It is not uncommon for a small business owner to use their personal mobile phone to run their business. It may appear to be a convenient and cheaper way to run a business but the truth is that these owners pay a heavy price not just with how damaging it can be to their businesses but also to their personal wellbeing.

People have this perception that using separate numbers for personal and professional reasons will overcomplicate things. Managing both will become an issue for them. But as time goes by and business owners evaluate the situation, they always find themselves in the dilemma of whether or not they should take a new business number.

Putting your number online for your small business seems like the easiest thing to do. But trust me, it's not. You might end up in a messy situation where you get spam calls and robocalls. You might also get customers or prospects calling you after hours or late at night disturbing your peace or your time with family. Running a small business is stressful and the last thing you want is to have your downtime with family or friends taken away from you.

By putting your mobile phone in the public sphere, you also increase the risk of identity theft. As a business owner, you may give out your number and your details without giving a second thought but this could have grave repercussions with regard to identity theft or hacking exposure.

As your business grows, using a mobile becomes increasingly limiting as you add customers and staff. You need to add employees as users to your business number so that you can take more customer calls and avoid dropping calls from customers. You also need a more professional out of hours greeting while your normal greeting may require call menus and hold music to handle more calls. None of this can be done on a mobile phone unless you have a VoIP app like bOnline Phone.

Here is why you should keep a different number for your personal and professional life:

To avoid identity threat

The world is flooded with scammers and hackers. If you willingly put your personal information like your mobile number on the internet, you might face constant fear of identity theft. A phone number can be a way for hackers to get through to all your personal records like bank details or addresses. By stealing your documents, fraudsters can do various things like opening bank accounts in your name, getting credit cards or loans, ordering things in your name or taking over your existing accounts.
A separate business number will help you avoid any such traps. Using a cloud-based phone system is the best for businesses as it is devised to keep data safe.

 For setting boundaries

A single phone number for personal and professional purposes can disrupt your personal life. Being consistently available to customers and employees will lead you to experience burnout. Having different numbers will give you the freedom to set boundaries and allow yourself some relaxing time out of business hours.

Painting a professional image in front of customers

A mobile number doesn't paint the most professional image in front of customers. People can often think of your number as a spam/phishing call. Having a personal mobile number to deal with business matters can have customers doubting the validity of your business. 44% of customers prefer to call a landline number rather than a mobile number while approaching a website. A business phone line builds trustworthiness for your business and makes it look more professional.

For business growth

Every business owner aspires to grow their business. A personal mobile number can become a roadblock for expansion plans. Multiple users cannot be added to a mobile number. You won't be able to forward all your calls to your employees and there's no way to filter every number and forward it.

Filtering calls

On a single phone number, you have to deal with answering every call. It is highly unlikely to screen calls based on work/personal. An assigned phone line for business use is an excellent way to tackle queries efficiently and you’ll know it’s a business call so you can treat it with more professionalism and diligence.


Solution

Now that it's clear how bad using the same phone for personal and business is, it's time to know what's the alternative to this issue. Instead of using a personal mobile number, switch to a digital phone line/VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone system. A VoIP is a digital handy phone system that allows you to take calls from any smartphone, laptop, desktop or tablet. With your smartphone, you get to operate your business communications without having to worry about work-life balance, identify theft or spam calls.

Digital phone lines are designed in a way that they protect personal data and support work-life balance.
bOnline phone VoIP phones specifically fit the needs and budget of a small business. Most importantly, it supports 50+ phone features like setting business and holiday hours, customising your call flows or greetings and much more that make business communications faster and easier to maintain.

Speak to an expert on 0203 697 4166 for more information now!