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Blog posts tagged project management
Ten applications to connect your home office to the world
July 05, 2010
Here are my top ten software applications that can enable you to connect your home office to customers, contacts and partners in the world beyond.
Attend meetings
Say ‘hello’ and talk business with contacts by using these online tools and services:
- Dimdim – enables you to attend live meetings, demonstrations and webinars
- Ketchup – enables you to share and record meeting notes
- Pow Wow Now – free conference calling at ‘Open Access’ level. Priced packages also available
- Skype – free and easy to use conference calls for Skype users
- Tinychat – group video conferencing, for free
- GoToWebinar – host a meeting of many and present to potential customers by inviting them to join you for an interactive webinar
Manage projects
Stay on top of projects and in touch with partners via one of these project management tools:
- Basecamp – allows you to create projects, invite people to view them, upload files and make comments. It’s effective online project management that can be accessed from anywhere
- GoogleDocs – share documents via Google with GoogleDocs. You can edit on the move, choose who accesses documents and share changes in real-time
- Glasscubes – this tool offers project management, collaboration and CRM (customer relationship management) all in one package
- Huddle – offers simple and secure online workspaces. Huddle is hosted, so there’s no software to download and it’s free to get started
There are also technologies you can adopt to ensure your business travels with you. These include: webmail systems that enable access to your emails from anywhere; a remote desktop offering files and folders on the go; or web-based office systems such as Google Apps or Open Office, so your entire business is stored online and in easy reach. I’ll cover these in detail in a future piece. Until then, happy homeworking and connecting with the globe.
Emma Jones is Founder of Enterprise Nation the home business website and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up – how to start a business from home’ and ‘Working 5 to 9 – how to start a business in your spare time’.
Workaholic Anonymum
March 22, 2010
I love having my own business. I love the fact that I develop my own products and I meet people who are really good at their jobs who are generous with their advice and can help me with aspects I haven’t got specialist knowledge on - for example, testing my products in a lab for shelf life or designing a website. I love the opportunities, the dream that I can bring a new product to market and that people will love it.
I also like the feeling that I can contribute to helping improve other people’s lives through generating jobs and purchasing goods at fair prices, and be a positive role model to my children.
There is no denying that this keeps me busy. I sometimes have to be away from home a lot and work very long hours. Yesterday, my husband and I were stuck at the Belfast Airport as our flight back from our friends’ wedding was delayed. We set up camp on at comfy sofa in a coffee shop and started planning our next steps for 2010.
We talked business strategy, learning needs, project management tools and the fact that it looks like I’ll have to work away from home a lot. "Do you think the children feel that I am not around enough?" I asked him. Conflicting thoughts. I have heard them speaking about the fact that their mum is an entrepreneur and has a business and that I sometimes appear in the paper and on websites. But they are growing up really quickly and I say to them that although I may not be physically at home, they can contact me and I am always available to talk to them.
"Can you work really hard, be away from home sometimes and still be a good mum?", I ask my children. They both say “yes” and I sigh with relief. They tell me that they know that I care for them and that is, I think, the bottom line. I ask them what they are learning, if anything, about the fact that I have to put a lot of time into my work. “It’s a lot of time, but hopefully if I try really hard at something I really want to do, I can be successful” my daughter says, and I think this is a good lesson.
You can find out more about Marcela on the new interactive business website www.inafishbowl.com
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