Budding business owners should go virtual wherever and whenever possible. In a fledgling startup, the last thing you need to worry about is excessive infrastructure or expensive overhead. It’s already a difficult enough task to generate income and garner clients. Why spend that precious revenue on something as useless as an office space?
Your ego might try to get the best of you, telling you that your business needs that fancy schmancy corner office with a city view. But unless your ego has a few hundred thousand dollars to cough up fo r rent and amenities, kindly tell it to shut up.
Plain and simple: The vast majority of startups — and more established businesses for that matter — don’t need a whole lot. In the last several years there have been a multitude of virtual business services that have become essential to millions of business owners. But in a world of apps and redundant SaaS, which programs and services are best for your business? I asked a panel of successful young entrepreneurs what virtual tools they use to stay lean, effective and productive.
1. Cloud Computing is Essential
As someone who has built a completely virtual company with 25 employees, I can honestly tell you that reliable cloud computing is essential. And, the more you can consolidate web services, the better. We use Google Apps Premiere which, aside from being an excellent substitute for an exchange server, also includes the ability to store and share documents, create grou ps, and share a...
