Royal Jelly

My office is now truly virtual. I have worked for myself from home since 2000. I used to say my office is Starbucks and now after many years of meetings at the coffee shop and working at home in my office, I can truly say that I have a virtual office.

In the past year, I have answered important emails while playing with my toddler at a favorite playground, updated a client web site at an internet café and gained emergency access to a difficult client website using a dial up connection at a friend’s house.

I’ve tried a lot of different things over the years including a USB cellular internet connection, using a Palm to display PowerPoint presentations and even a paper (gasp) calendar. Now, I truly feel virtual and organized based on advances in both the technology available and applications to work with that technology.

Here are the most important tools I’ve found in my new virtual office:

My BlackBerry. Without question, the ability to read and respond to emails anywhere, anytime allows me to stay on the grid wherever I am. The BlackBerry Facebook application lets me stay in touch with friends. I would LOVE a Linkedin application ASAP.

Google Calendar. With its Google Sync capabilities, I’ve solved many problems. Keeping calendars on all my devices – BlackBerry, laptops, desktops, Palm – in sync along with the ability to publish 2 different public calendars and keeping most of my appointments on a private calendar. My toddler even has a calendar of important play dates.

Various Social Media Apps. In a future post, I will explain how I have streamlined my social media process for myself and some of my clients. Since we are talking virtual office here, BlackPing has been a lifesaver in allowing me to post from wherever again through my BlackBerry.

Evernote. I think that Evernote was made for me. I am constantly thinking of ideas for my clients, my blog posts, and my other businesses. Evernote lets me keep my random thoughts organized and accessible from any internet connection (including, you guessed it, my BlackBerry).

PassPack. I have a ton of passwords like everyone, but add to that all my client passwords. Since I could be out of the office when a client emergency arises, I need access to all these passwords at all times. PassPack lets me do that and keeps them secure as well.

PayPal. Strange to find on this list? PayPal allows me to bill clients if necessary when I am out of the office, receive payments and transfer to my bank account. This is crucial on long vacations.

Starbucks. The coffee chain stays on my list for not only offering a place to meet with warm, toasty beverages, but the free 2 hours of WIFI a day saves me the $30/month I was paying for cellular internet service.

All of these tools have also allowed me to downsize my laptop, removing applications I am unlikely to use when I’m out and about (read Illustrator and Photoshop), and leave me with a laptop that is super fast.

Honorable Mention goes to my wireless all in one printer which allows me to print from any computer, anywhere in my house.

All that being said, I do have a wish list: a BlackBerry app for Linkedin and Constant Contact. Please, please, please. The playground is calling.

You’ve heard about the sites: Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter. Everyone says “You need to be on there“, but you have no idea what they are or how to leverage them to increase business. You may have even joined one of two of these Social Media sites but you haven’t seen a difference in your business. If any of the above apply, then this seminar series is for you.

Social Media Marketing Seminar Series

Laura presents on integrating social media with email marketing

There’s never been a better time to stay connected with your business network than right now. Business tends to slow down over the holidays and sometimes sooner if you are like me and snowed in a week before Christmas. This is a great time to take advantage of social networking sites to stay in touch and build your network. Over the next few posts we will examine how to do that effectively using some of the top social media sites. Today we start with the #1 business networking site – Linkedin.

5 Ways to Build Your Network on Linkedin

1. Check out your Linkedin Inbox for Requests to Connect.
2. Are you connected to all your current customers and vendors?
3. Peruse the connections of your connections to see who you should be connected to but you aren’t yet – both people you know and people you want to know. Send requests to connect and don’t forget to personalize the message.
4. Are you a member of a lead share group, BNI, committee, board of directors? Are you connected to all of your colleagues from these groups? This extends to charity work as well.
5. Scan the membership of any groups you have joined on Linkedin. Are there people in these groups that you need to connect with?
6. Scan the groups your connections are in. Are there groups you need to join? These can be alumni groups, trade associations, or networking groups. If you find new groups to join, return to 5.

I hope these tips will get you started on building your network while drinking hot cocoa or eggnog or hot cider.

If you want some guidelines on who to connect with, see my post Deciding on Linkedin Invitations.