How to Run A 100% Mobile Business

I realize it might sound creepy, but my business is always with me.

I can work from any location on earth, as long as I have an internet connection. As a business technology consultant I spend all my time on the road. I constantly travel to help my customers navigate the technology minefield. That means I need to be able to run my business from anywhere.

I actually have an brick and mortar office, but I'm never there. Mostly I use it as a mailing address. The really important mail is scanned and sent to my email. The rest can wait till I go get it or it piles up high enough that they get mad and ship it to me.

The tools I use most are email and calendars. Both are automatically synchronized with my laptop, my desktop in the office, my home computer and my smartphone. I can communicate and make appointments at any moment. Like I tell my wife -- if it isn't on my schedule, it doesn't exist.

I also have a private online server to store sensitive files, useful software diagnostic/repair tools plus our firm wisdom management system. This server also backs up our laptops every night.

This gives me total freedom of movement. No matter where I am, I can work (as long as I have internet!). I've negotiated contracts in Miami from London. I've closed sales in New York from 35,000 feet over the Atlantic. Where ever I am, I can work. And when I don't want to work, I turn everything off.

The real advantage though is that any computer is my computer. It doesn't matter what machine I use, I have access all my information. I get my email, contacts, calendars, software, pictures, documents, customer histories, web bookmarks, you name it. My laptop can catch fire for all I care. I just buy a new one and everything's there.

After several clients urged me to, I wrote Nearly Free IT where I explain how I work, including a complete list of the online tools I use. Since it's release in April 2009, I am happy to say it has over 80,000 downloads. 

The Cloud has changed everything. There's no going back. The companies that harness the power of the Cloud will thrive and grow. Those who ignore it will die.

I run a dynamic, mobile, proactive business. For 10 years, R-Squared Computing has helped businesses navigate the technology minefield. That means I must be able to respond to trouble or even just a simple question quickly, no matter where I am. It's 21st Century business reality - we have to be connected.

Are you ready for the 21st Century? 

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