Answering The Digital Call: How to Have Multiple Numbers Without Multiple Phones

It’s been well-established that Millennials, for many reasons, don’t want to talk to you on the phone.

Whether it’s anxiety, dread, or frustration with calls that take too long, we’ll find plenty of excuses not to talk to you on the phone.

And yet, our phones are ever more important. With the rise of solopreneurs - the folks that identify as a one-person company - hitting 41.8 million people, there’s more of a chance than ever that you’re using your phone as much for business as for pleasure (and by pleasure we mean the pleasure of avoiding phone calls).

So what happens when you want to keep your worlds separate?

Or when you move to a new city, and your old area code is causing problems?

Or… if you have two businesses?

You can certainly keep it all on one line, but for your sanity (and for your taxes), you might want to start considering having multiple phone numbers.

In the past, that meant lugging around multiple phones, like one your office gave you. Making sure multiple phones were always charged. And making sure you never did anything personal on the professional line.

But like email addresses (Forbes suggests you should have four, by the way), managing multiple phone lines on the same phone is becoming more and more possible.

No extra SIM cards, no extra phones necessary, just a few clicks and you can have a whole new number to call from.

Services That Make Adding Digital Numbers Simple

If you’re looking to keep your original phone number as your SIM card, the below services will let you add a digital number to your phone. That means all it takes to receive a call to that number is to have data through your SIM card.

1. Google Voice - The biggest name on the internet happens to provide this service. If you’re using it personally and making calls within the US, it’s completely free. It’s as simple as downloading the app and setting up. Business plans cost $10/month. Should you be interested in porting your existing number, there is a $20 fee.
   
   
2. OpenPhone - A company dedicated to developing their virtual calling platform, OpenPhone’s users find it has a more thoughtful user interface that’s geared toward productivity, which can be important for that moment when you scale up from solopreneur to good old-fashioned entrepreneur. With base plans that also start at $10 a month, this is another competitive option.
   
   
3. Grasshopper - Whether you’re looking for a toll-free number, vanity number, local number, or just to port your local number, Grasshopper provides a full virtual phone system. Their lowest plans start at $26 a month, so this may be the type of service you consider for a more established business.

And for a group of people we love to celebrate for their text message-over-phone use, the idea of maintaining several numbers on one phone can seem like a big step. But think of it this way: each new line is just another line you can ignore calls *and* respond to texts from. Baby steps!

What about you? Have you considered adding additional lines to your phone?