Pajama Entrepreneur

Here we are again. It seems like only yesterday (for this pajama entrepreneur, mid-2002 to 2004) that we were facing a long period of very few clients or clients who don’t pay. The key to surviving is to cut costs by using free online services, cheap mobile calling plans, and a bit of creativity. Here’s what I use:

(1) Skype: I do almost all of my calls on Skype. It’s free and convenient.

(2) Prepaid cards: if you travel often to one or two countries and don’t feel like paying horrid roaming charges, simply get a prepaid card from a local mobile operator. You pop the SIM card into your phone when you arrive and off you go, paying local rates for mobile calls.

(3) MaxRoam: If you travel to many places or don’t feel like getting a prepaid SIM in every country you visit, use MaxRoam’s SIM card. It’s only 15 EUR (if you order online). You pop it into your phone and route all your phone calls which you get on your regular SIM card at home, through MaxRoam. They have negotiated roaming agreements with a lot of carriers for low rates.

(4) Truphone: like MaxRoam, Truphone saves you money on mobile phone calls because it routes those calls to Wi-Fi (or 3G but at lower rates). You have to download the software to your phone. They also have a SIM card offering like MaxRoam. It’s called Sim4Travel.

(5) Zoho Invoice: I used to pay Freshbooks $14 a month to create, send and track invoices. Freshbooks has a much prettier interface but these days I’m trying to save every bit of money so I now use Zoho Invoice. It’s free. Zoho has other online applications for word processing, project management, CRM, spreadsheets and presentations, all of which you can use for free.

(6) Google Apps: I already use Gmail, which is free, so I use Google Docs and Google Spreadsheet, too. No need to spend money on an upgrade to the latest version of Word or Excel.

(7) Netnewswire RSS newsreader: why pay subscription fees for newspapers and magazines when most of them post their news online? Keep up with the latest news by subscribing to their RSS feeds and reading the articles on Netnewswire. Download it now for free.

(8) Free Wi-Fi in cafes, hotel lobbies, libraries: If I am trying to do work outside my home office, I will go to a cafe and do Skype calls using the cafe’s or hotel’s free Wi-Fi service. I also go to the public library and use their Wi-Fi if I am in between meetings and there’s a nearby library (so carry a map of your city with a list of good public libraries and Wi-Fi cafes).

(9) Car-sharing services, public transport and bicycles: the car is a giant waste of money. Get rid of it and use car sharing services such as ZipCar and Green Wheels (in the Netherlands). Or better yet, travel by bike, train, tram and subway. If you’re lucky the public transport operator will have free Wi-Fi so you can do your work. You become more efficient and you save a lot of money. Note that a number of bus, rail and ferry operators now provide free Wi-Fi to entice people like you out of the automobile. As for the bike, it burns a lot of calories if you ride around a lot. So you can also ditch your expensive health club membership.

(10) Get a speaking gig at a conference and get in for free (maybe even get your travel expenses paid): Are you an expert in some field? Figure out in advance which conferences you should be attending to keep up with people in your field, to network, etc. Contact the conference organizers and ask for the tentative agenda. Review it and see if you can offer yourself as a speaker. I know this works very well because I run Muniwireless conferences. When people who have a lot of experience in a particular topic on the agenda contact me, I’m more than pleased – it saves me the time and trouble of searching around forever for someone to fill in a speaking slot.

Have any other money saving tips? Post them below!