Modern Entrepreneurs Cut Costs with Mobile Offices

By Matthew O'Connell, IDG Creative Lab
  

In order to thrive, entrepreneurs need to stay determined, agile, and under budget.  When you’re building a business from the ground-up, brick-and-mortar office space can be more of a barrier than a benefit.  There are a lot of overhead costs to maintaining an office, and many entrepreneurs have found that they can do just fine without it.  Some get by with little more than an Intel inspired Ultrabook™ and a solid work ethic, while others require a bit more of a presence.

Mobile offices provide a range of cost-effective alternatives to leasing office space while retaining a lot of the benefits.  The most common ways to step into the mobile office environment are either by using shared office space or a virtual office service.

Shared Office Space

Shared office spaces have been popping up all over the place in recent years, especially in big cities.  You can get anything from a reserved desk to a private office, depending on your needs and budget.  These spaces foster professional atmospheres and usually provide standard amenities like coffee stations and water coolers.  Some shared spaces allow freelancers or individuals of any profession to grab a desk, while others cater to certain industries or companies of a certain level.  With the rising popularity of these spaces, it shouldn’t be difficult to find one that suits you.

Virtual Office Service 

Virtual office providers offer a number of services to support entrepreneurs.  One great benefit is a global network of meeting rooms that can be reserved on a per-meeting basis.  They also provide prestigious downtown mailing addresses with mail forwarding service, local phone numbers that are forwarded to your mobile, and sometimes even a receptionist to take your calls.  This is ideal for the mobile professional who needs a home base without a huge bill.

Whether you’re in a coffee shop, a shared office, or on the road, it’s important to recognize certain precautions and best practices for conducting business in a mobile environment.  Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind:

Secure Your Data

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

Entrepreneurs often don’t have the safeguards, legal teams, and resources that employees at enterprise companies take for granted.  It’s a good idea to get an Ultrabook with fingerprint or facial recognition technology, like the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon, to help keep your information safe.  That way, if your Ultrabook is misplaced or stolen, a data breach will be much less likely.  It’s also good practice to encrypt your more sensitive data.  While that may seem like a hassle, there are programs that make encryption a much easier and faster process than it used to be.

Use the Cloud

You’ll likely have one main Ultrabook for all of your important tasks.  Don’t bog down the hard drive by storing all of your files and programs there.  Use cloud storage for your data and cloud-based software programs for your software.  That way your computer stays clean, and as an added bonus, you’ve got another layer of security if your Ultrabook falls into the wrong hands.

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