The Virtual Entrepreneur

As a follow-up to my previous post The Case for the Virtual Office Model, I’m introducing a series of posts – detailing the steps I take evaluating requirements, assembling and installing the components of a virtual business framework. Along the way, I’ll keep track of hypothetical set up costs to see if my contention regarding minimized launch funding is valid.

 

To compliment this series, I’m also launching a series called The Virterpreneurs. The Virterpreneurs will feature profiles written by real people who operate their businesses in a virtual framework. I’ll publish these profiles in the authors’ own words with all the pros and cons delivered to you as they were presented to me. I hope you find The Virterpreneurs enlightening and motivating.

 

Establishing My Priorities

 

Deciding what’s important to you in terms of comfort, functionality, efficiency and image is as important in a virtual environment as it is in the real world. It’s also a very personal issue which is impacted by your own strengths and weaknesses as well as the industry you are involved in. Since I will be building My virtual business framework, it will be a reflection of my own preferences so please don’t give me the gears if you think I’ve left out something important. I have no doubt that your preferences will be different.

 

For the purposes of this exercise, I’ll be launching a consultancy practice. I’ll be conducting a lot of meetings to determine my clients’ requirements, present my proposals and ultimately set up and install the components required to execute my projects. Since I won’t be doing any engineering or heavy weight design work, my software will be relatively light weight office applications so I’m going to stick with a Windows based computer which will allow me to select from the widest range of applications and computers.

 

My proposals tend to include a lot of graphics as well as photos, audio and video recordings so I’ll need to cover these requirements when I select my hardware and software.

 

I’ll want a professional address to enhance my credibility but I haven’t yet decided if I want to use an auto attendant or a real person to answer my phone. I expect to meet most of my clients in virtual space using VoIP services or a web meeting facility but there may be times when I will need a professional work space to meet and work with clients in person. As I am planning to market my services over the internet, I also expect to do some work internationally so occasional access to meeting spaces in Canada and Europe may be an issue to consider.

 

In terms of communications I intend to work directly through my computer or with my cell phones. My U.S. cell phone does not work in the islands where I live for much of the year so I have a second phone with a Bahamian number. Because of these limitations, I need a voice system that can provide a stable phone number and respond directly to callers or forward calls to any of the cell phones I use in a manner which is transparent to the caller. Call quality is also an issue of concern. While many computers include a built in microphone, these tend to pick up a lot of ambient noise which is distracting and makes conversations hard to follow. To overcome this problem when communicating directly through my computer, I use a high quality head set and this will be part of my hardware shopping list as well.

 

Most of my digital document delivery will take the form of email file attachments or file downloads from my web site and I will have occasional need for fax transmissions. Since I can’t support a dedicated fax machine without a land line and I really don’t want another piece of equipment, the ideal system should also support a fax function directly from my computer.   

 

In terms of my day to day workspace, I’m pretty flexible (you have to be when you live on a sail boat). I don’t get distracted easily and as long as I can leave my equipment set up, I can work just about anywhere. That being said, because my work environment is space challenging, cabling can be a problem so I prefer to set up a wireless environment where ever I can. That way all I have to do is open my laptop and get to work.Before I moved aboard Chapter X, our 40ft Manta sail cat, I had a dedicated work space at home. My home office was not fancy but it had the advantage of a door I could close to establish privacy. Aside from my hardware, my furniture consisted of a comfortable chair and a knock down desk and I never spent more than $400 for all of this stuff. Space allowing, I would choose a dedicated work space; though not practical for me – I’ve learned to work effectively regardless – these costs aren’t included in my startup calculations. If you’re fortunate enough to have the space for a home office, you may want to read an article in Entrepreneur titled Design the Ideal Home Office for some great ideas. 

 

I do make one concession to comfort in my work environment on the boat, a large external monitor. This allows me to open more application windows when I’m working on a complicated project. It also provides an ergonomically superior arrangement by allowing me to keep my head up while I type. This may sound like a minor advantage but spend a bunch of hours with your head and neck bent down to look at your laptop’s screen and your stiff neck will tell you otherwise. I think an external monitor makes me more efficient and it’s not a big expense so I’m going to include one on my shopping list.

 

Another way I compensate for the lack of a dedicated real world work space is by creating profiles on my laptop. Profiles function

like specialized offices that are dedicated to specific tasks. I have separate profiles for administrative functions, for social networking and for production. I’ll get into this idea in detail as a separate post but for now, I have to factor this into my decision regarding a computer because it forces me to up the ante in terms of both storage and memory.

 

I also hate paper. It’s expensive to generate and maintain. I can never find my paper documents, I have no place to put the stuff and as I move around a lot, I never seem to have the paperwork I need when and where I need it. To address these issues, I intend to store everything on my computer’s hard drive in digital format so I won’t need filing cabinets or space to keep them. In the rare case that original signatures must be stored, I’ll let my lawyer or accountant deal with it. This means that when I make my computer selection, the size of my hard drive(s) will be a major consideration.

 

The only time I actually generate hard copy is when I’m proofing my work or when I have to prepare documents to deliver to a client or prospect. For proofing, print quality is not an important issue but for presentation purposes image quality is at the top of my priority list (just below content). Since the cost of printers which can generate quality output is high and I have no space for this kind of equipment, I’ve decided that I will outsource printing of presentations to professional digital printers and make my printer purchase based only on my proofing requirements. My printer will also have to have scanning capability so that I can digitize any paper documents I receive so that these can be stored digitally as well.

 

Last but certainly not least on my list is how I will back up my files. This is an issue which is for many people a secondary consideration. However, my entire business will exist on my computer and that puts backups near the top of my list of concerns.

 

There are several issues I need to address and prioritize to make a decision about how I will run my backups. My first concern is protecting my data which is my most valuable asset. The second issue is how I will recover from a fatal crash and how quickly I can get back up and running if this kind of event occurs. The third issue is the security of my backup data and the last issue is portability.

 

I have 2 basic approaches I can take to backups. I can use an external hard drive to copy my files locally or I can use an off-site internet based backup service.

 

I use a structured file system for data which I covered in my post called Set Up The Ultimate File Structure. This type of file structure makes data backup a snap because I can make a complete copy of all my data by copying a single directory. In my opinion however, this doesn’t really cover the problem of a catastrophic failure because if I have to set up another machine, I will still have to reinstall all my software and configure my settings to suit the way I work. To make this situation as painless as possible, I prefer to make a mirror copy of my hard drive(s) which can be copied over to a new machine. Once completed, the new machine will be an exact clone of the one that failed. The limitation is that for mirror imaging to work, I need a second computer that is exactly the same make and model as the one I will use every day. This is necessary because the hardware and supporting drivers have to match for the mirror copy to function correctly. Buying 2 computers is obviously expensive but it can prove to be cheap insurance in the event of a major problem so I’ll keep it in mind when I go shopping for equipment.

 

Internet based backup systems have some great advantages. They are the ultimate solution in terms of portability as long as you have access to a high speed connection and they solve the problem of exposing your backup to loss due to fire or theft. The concerns I have with this are that it exposes my data to third party hacks, I don’t always have a high speed connection, I am dependent on the financial health of the company I contract with (what happens if they go out of business) and it represents an ongoing if relatively small expense.

 

This pretty much covers my priorities regarding the operational issues of my virtual business framework. There are of course, other matters that need to be addressed such as the legal form of my enterprise, where it will be registered and how these things will impact taxes and banking. While issues are beyond the scope of my blog but the fact that my business platform is virtual, provides me with additional latitude when looking at my alternatives in this regard.

 

In part 2 of this series, I’ll develop my shopping list based on the priorities I’ve outlined so stay tuned.