Guide to Using Virtual Collaboration to Grow Your Small Business

Are you keeping up with new technology trends that can impact your small business? Keeping up with the exciting new technologies available to small business owners and incorporating them into your business can make a sweeping difference between you and your competition. The following guide was designed to help you begin integrating simple technologies and power strategies into your small business right away, with minimal fuss or training, and without spending more than is necessary.

Increase your productivity through the use of virtual collaboration and low-cost technology applications.

Easily accessible technologies like HyperOffice (http://www.HyperOffice.com) enable you to share documents, calendars, tasks and more with your team for less than $10 per month, per team member. HyperOffice offers generous storage space, is completely flexible and enables you to create separate areas for your team vs. your client. As the administrator you have complete control over what each new member sees and what they can do.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Work seamlessly with others using web-based intranets.

Collaborate with offsite members of your team, contractors, and clients by making use of low-cost intranet applications. There are many viable options for entrepreneurs. The growing list of available applications include robust applications with low per-user costs, like HyperOffice. Then there are fairly robust free applications like OfficeZilla that allow users to store and share documents, calendars, tasks and more. Using a web-based intranet will allow a small business owner to work from practically anywhere and collaborate easily with others who are across the office or on the other side of the globe.

I recommend: Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Try integrating a web-based intranet solution into your small business.

A list of intranet applications to try:

1. HyperOffice

2. OfficeZilla

3. ZOHO Project

Use virtual collaboration to get more done in less time so you can make more money in your business.

Virtual collaboration enables small business owners to instantly increase their business capacity, overcome skill gaps in their organizations, and focus on the core competencies in their businesses. Case Study A: A marketing consultant enlists a virtual assistant to manage his database, maintain his website, follow-up with inquiries and manage his phones and email. Now that he has a competent, experienced professional to handle these important, but time consuming tasks, he can increase his billable hours, write articles, take on speaking engagements and network online and off. These high-leverage tasks can quickly increase his revenue. Case Study B: A web designer builds an alliance with a graphic designer and copywriter - both peripheral services to the one he offers. He can now provide a seamless experience for his clients. Additionally, he has built a potentially profitable referral network.

I recommend: 1. Make a list of tasks in your business that do not represent a good use of your time. This includes non-core tasks that are time-consuming or outside of your area of expertise. Track how much time you are spending on these tasks. Now calculate how much your time is worth. Decide if doing them yourself is saving your money or costing you valuable time and missed opportunities.

2. Make a list of entrepreneurs whose work you admire and with whom you'd like to one day collaborate. Consider how you could work together on joint projects or events and how this could benefit both businesses. Make a plan to get to know the business owners you've listed.

To learn more about how to use low-cost and no-cost tech tools and virtual collaboration to grow your small business, sign up for the no-charge e-course, Seven Secret Weapons for the Super-Savvy Entrepreneur online at www.7SecretWeapons.info.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• Most programs offer you a trial period of at least 30 days to kick the tires and see how the program can impact your organization. Play with a few different applications and decide which will best meet your needs before investing lots of time or money into an application.

The official source of Using Virtual Collaboration to Grow Your Small Business is
the Groupware Consultants page at Business.com