Small Business Technology
Road Warriors
Written by Clayton Reeves for Gaebler Ventures
Entrepreneurs may need to hit the road early in the development stages of their business. During this crucial time, there are several things that can be done to turn your office into a mobile work station.
Entrepreneurs may be on the road for extended periods of time.
During this time, they may need to conduct business out of their car. Although this article is not condoning the use of these items while driving, it may be necessary to get some things done between meetings without having to unpack everything on a desk or in a public place.
Purchasing a few of these amenities can help transform your car into a moving mobile work station. That will keep you one step ahead of the competition with increased productivity.
There are several items that road warriors should really consider investing in. Here are a few that can come in handy.
Steering Wheel Desks
The first thing to buy might be a steering wheel desk. This is a flat surface that directly mounts to the steering wheel and provides a flat space to sign things, write, or place a laptop for easy access.
Depending on how spacious the car is, this desk can have room for files and other items as well. Brands like the Wheelmate Desk are beginning to catch the attention of businesses.
File Hangers for the Car
Another item worth purchasing, depending on the style of the business you conduct in your car, could be some file hangers. These conveniently hang off of a shirt hook or from the inside of a rolled up window and offer efficient, organized access to all the files and papers that you need to get to while preparing for the next sales call or meeting. They are affordable and appropriate for most cars.
A Road-Friendly Laptop
Obviously, if you are a road warrior, the Blackberry might not always cut it. If you need to make presentations or type something up, a laptop may be more suitable. If time is tight, you don't want to be caught editing or creating something on a two inch Blackberry screen. For this reason, power sources and a compact computer should be must haves for all road traveling business owners. The cost is small compared to the benefits you can get from always being connected.
More Options
Even more options can be discovered at sites like www.yourmobiledesk.com. All of the solutions there have reviews and feedback to help you make a decision.
In fact, there are several advertisement campaigns aiming at this sort of situation right now. AT&T has a "Your Moment" campaign, where they illustrate the way their broadband cards can give laptop users access to the internet wherever they are. AT&T even has solutions built for small businesses that will allow you to cater the plan to your needs. This allows greater flexibility and pricing options. Satellite internet access is becoming more affordable, and if a business user needs access anywhere and everywhere, they are pretty much a must own.
What else is there? Branding has become important in the fight for your road warrior dollar. Ford has partnered with Microsoft to create Sync, which is a small computer integrated into the car that houses all sorts of options from entertainment to blue tooth capabilities.
These are only the tip of the iceberg as more and more companies will start to compete for your dollars and create innovative solutions to meet your small business needs.
There are so many products on the market right now for becoming a road warrior, that it is hard to imagine not having them. Pretty soon, offices will become more and more mobile as the workforce goes away from centralized offices and becomes more of a dispersed, collaborative force.
When he's not playing racquetball or studying for a class, Clayton Reeves enjoys writing articles about entrepreneurship. He is currently an MBA student at the University of Missouri with a concentration in Economics and Finance.
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