Should I get a separate phone number for my business?

Two reasons, and neither is vanity. First: a business number can be answered like a business — a greeting, a voicemail that says when you'll call back, hours you actually keep. Second: when you eventually hand the route to somebody, or hire a helper, or sell the thing, the number goes with the business. Your personal cell never can.

It also protects the thing that burns out one-person shops fastest: your evenings. A separate line can be put down at 8pm without you missing your kid's game because a stranger wanted a quote on a hedge.

Put that number everywhere — the truck, the cards, the site, the Google profile — and put the same number everywhere. Consistency is what makes a one-person shop look like an outfit.

The phone line is part of the build in a barn raising: a real business line, answering, for the first year — one of the gates on the way to the roof.