Imagine working from a sailboat, 2,500 miles from your home office, without your own personal computer. Imagine replying to emails, loading blog posts, creating spreadsheets, even taking part in a weekly team meeting, all while being away from your office and personal computer.
Sounds impossible, right? It isn’t. I’ve done it.
Got wireless? Then you can work “in the cloud”
Cloud computing offers entrepreneurs, small business owners and bloggers the luxury of working virtually anywhere. When you work “in the cloud” you aren’t tied to one computer, your files aren’t saved on your personal computer, rather they are saved virtually, online.
Cloud computing can also offer peace of mind. With files not being housed on your computer, there’s no worrying about a computer crash. Best of all, you do still have the ability to save any important files, to say, a USB flash drive, should you want extra security.
Who should work in the cloud?
Cloud computing is a fantastic option for:
- Entrepreneurs who travel for business or pleasure. Plain and simple, it allows you to take your entire office with you virtually.
- Bloggers who travel for conferences or on brand ambassador trips.
- Small businesses with virtual teams. Working in the cloud is similar to a brick and mortar office having an Intranet. You can share files, edit documents, work on presentations together – perfect for teams who are spread out geographically or work from a home office.
With cloud computing, wherever you go, there you are, able to work, get to important files and share information seamlessly.
Tools that let you work virtually anywhere
The Mack Daddy of cloud computing: Google Apps
Google Apps is nothing short of amazing. This one stop shop can handle your email, with custom email address extensions (i.e. YourName@YourCompany.com), a calendar that can be shared with whomever you’d like (you can even embed it on your site), and the ability to add multiple users as you add employees or virtual assistants.
Google Apps also has an entire suite of document creation goodies:
- Text documents
- Spreadsheets
- Drawings
- Forms (these make perfect contact forms for your site or blog)
- Presentations
Consider Google Apps your traveling office, with you where ever you go. It will change your life. Best of all? It’s free.
Other amazing tools to use when running your business in the cloud:
Yammer:
Yammer is a twitter-like app for your small group or small business. It allows you and your team to share status updates on projects, alert to any problems, and stay connected. Messages are immediate and Yammer can be put on your computer so that you see a little pop up each time someone yammers. If you are away from your computer, you can check in online or on your smart phone. It’s free!
Wrike:
This online task tracking tool helps you stay on top of your to-dos, you guessed it, virtually! It can integrate with your email, making creating tasks a breeze. It’s in the cloud, so no matter where you are you can get to your tasks and get ‘em done. It’s a fantastic tool to help virtual teams stay on track. Wrike isn’t free, but they do offer a free trial with full functionality.
Dropbox:
Dropbox is the place to go when you need to share large files or ones that aren’t compatible with Google apps, such as videos. This can be put on your computer or accessed online when working out of the office. Dropbox is free for up to 2GB.
Get On the Cloud
As you can see, cloud computing makes it possible to work virtually anywhere. And for mom entrepreneurs whose kids and work always have them on the go, this is a wonderful thing.
Heather Allard
Latest posts by Heather Allard (see all)
- It’s Time to Say Farewell and Hello - October 27, 2013
- 5 Ways to Keep Your Entrepreneurial Spirit Up - September 15, 2013
- How to Create a Positive Company Culture - August 28, 2013
I love working in the cloud! Without the cloud, my job wouldn’t be possible. Every single one of my clients is located in a state other than ID where I live. I use QuickBooks Online so both myself and my client can access their accounting info at any time. It is SO simple! I also use dropbox for sharing other files. It is amazing how the cloud makes the distance between me and my cleints a non-issue.
I have to say that my favorite online tools for my business has got to be “Project Bubble” and of Course “Google Apps”.
Quickbooks online is a good cloud accounting service. You can have an accountant who has access from anywhere too! And any QB desktop version can be turned into a cloud computing program by being hosted by a service remotely.
Great tip, Rebecca. Thanks for sharing that. 🙂
Heather
I love Dropbox, and I work in the cloud even at home so that I can seamlessly move from my desktop to my laptop to my iPad without missing a beat!
I do the same thing, Mandi. You don’t have to be a jet setter to love cloud computing. LOL. 🙂
Heather
Thanks for posting these resources – I love google. Working from anywhere has been part of my business model. That seems like the whole point (at least for someone, like me, who likes to move around!) of working from ‘home’. I just started using ManyMoon.com instead of wrike – mainly because it effortlessly links with google docs and calendar. I would love to know what you think about it.
Thanks, Cydney. Will have to check out ManyMoon.com. 🙂
Heather
So we tried manymoon, but what we didn’t like is that if one team member created a task another couldn’t check it off as done. I don’t know if it was because we were using the free version. We moved to Central Desktop. My biz partner loves it, but I’m not loving it….yet.
Hi Hillary, we do have the functionality that you were looking for in the free version of Manymoon. You can assign multiple people to a task and either set the task so that everyone has to complete the task or just one person. Hopefully that will allow you to accomplish what you were trying to do.
Bobby
Thanks, Bobby!
I appreciate you stopping by and letting us know about Manymoon’s functionality! 🙂
Heather
Thanks so much. I really liked manymoon. It was fun to use so maybe I’ll try it again.
ooh! off to check out ManyMoon.com
(and I love that they came on here and commented to help us! Social media customer service for the win!)
Do you have any suggestions about integrated websites and accounting in the cloud?
I started turning my business over to online last year, and I love being able to work with anyone, anywhere, anytime! I agree with Sara…google docs and dropbox are 2 of my favorite online tools. My VA lives several states away, but it’s so easy for her to do work for me with these tools available!