2) Cell phone as my only business phone — Like an increasing number of small businesses, my mobile phone is my primary phone for my firm. Using a mobile phone as my main business number lets me have unprecedented freedom. I don't have to be tied to my office. Many times I will be talking with a business contact while sitting in a parking lot or a coffee shop — and the other person doesn't know it. A key drawback used to be the fact that you couldn't change carriers in the U.S. without changing your phone number — and changing numbers for your business is a major issue not undertaken lightly. But now, that disadvantage has disappeared.

1) Blog — Yes, a blog is something I could not exist without in my business. My blog, Small Business Trends, serves two purposes.

First, it stimulates my creativity. It exercises my brain. It forces me to stay up on my field — it has even expanded my interests due to the need to find suitable topics to post. It also requires me to work at keeping my thinking and writing clear.

The second and most important purpose a blog serves is to help me establish credentials in my business and create new Internet contacts, by quickly and regularly getting content posted to a website. Now, I also have a commercial website. But it does not lend itself to regular content posting. To post on it I would have to use a cumbersome program like Frontpage or Dreamweaver, neither of which is designed for the job of posting content frequently. Blogging tools make posting business-related content easy and immediate. They put me in control.

OK, fellow Blog Critics, what new things did YOU discover in 2003 that you now could not live without in your work?