The New One-Armed Bandits

Business owners hate it when new expenses crop up. The biggest one for many entrepreneurs is the monthly mobile phone bill.

A few years ago, nobody paid a dime for cell phones, let alone smart phone service. Now, many businesses are finding that they must issue BlackBerrys - or at least mobiles - to all their employees. Yes, they do great things and help improve communications and productivity, but they often add a big chunk to the expense column.

This week, I interview a cellular phone expert about how small businesses should manage their cell phone plans and audit their bills.

In the course of researching the column, my own cell phone bill came up. Mindy, the expert, said that my per-unit cost (take your total expense and divide by the number of mobile phone lines you have) was pretty reasonable.

In digging deeper, however, she noted that I wasn't using the full minutes on the plan I had, and could probably downgrade to a less-expensive plan without going over the usage limit. She also advised that I cancel a video-streaming service that I wasn't using, but that was costing me $15/month.

Mindy's recommendations got me thinking. I got out my land line bill and looked it over, only to find that I was still paying for call waiting and line insurance on my home phone, which almost never rings these days. In fact, we'd been thinking about dropping it altogether.

My son, who is honing his negotiating skills for a possible job in business, got on the telephone. Verizon tried to talk us out of downgrading our plan, but he held firm and saved us $25/month. AT&T, whose customer service reps are not likely to be on commission (as Verizon's are), not only happily revoked the services we weren't using, but they also recommended a new long-distance plan that will provide unlimited calls at less monthly cost.

Cha-ching! Another $20 in monthly savings. What's the lesson here? Whether you run a small business, are self-employed or are just looking to reduce your household budget, take a few minutes to look over the little things. You can't do it all at once, so maybe this month comb through your phone bills. Next month, see if there's room to save somewhere else.

In this economy, every little bit counts.

Championing Experience

Last time, I wrote about Choire Sicha's New York Times op-ed from last week.

That piece was published just below another column that caught my eye. This one was about the downfall of Gourmet magazine.

The author, Christopher Kimball, is the editor of Cook's Illustrated. But he takes no delight in the closing of his competitor.

In fact, he laments the fading of the "old-media" tradition of writers gaining experience, spending years covering an industry or topic and learning to write and report with excellence:

The shuttering of Gourmet reminds us that in a click-or-die advertising marketplace, one ruled by a million instant pundits, where an anonymous Twitter comment might be seen to pack more resonance and useful content than an article that reflects a lifetime of experience, experts are not created from the top down but from the bottom up.

While I've seen many people - bloggers, mostly - celebrating this coronation of the ordinary, Kimball's not so complimentary:

The world needs fewer opinions and more thoughtful expertise - the kind that comes from real experience, the hard won blood-on-the-floor kind.

I happen to agree with him, probably unsurprisingly, since I've got a few years' experience in journalism myself. But how do those of us who do have professional credentials and expertise make sure we can still make a living at it? Here's Kimball's prescription:

To survive, those of us who believe that inexperience rarely leads to wisdom need to swim against the tide, better define our brands, prove our worth, ask to be paid for what we do, and refuse to climb aboard this ship of fools, the one where everyone has an equal voice.

It may not be popular, but I agree with Kimball. And I especially like the part about asking to be paid for what we do.

Too many people think that work done online doesn't really "count" as work. Those of us who are professionals really cannot afford to accept that idea.