Partner Offers
GH in the news- @Grasshopper
- Find some of the GH Labs crew & @Chargify at #SXSW http://bit.ly/aGLNUC
- @picobits - We have no immediate plans to implement a softphone feature.
- RT @OPENForum: 4 Employee Benefits at Little (or Zero) Cost. http://www.bit.ly/a42ABx
Archive for January, 2010
Five of the Best 800 Numbers
Being in the business of 800 numbers, we love to see what other people are using, especially when it comes to vanity numbers. Vanity numbers are a great way to market your business and help your customers find, contact and remember you.
Most of us are familiar with big names like 1-800-FLOWERS, 1-800-CONTACTS or 1-800-MATTRESS but there are so many other numbers out there, creative ones. Since it’s Friday we thought we’d have a little fun and show some of the lesser known 800 numbers out there.
Here are 5 of our favorite 800 numbers:
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800-Giant-Men
The Gentle Giant moving company sure knows how to grab our attention.
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800-Virus-No
McAfee makes it known just what their product does. Backwards but you still get the point.
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800-Junk-USA
College Hunks Hauling Junk found just the right 800 number. Unless of course they used 800-Junk-Hunks
The NEW Grasshopper Affiliate Program: Get $40 CASH for Every Sign Up!
Do you love your Grasshopper virtual phone system? Have a community, blog, or website that loves to promote great products for entrepreneurs? Think your community could benefit from Grasshopper too? Become a Grasshopper affiliate and earn money every time someone you send us signs up!
We’re proud to announce that today we are officially re-launching the Grasshopper affiliate program with a newly redesigned commission structure, new creative assets, and new messaging to help you deliver timely promotions to your readers and users.
Instead of the $25 cash we used to pay out to our affiliates, that commission has been increased by 60% to $40 cash per signup.
Become a Grasshopper Affiliate
It’s simple. All you have to do is sign up for a Google AdSense account then sign up with Grasshopper here. Everything from tracking to check writing will get taken care of automatically. You’ll get paid out every 30 days and won’t have to lift a finger. All you have to do is sell a product that’s already being used by tens of thousands of entrepreneurs across North America. We’ve made your job easy and provided links and creative to help you start selling. Grasshopper has been featured on MSN, CNN, Fox Business, and was ranked one of America’s fastest growing companies in the Inc. 500.
Help us spread the word and sign up to be a Grasshopper affiliate today!
I’m personally available to answer any questions you may have about our program. If you have comments, suggestions, or ideas please feel free to reach out to me directly at affiliates [at] grasshopper.com or leave a comment on this post.
How To: 800 Forwarding with Grasshopper
One of the top features of the Grasshopper virtual phone system is the ability to forward your 800 number to any number on any phone. No really, ANY phone/phone number in the entire world! Your home phone, your office phone, your cell phone, your mom’s cell phone…it doesn’t matter.
Setting up call forwarding for your 800 (or local) number is easy through your online account manager.
We have broken it down into 3 simple steps:
1. Login to your Grasshopper account, choose “Settings“
2. Under Settings, choose “Call Forwarding“
3. Choose “Add Number” & Put in the desired forwarding number (click image to see full size)
That’s it!
Featured Entrepreneur: Jared Taylor of RevitalArts
This week we are featuring Jared Taylor. Jared is the founder of RevitalArts, Sparklight Studios and is also a Grasshopper customer.
First off, you are a great example of a “Young Entrepreneur”. You’ve already been involved in founding how many companies? And are how old?
I’ve founded 2 companies. I started my first, Sparklight Studios, when I was 18 years old. Sparklight is a small creative company specializing in website development, video production and theatrical design. We’ve served nearly 20 clients since we started only 2 years ago, which has been quite an undertaking considering we’re college students. We just launched our new website – http://www.sparklight-studios.com. I also founded RevitalArts (formerly Youth in the Arts) in 2008 with a few friends.
Tell us a little bit about RevitalArts and what makes it so unique.
RevitalArts is an entirely student-run non-profit organization and we received our 501(c)(3) designation by the Federal government in mid-2009. Our mission is to provide young adults with positive, engaging and educational experiences in the arts and to revitalize the participation in and appreciation of the arts. Read more »
Found on Twitter: 14 Words of Wisdom for Startups
Who you follow on Twitter has a tremendous impact on what you get out of Twitter. There are people tweeting great information on every topic available and there are also people out there using it just for fun. If you are follow the right people (see our previous post on the top entrepreneurs to follow), you increase your chances of finding solid tips and advice.
We’ve gathered 14 tweets from smart people around the web, offering some simple words of wisdom on startups:
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Tech startups – be careful about “geeking out” on sales calls. You’re selling solutions to problems not technology. @byosko
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Just finished a call with a CEO who is delaying fundraising till he gets more traction. Very smart. You can’t raise $ without validation @startupcfo
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Avoid analysis paralysis…been noticing we talk a lot about the interpretation of data, not whether to act…this is the way to do it. @MikeMcDerment
The Many Twitter Faces of Grasshopper
If you have ever asked us a question on Twitter, you may have noticed the response coming from an account other than @Grasshopper. Our goal is to provide good information for entrepreneurs, answer questions about the company and service, promote our customers and let everyone know what is happening here at Grasshopper without cluttering the main account.
So what Twitter accounts do we own and what are they for?
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This is where you will find all the news and information on the company along with business and financial tips for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
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Run by Ambassador of Buzz, Jonathan Kay, the GrasshopperBuzz account gives you news on Grasshopper, answers customer questions and helps our customers with press opportunities.
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Have questions on set up? Can’t find the number you want? GrasshopperCare is run by our support team and are there to solve any issues you may have.
Gary on TV: The New Grasshopper TV Commercial
Special guest post by our very own mascot and star of the new commercial, Gary Grasshopper:
Well, I finally made my television debut in the new Grasshopper TV commercial and I gotta say, I look pretty good! Check it out as I take a drive through the mountains, work from the local cafe and even go sky diving…all the while showing you how easy it is to use my Grasshopper virtual phone system.
Look for it to air next week on Bloomberg, MSNBC, Fox Business, CNN, CNBC and more!
Grasshopper in the News: December – January
Small business tools and guest posts make up this month’s Grasshopper in the News. Definitely some great stories to check out from our friends around the web:
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Grasshopper Engages People in Order to Build a Global Brand
Diana Huff talks with Jonathan Kay and provides a great overview of how Grasshopper uses social media to engage customers and entrepreneurs.
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David Hauser of Grasshopper.com at LessConf 2009
See co-founder David Hauser’s presentation at this years LessConf 2009. David provides some insight into building a company beyond the start-up phase.
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The 10 Rules to Creating a Win-Win-Winning Partnership
Lisa Canning of Entrepreneur the Arts gives us 10 great tips for finding the right partnerships for your business.
Grasshopper vs. Google Voice: What’s the Difference?
With the launch of Google Voice this past year, awareness surrounding the virtual phone, virtual pbx, hosted pbx industry has skyrocketed, and here at Grasshopper we have been fortunate enough to enjoy the benefits. More awareness means more people wanting to know what a virtual number is, what a virtual phone system is, how it works, who does this, how it can benefit them and how they can get it?
It also means more people asking, “What is the difference between Grasshopper and Google Voice?”.
The first thing we say is, Grasshopper is designed for small businesses and entrepreneurs versus the general consumer. We are dedicated to helping our customers sound professional, stay connected and ultimately grow their business.
That being said, our feature set has been built as a focused set of tools for entrepreneurs and their businesses – that is really the key difference.
Below we have highlighted just a few of the core features of the Grasshopper virtual phone system – all items not available with Google Voice:
Featured Entrepreneur: Jonathan Mendez of Relevance Amplified
As part of a new series here at Grasshopper we are going to be featuring entrepreneurs from across the globe. We want to learn more about them, get inside their head and find out what it takes to make it in the world of business.
This week we are featuring Jonathan Mendez. Jon is extremely well known throughout the online marketing and advertising world, running several successful businesses, speaking at conferences and of course through his blog “Optimize & Prophesize“.
Jon, you have founded how many companies now?
A bunch. I’m in the process of starting my fourth Internet business but I’ve been a lifelong entrepreneur. My first business was in Elementary school. I Xeroxed a bunch of album sleeves and articles from sports magazines and stapled them together in a “magazine” that I sold for 5 cents on the playground. Of course my mother has the only surviving issue. In high school I made a connection with the local Champion sales rep and bought his quarterly sales samples of jerseys, jackets, sweatshirts, etc and resold them to kids in my high school. Eventually we started designing and ordering our own custom lines from Champion. My biggest regret as an entrepreneur is not taking that business with me to college.
