Two recent surveys by the Small Business Authority make for interesting reading. Perhaps not surprisingly, uncertainty about the U.S. economy has been identified as one of the top three challenges facing small businesses, fueled by ongoing concerns about the growing U.S. debt and deficit (46%) and over-regulation (35%). Economic uncertainty is once again seen as the greatest obstacle to hiring more employees (55%).

Contrast this with another finding which revealed that 71% of small business owners had never heard of cloud computing. It went on to show that of the 29% of those questioned who had heard of cloud computing, 74% could not describe just what cloud computing is. Not surprisingly, many small and mid-size businesses are apparently still struggling to understand its relevance to them.

How are these two situations related? Well, with business confidence wavering, shrewd executives should be looking for ways of running their operations more efficiently. Taking advantage of new cloud-based computing solutions might well prove to be highly beneficial, enabling organizations to free up capital, with more predictable associated operating costs, enabling organizations to just pay for what they use.

Cloud computing can be very simply viewed as on-demand computing services delivered by third parties over the Internet. Historically, in order to do tasks such as word processing, a business needed to buy a computer and license the relevant application that was installed on the device, often known as a server. The application was invoked through another computer (or client) and the user created the necessary files, which in turn were stored either on the client or on another computer on the office (local area) network. Backups of files, particularly data files, had to be made, so that if the computer storage failed, the user did not lose all their data - those precious digital letters, presentations, models and other documents upon which they, and their business, depended. All of this required upfront capital outlay - the business had to pay for these assets before they could use them - only to witness them depreciate over time. For larger businesses, it often became necessary to hire people with expertise in these systems just to fix things when they went wrong and to help keep everything running efficiently.

With cloud computing, organizations no longer have to own the servers, the storage, the networks and the applications that they once had to purchase in order to be able to undertake business. All that is now required is browser-based access to the Internet from any preferred device (desktop, laptop, smartphone, or tablet). A wide range of both free and subscription-based services are then immediately available on-demand to the user. No additional hardware or software needs to be purchased upfront, and the business essentially pays for the services it uses. Files can be stored locally or in the cloud on the service providers' computers where they are professionally managed. Furthermore, there is no need for the business to require dedicated IT support staff to help maintain these systems.

So all your stuff can now live in the cloud. Instead of having to go to work in your office, (whether it be a home, remote or official location), where most of your stuff still physically resides, you can now go to work in the cloud - your own office but now residing in the Internet. It's cheaper, arguably more secure, and typically accessible 24x7; best of all, it allows you to focus on your business and not on the technology needed to run it. Instead of owning computers on which to work, you simply have a device from which you can access your own personal cloud. All the stuff you need to digitally work or play is always at your disposal on your preferred devices, enabling you to do what you want, as you need. With your office in the cloud, you may not even need all that physical office space that was once so necessary and you can save on commuting related costs. So, welcome to your new office in the cloud - the place to be as the economic climate becomes increasingly stormy!

Photo Credit: dannykboyd

2010 seems to have been the year mobile gadgets have really become ubiquitous. Smart phones, laptops and the like are no longer just for professional uses. It's hard to walk through a public facility anymore without seeing people of all ages on their smart phones and mobile computing devices. As workshifters you know that the majority of the weight in any of your carry on bags these days is at least 50% gadgets and devices. Well, mine is anyway. The biggest challenge all of these devices bring us on a daily basis is having the ability to access the information you need from any of them.

Today I'd like to talk about an app that I use all the time and has been a lifesaver on many occasions: Dropbox. Dropbox gives you the ability to access data across a multitude of devices and share that data with anyone you allow access to.

Last year at about this time I was speaking at one of the biggest events of my life. While traveling on the plane to the venue my laptop screen decided it was going to just stop working. No warning and no Apple store in sight when I landed. Luckily, I had placed my presentation in my Dropbox folder and had it stored safely up in the cloud. 15 minutes after landing I sent a message to the event promoter and asked if he might be able to lend me his computer to do my presentation. He was more than happy to help me out and within 20 minutes I had alleviated the stress of having to give my presentation without slides.

This is the magic of Dropbox. Heck, my wife is as far from a geeky gadget gal as anyone but loves the Dropbox app! We place photos of our 12 week old son in the secure Dropbox and she then has the ability to show them to anyone that asks via her Andriod based smart phone installed with the Dropbox app without taking up precious memory space.

Dropbox can serve a multitude of functions but really excels with the workshifting professional that wants to have important backups and files easily accessible from any device with internet access. Give it a try today. they have a free 1 Gig plan as well as some paid plans.

Let me know what you think of Dropbox!


Photo Credit: Akakumo

Where do workshifters come from?  Obviously, they're dropped off by a stork. But, are they born workshifters or do they have to become workshifters?

Most workshifters were at one time or another sedentary office workers, before they took the leap to working independently.  Recently, I was preparing to make the shift from occasional workshifter to permanent workshifter.  It occurred to me when making the transition, that despite the fact that I had been working outside the office for several days at a time, the move to permanent workshifting required a lot of preparation.

And so, to help others who are just about to take the plunge, here are some tips for how to effectively prepare yourself.

Tip 1: Start preparing early.  If you stop reading here, that's fine, as long as you take this piece of advice.  It will shock you just how much prep work you have to do to transition to workshifting, especially if you hadn't been conscious of the fact that you might eventually need to.  Because you'll likely be doing this prep work at the same time as your day job, you'll need time to get it done, so start early.

Physical Documents

Tip 2: Develop digital habits. Physical documents are just a given when you work in an office, but as a workshifter, they're a pain in the neck.  No one wants to carry around manilla folders, take the risk of spilling coffee over them, having them get crumpled in your bag, or risk bringing the wrong folder to a meeting.  Instead, workshifters need to go digital, and so that means that while you're still an office worker, you should start developing digital habits: take notes with software, keep a digital calendar, scan documents, opt for electronic versions whenever possible, etc.

Tip 3: Take stock of all your hard copy files. So, all those manilla folders that you've stowed in your filing cabinets over the years, it's time to go through them and decide why you're really keeping them.  Chances are, you will find documents that you recall why you wanted to keep them in the first place.  Trash as much as you can at this point.  It's about streamlining.

Tip 4: Scan everything you need to keep. Now that you've gotten rid of the excess, get access to a scanner and scan all the documents you've decided are important.  Once you've digitized (and backed them up), you will go ahead and shred these paper documents.  They will no longer weigh you down.

Tip 5: Store everything else with colleagues. If you're leaving the office worker role, but remaining with the same company, there may be files that you don't quite need, but that you think others might, or that it would be a good idea if someone had them.  Lean on your colleagues, or your successor to take this stuff from you.  Make sure to explain what it is, and why they might need it, otherwise it will land at the bottom of a filing cabinet, never to be seen again.

Tip 6: Digitize notebooks. As much as I like to think of myself as a digital native, I still take notes in notebooks, on notepads, and on post-its.  When I went back through these notes, I found that most of the stuff was no longer useful, but was surprised to see that some notes I had taken over a year ago could still be useful today.  So, I went through my notebooks and recycled or shredded that which was unnecessary, but added all my notes that were still relevant to a text file, that I could keep at my disposal.

Tip 7: Keep your notes as simple as possible.  In the previous tip, I said put the notes in a text file.  Over the years, colleagues have laughed at me for my staunch devotion to Notepad, the hyper-basic pre-installed Windows text editor (actually I've upgraded to Notepad++, but still find myself opening Notepad out of habit).  While they laugh, I continue to use text editors for many reasons.  They are lightweight, and so I can have a ton of windows open at once and not experience any additional drag on my hardware (and for those who've worked with corporate PC's, you know this can be crucial).  They're also universally readable.  I don't need to worry about the compatibility of my text file if I move it from my office desktop, to my Macbook or to my Linux laptop.  In a pinch, I can even read my text file from a command prompt.  This flexibility will come in handy as a workshifter.

E-mail

Now that you've cleared your physical world of clutter, it's time to do the same for your electronic world, and where better to start than with every knowledge worker's biggest time suck: e-mail. Note that this is really only going to be important if, like me, you're transitioning from a local e-mail client (a la MS Outlook or Lotus Notes) on a company machine to a web-based client, or using an exchange server.  If your email has always been cloud-based, then things should be business as usual for you.

Tip 8: Pick a system and stick to it. There are as many e-mail organization systems as there are people.  I have a colleague who is the neatest most organized person I have ever met.  The consequence of this is that you need a blueprint in order to figure out the folder structure of his Outlook mailbox.  Tracking down an archived e-mail is like navigating a labyrinth.  I am a Gmail fanboy, and my e-mail classification of using only 3 folders spills over from that experience.  This can sometimes be slightly problematic because Outlook's search functionality is not as great as Gmail's, but overall, I still find I have an easier time searching for an e-mail than I do retrieving it from a labyrinth of folders.  In the end, though, which system you use, doesn't matter, as long as it's consistent.

Tip 9: E-mails that you think will be important, save on your company Exchange server. Remember that when you archive e-mails, by definition they're coming off your company's server and being saved elsewhere (by default, that's on your PC).  If you're leaving behind your old machine when you turn workshifter, saving those important e-mails to its hard drive won't be helpful, so instead, make sure important e-mails stay on the server, so that they can be accessed from webmail, your Blackberry, or other e-mail client.

Tip 10: Locally archive things that you probably won't ever need. Like with physical documents, there are many e-mails you will likely never need.  If you are sure you'll never need them, delete them.  If you doubt that you'll ever need them, but aren't sure, archive them.  After all, most companies give you limited space to save e-mail on the server and require you to archive.

Tip 11: Create a copy of your archive. Now, if you're leaving your old computer behind, archiving files that you think you might possibly need some day isn't going to do you any good, so go ahead and create a copy of your archive.  In fact, create multiple copies, because data can easily be lost on something as fragile as a CD/DVD or a web server.

Tip 12: Get used to using webmail services.  I actually spent my last month as an office worker accessing e-mail through webmail.  Partially by necessity (I'll get to that later), but also because it was a good habit to create for when i would be accessing e-mail this way all the time.

Electronic Files

Tip 13: Organize your files. Are you starting to see a theme here?  When making the switch from office worker to workshifter, organizing yourself is a great way to make sure nothing gets missed.  In terms of organizing your files, there are actually software programs that will do this for you (Belvedere for PC, Hazel for Mac).  Or, you can do what I did and take this opportunity to go through your hard drive and see just what all the files that you've saved since you started working for your current employer are.  You can then triage, organize, and delete to your heart's cotent.

Tip 14: Store everything in a specific folder.  For ease of back-up, and to make the next step painless, it's a good idea to save all the files that you will want to keep to the same folder.  That folder can have as many subfolders as you'd like, but it's important that everything be in one place.

Tip 15: Sync that folder to the cloud using Dropbox. As a workshifter, there are tons of applications out there that will promise to make your life easier.  For me, Dropbox wins the crown of favourite workshifting app.  Its potential uses are nearly limitless, but in this case, you'll be doing something very simple.  You'll install Dropbox (Dropbox referral link) on your machine that you're about to abandon (if you follow the above link, you'll get an additional 250 megs on top of the basic 2 gigs - I will also get an additional 250 megs - win win!).  Once that's done, you will take your folder that you've organized all of your files in and move it into your Dropbox folder.  Now, you can do two things with this folder.  First, you can install Dropbox on the machine you will be using from here on out so that you have access to those files indefinitely.  Second, you can share this folder with another user, so that if you want to leave your boss all your old files so he's not lost without you in the office, he'll have access to them too!

Tip 16: Backup to an external hard drive.  Honestly, this tip is mainly for those who work with large files that may be too large for Dropbox's free basic 2 gig limit.  In my case, the vast majority of my files were excel reports, databases, power point presentations and word documents.  Nothing too heavy.  But if you do video editing, or heavy design work, you may want to invest in an external hard drive to bring your old files with you.

Software & Hardware

Tip 17: Make a list of what kinds of files you use. As mentioned above, in my case, the majority of my files were spreadsheets, databases, power point presentations, word documents (and of course text files).  By doing this exercise, I know exactly what medium I spend my time working in.  That's important for the next tip.

Tip 18: Determine what the ideal tools for you would be. Here's where you get to have some fun and create your wishlist of tools you want.  Based on the file types you saw that you used, what tools would you ideally like to have?  Word?  Excel?  MS Project?  Photoshop?  Adobe Premiere?  Write this list down.

Tip 19:  Determine what on that list will be provided for you.  If you're workshifting, but are still an employee of a company, you may still get all the tools and comforts you're used to having at the office on the road, and it's just a matter of asking.  So, see what you can get your workshifting laptop set up with from your IT department.

Tip 20: Find open source alternatives.  If you're not workshifting on the company dime, or you prefer to use your own tools, shelling out for things like corporate editions of MS Office and Photoshop may be cost prohibitive, so find alternatives.  For starters, open source software is awesome.  I have been running Open Office on my home PC for years, and NeoOffice on my MacBook Pro with great success.  To find other open source alternatives for traditioinal software, check out osalt.com.  

Tip 21: Find cloud-based alternatives. Cloud-based software has come a long way in the past year or two, and many cloud-based apps are more than enough for most people.   Cloud-based alternatives can even be more convenient than traditional software because for a workshifter, it allows you to work from any machine with internet access.  Good starting points for cloud-based software are Google Docs, Zoho Docs, and the 37Signals suite of collaboration applications. There are tons more with price tags varying from free to pricey. Explore them all.

Tip 22: Determine your hardware needs.  I firmly believe that it is only once you've decided what software you need that you should decide on what hardware to purchase.  If every piece of software you need is Windows-based, buying a Mac is nonsensical, even if you can dual boot Windows on it.  (Although, it should be said that since having made the switch to Mac, the only file I have had issues with is MS Visio .vsd files, so perhaps I'm overstating the importance of picking the right hardware.)

Now, install your software, access your dropbox and your webmail, and it's like you never left the office!  The transition from office desktop to mobile workstation is complete.  If you've gone with cloud-based apps and webmail, your freedom is virtually unlimited.

Habits to Keep

Tip 23: Take digital notes. I'm horrible at following my own advice on taking notes one way.  In addition to text files, I use Evernote, moleskines, sticky notes and voice memos on my phone.  Don't be me.

Tip 24: Keep all your files in the cloud.  Whether you use Dropbox to keep all your files in the cloud, or Google Docs so that they're just cloud-based documents to begin with, keeping this habit means that you could drop your laptop in a river, and never miss a beat.

Tip 25: Save things in standard file formats. This is especially important if you start using some of the open source software I mentioned earlier.  Open source software generally allows you to save files in about 1,000 different formats.  Always pick the format that most closely resembles the standard file format for industries.  So, while I use Open Office and Neo Office, both of which have a .odf standard file extension, I save everything in MS Office XP format.  That way, I know just about anyone can open my file.

Bonus

Not so much a tip, but an anecdote that illustrates a bonus that comes with this kind of preparedness. I started preparing to transition to full-time workshifter about one month before my planned transition.  About two weeks before the move, my company laptop (an IBM Thinkpad T43 - a tank of a machine) died.  Had this happened to me two weeks earlier, I would have lost about two years worth of work that had been saved on my local hard drive, and that I had not been very diligent about backing up to company servers.  Because of my preparation to move to full-time workshifter, I lost nothing. All my most important files were already in my Dropbox, and ready and waiting for me when I booted up my MacBook Pro.

Being a workshifter is all about planning for eventualities, so planning to become one, has the fortunate byproduct of just plain making you better prepared.

What do you think?


Photo Credit: Matthileo

With Google Voice turning one year old and becoming available to U.S. residents, it's time to highlight the benefits to workshifters.

1. Choose a Local Number or use your existing mobile number
At my company I have the ability to forward my office phone to another number. However, the call can't be forwarded unless the number I'm forwarding to is in the same area code as my office. Nowadays, people aren't choosing to have home phones, they're using their mobile phone as their main contact number. And...why change your cell phone number if you relocate to that area code since almost all calling plans are national and don't charge long distance fees. With Google Voice, you can pick a phone number in any desired area code or zip code and set that as the forwarding number, which will automatically ring any and all phones you choose.

2. Transcribed voicemail
When you're in the plane, you can't make and receive calls over airplane wifi, but you do get internet access. If you miss a call and the caller leaves a voicemail it will be transcribed and sent to you as an e-mail, SMS, or both.

3. Visual voicemail
Having visual voicemail is such a time saver. I can see who called, when, see the message as a transcription, archive it, and not have to dial in and listen to a string of messages. Get in, get the info, and get out!

4. Personalized voicemail greetings
This is one of the BEST options; personalized voicemail. All you gmail contacts and groups are accessible through Google Voice. You have options to create personalized voicemails for groups (family, work, friends) or for individuals. Changing the voicemail message is quick, easy, and instant; taking less than a minute. It's especially useful if your work calls are forwarding to your Google Voice number because you can record the same greeting you have on your office phone and the caller/client won't know the difference.

How do you use Google Voice?

Photo credit: Google
 

If you go back and look at how Google started as a company, it's really amazing to see how much they have grown. Starting out with search, they have grown into many areas including collaboration, mobile, and productivity. While at times I wish that Google would focus, it's hard to argue against their strategy as they are leaders in the search market and challengers in many other areas.

So when they announced Google Wave there was a ton of hype because everyone was waiting for that next killer application from Google. Let's face it, these are the guys who did Google Search, Gmail, Adwords. All game changers in their categories, so expectations were pretty high.

But something happened along the way.. No one really knew what to do with it.

I am like a lot of people when I say that I honestly haven't used Wave a whole lot. When Google first announced it I rushed out and got an invitation, started a few Wave's with some buddies, but the interest quickly faded. That doesn't mean that Wave couldn't be a great tool for workshifting and after I revisited it some benefits bubbled up to the surface:

•    For team collaboration it quickly beats trading information back and forth via email. We have all been on those long email strings, soon you lose track of what came first, that important attachment that everyone else is referencing has been misplaced in your inbox. With Wave all of this information is contained within the Wave for everyone to see. One version of the truth.

•    Get new teammates up to speed quickly. As you add new people to your team you can quickly get them up to speed by using the playback feature found in every wave. The playback starts over at the beginning of the wave and you can quickly see the content and people who where added to wave as they happened.

•    Wave brings conversation into your project. How many times have you been working remotely on a project, needed some additional information from a team member, and you then had to use other tools to start these offline conversations. With Wave, all of these conversations can happen within the project where they are then stored for the whole team to see.

I decided to take another run at really using Wave to see if it fits into my workshifting toolbox and I need your help. A few weeks back I posted five reasons why your boss won't let you workshift and now I want to come up with a post that focuses on the reasons why you can.

I have started a wave so that we can collaborate on the responses. This will help me out by getting some feedback on my post and it will allow us to kick the tires on Google Wave to see the good and the bad. I will put out a follow up post on how Wave worked and if it meets the mark for workshifting use.

If you are interested in joining, make sure you have a Google Wave account, and shoot me an email at wave@itkgroup.com and I will email you the invite. Hopefully we will get a new post put together and we will see if Google Wave is a workshifting treasure or tease.

Have you found any workshifting benefits of Google Wave?


Photo Credit: Rafa Garces

Last week I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Steve Bristol and Allan Branch, the founders of Less Everything.  Our company uses both Less Accounting and Less Time Spent, two cloud based, small business applications that the duo has developed.  (Disclosure: I would make love to both of these apps if they were women, and Melissa would approve).  It led to a lot of great internal discussions regarding my proclivity towards cloud based business apps. 

I am a massive proponent of cloud based technology for a variety of reasons, but namely because that's where I feel we're headed so why not dive in head first now.  I decided to post a video talking about why I'm big on cloud computing, which cloud based apps I use, and of course why I feel these applications empower workshifting.

Cloud-Based Apps I use for my business:

Gmail - Mail Server
Google Calendar - Team Calendar
Google Docs - Collaborative Docs/Spreadsheet (Blog Post Backup)
Less Accounting - Easy Accounting Program
Less Time Spent - Track Time and Expenses on a Client Basis
Basecamp - Project Management System
Batchbook - Customer Relationship Management
Box.net - File Sharing and Collaboration
Protoshare - Website Wireframing Application (For Internal & Client Projects)
Yammer - Twitter for Business
Google Wave - Collaborative Workspace
TinyChat - Video and Chat for Multiple Users (Team Meetings)
ConceptShare - Collaborate on Design Direction

What cloud-based apps do you find useful for your day-to-day needs?