I invited my Twitterfriend Becky McCray to come up with some tips for rural businesses. Below are some of the ones I came up with. Having worked in rural areas before, I am really aware of the issues of doing business in places where your internet connection can go down just because the wind is blowing!
Doing Business in Rural Places
1. Invest in fast Internet access. Sometimes it has to be satellite which can be pricey, but you can write it off your taxes as a valid and essential business expense.
2. Identify wifi hotspots - or Internet-enabled locations - in your area. If my Internet connection went down, I’d drive into town to connect at a cafe or restaurant or even a hotel or campground. Some McDonalds and Wendys even offer wifi so find out which businesses are wired and use them as backup when your access goes down.
3. Stock up on car chargers. Even when house power went out - particularly in my RV - I could rev up the engine and power up my essential tools and gadgets including computer and mobile devices. Invest in a USB car charger to charge your handhelds such as the SynCh from Malleable Devices.
What are some of your tips for doing business in remote places?
You may have met Julius Strauss in Anchorage--his story is a bit like yours
http://grizzlybearranch.blogspot.com/
"As the weeks went by it slowly dawned on me this was not a tropical disease or a genetic brain disorder but stress, shell-shock, war fatigue, call-it-what-you-will.
Eventually, as a desperate measure, I flew to Canada, bought an ancient camper van and, as my frazzled nerves began to slowly recover, trundled north across the prairies to the frozen Northwest Territories. "
April 24 2006
He settled there with his Estonian wife and they run a lodge
His GPS coordinates
(For the record they are 50*24'34" North, 117*06'50" West.)
July 22 2006
Saga of the blown inverter
Dec 11 2007
Could have sworn he had a post on telephones and Internet in the remote Canadian wilderness, but can't find it---super blog for a professional couple who is going to a remote, snowy place!!! Great guy to be in touch with, too!
Kay
aka Irisgrl
Posted by: Kay | October 21, 2008 at 12:05 PM