such as BAS commitments, Tax Provisions, Wages until next income receipt, Bad Debts levels etc etc.
An added consideration if this is the type of situation you find your business in is, enjoy the cash flow of this large client, BUT always keep in mind that building a lifestyle or reliance on this income will be a bad idea and create pain if they leave. Build a buffer, use a portion of the profit and don’t get greedy because this is not the client to rely on too heavily. In the end, if they can achieve a large saving in their business, they will not maintain the profits in yours.
Take action to create safety in the event that the bad thing happens. Create marketing strategies to boost the customer base, use part of the buffer you have created to increase sales elsewhere. A part of the focus should be on ensuring that the bread butter for the business are the multitude of small business customers and not one large carrot. Losing 50 small customers out of a database of 1000 would not hurt as much as losing the one big fish so ensure that a strategy is to boost the bait fish and then go for the big one.
Being prepared and informed is the key to making it through the troughs and smack on the chin – and I assure you, the punches will come eventually but you can get through them.
Choosing an accounting software…
Posted by admin in Business General on November 15, 2012
Business owners always have to answer questions and make decisions, especially about their accounting methods. Once upon a time it would be a decision about which book-keeper to hire. The advent of accounting software has changed that. Now it is a question of which accounting software you should choose for your small business.
There are several options open to you. You can choose from traditional well known software, such as QuickBooks or MYOB. Or you can choose to go with completely online software such as Xero or Saasu. Each has its benefits and pitfalls so let us take a look at these four and compare what they have to offer and how they can help you.
QuickBooks and MYOB
QuickBooks and MYOB are two of the more popular pieces of accounting software. Both offer a selection of packages, ranging from basic accounting methods to the more complicated and involved. They both have a choice of either purchasing a subscription of 12 months or buying the full package outright. QuickBooks and MYOB have similar functions including payroll, time billing, and inventory control and accounts preparation. Another similarity between them is that that they both offer the facility for online accounting. This means that you can access your accounts from any computer that has access to the internet. They are both capable of automatic data-entry, which means you can hook up your bank accounts and credit cards and the data will be automatically imported to the system.
Also, full back-ups, updates and technical support are offered as part of the service. One big difference between the two is QuickBooks ability to offer multi-user licences – each copy of the program can be licenced for use by multiple individuals.
Xero and SAASU
Online accounting software is fast becoming a favourite method for small businesses. There are many companies that offer online accounting software, two of which are Xero and Saasu. Both of these are part of the latest in cloud based accounting programmes and are quite similar to each other in what they offer. They both offer a series of different packages, ranging from small and basic up to the most comprehensive package available. Each is priced separately and is available on a subscription basis. Both Xero and Saasu offer basic accounting functions such as payroll, sales orders and invoices, bank feeds and inventory control. They both have the ability to automatically produce invoices and both provide real time views of your bank balances, sales and bills pending. As well as automatic bank feeding they can both also update from your PayPal account as well.
We have only really touched on the basic features of all of these packages; you will need to go to the various websites for more detailed information. However, it is clear that the accounting software that you use really depends upon several factors: – the size of your business, how many users should have access, how detailed your accounts need to be and how much you are prepared to pay. It is worth bearing in mind that any software that is available online normally comes complete with automatic updates, back-ups and complete support, three very valuable requirements in the new digital age.
Original Source: 13001800Numbers Blog
Using video to market your business.
Posted by admin in Business General on November 5, 2012
Those of you that are in the business of internet marketing will undoubtedly have heard the saying “content is king”. This is especially true with using video to market your business. The use of video for SEO – Search Engine Optimisation – is fast becoming one of the most powerful marketing methods there is. Search engines love video content and will tend to rank it quite high in the stats for a particular keyword or niche – provided the content is relevant of course.
That is the key point here. As with any form of marketing, the use of keywords in video is important, not just in the title but in the content as well. SEO is all about keywords or key phrases. More than that, it is about them being used in the right places and in the right way. The other important part of getting your video recognised and watched is to upload it in all the right places. Let’s take a look at the benefits of using video for SEO purposes and why it works so well.
Given the choice between reading something and watching it on a video, most people will opt for the video. Human nature dictates that we will be more apt to take in information if we can see and hear it. For example, let’s say you produce an article about putting together a flat-pack desk and also produce a video showing how to put it together. Most people will watch the video as it is easier to follow and learn from visual content than it is from written.
Properly and professionally formatted and executed, videos reach a much wider audience. The big question is whether you should host the video on your own website or on an external site and embed the code to you your own site. The real answer depends very much on your requirements but both ways can be a huge boost to business.
Many people choose to use free video hosting sites such as YouTube and embed the code to their own website or social media site. YouTube is highly ranked on Google and therefore, any video that is uploaded should also be ranked fairly highly but this will also depend on your specific keywords that you are using. There are paid for video hosts such as Vimeo and Vzaar. It all depends on whether you actually want to spend anything on video hosting as to whether you choose one of those against a free one or using your own website. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are also good places to embed links to your videos.
If your website is highly ranked in the search engines then by all means host the video yourself but if you are just starting out then it is probably best to use embedded code and external hosting sites to try to build up your ranking first.
It is highly important for the discerning business owner to try to improve their SEO rankings and using video is one of the best methods with which to achieve this. Excellent, clear and concise visual content will generate far more traffic than just writing an article or a blog and we all know that, to generate sales for our business we need that all important – traffic!
Relay For Life – Coomera Anglican College
Well we had the gig on the weekend for the relay for life down at Coomera Anglican college and it was amazing. The day wasn’t that pleasant to us in terms of weather but that most certainly did not dampen the spirits of the band members or those participating in the 24 hour walk! The people were so enthusiastic and inspiring how they committed to the cause. Being rained on while dressed up as Chewbacca walking around a damp oval cannot be the most pleasant experience but there was a big smile on that person’s face….well hairy costume face!
There were hundreds of kids and adults all together for a wonderful cause doing their part for cancer research. I suspect most of us have been touched by the decease in some way or another with a friend or family member. I have, with my mother being diagnosed with a brain tumor and it still remains a decease that we know so little about in terms of prevention. It also seems a decease that appears to come back so often even when tumors are removed. That wasn’t the case specifically for my mum, but certainly the complications of the surgery were.
So it was a magical thing to see so many young people together and promoting the awareness of cancer research. There were tents all over the oval for people to get some shut eye and food vendors serving delicious options for a snack- and of course, plenty of coffee available! We definitely fueled up with the caffeine before hitting the stage. Not so “rock n roll” I know but horses for courses right?
The set up was lengthy as we had to mic up drums and set up keyboards but it all got done in 20 minutes or so and off we went. Smashing out a bit of Crowded House and Aussie Crawl is always a blast, throwing in a bit of harp for “Boys Light Up” and a couple of Tom Petty numbers, great fun! We did asked for “Gangnam Style” which was always gonna be a bit of a problem with guitars and keys so we left that to the DJ! The rain was smacking on the left so the bass player and myself were wishing we voted the other side. The set list was reduced to mashed bits of muddy paper within 15 minutes but no problems. We are old rockers!
Threw an original in there that the lead guitarist wrote which went down really well and was a hoot. Finished up with a bit of Bob Marley, “Three Little Birds” and of course “Lean On Me” by Bill Withers. That was a great opportunity for me to jump on the keys for the first time which was great fun and a different sound for the guys – oh the band name by the way is Barefoot Servants – a line out of “All Along the Watch Tower” I think but I am open to getting corrected on that one.
Anyway, it was a wonderful experience and my thanks to the people giving their hearts at the event and the boys of Barefoot Servants. Great gig!
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