5 Free Mobile Business Tools for Entrepreneurs On The Go
Wendy Piersall
| This guest post is from Chris King, an amazing consultant that I have known since my recruiting days, when I used to try and woo him away from his dot com jobs to go work for my clients. Chris is a fantastic resource of information and I’m super-pleased to have him share his knowledge with our Sparkplugging community! |
The life of the entrepreneur is in constant motion. As mobile devices have evolved from interesting toys to mission critical business tools, the entrepreneurial workplace now extends to anywhere you can get a cell signal.
Below are five free mobile business tools that are changing perceptions of how cell phones and mobile devices can be used for business.
Recently released in February of ‘08, LinkedIn mobile, takes the online business networking darling and reinvents it for mobile devices. Response times are quick and usability is top notch, allowing you to easily navigate through your contacts, send invites, and keep tabs on your network among other things.
www.hp.com/idealab/us/en/cloudprint.html
CloudPrint is a free indispensable tool for situations when you don’t have access to your computer, don’t have web based email, and need to print important files. Just upload files to your virtual server before you leave for a trip and access codes are sent to your cell phone. When you go to retrieve the files from your mobile device or shared computer terminal, simply plug-in your access code and the file will be converted to a PDF and sent to the nearest local printer.
www.gilham.org/Blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=214
For entrepreneurs and small to medium sized businesses that use Freshbook.com’s online invoicing & time tracking tools, comes a nifty application for Windows Mobile devices. FreshBooks Mobile allows you to easily submit billable time and review client and payment details while on the road. The FreshMobile application is free along with the service to manage up to 3 clients, which is very helpful for businesses just starting up.
If you ever find yourself in unfamiliar cities and need quick, high quality recommendations for restaurants, bars, or venues to entertain clients, Yelp’s mobile application is pretty much your best bet. Yelp Mobile is a beautifully designed web based mobile site that loads quickly and gets you the information you need fast without any clutter.
http://www.grandcentral.com/ and http://www.grandcentral.com/mobile/
This company is definitely onto something, which is probably why Google recently acquired them. GrandCentral gives you one number that can be set to ring on all your phones and display your voicemails in an easy to use web based interface that can be viewed from both your computer and mobile device. Another interesting feature is the ability to listen in when someone is leaving a voicemail and decide whether you want to take the call or not. GrandCentral is currently in closed beta, but you can still go to their site and reserve a phone number in your desired area code for when they open it up to a larger audience.
So there you have it. Some really innovative things are going on in the mobile space right now that can definitely be leveraged to aid you in your work while you are out and about. One other hot mobile tool that I purposely decided not to feature is Twitter which has been gaining a lot of buzz within the blogosphere in the last year. I figured I’d try to focus on some services with not as much hype around them. That being said, definitely check Twitter out too. Hope you found this helpful.
Chris King is an internet marketing strategist with entrepreneurial tendencies currently residing in Chicago, IL. He currently consults companies on developing best practices for optimization of their sites for search engines at Agency.com. He is also an avid mobile web user that has still managed to resist the temptation to purchase an IPhone, but who knows deep down that it is a losing battle. Should you want more information about Chris feel free to visit http://www.chrisking.info.
Posted on: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 7:18 am 
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