Archive for May, 2010
Save Gas with a Virtual Office Space
From Seattle to Los Angeles to Philadelphia and beyond, gas prices are down across the nation. And in some places gas prices are still dropping. So says the AAA.
The national average price for gas is $2.72 a gallon for regular fuel. That’s down about 16 cents a gallon from just a month ago, but not quite as low as the $2.51 from this time last year.
This is good news if you are planning to drive somewhere for your summer vacation. But if you work from a virtual office year-round, then gas prices—whether they go up or down—aren’t a major drama for you.
That’s because when you work from a virtual office you are saving potentially hundreds of dollars every year on gas—by not driving to a traditional office space. If you work from home and rely on virtual office technologies, you can save much more than the dollars you invest each month—and not just in gas but in productivity you lose when you drive to an office space.
With a virtual office space, you can get an 800 number, a professional business address that accepts mail and packages, and access to a meeting room on those days where you need to meet with a client face to face. You also can tap into services like virtual receptionists or web conferencing that help you further drive up your productivity.
Whether you are the type who waits for the news of a gas price drop to fill up, or you just welcome the news of more ways to cut business costs, Davinci Virtual has a host of low-cost virtual office solutions that can help you save money and increase productivity so you can better enjoy your summer vacation.
Want some tips on saving money on gas when you do drive? Watch this quick video for steps you can take to cut down on your fuel consumption.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) is expecting an “active to extremely active” hurricane season for the Atlantic Basin this year.
The six-month hurricane season begins June 1. NOAA is predicting a 70 percent possibility of between 14 to 23 named storms, between eight and 14 hurricanes, and between three and seven major hurricanes. NOAA classifies major hurricanes as those that fall into Category 3, 4 and 5 with winds of at least 111 miles per hour.
“If this outlook holds true, this season could be one of the more active on record,” says Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “The greater likelihood of storms brings an increased risk of a landfall. In short, we urge everyone to be prepared.”
That’s bad news for cities on the Atlantic coast, like Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Orlando, and even further north. One way to mitigate the risk of business interruption during a storm is a virtual office space.
The virtual office can help you keep your business humming even during extended power outages. With a virtual office you get an 800 number that clients can call whether or not you are there to answer.
Better yet, you can get a virtual receptionist to answer the calls, take messages, answer questions about your products and services, give status updates to clients in the wake of the storm, or even continue to make outbound sales calls while you are in recovery mode.
A virtual office company like Davinci Virtual can even help you with temporary office space in another city. Davinci Virtual has a virtual office network that spans every state in the U.S. So whether you are in Houston fleeing north or Tampa fleeing south, you’ll find a Davinci virtual office standing by to accommodating your temporary office needs.
Check out this video report from Bloomberg on the 2010 hurricane season.
Have you a seen the video of the two-year-old Ardi Rizai who spokes two packs of cigarettes a day? This really disturbed me. (Scroll down to see it below if you haven’t already.)
Contrast that with the headline of Barbara Izzraelli, 49, who just won $8 million in a smoking suit against RJ Reynolds. She blamed the tobacco company for her larynx cancer. If that’s not enough, there’s the new gene study that reveals the heavy tool of smoking—it’s the biggest single biggest cause of lung cancer.
Whether you want to get away from second hand smoke in a traditional office or you want to be able to smoke while you work without getting dirty looks from your colleagues, a virtual office can solve the problem. A virtual office gives you the freedom to smoke when you want to smoke—or to avoid the smoke from your co-workers.
Of course, a virtual office offers much more than that. With a virtual office, you can save plenty of cash on traditional office space. Virtual offices start at $99 a month or less at many major metropolitan locations like Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Seattle. If you smoke two packs of cigarettes a day like baby Ardi, then think of it this way: You can get a virtual office for about a third of the cost of smoking cigarettes each month.
Beyond cost savings, you also get privacy with a virtual office. When you sign up for a virtual office in Atlanta, for example, you’ll get a prestigious business address. That means clients won’t come knocking on your door because they don’t know where you live. The same holds true for the phone number. You can get an 800 or local phone number that is directed to your home or cell phone at will, or routed to an answering service. That means you don’t have to give out your private information.
As the world continues in its outrage about the two-year-old smoking baby, take this time to reflect on two things: your own smoking habits and your own officing habits. If you are a smoker, this might be a good time to stop. And if you are paying too much for your traditional office space, this might be a good time to rent a virtual office space instead.
Telecommuting is on the rise. So says an article in the Miami Herald this morning. Let’s read a excerpt from the article by Cindy Krischer Goodman:
“When you can read your e-mail at the beach, hold a videoconference in your dining room and chat with a co-worker from a doctor’s waiting room, is there finally a new definition of “the office”? The numbers say yes.
“Teleworking — working remotely at least one day a week — is on the rise, driven by businesses desperate to cut costs, a new emphasis on the green movement and the increasing availability of a high-speed Internet connection. Today, more than 34 million U.S. adults telecommute at least occasionally and that number is expected to swell to 63 million — or 43 percent of U.S. workers — by 2016.”
If this is all true, and it is, then employees who telecommute needs virtual office technologies to help them remain productive and competitive. Companies looking to save money on office space without reducing the workforce they need to get the job done are turning to virtual office space.
Virtual office space gives companies many of the conveniences of a full-time office space without the high overhead. Whether your company is just trimming size of its bricks-and-mortar facility commitments to reduce office lease costs—which may necessitate that some of your valued employees telecommute—or expanding into new locations without the budget to rent traditional office space, virtual offices can help you drive efficiencies in any economy.
When you rent a virtual office space, you can access an 800 or local phone number with multiple extensions. When clients call into the main number, their calls can be routed automatically behind the scenes to your employees, whether they are working from a home office in Atlanta or in your corporate offices in Chicago. It’s seamless.
The virtual office is an ideal solution for companies that are exploring telework. The Miami Herald article did a fine job of explaining why more companies are telecommuting. The reporter left out one important aspect of making it run more smoothly, though: virtual office space. Sure, you can telecommute without a virtual office space, but considering all the many benefits of virtual office technologies, why would you want to?
Check out this video for telecommuting issues for moms.
Pregnant women that get the swine flu are at high risk of serious complications—both for themselves and their unborn baby. So says a study that appears in the Archives of Internal Medicine this week.
“Little data are available regarding fetal outcomes and mortality rates among H1N1-infected mothers,” the researchers wrote. “Of the 18 patients in this series, one had a spontaneous abortion and one died postnatally from complications of extreme prematurity and sepsis. H1N1 poses a serious health threat to pregnant patients.”
Of course, it stands to reason that the H1N1 flu would be a danger to pregnant women. It’s a danger to many people. But what if a pregnant woman doesn’t want to get a H1N1 vaccination? With all the news about how vaccinations can harm children, some natural-minded pregnant women may not want to take the perceived risk of getting vaccinated.
Well, pregnant women can reduce their risks by working in a virtual office. Companies who employ pregnant women might consider allowing them to telecommute using virtual office technologies to stay in touch with clients and colleagues. With a virtual office, people are less exposed to flues that travel quickly throughout a traditional office.
A virtual office space can also offer an added bonus for the company: greater productivity. Greater productivity has been tied to telecommuting in study after study. In the case of a pregnant woman, the virtual office would give her the flexibility to work hours that are most convenient without sacrificing productivity or quality of work.
With a virtual office system, the pregnant worker could take naps at certain times of the day and arrange her work schedule around doctor visits. Indeed, a virtual office could do more than help pregnant women avoid the risks of H1N1. It could help companies empower them to live a more balanced life during the pregnancy.
Want to learn more about the risks of H1N1 to pregnant women? Watch this video on how pregnant women can protect themselves and their babies.
Another crisis has hit the airline industry—and it’s impacting international travelers. Could it be time to rethink the virtual office?
British Airways Flight Attendants launched a five-day strike on Monday to protest the failure of the union and the airline to come to terms on a cost-cutting plan.
About 40 percent of British Airways’ scheduled departures and 30 percent of its arrivals at London Heathrow were canceled as of Monday morning, the airline’s Web site reveals. British Airways plans to cancel nearly 50 percent of its flights departing from Heathrow during the strike.
Here again is an example of how virtual office technologies can come through in a pinch. Road warriors looking to fly from New York City to Düsseldorf, Germany will see flight delays and reroutes this week. But they can avoid the hassle of long waits in airports and missed business appointments with virtual office technologies like web conferencing.
Web conferencing is part and parcel of virtual office packages from Davinci Virtual. Davinci taps into the power of Cisco WebEx to enhance its virtual office offerings. As Cisco describes it, WebEx is an easy way to exchange ideas and information with anyone, anywhere. It combines real-time desktop sharing with phone conferencing, so everyone sees the same thing as you talk.
Some people call this web conferencing because of the web + phone sharing. Others call it online meeting because they take care of business online like they do in in-person meetings. Either way, Davinci Virtual offers this service as an affordable add on to a virtual office package through its partnership with Cisco.
So whether you are weary of issues with the airlines or just want to reduce travel as a general endeavor to cut business costs, consider how Davinci’s virtual office technologies can help you reach your goals. Click here to learn more about adding web conferencing to your virtual office package.
Want more information on the British Airways strike? Check out this video:
As announced weeks ago, Davinci Virtual is giving away a free iPad in our iPad Sweepstakes. The drawing is going to be held on June 1—that’s just days away.
The iPad giveaway could be a boon to your virtual office. And even more so these days because the iPad is hard to come by. Indeed, spot shortages of iPads are spreading.
Analysts at Piper Jaffray reportedly called 50 Apple stores this past week. What they discovered was a “very limited” supply of iPads. Specifically, 74 percent of the stores were completely sold out all models. One hundred percent of the Apple stores were sold out of the 3G model and only 26 percent had Wi-Fi models left to sell.
So if you’ve been thinking about adding an iPad to your virtual office arsenal, well, you’d better start calling Apple stores in your area in a hurry. And if you discover that your virtual office mobile productivity dreams are shattered by the short supply, hurry up and enter Davinci Virtual’s iPad sweepstakes.
You don’t have to be a Davinci Virtual office customer to enter the sweepstakes. Just click here and fill out the form you find on the page. Full disclosure: a Davinci Virtual office representative will contact you to find out more about how a virtual office can meet your business needs. You’ll find a no-pressure, educational approach.
If you’ve been hankering for an iPad and can’t find one, taking a moment to learn about Davinci’s virtual offices could pave the way for you to receive a shiny new iPad. And, what’s even better, it could pave the way for a virtual office system that helps you drive the productivity you need to remain competitive.
Can the iPad really be used for business purposes? Check out this video and decide for yourself:
Are you unemployed? After watching jobless claims decline for weeks, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday that applications for unemployment benefits were up 25,000 from the previous week. That’s the biggest jump since the 40,000 gain in February.
What does this unexpected rise mean? It means that the economy may be improving, but it hasn’t completely trickled down to the labor market yet. The Labor Department said there were no unusual factors to account for the increase.
If you are among those who have filed for unemployment benefits and are pursuing entrepreneurial interests even as you hunt for a new job, consider how a virtual office could give your bootstrapped start-up an advantage.
Think about it. You have a good idea. You have time on your hands to execute the idea. But you don’t have the cash to rent a traditional office space. And you can’t afford to have your kids accidentally pick up the phone when a potential customer calls. A virtual office space can help you avoid that scenario.
A virtual office space gives unemployed entrepreneurs an image boost by offering a prestigious business address, an 800 or local phone number with an auto attendant, and access to meeting and conference rooms that you can rent on an hourly basis to meet with clients. The virtual office location, whether it’s in Atlanta, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Orlando or Boston, can forward any mail you receive to your home office, and accept packages from UPS or FedEx on your behalf.
The virtual office gives you the opportunity to launch a business with a professional image without breaking the bank. With budgets tighter for families that have members collecting unemployment, every penny counts. Virtual offices help you make those pennies, and dollars, stretch further as you pursue your entrepreneurial dreams.
For less than $100 a month, you can set up offices not only locally, but you can also open a few locations in different cities around the country if your business model demands that reach. Davinci Virtual ahs over 600 locations in the U.S., so as your small business grows your virtual office presence can grow with you.
Check out this video on how to cut office expenses…
Are you stressed? Well, you have two options for relieving some of that stress: wait until you are over 50 or rent a virtual office.
A new study called “A snapshot of the age distribution of psychological well-being in the U.S., shows that after age 50, life perceptions are more positive and feelings of worry or stress decline. This perception is consistent after age 50, regardless of certain life circumstances.
In fact, two negative emotions, stress and anger, showed declines throughout life. The pattern for another negative emotion, worry, showed a different pattern. It tended to hold steady until about age 50, when it took a sharp decline. Sadness showed a slightly inverted U-pattern over age.
If you are a long way from 50, don’t get worried, angry or sad. Just look for other ways to relieve your stress. A virtual office from Davinci Virtual—and maybe a virtual assistant and a virtual receptionist to go along with it—are one way to raise your productivity and lower your stress.
A virtual office can lower your stress in many ways. First of all, working from home where there are no distractions can be much less stressful than working in a traditional office where people are interrupting you constantly. When you are trying to meet deadlines, interruptions are especially stressful. A virtual office lets you maintain a professional image from the privacy of your own home, giving you a 800 or local phone number and prestigious address that’s not associated with your residence.
In addition to virtual offices, a virtual assistant can also help take the load of stress from your shoulders by taking on tasks that need to be done—but aren’t part of your core business. Virtual assistants can help you work more productively by allowing you to spend your time doing what you are best at. Likewise, virtual receptionists can field calls, take messages, take orders and even make outbound sales calls while you keep your head down in other tasks.
It’s good news that our stress levels naturally go down after the age of 50, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take measured steps to reduce stress in the workplace. A virtual office is not a panacea, per se, but a virtual office is one way to help you avoid stressful distractions that hinder your productivity.
Want more tips for reducing workplace stress? Watch this video for three ways to reduce stress in the workplace:
Looking to make some to generate some additional revenue? Be a part of one of the fastest-growing industries in the world? Hook up with a respected brand in its field? Davinci Virtual is giving people the opportunity to tap into an affiliate marketing opportunity for its virtual offices.
Affiliate Marketing is winning strategy for anyone who wants to generate some extra cash, from the college student in Philadelphia looking to make some spare spending money to the A-list blogger in Miami attempting to cash in on his traffic to the savvy Internet publisher in Seattle who has a little bit of extra room on his feature story pages. Just about anyone with a Web site can make money with Affiliate Marketing if they set their mind to it and understand how it all works.
Affiliate Marketing is hardly a new concept. It’s merely one that has matured since the days when Amazon.com popularized it as a viral strategy to get its e-name out to the masses in the mid-1990s. Amazon paid a small commission to Web site owners who referred buying visitors to its bookselling outpost – and still does. Now, you can tap into affiliate marketing with a respected virtual office product.
You can Become a Davinci virtual office affiliate right now in minutes. There’s no risk—only rewards. All you need to have is a publicly accessible Web site or a referral channel and provide Davinci Virtual with information about your business. You can sign up and start promoting virtual offices. Once one of your referrals makes a virtual office purchase, you earn a lucrative reward payment for that customer’s account.
When you sign up for an affiliate marketing account with Davinci virtual offices, you are partnering with the fastest growing virtual office provider in the world. Our brand is well-known in all 50 U.S. states and many countries around the world. So what are you waiting for? Sign up to be a virtual office affiliate today and start earning revenues.
Need more information on affiliate marketing? Check out this YouTube video.
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