February and March are two very busy workshifting months for AJ and myself.  We are going to conferences, meeting with clients, launching a client website and working on a charity project all while trying to keep our company and team productive.  We have traveled to the UK every six months for the past two years and have had many experiences with their internet options.  So here is what I have discovered. You have three options internet cafes, wifi in cafes or hotels or USB internet broadband cards.  

Internet Cafes usually give you decent speeds for up to 2 pounds an hour.  This is the only place I have been able to make Skype calls on a consistent basis.  However, you have to sit in the same, smelly place for hours.  And hour over hour you end of spending a significant amount of money.  

Wifi in cafes is extremely unreliable and can be expensive although it is available.  In most of my experiences with wifi in hotels I usually end of paying between 10 to 20 pounds per day, which just isn't a realistic option.  However McDonalds, of all places, has free wifi that is pretty reliable.

USB broadband cards are your best option for stable internet for email and general work on the internet.  You can buy a broadband card from Vodafone for 25 pounds which includes 3 gigs of internet usage.  You can also go with T-Mobile, the cost for the card is 20 pounds and you pay 2 pounds each day for 'unlimited' web usage. However, you cannot use Skype with T-Mobile and if you run too many applications at the same times (TweetDeck, Gmail, Facebook, Google Docs) then your bandwidth will be severely limited.  

Those are your options, here is what I suggest: Buy a Vodafone broadband card for 25 pounds for general use and if you need to have meetings with your team over Skype go to the internet cafe.  Also the UK has automatic content lock on all devices that access the internet so show your ID and ask for the content lock to be removed if you want to use Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube or other social networks.  

What are you suggestions for internet connectivity abroad?

Photo Credit: AJ Leon

I was asked recently by a good friend on mine what was in my bag.  It was part of a blog post she wrote, What's in Yo' Bag, and I have decided to respond in a video.  My bag consists of many things to keep me inspired, connected and able to be on the go.



What's in your workshifting gear bag?  Empty out your workshifiting bag, take a picture, upload it to Flickr, tag it "workshifting" and link it up in the comments below.  We'll gather all of the photos and blog posts together for a future post.

Connectedness is a tricky thing it can be both necessary and debilitating.  This week has been incredibly busy and  got me thinking about productivity.  When it come to 'getting things done' sometimes disconnecting takes precedence. 

If you can't view this video, you can find it over on my Vimeo channel.

Are there specific times during the day that you disconnect?

Today we have a guest post from Gene Marks.  Gene, an idiot, is also an author of four best selling small business management books and a frequent online columnist for Forbes.com, Businessweek.com and American City Business Journals.  Gene owns The Marks Group PC, a ten-person CRM and Financial consulting firm located in Bala Cynwyd, PA.

I am a remote worker.  And I am an idiot. 


I'm also the owner of a small business and everyone in my company also works remotely.  We used to have an office.  We now have a virtual private network supported by a local IT firm.  



And now Windows 7 is released.  Now that really sucks for my IT firm.

My ten person company is no different than many other small businesses around the world.  Most of the businesses my size are still in Windows XP Land. That's because they were smart enough to stay away from Windows Vista and all of its shortcoming.  I recently read Windows Vista has been adopted by only 8.8% of potential users.  At the same stage in its lifecycle Windows XP had been adopted by 87.1% of potential users.  



The bad news is that I've been told that my company is going to have to migrate to Windows 7 in the next year or two.  Citrix Online recently conducted a poll of 200 IT professionals in the SMB world and found that 42% of them expect Windows 7 will have "more than a small impact" on their operations next year.  And at the same time, only 13% of these guys plan on hiring extra staff to help migrate their clients to the new platform. 



I've got everything PERFECTLY organized on the computer I've been using for the past five years.  Upgrading me will not be fun.    



Thank God for GoToAssist.  Whether I decide to upgrade my existing computer (unlikely) or get a new computer (probably, but it still kills me to do so), my IT guys will be using GoToAssist to take control of my system.  This way I can turn my computer on while they connect and do what they have to do to configure my system. 



And thank God for GoToMeeting.  Because even before I let my IT guys touch my beloved, perfectly configured and trusted Windows XP workstation, I'm going to need to have an infinite number of conversations with them. With GoToMeeting, my IT guys can show me what I'll be expecting to see on my screen and how they're going to get me there. 



The research firm Forrester says that there are about 34 million "teleworkers".  They say that by 2012 enterprise mobile workers will make up 73 percent of the workforce.  My IT firm, and many IT firms like them, will have their hands full supporting idiots like me when we all have to upgrade to Windows 7.  They're going to need all the remote tools they can get their hands on.  



By the way I forgot about one other remote connection tool.  That's GoToMyPC.  I'll be using it to connect to my old Windows XP box which I fully intend to keep up and running.  Just in case Windows 7 hiccups.  Hey, maybe I'm not such an idiot after all!

If you want to read more detail about Windows 7 migration, online tools and why I'm an idiot, check out the extended version of this post, er, a whitepaper (or so I'm told): Windows 7 Migration and Online Tools.

If you're sick of reading, check out the webinar I recently was a part of: Windows 7 Nirvana Roundtable.

Photo Credit: techedlive

I am on a long work related trip right now.  Actually, I have four different business trips that end with the beginning of the next.  This workshifting trip will keep me away from home for 65 days.  So, naturally, I have travel on the mind. 

I have been thinking about how to remain productive while traveling, and I will probably be sharing some of the things I have learned with you in the next few posts.  Yesterday, I was at Denver International Airport and decided to post a review on TripIt, an application for travelers that allows you to easily and seamlessly build trip itineraries.  I have used this app for a long time, and find it very useful.

If you can't view this video, you can check it out over on my Vimeo channel.

Have you used Tripit or similar apps?  What are your thoughts?

Photo Credit: 704 Race

Like most of you, I travel ... A TON.  Last year, Melissa and I traveled about 55% of the year.   I absolutely adore traveling! We purposefully built our business this way.  However, one of the very difficult elements about traveling so often is being able to effectively manage your bookkeeping while on the road.  During the course of our travels last year, we became very serious about finding the best online tools to help us with this incredibly annoying problem. 

On Saturday, we are departing for a very long 62 day workshifting trip that will take us through three continents.  I thought it might be helpful to post a little video on what we use to keep our accounting in order while we are on the road.

If you can't view this video, head over to my Vimeo channel.

The three applications that I discussed during the video are:

• Shoeboxed
• LessAccounting
• FreshBooks

Are there other apps that you use?  What are some of your favorites?

Photo Credit: The Shifted Librarian

This is a guest post from Deb Brown, an internet workshifter and small business owner of www.debworks.com

An Internet Workshifter in the Hinterlands

In my county of 10,000 people, I'm a workshifter.  I bring my business to you.  I teach small businesses how to determine a social media plan that works for them, then I help them get it started and we work together to grow it. 

I meet in the local coffee shop with a client, determine what kind of assistance they are looking for, work with them to match my services with their needs and make the appointment for our first on site visit.  The coffee shop does not have internet service.  It does have a group of local people that show up there regularly for coffee.  We all know each other and believe in supporting our local businesses.  

My client wants to know how to use social media.  Should they blog?  Or create a Facebook account and reach out to the community?  We've devised a plan based on what they need, and what they can commit too.  They are not sure what kind of computer they have, but are pretty sure they have cable.  (There's my first clue.)

Are You Ready for the Surprises?

I show up on time at their office or store, with my lovely Dell Inspiron, ready to hook up to their router system.  Except they don't have one.  They have a desktop running Windows 98 in the back office.  The desktop hooks up to the phone line.  That would be dial up.  You know what internet service they use - yup, AOL.

You know the desktop has no real memory, moves slower than molasses in January in Iowa and is not equipped to work with photos, doesn't have Word - and was only really designed to be used to read email and maybe look at a site or two.  Mac?  That's the cousin who lives in Missouri.  Not a known animal in the hinterlands. 

This happens.  If you're not smart, it will happen to you a lot.  Don't give up on these rural small businesses.  They have been doing the best they know how to do with what they have.  It's YOUR job, local workshifter, to show them the way. 

Listen, Really Listen

I learned quickly to start interviewing my clients before making any kind of agreement for work. I ask a lot of questions.  I listen to the answers.    I know when I walk into that office or store exactly what kind of computer, what kind of internet service, what kind of hook up they have.  I keep The Computer Guy on speed dial.  That's our local man that provides computer repair service, new hook up service and new computers for sale.  He can be at my location within 20 minutes - ready to service the client.  He will also bill them and work with them on payment.  Who does that?  We do that in a small community.
 

A Commitment to the Community

Workershifters in a rural community have a great challenge.  We are asked to bring our friends and families into this century.  We choose to do it, because it needs to be done.  We have stepped up to the plate and expect to hit the ball out of the park.  Because that is what people in rural America do - we help each other.
 
Score.org gives these statistics for small businesses in the rural economy:
 

• Since 1969, the number of self-employed persons in rural America has increased over 240 percent to 5.3 million.
• There are more than 1.2 million rural, small businesses. 
• In the rural economy, small business comprises almost two-thirds of jobs and 90 percent of rural establishments.
• In the service sector, rural firms are particularly important where they account for 64 percent of rural jobs and 89 percent of rural establishments.
• It is estimated that by 2015, one in three persons in rural America will be self-employed in some capacity.
  

We have a commitment to the community.  This workshifter is determined to work with the small businesses where she lives to keep our community vibrant, exciting and growing.

Photo Credit: David Michael Morris

This was originally posted over on [justinrlevy.com] but I thought that it would be helpful to you as well. This gear bag isn't just applicable for CES. A light, mobile gear bag can be a great option for any long day such as a conference, walking through the city, or any other time where you'll be on your feet for a long time but need to get work done.

So, I'm here in Las Vegas gearing up for the start of CES 2010. Since this is my 2nd year attending CES, I wanted to share with you some advice as well as what I'll be carrying in my gear bag to help keep me connected without creating unnecessary weight.

If you can't view this video, check it out over on my YouTube channel.



Did I leave anything out? What are some of your tips for surviving CES?

Today we have a guest post from Sean Ryan.  Sean is a research analyst with IDC focused on mobile enterprise software.

Things get a bit tricky when it comes to helpdesk support for mobile and remote workers. Organizations don't typically have their own Geek Squad to race out to employee homes and resolve computer issues. Trying to resolve software problems solely over the phone can be cumbersome, time-consuming, and could ultimately lead to other issues if the employee misunderstands some part of the instructions given.

For these reasons, helpdesk technicians need tools to let them provide remote support to an employee's computer in order to directly troubleshoot and resolve the problem. With a growing variety of devices needing support, it's preferable that such solutions be clientless, hosted solutions. Such tools are becoming even more essential for helpdesks to invest in as the business landscape continues to favor an increase in the number of mobile and remote workers.


Below are 5 reasons why organizations must prepare to support a growing mobile workforce:

• Changes in business culture are enabling a growing number of knowledge-based business professionals to work from home one day a week or more. Companies are doing this to promote work/life balance for families, to retain good people by rewarding them with flexibility, to enable employees to extend business hours or work on the weekends from home to meet deadlines, and to allow employees with longer commutes to be more productive.
  
  
• The need for business continuity in light of unforeseen disruptions such as poor weather conditions or concern over the spread of a flu pandemic means that helpdesks need to be able to support employees regardless of employee location and regardless of their own location.
  
  
• Due to current economic conditions and the ever-increasing need of enterprises to trim costs, IT helpdesks face resource constraints, with fewer helpdesk personnel responsible for supporting more workers. In some cases, the helpdesk technician may need to be on call to support employees outside normal business hours and at a variety of locations.
  
  
• Mobile workers (those who travel frequently for business) are often executives, outside sales people, and others critical to the success of an organization. It's imperative that helpdesks have the right tools in place to effectively support these individuals.
  
  
• A growing number of devices and connectivity options are enhancing productivity -- but are also adding complexity for the enterprise. Beyond PCs and laptops, helpdesk technicians must now also contend with BlackBerrys, iPhones, and netbooks running over WIFI, WIMAX, 3G, and the like. They must be outfitted with the right software tools to effectively support such a variety of devices, and across a vast territory as mobile workers are the ones using these devices and connectivity options.
  

The market for clientless remote support software (remote support software that's hosted and does not require a native client installed on the end device) is one that IDC has been tracking for some time. For the reasons above, as well as others, we expect the adoption of these solutions to grow by a compound annual growth rate of 22.6% over the next five years.

Yet, this is not to say that clientless remote support software can solve all ills; hardware issues such as a hard drive crashing still would require the remote worker to go into the office or to ship the device to the helpdesk, or would require support from a local third-party provider contracted by the organization. By and large, however, such tools can reduce the amount of downtime for mobile workers, reduce resolution times for the helpdesk, provide IT with greater controls and visibility, and extend support across locations and device types.

Many cubicle employees dream of being able to work from home, either for their current employer or through stretching out on their own as an entrepreneur - living the dream! In my own quest and through talking with other home bound warriors I have been thinking about some mental and psychological triggers and how that affects their performance and their growth.

Below are just some ideas around 5 Mental Workshifting Triggers that affect the way you work away from a traditional office.

Time Management

The first is a critical aspect to your success working from a non corporate office environment. How you spend your time dictates your success. Spend too much time on noncritical tasks and your paycheck, clients and output suffer. Spend too much time working on growing your business or working on tasks and you miss out of the benefits of location independent based working. There are plenty of sites and resources geared towards productivity.

This group includes:

To Do and Task Management - Remember the Milk, TaDa List, Prioritiz'd
Project Management - Bacecamp, Front Office Box
Life Hacking - Life Hacker, Zen Habits
Lifestyle Design - Four Hour Work Week, The Life Design Project, Rock Star Lifestyle Design Outsourcing - Source Control, eLance, Guru
Automation - TubeMogul, Ping.fm

Time management is something that many teach and few actually follow through. Personally I try one system every week only to play on Twitter and read RSS Feeds for hours and wake up and smell the deadlines. The best system I have found so far is the one that fits your goals and growth plans. Those that are ambitious and strive for excellence manage their time much differently than those with lackluster or passion driven goals (or those with no or undefined goals). Every person will manage their time differently from David Allen and the Getting Things Done system to the freelancer working a 9-5 and fitting in client projects with every waking minute, break and crack of free time in the day.

The end goal here is to find a system that fits within your values:

Step 1 - Define your values and goals.
Step 2 - Figure out what it will take to get there.
Step 3 - Manage your time to succeed.

Motivation

The second touch point is personal and professional motivation to perform the work. Seeing the body language and the amount of effort it takes to give and receive response, many home based workers have a tendency to be, for lack of a better synonym, lazy. Getting out of bed, putting on appropriate clothing and getting serious in your spare bedroom or makeshift office is a difficult task for many remote based workers.

How do we program ourselves to be motivated and excited to get out of bed 6 months, 12 months, 2 years after we begin working at home. The feeling you had the first week out of the office is now very distant and the same problems will begin to arise. Remember your first week on your own? Coffee was on at 6am, you ran a few miles before dawn and hopped out the shower with a crisp pair of jeans and even did your hair like you had a million dollar client meeting? Now it's 6 months down the road and the alarm snoozes till 8am. The run has turned into walking the dog to the "spot" and back and your basketball shorts and company picnic tee make your uniform look, well, you get the picture.

One of the keys to motivation is to always have something to be motivated about. If you are working from home just to get by, well, its going to be no different than mulling around in the office. If you started a company and became complacent with your clients and your income, well, then, get used to the groggy 8am wake up call. One piece of advice I got from John Jantsch (Duct Tape Marketing) is that we all need to be striving for the next thing. We all need to be treating our work like we are starting a business, the business of you. What I took from this is that we all need to be working towards "awesome" and whatever that is for you. For me it's a picture of an Audi R8 and some beach front property, right next to a picture of my wife. For me it's breaking free and living on my own terms and everyday I wake up, see these pictures, glance at my goals and get to work before the sun cracks the window.

Finding that motivation is going to be different for you and you will be inspired in different ways. The one thing I know if that we don't NEED Tony Robbins to whip us into shape, we need to find that fire deep down in ourselves and then seize the day!

Single Child Syndrome

One thing that many are not prepared for is the realization that you are working by yourself, in your home, alone. We attempt to supplement this with Twitter chat, Facebook and IM, but the fact is that human to human interaction is such a strong part of how we grow, learn and develop. Communication with people, like real, breathing people is something that helps me get through the day and can always give me a second to remember that no matter what business you are in its a people business.

Some cures for the single child syndrome can include conferences and events. The number one reason people go to large seminars and events is to meet people and learn things. They want to exchange cards, talk about their business and learn about yours. There are conferences and large scale events for every niche, every industry and every hobby on the planet. Some of the best networking for me has come from events where not everyone was a marketer. I've gone to food and restaurant trade shows and events to meet restaurant owners to talk Social Media and online marketing and as one of the only marketing agencies there I had some great conversations that were interesting and a great time that led to great relationships and ultimately business in the long run.

Possibly the newest form of live bodies in a room is the Tweetup. Get on Twitter, find some locals and find a place to hang out. Cheap, effective and very powerful for local community building. Other great sources of finding live bodies (aka not Twilight'ian vampires) Upcoming - Yahoo crowdsourced directory of goings-on in your neighborhood Eventful - Events based on location Mashable's Guide To Events.

Rotating Office Chairs

The 4th trigger is your ever changing office chair, and I don't mean the seasonal upgrade at Ikea (although that would make for a great Christmas gift if anyone is thinking of sending one my way). What I mean is the ever changing office settings from coffee shops to Panera's to makeshift home workstations to buses, planes and waiting places. When you were working in an office or going to school, you were prepared for the everyday consistency. You knew your seat, the time to be there, the people that would surround you and you basically had a routine. Now that your boss gave you some freedom or you made it on your own, your environment is no longer consistent. Even in your local coffee shop your table or chair may change, the traffic flow can fluctuate, new distractions come into play and your routine is now a routine of adjusting to your surroundings.

While you may be thinking that the freedom of choosing your workspace is awesome (and personally I think it is), there are certain time and space constraints that need to come into consideration. I for one, create a great deal of videos for my membership sites and filming screen casts are not going to happen at Panera. Other limitations can include download and upload speeds (even your home connection may not be as strong as those T1's at the old office).

The key here again to to determine your needs and evaluate locations in your hometown that match your goals and workload. For me it's a combination of working at home and in some local spots that allow me to be comfortable and get in the zone to write, record and manage my day-to-day activities. I also plan my days to fit the times at these local spots when I can best utilize their environment. For me its the post breakfast time. I find that arriving at 9am is a great time to get in some culture, then find quiet and hit the zone before the lunch rush. At home, its early mornings before my wife wakes up. I'd love to learn more about your limitations with your rotating office chair. (Share in the comments below)

Communication

The last major factor that I have been studying is the communication piece. I have found that in my companies and in many others this is still a major barrier to growth and stability. While the tools may be there, the lack of follow through and discipline inside of organizations is extremely disappointing. This can include email overhaul at the top of the list. A booking agent friend of mine sees over 200 emails from artists, other agencies, venues and major players every single day. This doesn't include the social media requests and general email. That is 200 emails that typically need a response and posiibly need it with time sensativity (a band en route needing directions or confirmation on a show time). This makes his business awfully difficult to manage even though he can work from anywhere at anytime.

Interestingly enough we live in an information society that can have answers to complex problems in a matter of seconds yet have payments sent to wrong addresses, sent to wrong people in the wrong format or miss the ball with time zones for scheduling. Communication is the number one reason businesses fail and succeed. From hiring new employees, freelancers or outsourcing - the ability to send clear and concise directions can be a major challenge. For work at home employes, being able to communicate virtually and maintain the level of activity can be very challenging out of the gate.

The best resources are only as good as the pilots using them. For my love of tools like RTM or Basecamp, if the orgization or individual fail to use them, the tools ultimately fail (or the user does, depends on whose eyes you are looking from). For many people and entrepreneurs in particular, the idea of communication while workshifting needs to be a top priority as the other elements we have talked about today fall into line if there is routine and efficient communication.

Conclusion

Today I really wanted to share some ideas and concepts that have been brewing in my head over the last few weeks. These are challenges in my own business and in businesses that I have the pleasure of learning about or working for. They all tend to be different for every business but the same in nature and the way you go about setting triggers and responses to combat the situations.

The main theme is surrounding your business and your work with actionable goals that continue to help you grow. Once you have these goals it becomes much easier to develop communication strategies, adapt to work environments, work with teams or by yourself, get motivated and manage your time. Let's talk in the comments below and see how you manage and work with these problems.

Photo by: David R. Carroll