I’m making some more switches to my business to make it more mobile.
Coinciding with the death of my laptop, I’ve decided to make an extra effort to make all of my business files accessible from the web. And preferably in more than one place.
This way if my laptop suddenly shuts down on me, is stolen, or some other tragedy… not much time will be lost.
Some people put this type of planning off because it will “never happen to them.” Well, I know I’m not the only one who has lost plenty of cash because of system failure.
And having a “mobile” system will help me to be more independent and more free.
Here are some of the most recent changes.
1) The email address associated with my domain now forwards all mail to my GMail account. I’ve had all mail routed through this account to take advantage of Google’s spam filters in the past… but now that I’ve started using Web Mail exclusively I’ve decided to trust Google more than my web host’s shared server.
I may have all mail sent to this email address also forwarded to another free account on Yahoo or MSN to keep backups.
2) If you’ve followed me on Twitter you know that I’m fed up with WYSIWYG editors like Dreamweaver and NVU. They make me curse loud enough for the neighbors to hear and I need to make sure I don’t get any more notes put on my door.
I’ve created my own text-based editor that allows me to type my sales letter at the speed of thought… and then hit “Generate” to create a web-ready HTML document. Talk about simple.
It’s set up to keep a draft on hand from every saving point to be quickly recalled if needed.
Also, the editor runs on one of my websites so I can work on copy from any computer in the world, at any time. And each saving point is saved to the web-host for easy recall if I need to go back… but it’s also emailed to another free address for instant back up.
This means I’ll be able to get rid of my “First Back Up” service that’s really been annoying me anyway.
3) I’ve started drifting away from applications that need to be saved to my computer. The text-based editor is an example. But I’m also using Google’s calendar to manage my schedule… basecampHQ to manage my projects… and more.
In all, it makes my business very mobile and not tied to just one laptop that could die at any moment (the new one will be here shortly).
Hope these tips will help your business.