Small Business Tips for Disaster Preparedness from The Anywhere Office

With our first named storm bearing down this season (Hurricane Irene) and a recent earthquake in the Washington, DC area it’s the yearly wake-up call for small businesses to start thinking about business continuity and disaster preparedness. I prefer to talk about it from this perspective, ‘continuity’ and ‘preparedness’,  rather than “disaster recovery”. With a smart, flexible business structure in place, hopefully you won’t need much recovery.  Instead, you are fluid and can simply roll with whatever comes along.  If  you work in The Anywhere Office – you’re mobile and  can communicate and collaborate across time and distance. You can work where and when you need to – just like you do every day.

Not quite there yet?  That’s OK – you’re not alone – and we’ve got you covered!

Below are some useful disaster preparedness resources including websites, an episode of our radio show, a free business continuity teleseminar,  and some recommended tools to help you weather any storm.

AUDIO (Radio Show Archive):

Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail (Business Continuity in the Changing World of Work)
There are many potential obstacles that can interrupt a company’s ability to do business as usual: inclement weather, natural disasters, special events, transit strikes, and skyrocketing transportation costs just to name a few. In this episode from our radio show archive we took a look at the differences between business continuity and disaster recovery as well as some strategies and technology to help you and your organization prepare. Jason and I talk with Brian Donahoo of Citrix Online, makers of GoToMyPC and GoToMeeting, to explore how aspects of the digital lifestyle can address and overcome these obstacles. As the Zen proverb says . . . The obstacle is the path.

FREE TELESEMINAR:

Riding the Storm Out (Tips to develop a business continuity plan)
Consider this, almost 40% of small businesses that close due to a disaster event never re-open.

What would you do if the building your business is located within was damaged or destroyed in a disaster? Where would you go to continue providing your business services? Would you have the resources, databases, contact information and other necessary items to adapt to these changes? Read more

Mobile Printing with FedEx Office Print & Go (win a free test kit)

If you’re a mobile worker on the go, one of the challenges you’ve probably faced is how to print your documents when you’re on the move.  Maybe you’re on the road meeting with clients, or on your way to make a presentation, and need to get some handouts or a report printed.  Well here’s a solution – a great service I tested recently from FedEx Office called Print & Go. It lets you print from your mobile device or USB flash drive at more than 1600 FedEx Office locations. I was very impressed with how well it worked, so I want to explain what it does and how it works as I know for many of you it’s probably just what you have been looking for.

Let me start by letting you know, in the spirit of transparency, that I was contacted by the folks at FedEx as they were looking for bloggers in the mobile work space to review this new service.  They sent me a “test kit” which included a 512 MB USB flash drive pre-loaded with instructions on how to use the service and a $25 FedEx Office gift card to cover the cost of anything I chose to print with the service.  They also offered to provide a similar “test kit” for me to giveaway, so make sure you read to the end of this post to find out how you can enter to win.

With FedEx Print & Go you can print from your iPhone^®, BlackBerry^® smartphone,  Android^TM phone, or USB flash drive. I tested the service with my iPhone 4 as well as the USB flash drive they sent me.

Their service allows you to print to any of their self-service machines. What can you print you ask?

• Accepted file types include Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint and Adobe PDF documents. (Update – the service now also supports JPG, TIF, and other image formats)
• To print other formats, or for binding and other finishing options, you can see a FedEx Office employee at the store.

To begin using FedEx Office Print & Go from your iPhone, BlackBerry smartphone, or Android device you first have to download the HP ePrint app.

I jumped to the Apple App store and downloaded the HP ePrint app. This app lets you do more than print to the FedEx Print and Go service.  It also lets you print to other public print locations as well as to wireless HP printers that support AirPrint.

The app wanted to use my current location to find nearby public print locations so I clicked OK.  It then asked me to create an account with my email address. I receive an activation code via email and enter into the app and clicked activate to complete the registration process. Read more

Phil Simon Video Interview – The Age of the Platform (and How to Crowdsource a Book)

Recently I had the pleasure of having a video chat on Skype with my friend Phil Simon about his upcoming book The Age of the Platform. In it he explores how Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are using the “platform” as a new business model. He explains how they are embracing partnerships, third parties, communities, and ecosystems in very interesting and different ways.

After talking with Phil about the book it sounds fascinating and it’s obvious he is passionate about the topic. I can’t wait to read it!

What’s really interesting is the way he’s publishing the book. Rather than go the traditional publishing route his is going it on his own (with his own publishing company he started when writing his last book The New Small).

In the video interview below we talk about the book and how he’s using crowdsourcing and Kickstarter.com to fund this project. You can also win a free signed copy of the book – just read on below:

Here are a few links to info we mention in this video: Phil talks about a Korean Movie Director who shot an entire movie on his iPhone. He also mentions the Nano Watch as one of the most successful Kickstarter projects ever.

If you haven’t heard about Kickstarter it is a funding platform focused on a broad spectrum of creative projects. Through it you can offer rewards such as copies of the work, limited editions, fun experiences in exchange for different amounts of money that people donate to fund or back a project.

If you are an aspiring author, or have any great idea for a project but need funding for it you’ll be very interested to hear Phil talk about Kickstarter in this video. Read more

Cloud Constraints: Relieving the Pressures Working at Home Creates

This is only the second guest post we have had here on The Anywhere Office. I was delighted when Ripley Daniels approached me about writing this for the blog. As someone who has been working virtual for years and now works with a company that is completely remote she has some great lessons learned to share about making the shift to virtual work.

I was just talking with someone the other day about when I first started working primarily from my home office.  The adjustment period took at least 6 months for me to find my workflow and adjust to my space (or adjust my space to my work).  Ripley shares some essential strategies here to help make the transition easier.

Thanks for the great article Ripley . . . take it away . . .

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Being a telecommuter may seem like a dream come true but there are often many aspects of working from home that can cause tension, stress and even depression. For most people, transitioning from an office environment to a home office is both daunting and difficult. The office environment facilitates a social setting where you interact with your co-workers throughout the day. Working from home immediately limits your opportunity to socialize and at times can create a sense of isolation that can be hard to adjust to. Another possible change you will undergo is balancing your work and home life. This can be extremely challenging as working from home blurs the lines.

In order to get the most out of your telecommuting experience, it’s important to have a strategy. Here are some simple steps to help relieve the pressure and tension that working at home might create:

1. Create a specific work space. There is nothing more distracting than trying to work in front of the television or in a common area where the children might be playing or your spouse might be on the phone. If possible, turn a guest room into a home office where you can set up a desk, computer and other office supplies as well as where you can hold conference calls and teleconference calls without any distractions or disruptions. If you do not have an additional room or space, designate a Read more

Catch my video chat with Dave and Brian on Freelance Jam

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of joining my friends Dave Yankowiak and Brian Casel on their awesome web video show Freelance Jam. Dave runs AnywhereMan.com and once we met on Twitter and chatted on Skype we knew we had a lot in common! The show is targetted toward independent professionals who build the web but anyone who runs a small business can learn a lot from their guests and discussions.

In this edition of the show we talked about things like how to build trust with clients you may never meet face to face, working in virtual teams, what effect technology has on the shift from employee to freelancer and the future of the “anywhere lifestyle” – being able to do the work where and when you want. Read more

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