Some businesses like Yahoo! and Hewlett Packard are pulling back from the mobile worker model. But for many small businesses and soloprenuers, the mobile office has some great benefits. It can provide a cost savings by lowering overhead spent on office space; it can increase productivity by giving workers more freedom; and it can offer new promotional opportunities by allowing you to be face to face with clients. If you're either new to the idea or want to jump in with both feet, you'll need to have a few items lined up to be successful.
Equipment
The first items of business for your mobile office are a laptop or tablet and a smartphone. Tablets are lighter and offer a multitude of nifty apps to help you be more productive on the road. But if your job or business requires a lot of typing or document preparations, you'll probably lean more towards a laptop. The new Microsoft Surface may be a good option for people wanting a little of both. What's most important is that the platform is reliable, designed for traveling, and has easily replacable parts like powercords.
A way to connect to the internet that is not dependent on WiFi is another necessity for being a truly mobile office worker. That can be achieved in a number of ways.
- You can purchase a pre-paid wireless card such as the Verizon Jetpack. This allows the user the have a weekly or monthly charge with no annual contract.
- If you will be using alot of data, you might opt for a high-speed mobile access card with a data plan like MiFi from AT&T.
- Many tablets are sold with 3G or 4G capability built in, you'll simply have to purchase a usage plan to access that feature.
A comfortable bag is a must for the mobile office worker. And if you will be traveling by air, it also needs to be TSA friendly. Amazon offers a wide range of options to fit most telecommunters' needs. Headphones will also be a necessity to help you get the most out of mobile teleconferencing a videoconferencing.
Software
The next crucial part of the mobile office puzzle is the right software for the job. There are many cloudbased options available that make the wireless office an attainable reality.
- File Storage - Instead of carrying around multiple USB drives, make use of the cloud storage available from services like Dropbox, Microsoft SkyDrive, or Google Drive. These services will let you access and share your documents from where ever you are and keep your documents backed up separately from your hardware.
- Video Capabilities - You will often need to meet with clients or co-workers face-to-face, even if you're not in town. There are a variety of video/tele-conferencing services that allow users to do that including Google Hangouts, Skype, and GoToMeeting.
- Accounting & Billing - Expenses and billings will still need to be tracked while you're mobile. Freshbooks.com and Quick Books on-line will give you the capabilities you need to run your business from anywhere. Add a credit card payment accepter to your smartphone, and your one-person show is good to go.
Depending on your business model, you might also need to add on-line faxing services to your arsenal. If you will be splitting your time between a home office and a mobile one, take a look at the services of GoToMyPC.com. This is a subscription service that allows you to access your desktop computer from your laptop, tablet, or smartphone. You'll have access to all your files and desktop items from anywhere you are.
Mobile officing may not be for everyone. You need to be self-motivated enough to keep to a schedule even when there is no one looking over your shoulder. But if you're a solo-prenuer, you probably fit that bill already. Working in this manner can also make it hard for you to "escape the office" when you want to wind down. Because you're always at the office, you are running the risk of overworking yourself because you never truly leave the office. Setting up a schedule of off time and limits on when you will and will not be available can help to curb this tendency to be continually plugged in.
Technology is opening doors to increased productivity and freedom for both workers and employers. With a few pieces of hardware and software, you too can join the mobile workforce and cut the cord.
You've had a little bit of time now to start working with either your new iPhone 5 or the upgraded iOS7, and you might be wondering if you're getting everything out of it that you can. Here are a few tips for improving your experience with the new platform.
Extending Battery Life
There are a couple of new features that may be draining your battery life in the background. One is the Parallax setting. This is the nifty new effect that makes your background look a little 3D. But if the cool factor doesn't matter as much as the amount of time you can use your phone, you might want to turn it off. Another one is the background app refresh. This feature automatically updates apps and sucks battery power without user input. If updating manually doesn't bother you, turn this feature off and save the power. To access both of these settings, go to: Settings-->General. Switch the Background App Refresh setting to off. For Parallax, go to the Accessibility area and turn Reduce Motion on.
Closing Background Apps
To close those pesky apps that are running in the background all you have to do is swipe up. Double tap the home button and you will see all of the apps that are currently "on". Simply put your finger on the one you want to close and pull it up.
Make Your Control Center More Secure
The new Control Center in iOS7 is handily available from the home screen, giving users easy access to common settings like airplane mode and wifi. To get in to the Control Center, you just pull up from the bottom of the screen and it appears. There is, however, the security issue that arises from that screen being accessible even when the phone is locked. To keep potential thieves out of this screen, go to Settings/Control Center and turn off the Access on Lock Screen option.
Use Siri to the Utmost
Siri now has a more natural sounding voice and can either be male or female, based on your preference. iOS7 has also made Siri more useful for returning calls, playing voicemails, and posting to Facebook. You can even train Siri to pronounce things more accurately. When she (or he) says something incorrectly, you respond with "that's not how you pronounce...". Siri will ask for a better pronunciation and use your spoken response to suggest three alternatives. You pick the one that is most accurate.
There's a Built In Flashlight
You can now get rid of that third-party flashlight app you've had for years; iOS7 has a built in flashlight. To access it, swipe up from the bottom of your screen to enter the Control Panel. You'll see the flashlight icon in the lower left hand corner.
Timestamps are Available for Individual Text Messages
There have always been timestamps for groups of text messages from a single contact, but now you can get those for each individual message. To find this hidden feature, go to a conversation in your Messages and swipe to the left, the timestamps will appear to the right.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the cool new features and tricks available. Take some time to poke around and get familiar with all the options out there.
