I’m Back and I am going to be there at the event in Palermo Valley.

Hope to see a lot of peole there!

This mini post is just to say that I’ll be one of tomorrow’s 215 confirmed attendants at the meeting in Palermo Valley.

As a plus, this is a good article about networking abilities I found at Palermo valley’s blog.

We’ll start  another post series today.

Your car is your life.

The point being that for most entrepreneurs it really is. You’re constantly going somewhere, keeping stuff there, etc., etc.,… You know.

The cellphone is pretty likely to ring while we are on the road and it is not nice (or legal) to pick it up and answer it. You need a freehands device and I will recommend one today.

I’ll say, at least for what I know, your best option is the BlueAnt Supertooth.  And this is why:

1. It is a bluetooth but a speakerphone, (I really hate  the ones that go in your ear)
2. It is not an install required gadget. You get off the car and you take with you. Take it into the (real) office
3. Easy to take calls (really)
4. if there is someone else that uses the car, or maybe you have two phones on you all the time, this gadgets supports multi-pairing, so both phones can pick calls with the same device.
5. excellent battery life.
6. you can get it for $99

The Asus EEE, for those of you who haven’t heard of it yet, is a UMPC that costs 400 bucks in the US and come (as you read) in Windows and Xandros flavours. It supports a 2 GB expansion and etc, etc etc.

Talking of it like that is really boring, you can read that, by better informed people elsewhere. What I want to tell you is who should buy it and who shouldn’t.

• Salesmen: This is great for you, only thing to care about is battery life. But with a car charger it’ll all be good.
• Designers: You need to buy it if you’re the PowerPoint presentation kind of guy. If not this is not an option, a 7 in. screen is no place to work, and though you could plug in a mouse, it would be very uncomfortable to design on it.
• Bars: no use for you guys
• The integrated camera and the ability to connect to the world via WiFi makes this gadget a must have tool for the average executive.  Word and Excel documents are easily modified and reviewed and your mail will be with you… always.
• If I was a writer this would be my travel machine, it’s really light and maybe the keyboard is too small, but that is not really something that will make you uncomfortable.

So I was wondering the other day how much cheaper can it be to talk via Skype instead of phone. It turns out a lot of people don’t consider the possibility not because of costs, but because of reliability. That’s that! When you don’t trust something is really not likely that you’re going to use it.

But in any case, I think people should give it a chance in the work field, as an alternative to communications of any other sort for a number of reasons and a number of uses, these are not all but are good ones.

• Suppose y need video conferencing, well Skype costs literally nothing and supports up to five lines.
• It is free and multi-platform
• Its really cool (and TV like) to be able to communicate with your coworkers and partners and see each other, it changes the dimension of things, obviously.
• It is a really practical in training programs, distance ones, like learning Spanish.
• It is great to monitoring the state of some remote project, AND ITS FREE!
• Oh! and maybe last but not least, international calls are really cheap.

So I recommend you give it a try, I can assure you’ll like it

Yesterday at the meet up (see this post) I saw a lot of people using their phones as cameras to document the event. I it after all, the typical use a camera phone has. To be a camera when there is none around.

I started thinking of the times, the really big number of occasion, that I was around some people I would like to have a picture for later, and my camera phone was there.

So. Take the shot. Take the shot and don’t make a fuss about it. It is always better to have your contacts with pictures than without.

I know what’s on your mind, “How does this help at all?!”. Well, this may be not for you, but there are businesses where image matters. Restaurants, Night Clubs, or anything PR related.

Taking ones pictures shows you care, shows you’re interested in the other person and ultimately it builds a solid contact.

I insist, maybe this is not for you, but give it a thought.

Really, what should?

I remember my first business card. It had my name, phone, address (up to country), ZIP code, e-mail. Of course today it pretty much says the same things.

Only today I’m not that comfortable if it displays my mobile when I’m just giving them out. At the same time, it does bug me when I have to write my mobile on it when I give it to someone I do want to have my number.

Same thing with email.

The obvious solution is to have two sets of cards. But if you’re going to have just one this are musts

1. Your/corporate blog URL (get one, don’t be lazy)
2. Your linked in profile (if it is not on your blog, and it should)
3. Your business address
4. and of course your email.