Why You Should Run Your Business Online 4:
Workplace Flexibility

Workplace Flexibility BenefitsThis is the fourth post of the “Why You Should Run Your Business Online” series. If you have not yet read the previous posts, head back to the beginning to catch up.

People are creatures of habit.

For thousands of years, getting your work done meant going to a certain place; whether it was a farm, factory or office.

Today, we are more mobile than ever before.

Today, we are more mobile than ever before.  We travel to meet our customers, whether it’s across town or across the world.  We work from home offices and we struggle to balance our time between our work and personal lives.

Along the way, where we get our work done has become less important than actually getting our work done. Here’s where the cloud and SAAS come into play by helping you make the most of your time.

Value Component 3: Workplace Flexibility

When you use the cloud and SAAS, you can literally run your business from anywhere as long as you have a computer that can connect to the Web.

Anything that allows you to get more done is worth its weight in gold.

People have more and more to do in their day, both business and personal, and anything that allows you to get more done is worth its weight in gold.

Being able to access your software and data from anywhere is an invaluable capability. You can make much more efficient use of your time and fit in all the things you need to for your work life and want to for your personal life.

Ride Sally, Ride

Workplace flexibility certainly helps our friend Sally with the PR firm.

Sally leaves her office early to go watch her daughter’s softball game.  She leaves extra early, even though she has work left to do for tomorrow, because she needs to beat traffic to be on time.

Because she beat the traffic, Sally gets to the ball park with plenty of time to spare.  Sitting in her car, she works on her laptop, connected to the Web with a broadband cellular card.  She sends out four invoices, re-edits two press releases which she then submits for review and answers a client question in their shared work space.

Running your business in the cloud makes you mobile and frees you in ways you never thought possible.

Sally works until she hears a knock on the driver’s side window.  Her daughter is standing there smiling.

Work complete, she closes up her laptop, comes out of the car, gives her daughter a hug and goes to watch the game.

Running your business in the cloud makes you mobile and frees you in ways you never thought possible.

Imagine

Imagine paying your company’s bills while sitting in an airport waiting for a plane.

Or, if you need a change of scenery, you can head to the local coffee shop for a cuppa’ joe and STILL get work done while you enjoy the hustle and bustle of the crowds passing by.

Imagine staying home with your sick child and not missing a full day of work.

I can work at home, at a client’s office or in the middle of a field under a tree (and have)!

Inside my laptop is a communications card that is essentially a cellular phone.  For under $60 a month, I can access the Web at high speed from any spot in the world where I can get a cellular phone signal.  I can work at home, at a client’s office or in the middle of a field under a tree (and have)!

Last year, I purchased a new device, a “mobile hotspot”.  It does the same thing as my communications card except it allows up to five computers to connect to the Web.  This has been very handy during meetings!

If I leave my laptop behind, I can use any computer to connect to the Web and get my work done.  I have done this at client’s offices, Internet cafes and even at the homes of my friends and family.

The cloud is where I get my work done.

The cloud is where I get my work done.

Join me next time for the 4th value component and more examples of the advantages of running your business online.

Comments

  1. I’ve been running my business mainly from the ‘clouds’ over the past 2 years Matt and it has changed my life. Heck, today I find myself at a hotel in Atlantic City and I made great money just doing online training from my hotel room this morning. It’s amazing, really amazing…and I love it.

    Great post bud.

    marcus

    • Marcus,

      Thanks for your story and thanks for confirming the point of my post so powerfully!

      The ability to work from the road and fill-in your time away with money-making activities is a key advantage to running your business online.

      Thanks for sharing!

      -Matt

  2. I have been working mostly remotely since the late 80’s. The technology has steadily improved and opened the door for more & more people to work from where ever they are. I think it folks are more productive when they can work where ever & whenever. I found the hardest part to be stepping away from the computer & keeping some balance.

    • Thanks for sharing!

      Yeah, it’s certainly a double-edged sword. However, if asked to work extra hours, wouldn’t it be nicer to be able to do it at home rather than trudging into the office.

      Other than that, time to get a hobby that takes you away from the pc. 🙂

      -Matt

  3. I’m so behind. See, I can USE the tools just fine. But when it comes to finding the right deals/configurations and all that I always lean on friends. But mobile is the way to go and I’m fast approaching the time to buy a laptop. I definitely see the value in having this kind of flexibility on the go.

    Jon

Trackbacks

  1. BizSugar.com says:

    Why You Should Run Your Business Online 4: Workplace Flexibility…

    Learn how “Workplace Flexibility” leads to better time and life management — Part 4 of the 10 part series: “Why You Should Run Your Business Online”…

  2. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Matt Mansfield, Matt Mansfield. Matt Mansfield said: "Why You Should Run Your Business Online". Part 4: "Workplace Flexibility": http://ow.ly/3J2Qf #smallbusiness #saas #cloud #startup […]

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