Whether you’re flying half way around the world to close a new big development contract or just driving a few hours to your local tropical resort, most of us in the blogging / webmastering / SEO world are increasingly mobile. As my frequent flyer miles have climbed over the past couple of years I’ve found that there are a few steps you can take to minimize the inconveniences of traveling and the costs it imposes on your business. Rather than write about the latest and greatest technologies and gadgets, the following tips are all things that I actually do and find beneficial on a daily basis, so I can feel confident in saying that they’d help you remain both connected and mobile as well.
1. Buy A Crackberry.
Yeah, I know its annoying to watch the a-hole in the car next to you trying to read his emails while driving, but a Blackberry (or Treo) really will revolutionize the way you’re able to do business. Rather than having to drop everything and open up the laptop to see if that important email has come in, you can just quickly check it on the blackberry. Its especially helpful if part of your team is on the other side of the world, because it gives you the freedom to go out and enjoy your evenings without worrying about holding your team up as they wait for your response.
2. Stick With One Airline
I’m usually skeptical of brand loyalty, after all Shell and Exxon both provide the same product so why pick one over the other? But in the case of airlines, if you repeatedly fly with the same airline your leverage increases dramatically. By no means to I fly every week, but just because I always fly the same airline, I never have to wait in security lines, get my baggage before other customers, and when something goes wrong I get shifted over to another flight while others get delayed. Regular customers often don’t realize that it only takes a few flights a year before these benefits start accruing, so when you can, pick an airline and stick with it.
3. Shift To Online Apps
Let’s face it, webware is still years away from being a full replacement to your laptop. But there are a lot of things that webware can do just as well as traditional software, while providing you the mobility to access the information from wherever. Try to move as much of your day to day operations to online webware, and you will be surprised how often you need to access something quickly and don’t have access to your laptop.
4. Get A Garmin
Webmasters can navigate the internet superhighway with ease, but when it comes to a regular highway we’re often lost. I used to think that Garmin’s were useless and unnecessary gadgets. Now that I have one, I can’t believe the amount of time it has saved me when running errands for our business or making appointments.
5. Get eFax
The fax is perhaps the worst technology ever invented. They never work right and are slow as hell. Unfortunately, not everyone has jumped on the scanning trend, so if you want to do business today you need a fax number. The best way to be able to send and receive faxes for your customers but retain your mobility is with a company like eFax. There are a number of these companies, eFax is just the one I’ve used before. But its remarkable how much better it is to be able to send and receive faxes through email rather than being tethered to your phone line.