When you start working for yourself, your phone number is one of the first things you publish. You print it on a business card, add it to the bottom of a quote, put it on your website’s Contact page, and give it to a professional directory. Often it’s your personal cell, because that’s the one you have on hand.
This article goes through the places that number ends up, what happens to it once it’s published, and the options for publishing something other than your personal number.
The five places your number ends up
Your business card
A business card gets handed out at a meeting, tucked into a wallet, photographed. It keeps circulating long after the first conversation, and the number printed on it can’t be corrected.
Your quotes and invoices
A quote or an invoice gets around: it’s forwarded to a partner, printed, filed away. The number in the header or signature follows the document wherever it goes.
Your Contact page and email signature
The day your website goes live, the Contact page asks for a phone number, and so does your email signature. Everyone who visits the site or gets an email from you can read it.
Your listing in a professional directory
A professional directory or an online business profile shows your name and, right beside it, a number. Anyone can look up the listing and jot down that number.
Your classified ads
When you sell equipment or offer a service through a classified ad, the ad often asks for a number. Everyone who texts or calls you from the ad keeps that number in their phone.
What happens to your cell number once it’s published
A published number can’t be taken back. Once it’s on a card, a document, or a page, it stays with the people who saved it, even after the contract ends.
It also mixes two parts of your life. When the same number serves your clients and your family, you can’t tell before you answer whether a call is about work or about home. And if you later decide to separate the two, you have to reprint, update every page, and tell every client.
The simplest time to choose which number you publish is when you publish it, rather than afterwards.
Three ways to get a work number
There are three broad ways to get a work number other than your personal cell. Each has its advantages and its limits.
A second line from your carrier
You add a second plan, often with a second device. It’s an ordinary cell number, accepted by most services, including for verification codes. The trade-off is a second plan to pay for and, often, a second phone to carry.
A second SIM or an eSIM
Many recent phones accept two lines: a SIM and an eSIM, or two eSIMs. You keep one device with two numbers. You need a compatible phone and a second plan with a carrier, and both lines share the same device.
An internet-based number service
An app gives you a number that works on the phone you already have, over cellular data or Wi-Fi, with no second device and no second line from your carrier. Depending on the service, there may be a subscription to pay. Two limits to know about: the app needs a data or Wi-Fi connection to work. And although the number generally looks like any other to your clients, some services can detect and refuse internet-based numbers, especially for two-factor authentication.
The right choice depends on what you want to avoid: a second device, a second plan with your carrier, or the limits of an internet-based number.
Where WIGGWIGG fits
WIGGWIGG belongs to the third family: an internet-based phone number that you use on the device you already have, in the browser or, on Android, in the app.
WIGGWIGG is organized around identities. You create a Work identity and link a WIGGWIGG phone number to it. That’s the number you print on your cards and put in your quotes, on your Contact page, and in your listings. Your personal cell stays out of all of it.
When used for calling or texting, a WIGGWIGG phone number is linked to one identity at a time. An identity can have no number or several, and you can move a number to another identity. You define your own identities. There’s no need to get a number per client or per contract: one number linked to your Work identity can serve all your work.
What to know before you start:
- A WIGGWIGG number is a paid subscription. Each number has a monthly price, and usage, incoming and outgoing, is charged on top. It’s all on the pricing page. You can try a number first.
- Creating an account costs nothing, whatever the country. Early Access is open to everyone, with no invitation needed. To get or try a phone number, you confirm the Canadian province or territory where you live.
- Porting an existing number into WIGGWIGG isn’t available yet. You get a new Canadian number.
- Early Access is a real, paid service, but a product still in development: screens may change from one update to the next, and an announced feature can be pulled while it is rebuilt.
- The web app works today in any browser. On Android, the app is on Google Play. The variant without Google also installs straight from wiggwigg.ca, as a stable or preview build: the preview may have bugs, and how it looks and what it does may change during Early Access. On iPhone, there is no public way to install the app right now, and the App Store version is on the way. Until then, you use the web app in your browser, and the tab has to stay open to receive calls. You can also forward incoming calls to your cell once you verify that number with a code.
- As with any internet-based number, some services may refuse a WIGGWIGG number for two-factor authentication. If a service needs to send you codes at that number, try it before you rely on it.
- 911 calls work from every WIGGWIGG number, free, and without an active plan. As with any internet-based number, they depend on your connection. The civic address you register helps dispatchers send help: they receive that address, not where you are, so keep it current. Without a registered address, the call still goes through. For a life-threatening emergency, call 911 from your cell phone whenever you can. All the details are on the 911 page.
- If you leave one day, porting the number out to another provider is available at no charge through in-product support. Ask for it before you cancel the number.
Before you print
The next time you order cards, send a quote, or put a site online, take a minute to choose the number that goes on them. Before the cards go to the printer, try it: call and text your WIGGWIGG number from another phone, on the device where you plan to answer.
To create an account or sign in: app.wiggwigg.ca
Method note
This guide was prepared by WIGGWIGG with the help of generative AI for the first draft and the wording. WIGGWIGG checked the product statements on October 13, 2026, then approved the published version.