As an entrepreneur, you most likely conduct your meetings over the phone instead of spending the money on airfare and accommodations. And until recently, very few business owners thought about how much a phone system cost. With the market the way it is, business owners have to be smart and cut costs on office equipment and services.

Over 68% of business owners that switched phone systems last year cited “cost savings” as the reason. VoIP and hosted services are the most popular choices today because it is cheaper and still offers the same amount of services as a traditional system.

If you are just starting out, or thinking about switching providers for your business phone system, here are a few things you should know:

• If you are currently in a contract with a provider, ask if you can extend your contract or expand with more services. Sometimes companies will give you discounted upgrades or more services for a lower fee.
• If your current provider does not meet your needs, switch. Just make sure you work out any details beforehand and factor in the time it takes to switch. Switching to a hosted PBX phone system from a traditional landline can take up to a week so have a cell phone handy.
• If you are just starting out, typically VoIP and hosted services will discount set up costs to gain your business. You can also negotiate equipment costs by leasing or purchasing in volume. If you decide to lease (which I recommend starting out), ask about buyback provisions.
• If you don’t know what system you need, learn the terminology before speaking with a company. Traditional systems, or landline-based options require a cabinet to house routing software. These systems, like a KSU or PBX system, or a bit more expensive than hosted and VoIP systems.
• If you know how much you want to spend for the service, that’s a start. However, you have to factor in maintenance costs and training of the system (if needed). If you are switching providers, factor in those costs and see if you can ‘port’ your current number to the new company for free.
• If you start negotiating, keep in mind that service charges tend to be fixed and non-negotiable. A package with more comprehensive offerings and added features is what you can negotiate on.

Maybe you have read this a thousand times, but I would like to encourage you once again.

You. Have. To. Use. Twitter. Period.

What is Twitter, anyway? In essence, Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging site that allow you to connect and interact with fellow users easily - in real time and in 140 characters - basically answering this question: “What are you doing?”

Twitter is the fastest growing social networking site on the Net today (Goodbye Facebook!), with 1,382 per cent year-on-year growth, compared to Facebook’s “mere” 228 per cent year-on-year growth.

What does Twitter’s growth mean to small businesses?

Two things: More opportunities and a bigger market to target.

From business owners, such as Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg.com, to sportsmen, such as NBA’s Shaquille O’Neal, almost everybody use Twitter these days!

From a ’somebody’ to a ‘nobody’, Twitter can be used for a simple networking, chit-chat, or doing business. I love the last one, although I enjoy the first two to a certain extent

The “business owners should blog” advice is a bit outdated today. These days, the small business owners, such as Nectar of Life Gourmet Coffee, use Twitter to keep in touch with their clients and prospects, as well as to promote their products and services.

So, in other words, if you haven’t blog for the sake of your business, you’ve got to start ASAP (I can help you with this), while learning to use Twitter (it’s only require basic Internet skills.) Otherwise, you are lured to lose your competitive advantage little by little.

How to use Twitter for the sake of your business

If you don’t take care of your business as an owner, who else will?

No matter how you do it - Do-It-Yourself or hiring an assistant to ‘tweet’ for you - you need to use Twitter, the sooner, the better.

I’m not a Twitter expert, but I’ve been socialising and do marketing on Twitter for a couple of months now. From my short experience, I learn that many people use Twitter to market their products and/or services - some in a spammy way, and some other in a more subtle way - on a regular basis.

I learn from my observation and my own experience that their keys in using Twitter for the benefit of their business are:

• Sharing valuable information
• having a genuine interaction with other Twitter users
• follow the right people in your niche.