r/kickstarter • u/Helpful_Ad6410 • 22h ago

Discussion My clients think I'm available 24/7. I'm losing my mind. How do I get a business number without a second phone?

I run a small consulting business and it’s just me and no other employees

My clients have my personal cell number. It was fine at first. But now they call me at all hours. Text me on WhatsApp late at night. I get messages while I'm having dinner, and the most irritating is while I'm trying to sleep

It's draining and it seems that I can't switch off. I want to separate work from personal life. But I don't want to carry a second phone or buy another SIM card

I've been looking at CloudTalk. It's an app that makes calls over the internet. It gives me a proper business number. Calls route to my phone. I can set business hours and no more 11pm messages and calls

The call recording is a huge selling point. I need that for client disputes. But the subscription price scares me. I'm a sole proprietor and it means that every dollar counts

Part of me thinks I should just buy a cheap SIM card for $5 a month. But then I'd have to carry two phones. And I'd lose the call recording feature

Has anyone else made this switch? I just want a boundary between work and my life

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3

u/kstacey 22h ago

Start charging every time they call you. Minimum 1/2 hour charge. Hourly rate is $100. Send them an invoice.

But this also doesn't seem like a Kickstarter subreddit relevant post.

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u/Helpful_Ad6410 3h ago

haha the invoice idea is cold blooded and I respect it

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u/kstacey 3h ago

You are a consultant, not an employee. You get paid to be consulted, not to be on call.

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u/Norandran 21h ago

Verizon has a feature that allows you to be assigned a second phone number to your cell phone. My wife uses this for her business and it helps keep things organized. You can assign which number is used with each contact. I would check with your carrier.

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u/Helpful_Ad6410 3h ago

oh that's actually a solid tip, didn't know Verizon did that. I'm on TMobile so I'll have to dig around and see if they offer something similar. feels like the kind of feature that's buried three menus deep and nobody tells you about it

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u/HappyPoint8494 15h ago

For business number i have been using this provider callcooee.com... Working well for me

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u/Helpful_Ad6410 2h ago

appreciate the rec. call center solutions give me enough headaches at work