Serious business people are always on the go. Even if you don’t travel every week, the days of the desk, the Rolodex, the land line, and the desktop computer are long gone. We’re a society of laptops, tablets, smart phones and cloud storage — and road warriors know this better than anyone.
Mitch Joel, one of our favorite tech writers, wrote a great piece about always having the right kind of gear that lets you work virtually anywhere.
He recommends starting with the basics: a notebook computer and a smart phone. When you’re shopping for a laptop — if you need a new one, that is — shop for the smallest and lightest one that’s within your budget.
Have two chargers for every device you’ll need to travel with— one for home and one for when you travel. Keep a charger nearby at all times; you never know when you’ll need a little juice, and there are power outlets almost everywhere, so stay as fully charged as possible, as often as you can.
Mitch is anti-briefcase, opting instead for a sturdy messenger bag or, better yet, a laptop backpack that supports your spine and carries all your necessities. Choose something that’s light and functional, and offers all the nooks and crannies to store the items you need to travel with and access frequently. The checkpoint-friendly Travelpro Crew 9 backpack is an excellent choice for the business traveler with a padded /tablet sleeve, a business organizer and multiple pockets for storing all your important items.
And in that bag, create one central location (a zip-top bag, for instance) to store all your cables, wires, adapters, earbuds, memory sticks and more — it looks rather unprofessional to rummage through your bag looking for that one tiny item that’s sunk to the bottom.
Speaking of memory sticks, Mitch says not to rely on them: Go to the cloud! He suggests Dropbox for your cloud-storage solution, but there are plenty of other solutions, including Google Drive, that allow you to upload documents and files and even edit them on the fly.
His final tips: Get a great pair of noise-canceling headphones and never leave home without an extension cord. (Social-media expert Chris Brogan calls his the “friendmaker” because he’s often the only one smart enough to carry one, and his has enough plugs to share with others who need a little charge.)
What other tips can you offer your fellow road warriors? Did you learn your lessons the hard way? Tell us in the comments.