Mobil Business part 2b

There are so many ways to remain active with your business/Etsy shop while you’re away from home, even if you don’t have a laptop to bring with you. I highly recommend the “holy trinity” of Blog, Etsy shop and Flickr (or other photo sharing site).

Keeping active on Etsy can be as simple as creating multiple listings and leaving them in edit mode (don’t hit the final finish button). Then all you have to do when you are away is get online and hit “finish”.

Or if you don’t want to or have time to pre-write a bunch of listings, upload all the photos you need to Flickr and access them from there.

If you have a PDA or smart phone you may even be able to logon from there (sorry BlackBerry users, looks like we’re excluded from this). Very helpful if you need to reply to convos.

Having a BlackBerry has made me almost computer free on the road. Replying to convos is the only hurdle I have yet to figure out so if you know the trick, please tell us in a comment! One thing I think is very important is to contact each customer after making a sale to make sure they know I’m out of town (not everyone finds your item through the shop home page to see announcements). This I can do by accessing the Paypal receipt and directly emailing the customer.

Blogging on the road can be done almost the same way. You can access photos from Flickr if needed. Blogger actually has a mobile blogging function built right in! http://www.blogger.com/mobile-start.g
You can take pictures with your phone and either text or email your entry directly to your blog (just test drove it here( http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6836187299330365649&postID=7229390755215973340 ) This appears to be a great option is you want to actually blog about the trip your on and use up-to-the-moment photos.

Then there is the old standby of writing posts before-hand and schedule them to be published at any time you wish (in Blogger this can be found under Edit Posts. On the right side you will see All, Drafts, Scheduled and Published).

When I travel I don’t always take my own laptop with me. My sweetie has one and it seems silly to bring two when there isn’t much on it I need. He also has an aircard. I love this little gadget! It allows him to have internet access anywhere there is a cell signal. It does use air time so it’s best to be brief. I write up whatever I need in Word (blog posts I’m working on, all regular Etsy item descriptions etc). Then I can use the aircard to get online login to Etsy or Blogger, grab the photos I need (from Flickr, the computer or directly from my phone), cut and paste the text and it’s done!

There are many more options, solutions and tricks out there. I am new to Blogging, Flickr and my BlackBerry and this is how much I learned in a short time. Think of how smooth you can be with a little more experience! I will continue to share any addition tricks and tips I learn as I become more adept at being mobile. Please feel free to share your own tips as well!

  As I read this more than 3 years later it's amazing how far technology has progressed and me with it. while many of the tips I posted here are no longer very valid the over-all idea is still the same. Use your technology to make your life easier, not harder!

The mobile business

I am posting this from a car zooming 75mph through the desert of Eastern Oregon. I have been away from home all week, on the road for 8-10 hours a day. I've made sales from my shop, replied to queries from customers and taken on two new wholesale accounts.

I may go on vacation but my shop never closes.

With today's technology there is almost no excuse for not keeping your shop open 365 days a year. Closing your shop puts you at risk of losing precious sales momentum and we all know how hard it is to build that momentum. I'm not saying there is never a legitimate time when you truly are on vacation, I'm referring to closing up shop every time you leave home for a few days.

Every year for Thanksgiving my family goes to the Oregon coast to a house that has few digital amenities. The first year I opened my Etsy shop I would "close shop" when I went away. As there was no internet access at this house I did the same. Big mistake. All the momentum and sales I had gained during this critical holiday sales period vanished and I feel I really missed out on Christmas sales that year.

As I have gotten more technically savvy (due mainly to my tech savvy spousal unit) I see how simple it is to keep things running smoothly. Even at 75mph through the desert.

The key is merely communication. I put an announcement in my shop that I am gone but I am open for business and will ship items when I return. When I make a sale I convo each customer in case they didn't see my notice, and to apologize for the delay.

Use every gadget you own to it's fullest capability. If you want to be a professional business learn and love your gadgets. You can email customers, post blog articles, update your website, upload pictures to Flickr (more on this later) and your customers need not even know you are away from the "office"

This can be done quickly and with no fancy gadgets. Whether you go to a local library or an internet cafe, or have mobile wireless access with an aircard (as I do now), it only takes a hour at the end of the day to keep things running.

Next time I'll go into more in detail about how many different ways to utilize your gadgets and keep your business running smoothly even when you're on the road!

As I read this more than 3 years later it's amazing how far technology has progressed and me with it. while many of the tips I posted here are no longer very valid the over-all idea is still the same. Use your technology to make your life easier, not harder!