How do you feel about technology and IT? Comfortable and at ease? Uncertain and overwhelmed? Do you feel as though you’re making best or adequate use of technology in your business? I caught up with IT expert Thomas Jeffs to get some top tips for self employed people and small business owners.
So how do you feel about technology? Is it second nature to you or does talk and the thought of backing up files, Apps, downloads, tablets, mobile devices, databases, security, streaming and the Cloud make your head feel foggy and confused? This blog article – and more importantly the interview above with Tom – is aimed at simplifying things for you and your business.
There’s no doubt about it – since the start of mass use use of the personal computer and the birth of the Internet – technology has played a key role in most of our everyday personal, business working lives. Sometimes it’s so subtle or so inter-woven in our lives that we forget that we’re using it. In the context of business the internet and computing technology have changed the way face, shape and pace of business.
Some of this technology and developments, such as many free social media platforms for example, have made it possible for many small businesses to punch way beyond their weight – and mobile and portable technology utilising the Internet means that business can be done anywhere where there is a connection and signal. Nonetheless – and perhaps partly because of this boom in IT and technology – many sole traders and small business owners struggle to know where to start when it comes to technology or just feel that there’s too much to consider …or too little time to consider it.
Mindful of all of this – and of the fact that as a Soul Trader your focus may be first and foremost on doing what you do and getting your business moving rather than staying on top of technology – during the summer I interviewed Thomas Jeffs who is founder of Lucidica, a London based small business who specialise in helping small business with all aspects of technology. Thomas is passionate about technology and how it can help small businesses. He like myself is one of the partners of the British Library’s Business & IP Centre where his company and run advice sessions on all thing to do with technology to emerging and established businesses.
Having myself had to get to grips with things like finding a reliable computer for my work, syncing my emails on my phone and computer, considering how to best back update data and so on I’m mindful that there’s all sorts of things for sole traders and small business owners to consider. So I was really keen to interview Thomas in order to help simplify the technology for small business.
With technology and your needs there are likely to be differing things to consider as you start your business and as it grows and develops. While, for example when you start you might be able to manage with your phone and a laptop, once you have a couple of staff or associates who need to share information then things can soon seem far more complicated. But it may well be that your business may always be just one person but it may well be the range of products, services or logistics of your business – or just a boom in the number of clients you have or leads you wish to target – may mean that all of a sudden you have to consider some kind of database or Customer Relationship Management system.
So with all that in mind – and especially if you’re considering where you are at at the moment – I highly recommend that you have a watch of the interview above with myself and Thomas from Lucidica which was originally filmed on my own YouTube Channel but I thought it was so important and fundamental to small business that I thought I’d feature it here with a blog.
What I find amazing about IT and technology is how much it has always been part of our lives but how it simply advances and changes. Decades ago it may have been more about household appliances, modern TVs and video recorders where now it may well be far about online, mobile, hand-held and social media related technologies but it constantly changes. As I reflect on running my own business websites where really still in their infancy when I started up as a coach, social media had not really begun at all. I recall that when many social media platforms emerged – and Twitter in particular – I first of all was a reluctant adopter – and fortunately I had a friends/ colleagues who were far more long sited. In my own case I slowly – and quickly in the case of YouTube for example – realised how useful they could be to me and in reaching my current and potential clients and others. I’m also increasingly intrigued about the importance of mindfulness, compassion and consciousness when it comes to building technology based or related businesses.
I’m mindful that there’s lots of things that are part of this: the tools and hardware; software, applications and products; safety, security and shrewd sense issues; social media platforms; back up and data management; marketing and administration tools and systems and so on. So I suspect that this is an issue that we’ll return to in the future. Meanwhile I hope you find this useful to prompt you as to your next steps or just things that perhaps you could utilise or enhance.
