Traveling? Keep Your Clients Updated

plane Traveling this summer? Be a savvy traveler. You may know your plans. Your closest clients, customers, managers or co-workers may as well. But what about a prospect who's calling to inquire about a big deal he wants to close, or an ally who's e-mailing a hot lead your way? Miss those and you could lose out on some big business.

First, stay in touch BEFORE you travel. Send e-mail messages, create or change your vacation bounce-back announcement on your e-mail server, record a new outgoing voice-mail greeting to reflect your travel plans, office hours or ability to respond to messages from the road.

Make sure you back-up all your data, and remove the diskette or tape cassette to a safe location. Lock away the business checkbook, close your office blinds, and lock the office door if possible.

Also, before you go, check out The Cyber Café Search Engine. This tip comes from YouCanWorkFromAnywhere.com and Phil Montero. The site is perfect for the entrepreneur or teleworker who would like to get away from the office, but whose instincts draw them back to the workplace - if only virtually.

Before you smirk, "You workaholic," consider my predicament, and tell me if this is alien to you. While I constantly check and reply to e-mail from the road with my Blackberry (www.blackberry.net), if I let my BellSouth.net inbox go without checking for two weeks, it will get clogged with spam, ezines, messages from friends, colleagues and clients, and all sorts of digital-age detritus. The prospect of either my inbox reaching its maximum and rejecting even one important inbound e-mail, or dealing with all that mail after my vacation, is daunting and quite scary indeed.

So instead, I'll search www.cybercaptive.com, find a cyber café in Toronto (where we'll be vacationing), and drop in for 15 minutes of mailbox cleansing - and a double latte with two sugars, please. I can either bring my laptop or use one of their computers. I'll also ask our friends where we're staying if they have an Internet-ready PC.

In fact, a whole new breed of cyber cafes is emerging. The wireless "Hot Spot" provides Internet access points for users of Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) wireless Internet technology in their laptop or handheld devices.

My book, Teleworking & Telecommuting: Strategies for Remote Workers and Their Managers, includes insights and tips on managing work - even while on "vacation." Check it out at www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1563825198/qid=1040217430/sr=8 -1/ref=sr_8_1/002-1295259-1415207?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Jeff Zbar, the ChiefHomeOfficer.com, is a speaker, writer and expert on alternative officing. He is the author of Teleworking & Telecommuting: Strategies for Remote Workers and Their Managers (Made E-Z Products, 2002); Safe@Home: Seven Keys to Home Office Security (FirstPublish 2001) and Your Profitable Home Business (on CD-ROM from Made E-Z Products). Visit his Web site to subscribe to Home Office Success Stories, his free electronic magazine on home business and teleworking.

Computers | BusinessPro | TravelLeisure

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