Self-Employed

Wow. That’s a big question that I’ve never asked myself before. It’s never been important like being at the top of a list of priorities, or even at the top of the ‘important/urgent’ quadrant of a to-do list. But it’s important to my heart, to the part of me that always has writing as the answer to the question ‘what do you really want to be doing right now’.

The comfort of keyboard clicks & screen focus soothes my soul. My writing has always been a natural outpouring of my thoughts and never a chore. Well, mostly never, unless you count struggling through sections of an unknown subject section in a tender document and even then we made it into the top 2 out of 35. Word count has always been a guiding constraint and never an impossible mountain to climb.

Brace yourselves � this is a rant.

In my opinion, mobile phone companies are right down their with real estate agents and used car salesmen. But let me lay out the facts and you can decided for yourself.

After receiving a wedding invitataion, we decided to pack up the kids and head to Wellington for a 10 day holiday. We�re self-employed with clients who rely on us, so by �holiday� I mean �time away from the office�. We accept that our lifestyle means our phones come with us and so does the laptop. Then again, we didn�t have to get annual leave approved.

I�m sick. Technically, a doctor would announce that a germ of some description has entered my body and that my immune system is in full response mode.�I�m pretty sure it�s your common garden variety cold or flu-type bug, that inhabited my 2 year old the week before.

She got lots of mummy & daddy cuddles and one day off childcare. Today, I ran errands, braved the school uniform shop, did the school run, tamed my Inbox, visited my parents & wrangled the kids into bed by myself. Then I happily collapsed on the couch to watch some recorded TV. That 40mins was as still as I�d been the whole day and I was quite happy to not be washing, tidying or even �social mediaing�. Until this blog post started to fester and here I am now in my study at 9:30pm to get it out of my head.

If you�re thinking about starting a business (congratulations!!), then technology might be the very last consideration on your mind.� With a long list of tasks in front of you (like getting a logo and stationery designed, finding an office, and working out your marketing plan), you may just requisition your home computer to start running your new business.��Let�s�look at some of your very first technology decisions.

New computer or your home PC?�� For a while, your home computer may be adequate to handle the necessities of your business.� However, if your computer time is conflicting with the children�s need to surf the internet for their homework, it may be time to consider a dedicated business computer.� Study any system specifications carefully and check the manufacturer�s websites.� Many �cheap� retail deals are superseded models, cannot be upgraded easily or may not connect to a bigger computer network, which will all be important as you grow.� Also, talk to your accountant about any tax benefits that may be gained from leasing instead of purchasing your IT assets.

If your technology stopped working, would your business stop functioning too? Is your business totally reliant on the information stored on your computer systems or could you continue to deliver 95% of your products and services and catch up on the computer work later? No matter which end of this scale your business is at, you will fare much better during a major technology outage if you plan in advance, before it happens. This month we take some of the mystery out of Business Continuity Planning.