How to Deal with Harrassing Scam Phone Calls

Having an online presence means that you open yourself up to online scammers. Ever since we opened our home businesses we have been subjected to numerous phone scammers calling to tell us we owe money for this or that online listing that we subscribed for. We know for a fact we haven’t signed up for any paid online listings, and anytime we start trying to pinpoint contact info, they always feed us bogus information. I have a system for dealing with these scammers because I know there are gullible people out there that fall for these scams and I feel it’s my citizen responsibility to stop them if I can.

1. Try to get as much pertinent info as possible… Play along, ask for and write down their company name, their name, their supervisors name, their phone #, their address…

2. When you have confirmed this is not a legitimate call, ask to be taken off their call list immediately.

3. Hang up and dial *69. This will give you the last number that dialed your home. If the number is blocked or incomplete, dial *57. This will trace the call. You won’t be given the phone number, but the police will be able to access the number that the call originated from.

4. File a police report. They will forward it to Phone Busters.

5. Take notes. Note the date and time they called. Take note of any subsequent calls and any additional info you receive and call the police with the additional info so they can add it to the report to assist phone busters in stopping the calls.

6. When they call again (and they do!), ask for pertinent info again, inform them you have filed a police report and they are not to call you again.

Frugal Living to Get Out of Debt

About a month and a half ago we decided to get rid of our business start up debt, put away the credit cards, and go cash only. If we don’t have the cash to buy it, we don’t buy it. It has been a bit of an adjustment, but it also coincided with our new health regime, so a few things changed immediately anyway when we cut out sugar, caffeine, and dairy, in particular.

All my friends and family know I’m the budget queen, so here are some tips for a more frugal household budget.

• No eating out or outings unless it’s a really special occasion. So far we’ve gone out on one date, and once for dh’s birthday in the last 3.5 months. We enjoy cooking at home, and the library has a huge inventory of movies – for free!
• Cut out luxury item extras, like organic body wash for instance. I use regular bar soap (Pears) instead now, and to be honest, my skin feels just as a moisturized and soft. I haven’t had a manicure or pedicure in ages, but I keep my nails trimmed and neat, and who knows, maybe I’ll get one for my birthday (hint, hint, nudge, nudge, wink, wink).
• Cut back on packaged foods and buy whole foods in bulk. I bought brown rice and kamut grain in bulk. It’s fresher, and the money we spent goes a lot farther. We also bought a bread machine so we could make our own healthy whole grain bread, and we can buy the ingredients in bulk. A loaf of decent healthy bread is hard to find for under $5.00. Even the organic loaves have sugar, so we have really come to love having fresh homemade bread.
• Buy in-season foods locally. We bought our produce from a local organic farm for as long as they had food remaining for the season instead of buying organic produce that has been shipped from far reaching warmer climates at a premium price. Now that they are closed for the winter, we will be shopping for as much local oganic in-season foods we can find available.
• Pre-plan larger expenses or purchases and save up for them. Our car needs a full brake job, so we have a plan for going car-free until we’re able to save up enough to cover this expense.
• Make a list and pre-plan your purchase budget before shopping. Today we’re going to “town” and we need a new rain suit for our son. We did some research online and found they run about $35 new. We checked in-store flyers for any specials, and have a budget set for our purchase.
• Don’t go grocery shopping without a list. Before I shop I go through my freezer, fridge and cupboards and figure out my menu plan for the week based on ingredients we already have. Say I have some spaghetti noodles, some green peppers, and a jar of diced tomatoes, I just get the missing ingredients to make a spaghetti dinner. Sometimes I don’t get around to making all the meals on my menu, or leftovers last a bit longer than I expected, so it goes on my menu for the following week or the ingredients are split to become different meals.
• Shop less frequently. We plan a big shopping day bi-monthly for our business supplies and any items not available locally, so we keep a magnetic shopping list on our fridge with a running “order” of what we need. It saves gas, time, and money to buy everything at once instead of running to the store multiple times a week. It also prevents the impulse buys that inevitably happen.
• Avoid big chain stores and support smaller local businesses. We did an experiment recently. We noticed the prices for our small local grocery store were more than the bigger chain grocery stores, so we decided to do our weekly grocery shopping at the chain store and see how much we saved. We actually spent more in the big chain store because we were buying foods we don’t normally have available to us locally, and because of the added variety, we bought more. Add to that the cost of the ferry, gas in the car for the added distance, and time taken away from working at home, we actually spent $60 more than we usually do.
• Service trades are a great way to fit luxuries in. We have an agreement with a local masseuse. We do a trade for 2 full body 1 hour hot stone massages in exchange for a full colour, cut and style in the hair salon.

Planning to Go Carless

We have an ’89 Toyota Corolla, and last time I took it in for a tune-up, I came out with a $2000 + estimate for everything that needed to be fixed sooner than later. The biggest issue is the brakes. The entire system needs to be replaced, and it’s just a matter of time before it’s no longer safe to drive.

Tonight B and I had a good discussion about what it will look like when we go completely carless. We’ve had this discussion in the past, but it never seemed feasible. Until now. We are paying off business start up debt, and we just don’t have the cash flow for a new car or monthly car payments at this time.

We can do this.

We live within walking distance to my son’s school and the “village” area that includes a pharmacy, grocery store, bank, health food store, etc.

We are within walking distance to the ferry terminal.

We have a couple options for our bi-monthly trips to town to pick up supplies for the hair salon. B’s dad lives in Nanaimo, and would be more than happy to pick supplies up for us and either meet us at the ferry, or bring them over once or twice a month in exchange for his ferry fare and a hot dinner.

If my FIL is not available to pick up supplies, my parents have a truck they leave on the Nanaimo side that they have offered to loan to us on occasion, and it would be infrequent enough I’m sure we could work something out.

We both work from home so there’s no commute.

There’s a great taxi service (and they use hybrid cars for the taxi service locally) for times we need to bring groceries home, or the weather is too miserable for walking.

If we need to go to Victoria or Vancouver we can rent a car quite inexpensively, and the car rental lot is within walking distance from the ferry terminal in Nanaimo.

There are some major benefits to going carless.

Physical activity. I often feel guilty for the amount of driving I do when I have two perfectly healthy legs and the time to walk, if I just plan my day more efficiently.

Financial savings. We would save $60/month in insurance, another $60/month in auto fuel, $109/year in roadside service membership fees, about $300/year in maintenance costs. Yes, we would have to fork out a little money for a taxi periodically, but on the other hand we could get a wagon to bring groceries home, or get a trailer for B’s bike (I don’t have a bike yet).

Fun activities. I absolutely loved bike riding when I was a kid and into my teens, but since going over 200 lbs I have a real fear of riding. This could very well force me to take it up again and get over my fear of looking stupid or feeling like a dork on a bike.

B thinks we should just ditch the car now. I’m still holding onto the convenience factor. But I’m really starting to accept that this could be happening in the very near future.

Promoting your Home Business

Working from home can be isolating at times, and you sometimes get the feeling that you’re not getting your business “out there” effectively.

I consider myself a semi-expert on the topic of promoting a new small home business since I’ve successfully started and promoted two businesses in the last year. We opened Brent G Hair Studio, a brand new hair salon, on November 4th, 2008 and I opened my office services business, April Mae Office Solutions, on January 2nd, 2009. Skipping the actual process of starting up a new business, here are some great promotion ideas we’ve tried successfully.

1. As soon as you decide to start a business and have a business plan and opening date, contact your local paper and ask them to write an article featuring your business and introducing you to the community. Be sure to provide pictures that reflect the image you want you want your business to present to the general public.

2. Email and/or call every single local contact you know -  family, friends, business contacts, childcare providers, acquaintances from church and any other social events you attend – and let them know you are up and running now. Ask them to refer you. Word of mouth is powerful. Never underestimate the power of referrals.

3. Get signage made for the roadside. Location is important when opening a home business, and if you are in a high visibility location, take advantage of it by capturing the interest of every car passing your home.

4. Create a cohesive visual business image that includes a memorable relevant logo and colour scheme.

5. Build a professional looking website that promotes the image you want your business to reflect. It should be part of your business image package. Remember your website is your world wide store front, and if you aren’t presenting an image that reflects the high quality of your business service or product, you could be missing a lot of new clients who aren’t drawn in by your front window. This is the place where companies cheap out the most, and in our tech age, you can’t afford to miss this amazing opportunity to advertise.

6. Don’t stop with building a site. Update your website at least once a week with fresh new info and pictures. Some ideas for site updates include picking a different product or service to feature each week on your home page, and updating a blog regularly with product and service info, specials, and business announcements. Not only is it bringing visitors back to your site regularly, it helps your search engine ranking more than anything else you could do. As a past employer often told me, “Content is king.” You can also barter with other non-competing local businesses to promote each other’s site.

7. Customer service is the number one service you should be providing. It will retain current clients for longer, and will provide upsell opportunities when you’re calling and checking in regularly. Don’t forget the referral benefit is particularly great when clients are happy. We all want personal attention when we’re doing business with someone.

8. Get your name out there and advertise. Run an ad once a month in the local newspaper. Even if you can only afford a small business card ad to begin, if people are seeing your ad and logo often enough, when they need or want you’re product or service, you are the first person they will call.

9. Once or twice a year do a mail out. There are a couple options here. If you are serving clients locally, you can contact your local post office and have a flyer deposited in every residential or commercial mailbox. We split the cost of a mail out with another local non-competitive business by sharing a double sided  flyer. Often they will charge less if the flyer is folded. Another option is to target particular prospective clients, make a contact list, and mail them a free sample or a hook to get them to contact you. Whether it’s a coupon, a free sample, or free service, people like deals and free stuff. It also gives you an opener when you make a cold call.

10. Get involved in the community and volunteer regularly so people start recognizing you and you build some respect from other business owners and prospective clients. Some opportunities we’ve participated in over the last year include donating free hair cut vouchers to local community fundraisers and silent auctions. I volunteer for one organization as treasurer, and I do layouts for mailouts and newletters for two other organizations. In addition, we donate two free hair cut vouchers to the local food bank every week. Again, you’re tapping into the referral system.