Much has been said about managing internet companies with smart phones.
In fact, the internet is filled with tips and advice on that matter. And I bet many of you go around thinking how lucky those internet marketers are. They don’t have to go to the office, or even open up their laptops to check how much their business has grown since last week or so. They can do it whenever they please and get their work done. Or at least a major part of it.
But what about traditional businesses like yours or mine? Do we have to be confined to our desks to run and manage our companies? Can we not push our businesses forward while stuck in traffic?
Well, the good news is that we can. I have been managing my business through a smart phone for over a year now. In fact, even most of the posts you read on this blog (including this very one) were drafted on my iphone.
I became almost office free with the phone.
Of course all my work still has to be done on my laptop, that’s unavoidable. However, all aspects of running a business are often managed from my phone and I tell you, life has never been easier.
But don’t take me wrong, this post hasn’t been written to praise mobile phones. I do experience the negative sides of using them too. In fact, since the phone has become my office I learnt to shut it down in the evening and weekends. Otherwise I would never leave work. During the week however, it is my best business companion and here is how I use it to grow my business:
Communication
Apart from making phone calls (obviously!) and sending email I use Skype to communicate on the go. It’s not the lightest on the battery yet it allows me to reach the office quickly to check or discuss any issue, especially in situations when I can’t make a call.Collaboration / project management
Basecamp is our main project management tool and I have a copy of it’s mobile companion on my phone. This allows me to keep track of progress on projects and respond to any client inquiries quickly.Customer Management
I am notorious for searching for new prospects, researching them and qualifying to initiate the sales process. But I rarely have time to do it in the office. My phone and it’s built in browser however allow me to google as many prospects as I want to, research them, check their Linked in profiles through it’s iphone app and once that’s done, add them to our CRM software, Highrise, through it’s native app too. And I can do all that while waiting in the queue to get my lunch.Invoicing and money management
I use PayPal for iPhone to check our online payments (this unfortunately constitutes only a fraction of all the money we get, the rest is managed the normal way, through the bank) and minibooks, Freshbooks mobile application to manage all our invoices and proposals.Website and blog
Our sites are built on WordPress and I use WP’s native iphone app to manage them. I can do whatever I want with the site’s content through the app, post news, edit content etc. It allows me to keep it up to date whenever I have a second of free time, as opposite to booking time in the office to do it. Even this blog is also partially managed through my phone.Social networking
Social networking is a big part of every business these day but honestly, most small business owners have hardly any time for it. The only time you can catch up with your Twitter or Facebook is when you are either at your desk and working really hard (that’s when they are the most tempting) or you are stuck somewhere waiting. And the latter is when I use my iPhone to socialize with other business people online.But here is the secret why managing the business on the phone works so well for me. I simply get the best ideas on the go, when I am away from his office. Whenever I am stuck in a traffic or walking to a meeting my brain starts to work at a double speed. Thanks to my phone I can act on the quickly, be it drafting a post, emailing some project ideas to a client or updating a website.
Please note that this post contains NO affiliate links whatsoever. Just thought I’d let you know.
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