I had client meetings with others in Pasadena, Philly, Seattle, West LA, and Florida this week. All without driving anywhere past my nearest EZ Lube, Starbucks, or Coffee Shop.

You are feeling the pain of this economy and so am I. Even $50 a month saved can make a significant difference if used effectively.

I am in the business of helping make others successful so here is what I do to remain competitive as a small business owner and entrepreneur. I coach, train, and support others as they walk down this journey toward competitive advantage with technology.

Vons, EZ Lube, Hospitals, & Apple Stores: Unexpected Resources
Once you commit to mobilize your office, remaining connected on the go becomes a much higher priority. It used to be that this lifestyle required a cellular card for your computer that could run up to $100 or more per month.

Not so today where you can actually reduce costs by getting out of the office.

This is possible because most business needs some form of Internet access. Many businesses don’t utilize the bandwidth they pay for or want to provide an incentive to visiting customers who may have to wait for services such as EZ Lube. These businesses setup a wireless network that their customers – and you – can access easily with any portable computer with a wifi card. All macs and most other portables sold in the last three years have these built in.

So, once you know Internet access is available in the wild, the next step is find it when and where you need it on the go. Most computers will have utilities that automatically search for networks you can join. If you want to plan ahead or get more info, here are some tools I use that will get you started.

• The iPhone Jiwire Page is an iPhone formatted web page at http://iphone.jiwire.com that allows a quick lookup by address or area code. It has links to maps and contact information to help you check hours and locations via map. Just point Safari there and bookmark it or save it as a shortcut in your Applications screen.
• WiFinder.com is a great service that lets you type in an address or zip code and set a radius – say five miles – to search in. It provides an integrated Yahoo map and contact inforation for locations.
• Wi-fiHotspotList.com provides the usual data but allows you to limit results to a provider such as AT&T. It providies an integrated MapQuest map.
• YouCanWorkFromAnywhere.com provides a great list of additional resources so you can be prepared and realize the benefits of working from anywhere.

In addition to the free and paid wifi hotspots listed above, the FCC is considering creating nationwide wireless with a newly released band of spectrum.

Your comments are always welcome below and please let us know if you have found a tip that worked for you.

See you in Starbucks,

p.s.
That $50 could get you 60 mins of coaching to give you the confidence and skills to not just survive but thrive.

I had client meetings with others in Pasadena, Philly, Seattle, West LA, and Florida this week. All without driving anywhere past my nearest Starbucks or Public Library.

You are feeling the pain of this economy and so am I. Even $50 a month saved can make a significant difference if used effectively.

I am in the business of helping make others successful so here is what I do to remain competitive as a small business owner and entrepreneur. I coach, train, and support others as they walk down this journey toward competitive advantage with technology.

Working In The Cloud
The Internet is quickly becoming the new railway of business. Many business activities rely heavily on it and this is just reality. Resisting it is like resisting the use of credit cards. You can do it but it will cost you much more than its worth. For example, I won’t even shop in a store that doesn’t accept Visa or Mastercard.

In the same way, there are tons of Internet tools available to you that will translate into hundreds and even thousands of dollars saved or used for innovation and marketing. These are just a few I have found to be stellar. I may go into them more specifically in later posts.

• Skype w/ Skype-In & Call Recorder enables me to pay a flat monthly fee for unlimited calls in North America and deep discounts elsewhere. I use the SkypeToGo feature to call Israel on my iPhone for what many businesses pay to call across the street. With decent Internet access (read: Public Library), audio quality is better than my iPhone with a Shure headset and can be recorded as a .wav file with a single click. I love the human element and prefer tech that helps me maintain it which Skype does. A single click starts a video call which can also be recorded and looks like it does on CNN & FoxNews. Very cool!I also have rent a phone number for Skype so I have CallerID and my in-bound calls are not rejected as “call center” calls. This also enables me to answer your call via Skype when I am connected.
• RingCentral enables me to have a “big company” phone system for a few dollars a month. Professional answering messages can be recorded and all messages are delivered to me as .wav files. A big win with iPhone 2.0 which can now play them from my email messages and I can forward the original message when delegating tasks. RingCentral also eliminates the need for a fax machine or services like WinFax and eFax as it provides a simple program to send outbound faxes with email confirmation. I could use this as a phone on my mac but I prefer Skype for the video and it is cheaper if you make many calls.
• AdobeConnect Free is a fairly recent service that uses flash in a very user friendly way. I am a big fan of GoToMeeting but most of my meetings were 3 people or less which is free with AdobeConnect. It is much simpler to have others share their desktop with you as well and offers a great human element feature of sharing my webcam with the other attendees in the interface. It is still in beta but they are also charging people already so who knows how long it will remain free.
• Vyew is a service similar to AdobeConnect and GoToMeeting. It is not as user friendly but offers many more features. I use this one when I need more than 3 people on the call and the attendees are tech veterans.
• FreeConference offers a simple but effective free conference call service. They offer more that I don’t use. They give you a dedicated number and pin that you can use for every call. No more scheduling and notifying ongoing clients. Same number and pin every time – nice and easy. I use this with Skype to enable easy re-connect in case someone gets dropped which lets the conversation continue.
• Google Apps provides lots of services but gives the basics of Excel/Numbers, Word/Pages, & Keynote/Powerpoint in a browser. Great for collaborating on a doc with others and offers the safety of versioning so you can rollback changes you didn’t like with ease. This is great in a pinch when you need to put something together fast and your PC is down and out due to spyware. I wish that were a joke.
• Salesforce.com has a free trial and starts at $99 a year for a single user. Your client list is the most valuable asset you have and many don’t even back it up. This tool has transformed my business life since 2004 and continues to break ground for business.

There are many others but what you need most is a commitment to overcome the common fears related to using these services. Just because you can can touch and feel the computer holding some software does not make it better, more safe, or more reliable. In fact, I would argue that storing just your client list on Salesforce and neglecting the other 99% makes it preferable to ACT!, Outlook w/ BCM, Excel, or the numerous other ways people mishandle their goldmine – pun intended.

Most tools or apps in the cloud, often called “web 2.0″, are very focused on solving a specific problem like making faxes digital or providing online collaboration so you can take your first jump on something that will save you lots of time and give a big reward.

See a large listing at go2web20.net >>

I will talk about shifting your email tech, mobile devices, and finding free wifi in future parts so stay tuned.

Your comments are always welcome below and please let us know if you have found a tip that worked for you.

To your success,

p.s.
That $50 could get you 60 mins of coaching to give you the confidence and skills to not just survive but thrive.

I had client meetings with others in Pasadena, Philly, Seattle, West LA, and Florida this week. All without driving anywhere past my nearest Starbucks or Public Library.

You are feeling the pain of this economy and so am I. Even $50 a month saved can make a significant difference if used effectively.

I am in the business of helping make others successful so here is what I do to remain competitive as a small business owner and entrepreneur. I coach, train, and support others as they walk down this journey toward competitive advantage with technology.

Local Public Libraries
Long the domain of the academics, Public Libraries offer a tremendous opportunity for small businesses looking to improve their tech savvy and efficacy. My local library provides quite a few business savvy amenities thanks to taxpayers like myself:

• Private meeting rooms complete with data/power equipped table, 4 chairs, whiteboards and Internet access. In fact, 98.9% of Public Libraries have Internet Access which is becoming the new railway of commerce. This opens up the use of web phone, collaboration, and communication services within the private and quite rooms. I have even recorded Podcasts in these rooms with great success.
• Current business books are on the shelves with 2 week checkout times and a phone in renewal for another 2 weeks. Additionally, they often have liberal checkout policies so you can use all the books you need. How often do you really read it a second time anyway? Need a little motivation? Read the book before its due back!
• Current audio books are available for checkout. A great compliment to your new walk or bike commute to the library.
• Numerous periodicals in reference. From the local business journals to the NY Times, BusinessWeek to Entrepreneur, you can read it and take an article copy for a dime.
• Web enabled computers are available. Even if you don’t have a slick macbook pro yet, you can just use the computers at the Library. This maximizes a future tip related to web apps like Google Docs.
• It is a relaxing and focused environment to work in. My local library offers a great outdoor area with tables and chairs when I need a break. My fellow visitors are all generally intentional and focused on learning which is a great environment to work in and probably a positive change for many.

Why buy when you use and borrow for free?Find a Library near you at PublicLibrary.com >>

I will talk about shifting your email tech, mobile devices, and public libraries in future parts so stay tuned.

Your comments are always welcome below and please let us know if you have found a tip that worked for you.

To your success,

p.s.
That $50 could get you 60 mins of coaching to give you the confidence and skills to not just survive but thrive.

I had client meetings with others in Pasadena, Philly, Seattle, West LA, and Florida this week. All without driving anywhere past my nearest Starbucks or Public Library.

You are feeling the pain of this economy and so am I. Even $50 a month saved can make a significant difference if used effectively.

I am in the business of helping make others successful so here is what I do to remain competitive as a small business owner and entrepreneur. I coach, train, and support others as they walk down this journey toward competitive advantage with technology.

AT&T Wifi @ Starbucks
Most Starbucks offer wifi. This service used to cost $40 and more per month via T-Mobile which made it a luxury for only the most mobile professionals. Since switching to AT&T, the tables have turned so you can use this service FOR FREE! Just buy something once every 30 days with a registered Starbucks card and you get at least 2 hours free wifi every day – even the days you don’t buy anything!

More info from Starbucks.com >>

I will talk about shifting your email tech, mobile devices, and public libraries in future parts so stay tuned.

Your comments are always welcome below and please let us know if you have found a tip that worked for you.

To your success,

p.s.
That $50 could get you 60 mins of coaching to give you the confidence and skills to not just survive but thrive.