Over the last few weeks the technical press have been moving up a gear. If like me you follow this particular section of media, you won’t be able to read anything that doesn’t make reference to the iPhone this plus iPhone that.
Soon, this will also be filled with news about the upcoming Watch, which is of course Apples new wrist placed technology that will result in you staring blankly at your arm for any small piece of information.
Apple without a doubt has been instrumental in the drive of technology over the last decade.
In fact, when we started Need More Time our first computers didn’t even have the power of many of the smart phones you can buy now.
All this progress is great, but how does it really support the small business owner? Is it really of assistance or just another piece of technology you have to worry about, and remember to charge!
On the road, out of reach.
Before starting Need More Time I worked in sales and was often on the road travelling around the UK meeting clients. I quickly found that I was being drawn back to the office to carry out administration from my weeks’ meetings. I detested doing that.
I mean, it was great as the business was successful but I knew that if I could find a way to delegate the admin I would become more efficient and more successful.
My attempts to create a true wireless office were met with wires, cost, and more often than not frustration (because of more wires) as the solutions I had found only worked in the very best scenarios and typically, rarely in practice.
In short my passion for a true mobile office was some way off.
Fast forward 10-15 years, and we now have all the technology to really support a true mobile office. Life should be great right? Wrong.
The truth is that I now find that the greatest barrier to my early attempts is time. It’s all very well imagining that whilst sitting in traffic, the airport lounge or walking from meeting-to-meeting I could run a business effectively, it is just not practical to deliver quality whilst on the move.
The elephant in the room with all this technological progress is of course the expectation from clients that you will be able to respond within seconds of receiving an email or document.
For most of us a quick reply is of course possible and often delivered, but a structured business based on thought, quality and consideration has now been sidelined, at least just a little, by these advances.
The first user of our own new service.
I am lucky. I was fortunate enough to come to the conclusion that what I really wanted (and more importantly needed) was the traditional support of a team. A team that I could trust delegating my work too, enabling me to focus on my strengths. This is why I use Need More Time for my own business interests.
Creating and using this service (I was the very first) has been a revelation.
I can now manage my time in order to maximise every hour of the working day to greater effect. I also don’t have to run to the phone or sweat when my mobile starts ringing in that meeting, wondering if I was missing a new client or sale.
Over the coming months, thanks to Apple, Samsung and many other *reputable* technology businesses, we will undoubtedly see and hear about great new products that will revolutionise our lives.
For the most part they will have a positive effect, but for the small business owner like you and me, the one thing we need is time and no technology will deliver that in the way we need. Yet.
As a gadget lover I will still be waiting patiently though for snippets of their marketing teams magic, as you never quite know what will be the solutions to come. And you never know, in the next 10 years even I may be surprised.
Until next time,
Mike.