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.
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