Here are some tips and suggestions we have for a productive mobile office.
Internet Access
You really can’t beat the deal at Boingo.com ($10/mo. for unlimited wi-fi access over their large network including all Starbucks, McDonalds, lots of airports and hotels, etc.) I’ve looked at the cellular wifi deals and they’re at least 3x more expensive and want to lock you into a 2-year contract.
Of course, David has a Blackberry so he can read emails pretty much anywhere with cell phone reception and email or text out for emergencies. Tempted to try the iPhone but don’t want to pay for the outrageously expensive phone plans.
Go Paperless!
We just recently got this neat little piece of equipment called ScanSnap (S300) manufactured by Fujitsu. I don’t normally like “uni-taskers” but in this case I was wrong. It is lightweight and does the job really well – scans multiple pages fast and both sides at the same time. Fits easily into a computer bag and has USB power cable as well as data cable so you can go entirely off USB and not travel with a bulkier power adapter.
So, maintaining a paperless office is not too hard with this neat little device. You can share scanned files with services like YouSendIt, or fax over internet (e.g. with a RingCentral account)
Mobile Printing Solution
As much as I would love to go completely paperless, we’re not there yet. For those pesky print jobs on the go (like trying to close real estate deals as we have done many times), here are some things you can try:
- Printing at your hotel’s business center. Sometimes it’s free; othertimes they charge an outrageous fee (like $5 plus a per-page fee for each print job)
- If your hotel does not have a business center, you can download FedEx Office app to print to one of their stores (for a low cost depending on paper settings and # pages) and pick up after a few hours. Sometimes you can walk in and print right away (per page charge) if the store is not too busy.
- Find a “print spot” on printeron.net and you can send your print job to a local “print spot” for free or a low price per page.
So what do you think? Got any more cool ideas I missed here? I’d love to hear from you! Please add your comment to this post.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Great ideas for mobile office. With so much info out there, it\\\’s hard to keep up with the latest. Thanks!
Hi Joey,
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts on technology that makes our mobile lives easier! I can relate to your passion on the subject and I have been meaning to write more on this subject as well, so I’m happy to find a kindred spirit!
Sounds like you’ve got a great setup going on. I’m not as evolved as far as digital signatures go, but I’ll look into it!
BTW, Boingo is a great low-cost solution, great value for the money and no long-term contract – but you may have spotty service in certain areas.
-Amber
Great article! I researched and tested mobile technology for my previous job, and I loved it! The tools are available for us to work from anywhere, but if you don’t use the right ones, you’ll end up being counter productive.
I heard of Boingo, but never used it. I have the AT&T Mercury USB Connect for Wifi/3G, that I use with my Gigabyte M912 touchscreen tablet and MacBook Pro. I also used the Pulse Livescribe pen, which is unbelievable, but ended up in my washing machine! At one point I was using a Sony UMPC, which I miss dearly and can’t wait to get another one! I think the only reason why UMPC’s aren’t more popular are because of the price, plus a couple of other features that I won’t get into, but the ‘rumored Apple Tablet’ is just another sign that we’re moving in that direction.
As far as paperless solutions, I found services such as Box.net, Dropbox and Drop.io to be another major key to survival. As much as I love Flash drives, these services allow you to store and access your documents at anytime, instead of carrying all of the paper.
One of the best features of Box.net is that they’ve continued to add features to their service, including eFax AND EchoSign. EchoSign, DocuSign and RightSignature will allow you to electronically sign your real estate deals, amongst other documents, without having to print any paper!
I always wanted to get the Scansnap, just never got to it, so thanks for the review!
Sorry for the ‘essay’ instead of a simple comment, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about a subject that I have so much passion for! You guys are right on point about this stuff and WAY ahead of most people!
Rock on!
– Joey Goodman aka Joey Buddha
Never heard of anything like this before. I’ll look into it. Thanks for the tip.