I have some dreams I’d like to pursue, and all of them depend on more mobility and fewer time on business minutiae. I’m already fairly mobile but there are some issues I’d have to address to be completely mobile. I pose them here as I imagine others will have similar hurdles…

When I say that I’m fairly mobile, I mean that:

• Our work product and project management are all accessible and managed via the internet
• Very rarely do my employees and I need to work in the same facility–office, home, or cafe all work fine (and we all have laptops)

However, there are still things that require physical presence, increased comfort levels with various remote technologies, or changes to our existing processes. In addition, there are things that I personally need to stop doing myself and find a reliable way to outsource. Here’s the list…

• Payroll requires signatures. Possible solutions: direct deposit or a hybrid of electronic banking + mailed payroll stubs
• Bills and mail. Possible solutions: have an employee or friend process it at the office on a weekly basis or have the mail forwarded to some such person
• Data backup (currently taken care of with synchronization technology and manual backups). Possible solutions: online data backup, portable hard drive, encrypted backup DVDs that are mailed to a PO box or the office, delegate the task to someone trustworthy enough to see all data
  
• Acquisition of new business (while mostly from referrals, also from networking and involving face to face initial meetings and specification gatherings). Possible solutions: shift more marketing to targeted campaigns or (better yet) web campaigns, hire part time person who enjoys visiting customers–could be a technology business owner who I’ve worked with for years
  
• Training work (I deliver most training). Possible solutions: further develop existing programs so that others can teach them and then hire two contract trainers or one employee, focus less on acquiring training projects when I’m out of town
• Face to face communication, whether between employees or customers. Possible solutions: get more comfortable with video conferencing technology, develop more forms/processes around specification gathering, train others in both sales and specification process, communicate more via email when possible, resist the urge for one-off projects that involve more of my involvement

I think that within the next 6-9 months I can solve all of these things, specifically by:

1. Becoming more familiar with video and web conferencing
2. Finding people to assist with training and business development on a part time basis
3. Improving my remote banking processes
4. Doing more similar projects and fewer new projects
5. Investing in more technology, as necessary

With pure mobility not only can I travel for both work and personal reasons, but it puts me in a better position to be less integral to the business. There’s no better way to ensure you’re not vital to your organization than to simply not be there. It’s not that I don’t want to stay with SET Consulting–I do–it’s that I want SET Consulting to exist whether or not I’m able to run it. Otherwise I could potentially leave my employees and clients in the dust. Furthermore, taking myself away from the day-to-day will offer more opportunity to work on the business instead of just in the business.

I have 6-9 months to address 1-5 and look at more ways to outsource. Let the games begin.

Filed under: 4-Hour Workweek, Business, Productivity, Technology

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