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Top 5 Tips for Running Your Web Business Off Your Smartphone

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By Admin

If the ads are any indication, you would think that no one runs a business from anywhere else! The ease of use and portability makes this seem the perfect scenario. With our lives pulled in so many directions, and our time so stretched, the ability to take your web business with you and do work while you roam is enticing for those of us forced to embrace multitasking as a way of life. Let’s look at several concerns you’ll want to bear in mind as you hit the road with your smartphone!

Web Connectivity – While all the current crop of Smartphones and their successors do and will continue to have better and better internet access, the ability to go wherever you want is no longer an issue. In fact, your Smartphone is very likely faster than your laptop in many respects, such as accessing the internet, thanks in large part to faster and more capable mobile networks. Checking email, using the phone, keeping social networks posted is all very easy on your Smartphone. The only downsides are the smaller size, which can make it very difficult to read some web pages, and the incessant scrolling.

Dealing With Documents – Most Smartphones allow you to open almost any document in Word or Excel, or even on Google Docs. That’s the good news. The bad news is that editing these documents is another thing entirely. The small format makes it a beast to type in any significantly long text, and makes this a task much better suited to a time when you are in front of your laptop or desktop. Making small edits can be done, but be wary of your formatting doing this as well.

Smartphone Security – Keeping both your smartphone and your data secure is an essential task. Don’t leave it lying about; thieves thrive on opportunities like this. Keep it backed up, and make sure you use a password that is difficult to discover. Don’t click on any links that seem suspect to you. It’s no different than your computer in this respect. Hackers love to exploit you with phishing expeditions to ferret out your sensitive data. Turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (and makes sure your Bluetooth is operating in non-discoverable mode) when you’re not using them, as hackers can simply grab your information right out of the air if you’re not diligent. Be very careful about where and from whom you download apps and other materials. Spyware and malware can be very tricky, and what looks real may in fact not be.

Productivity – There are many applications you can run on your smartphone that will allow you to get work done, with more being added every day. Availability depends on the brand of smartphone you have, as the iPhone has many thousands of apps, but the others are catching up fast. Managing money, payrolls, sales, appointments and more is easier than ever.

Printing Docs – To perform this you’ll need to connect to a network and use a mobile access printer, or use Bluetooth. It’s a bit more difficult than with your trusty memory stick, but I suspect that will be changing very soon as well.

There are many ways to run your web business off your Smartphone. Just be sure you have security foremost in your mind, and that you’re not trying to do more than the device is actually suited to do, such as large amounts of data entry, and you’ll get good results!