This one voicemail hack will help you a ton

[Gaege Root]

Pardon the clickbait-y title...I'm practicing my copywriting skills :p

In all seriousness though, I just spent the better part of the evening figuring out a little conundrum and wanted to share my solution with any other noobies out there looking to save every cent they can during the startup phase.

My one and only cell phone is a Project Fi (Google's new network, integrated with Google Voice) phone. I was in the process of attempting to set up a Google Voice voicemail number with my business Google account when I ran into an issue: Google wants an actual existing phone number before creating a Google Voice number BUT they don't allow that first required number to be a Project Fi number (I imagine because the Project Fi number is really just another Google Voice number in disguise).

Now, if you're still following (God bless you because I tend to ramble)...I don't want to use someone else's phone number because the only way to remotely access the Google Voice messages is via the verified existing phone number.

As it turns out, there's a mobile app (I have android but I imagine it or something like it exists on iOS as well) called Sideline. It adds a "second number" to your phone, allowing you to take calls and even receive texts. So....put it all together and....

1) Create a Google Voice account with the Sideline number as the secondary number on the account
2) Save the Google Voice number in your contacts as "My Real Estate Leads Number" or whatever
3) If you ever need to access your Google Voice messages or change your Google Voice greeting remotely, call your Google Voice number FROM THE SIDELINE APP, as THAT number is the one associated with your Google Voice number.

It's a bit of a runaround just to save like $10-$20 per month from the other Google Voice competitors, but....I'm rather proud of my solution haha.

Thanks for sticking around. I hope this is beneficial for even just one person...

Time for me to enjoy a pumpkin brew.