As weird as this might sound, I’m thinking of changing my phone number. Last week, I was talking to my client and he expressed his disappointment because I don’t have an office of my own. He really needed to discuss a few urgent things with me face-to-face and I was unavailable. This made me feel horrible about what I do. Granted, it’s the unfortunate circumstance of dealing with freelancers (business nomads).
This really made me think about my plans for the next coming months. I’ve given it a month of lite thoughts already and I do believe this is the direction I am moving towards. August will be my second month as an unofficial freelancer but still currently officially unemployed.
Back to what I wanted to write about today though: phone numbers. Here in Seychelles phone numbers is a big thing, especially in terms of “rep”. This is because there are all kinds of cell phone plans. For example, for Cable & Wireless customers, pre-paid numbers all begin with: “257xxxx”, “258xxxx” or “259xxxx”. If you have a fixed line (more reputable) then your number will begin with: “250xxxx”, “251xxxx”, “252xxxx” or “253xxxx”.
I currently have a prepaid number. I got it the minute I returned to this country. I do not spend more than 100 rupees a month so I figure, I don’t really need to get myself into a contract of any kind. The thing about fixed lines or postpaid package is that as far as I know, you have to pay that certain amount every single month, whether or not you actually used your phone.
That said, we were all brought up to believe that people on prepaid numbers are on a strict budget. Whether it’s true or not, prepaid numbers do have a certain credit limit on their balance. So if they call you, you will know that the call can’t be several hours long because if they don’t have much in their balance, then the call will cut when its been exhausted.
In the business world, this is embarrassing. I once called a client, who said “hey do you need me to call you back ‘coz you’re on limited?” and I had to reply “no, no, I’m good, haha…”. I really can’t blame anyone for thinking they have to call me back all the time, because there’s some truth to prepaids: there is a certain credit balance. If you catch someone on a busy day, they will be low on funds so you might actually have to call them back.
For this reason, I have no choice but to get myself a fixed line number. These days I think it’s possible to use the same number and change your package from prepaid to postpaid or vice versa, but why in the world would I do that? Why would I keep to a known prepaid number when I can change it to a known fixed and so nobody will have to worry about calling me back?
I don’t mind getting another number while I phase out of my prepaid. But the worst part will be the unnecessary costs. If you know me well, you will know how much I’m hating this already. Sometimes I wish I was a materialistic person; someone who cared about the cost of the clothes I wear; someone who cared about the cost of hair cut, etc. I might have to learn how to be. Because in the business world image seems to be everything.
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WYSIWYG! I'm a simple person trying to live the simplest life possible - it seems to be the most difficult thing to achieve! I'm an internet enthusiast and I've been a webmaster since early 2007. I like: blogging, developing sites using open source software, social media, computer games, '80s music, comedy & horror, animals, crunching on M&Ms peanut and Smarties!
