You can continue to pay your coach/expert to revise your USP, or, after some marginal success, you can get back to what’s really important: your personal and company brand. No I am not talking about your logo, or blog, but what you and/or your company come to symbolize. Branding strategies used to be very expensive to execute… not anymore.

What is a brand? MBA textbooks aside, your brand is the sensory and mental image that you and/or company portay. Two 2 core components of your brand are reputation and credibility.

Reputation

When your name is mentioned to people that know of you or your company, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? a tight-laced professional or fat, lazy, casually dressed slob? In other words, does your visual appearance (the parts that you can control: clothing and grooming – and to some extent physical appearence, as would be the case for a personal trainer) meet society’s standards of your profession (name the last lawyer or financial planner you saw out of a suit and tie).

Do they know what you do? Why you do what you do? or How you do it? If not, then you have an education problem. Spend more time with people 1:1 and in groups. Take people that you are trying to establish a better reputation with on a meeting with a client or vendor or some other appt.

Credibility

When you’re in an intimate relationship, you’re constantly having to prove your love through acts of kindess, etc. Your reputation must also be proven on an ongoing basis. Put differently, your reputation is reinforced by your credibility - and can even grow by it. After you’ve executed your USP plan and have gotten some customers, I encourage you to spend massive amounts of time with your new customers finding out how else you can help them… and do just that.

Connect them with people/resources that they need, and/or, start evolving your business model to fill their needs. Get testimonials and endorsements from them everywhere and everywhere that is within the public eye:  notable mentions at Networking events, recommendations on Linkedin.com, wall posts on our company’s FaceBook Fan page, video testimonials in YouTube. Apply for every award you can personally, and for the business. Make sure to brag about the awards that you do win. Case in point, my company, Carceron, is the most recommended IT firm on Linkedin.com. I can claim this because my Linkedin profile has the most recommendation of any IT consultant in Metro Atlanta on Linkedin. See below:

In summary, reputation and credibility directly impact your networking efforts, and, by extension, the quantity and quality of referrals that you get. When you say that you “have the best customer service”, “are the most reliable”, etc. It’s a worthless platitude. When your customers and colleagues says those things, it’s GOLD.

I have asked the chamber for a response to Byron’s issues and will post that as soon as I receive it.

If any other lawyers have advice on the other amendments I’d love to hear from you.

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Dear Investors:

The Executive Committee of the Metro Atlanta Chamber encourages our members to VOTE YES on November 2 for the six ballot measures below. All of the measures are business-friendly and will stimulate job creation, and one of the measures also addresses trauma funding, which is very important to Grady Hospital.

Click here for a summary of each issue and more details. Again, we encourage you to VOTE YES on each of these and to share this with your employees and staff.

• Amendment 1: Allows contracts with non-compete clauses to be enforced in Georgia courts.
• Amendment 2: Adds $10 tag fee on private passenger vehicles to fund statewide trauma-care expansion.
• Amendment 3: Allows the state to execute multiyear contracts for long-term transportation projects.
• Amendment 4: Allows the state to execute multiyear contracts for projects to improve energy efficiency and conservation.
• Amendment 5: Allows owners of industrial-zoned property to choose to remove the industrial designation from their property.
• Statewide Referendum: Provides for inventory of businesses to be exempt from state property tax.

Sincerely,

Sam A. Williams
President
Metro Atlanta Chamber
235 Andrew Young International Blvd., NW • Atlanta, GA 30303
Bringing the best together to help Atlanta thrive.

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Byron Sanford’s response to me regarding Amendment #1

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FYI, the first amendment, regarding Non-Compete agreements is EXTREMELY misleading and is BAD for many small and medium size business (but great for business litigators like me), as it is almost certain to push more cases regarding non-competes and non-solicitation agreements into court. These agreements are already enforceable in Georgia, if drawn up properly. The new law give JUDGES the power to re-write otherwise unenforceable provision (rather than throwing out over-reaching agreements, as they are now required to do). This means more cases will actually go to trial and the results will be less predictable as the judge gets to decide how the final restrictive provision will read.

This will encourage people to more over-reaching in how these types of provisions are drafted and will result in less certainty over how they will actually be enforces. This kind of uncertainty is bad for small and medium-sized business. The biggest beneficiaries are large businesses (who can easily outspend employees in litigation) and business litigators.

I would strongly encourage small and medium size businesses to get better informed on this issue. The Chamber’s position on this is not necessarily good for all of its membership!

-Byron

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Response from Janice Rys of the Metro Atlanta Chamber

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Chad–Thank you for contacting us and sharing your concerns on Amendment #1.  Our public policy team carefully and thoughtfully prepared all the amendment recommendations for our Board–and this was certainly a complicated one.

As background, earlier this year, the Georgia Legislature overwhelmingly passed HB 173 to put this measure on the ballot as an effort to put Georgia on equal footing with surrounding states when trying to attract jobs to the state.  Specifically, the primary purpose of the amendment is to allow judges to clarify current law and enforce the intent of both employers and employees who enter into employment agreements.  Currently, if there are any imperfections in the document, the judge is prevented from making any modifications (called “blue penciling”) to correct the deficiencies and the whole agreement must be thrown out.   This creates uncertainty for businesses who invest significant time, energy and resources training key personnel.  Georgia is at a competitive disadvantage to other states because of the current unenforceability of its law.

At the same time, the amendment also provides clarity and certainty to employees.  For the first time in Georgia, most employees would be legally ineligible to enter into such agreements should this amendment pass.  The new law would apply only to employees that have proprietary information about their company that could be shared with a competitor.  Additionally, for the first time, it would clearly define any employee agreement so employees know exactly what the law does and does not allow.  It also gives a judge the ability to void the agreement if the employee has experienced a financial hardship – something not in place today.

This current situation deters businesses from investing in and locating high-paying jobs here in Georgia, but Amendment #1 is the remedy.

As a chamber of commerce, we believe in full and fair competition.  We also believe in the value of fair contractual relationships so that both parties can have security in the terms and conditions under which they do conduct business.  We believe in Amendment #1.

Hope this is helpful to you.  As further information, attached are some documents that you may want to peruse on this issue.  Most notable is the letter from a small business owner, Ray DeMott with Southern Equipment, which provides a good look at how the current law is tough on businesses in Georgia, regardless of size.

Renay Blumenthal, SVP of Public Policy will be happy to answer any questions you might have…

Thanks for your support of us!

Janice

Janice Rys

Senior Vice President, Membership Development & Services Metro Atlanta Chamber

235 Andrew Young International Blvd.,NW * Atlanta, GA 30303

404.586.8473 * FAX 404.586.8416

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Additional Opinions

Kills Georgia’s Amendment #1, The Death of the Tech Startup

T Minus 22 Days

So Long Professional Services

How Natural Selection Should Punish Crappy Employers

How to Guarantee Another Startup Cluster Never Happens

Are you in the crosshairs?

Employees Chained & Restrained: Why We the People Must Defend Georgia’s Constitution Against HB173

(This article appeared in the special edition of the Atlanta Business Chronicle that was distributed at the 2010 Annual Atlanta Small Business Growth Expo)

Whether you believe we’re headed into the second dip of a so-called “double-dip recession” or you think that the worst is behind us, one thing is clear: We have all learned how to do more with less.  And if we are headed into a second “dip”, I predict that there will be far less casualties than the first one, having learned our lessons the first time around… I hope.

More Cloud Adoption

Among those lessons learned was to preserve cash at all costs. This has certainly increased the adoption of Cloud-based solutions for everything from email (Hosted Exchange & Google Apps), to online file sharing and storage, as well as a large range of line of business applications (accounting software, customer relationship management software, etc.).

Adoption of the Cloud as a business’s core IT infrastructure will continue to gain momentum in 2011 for many reasons. As I have already stated, the Cloud lets you hang on to your cash by converting large upfront capital expense’s to much more affordable operating expenses, generally on a monthly basis. This is important for new businesses because it dramatically lowers startup costs and alleviates concerns about scalability. Existing businesses can benefit in a similar way. They can now upgrade their aging infrastructure at a much more manageable cost.

The Cloud is also a much more efficient way to enjoy consistent system and feature updates on a regular basis. Our helpdesk system is cloud-based and we enjoy feature updates once a quarter, versus the once per year that you often get with on-premise software solutions where you’re waiting for the next version to come out.

More Regulatory Compliance

Also in 2011, look for more fines from the Federal Government over violations of regulatory compliance. Despite its passage being 14 years ago, the Feds have started issuing the first fines for violation of HIPAA this year. The recent passage of the American Recovery and Reimbursement Act of 2009 (commonly referred to as “The Stimulus”) included another act called HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic & Clinical Health Act) which reinforces HIPAA by specifically addressing the privacy and security concerns associated with the electronic transmission of health information.

The medical businesses aren’t the only ones that have to worry. All manner of financial intuitions have a wide range of regulations on them now: Sarbanes-Oxley (commonly called SOX), Graham-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB), PCI DDS (for credit cards), etc.

There are several technologies that companies worried about regulatory compliance will need to invest in:

• Email Encryption: Secures email communication so that only the intended recipient can view the message
• Email Archival: A record of all incoming and outgoing email communication. Most regulations require 7 or more years of retention
• Disk Encryption: secures the content of hard drives on computers. This is especially important for laptop users. There have been many stories in the media lately stolen laptops that contain sensitive data. The Veteran’s Administration is a recent one that comes to mind.
• 2-Factor Authentication: A 2-phase process of authenticating to a network or computer system. Examples are: a password and a thumbprint scan or a password and a token ID gotten from a special application on your mobile phone.

How to Grow Business in 2011

So after you’ve saved money by adopting the Cloud and made the appropriate investments to get the regulators off your back, how do you continue to grow your business in 2011? Ask this question to 10 people and you’ll get 10 different answers.  Some will say “more traditional marketing”, others will say “ implementing social media”,  and another might say “networking”. They’re all correct. You can’t just rely on one medium to market your business. My advice would be to get the online marketing (web site, Google ads, social media, etc.) as automated as possible (hire a firm to handle this for you if you can) and focus on your networking. Expand your personal network with the right people and develop strategic partnerships that are highly synergistic. Make sure that you are also connecting people together. It will pay off, I promise.

Here is a high level view of some of the government regulations that might affect your small business and some suggestions on how to achieve information technology compliance (I specify information technology compliance because you may have to do other things from a human resources or business process perspective that this article does not address.)

Disclaimer: I’m not lawyer and am providing you this information to the best of my knowledge. If you have concerns, seek out an attorney, compliance consultant relative to the the regulation(s) you are concerned with, an IT consultant or any combination of the above.

You can find more information about these regulations and others at http://www.compliancehome.com/

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS or commonly called just “PCI”)

PCI is a set of comprehensive requirements for enhancing payment account data security and was developed by the founding payment brands of the PCI Security Standards Council, including American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa International. Credit card companies and acquirer banks can levy stiff fines and remove the merchant’s ability to process credit card transactions until the merchant is PCI compliant.

Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)

HIPPA requires that to ensure privacy and confidentiality, all patient healthcare information be protected when electronically stored, maintained, or transmitted. It also mandates that each user be uniquely identified before being granted access to confidential information. It specifies that access to personal health information (PHI) be restricted to only those individuals who need access as part of their role.

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)

GLBA mandates privacy and the protection of customer records maintained by financial institutions. These security requirements include access controls on customer information systems, encryption of electronic customer information, procedures to ensure that system modifications do not affect security, and monitoring systems to detect actual attacks or intrusions.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

This Act came about as a result of the large corporate financial scandals involving Enron, WorldCom, Global Crossing and Arthur Anderson. Effective as of 2006, this Act only affects publicly traded companies. However, being “SOX-like” is a good idea if your goal is to be acquired by a large publicly traded company.

Technology Required for Compliance:

In the case of PCI, HIPAA and GLBA “encryption” and “archival” are the two words you will run into the most and likely to cost you the most money because it will require additional purchases in technology solutions.

Encryption

Encryption simply means “To conceal information by means of a code or cipher” so that only authorized people can access and use the information. In the case of PCI, HIPAA and GLBA, and, as it relates to information technology, files (information) and email (communication) must be encrypted.

To encrypt disks and files you can use Windows Server 2008 using the built in Encrypting File System feature or, for R2 users of Windows 2008 server, Bitlocker is available. which is what you would use on Windows 7 Enterprise or Ultimate desktops and laptops as well.

Email encryption would need to be done through a third party provider such as Carceron.

Email Archival

HIPAA and GLBA also require email archival. Even though recent versions of Microsoft Exchange come with some limited archiving ability, it’s not sufficient from a compliance perspective. You will need a third party company that can capture all ingoing and outgoing correspondence in an off-site archive where messages cannot be deleted. This is especially important for any financial businesses regulated by SEC through GLBA.

Access Control & Auditing

All of the above regulations have requirements regarding access control to files, email etc. as well as auditing requirements. Auditing in this case translates to “logs of who access what and when”. All of the current Windows systems (both server and desktop based) have these features built in – they simply need to be configured by an IT consultant. Another means of preventing access to sensitive information is 2-factor authentication.

Leadership & Goal Setting in 2010

Accountability – From Resolution to Reality – How Will You “Get It Done” This Year?

Now that we are 1/2 way through the year, how much have you gotten done? Are you on track to complete all of your company’s goals this year?

I can safely say that Carceron is not? Why not?

We moved offices in Q2, which is still in progress with various capital improvements like a new air conditioner for the server room, conference room furniture and other amenities, etc. Somehow, something as big as an office move never made it onto our original list of goals when we planned everything last year. Needless to say, moving into a new office is something of a time sucker. Consequently, this, along with a wave new business opportunities (certainly no complaints about that), has delayed some of our other goals that we had set to complete – especially the ones due for completion at the end of Q2.

So what happens now? Do we pout about that fact that we are behind schedule? Of course not! Things happen! Life happens! You simply adapt. If a few things get pushed into Q1 of next year…  so be it.

What I would recommend doing is going over all of your goals with your staff or at least your management team. You may find that some goals are no longer relevant and can be removed. Other goals may need to have their completion dates changed because of the unexpected life events or just because you realize that goal A is really dependent on goal B and you only just now found that out.

Don’t give up. Reassess, adapt and execute. Get everyone back in alignment and march forward!

.

The concept of Time Compression was recently introduced to me by a client at the conclusion of a recent meeting. I was so enthralled by what he taught me that I did some more research that night and found several articles that further elaborated on the concept and what it means for business.

The first article I found, Technology’s Time Compression, is an excellent primer. At the bottom of that article are links to several other articles, all worth reading, but the two that were most interesting to me were It’s Time for Zero Time and We are Literally Trying to Stop Time.

What I got out of the latter two articles is that, at a minimum, we are trying to reach zero time, preferably negative time. The analogy of a track runner is quite appropriate. Track runners are constantly trying to reduce their times, with the ideal time being zero seconds. But can we achieve negative time? I don’t think a runner could, but we might able to as business owners. This is why business intelligence (BI) and dashboards are so hot right now. Dashboards are more than being able to see real time performance – they are about predicting the future and being ready to adapt to it instantly. You might argue that adapting instantly would be a definition of zero time. However, without proper business intelligence, you won’t be able to make the necessary predictions and subsequent preparations for that instantaneous switch. Negative Time is about being able predict when the change will come and changing at that precise moment (because you’re ready for it), versus reacting to the change once it has come to pass – where the first phase of the reaction is planning (what are we going to do?) and execution (doing it) both of which take time and make you late to the race.

Think about how this translates to business in terms of things like response time, resolution time, order time, processing time, or any other operational task where time is “consumed”.

In my business, Carceron, we monitor servers, networks and desktops in attempt to predict failure. These articles tell me that we can probably be doing a lot more with our monitoring and other business processes.

How can you achieve Negative Time in some of your business processes?

While I certainly appreciate the publicity that such an honor has bestowed (…and the complimentary business class airline tickets from AirTran), it occurred to me that regardless of how important, or unimportant I found this award to be, there are others who probably consider it important, such as other members of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, my staff at Carceron, my family and others.Thinking back to the event, I recall the final seconds before they announced the honor and was so nervous and choked up (a feeling that I definitely had not anticipated having) that I was extremely relieved when Debbi won. If I had won and was forced to get on that stage, it would have been a very “un-manly” moment for me.

More than a week has passed and I have had time to reflect on all of this: my feelings of modesty relative to my being worthy of such an honor; how important I viewed the award relative to others;  the unexpected emotions that I experienced just prior to the announcement. I have found a sort of mental compromise that reflects my modest impression of the honor and the reverence that others hold the award in. Here goes:

I must now live up to the award’s name and truly be amongst the top 5 small business persons in Metro Atlanta as viewed by all of Atlanta – not just the Chamber.

It’s a lofty dream, but achievable I think.

_____________________________________________________

My article in the Atlanta Business Chronicle

My promotional video created by the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and Atlanta Business Video for the event.

Web Sites of the other Metro Atlanta Small Business Person of the Year Finalists:

Debbi Shapiro, Henderson Shapiro, (#1 Small Business Person of the Year)

Shelly Justice, Convention Models + Talent Agency (finalist)

Susan Bixler, Bixler Consulting (finalist)

Shannan Russo, Kinetix HR (finalist)

While fresh leadership can be a good thing, sometimes a required thing, it’s evident that the process of transferring it is a complex and significant undertaking.

I often dream of both a infinite future with Carceron, and, of a very different future where someone better, smarter and more innovative than I takes the reins of the company (I think we have those people working for us right now, by the way). While it may look like a proverbial “fork in the road”, it really isn’t – is it? After all, an “infinite future” is nothing more than staying on the same endless “interstate” – and so long as the ride is enjoyable, the customers are happy and employees are happy, who cares? I say enjoy the ride! But every once and a while those “exit ramps” appear, and you can’t help but wonder:

What would I be doing if I weren’t running this business right now? What if I started another business doing ___________ ? What would my business would look like a month after I’m gone? 1 year after I’m gone? 5 years?

And if the company did start to fail, would I come back to save it? As Michael Dell did? – Which I think really speaks to the question: “What does this business mean to me?”

I can tell you that the answer to that question has changed many times over the years as Carceron has grown… and will continue to change in the years ahead. I can’t help but feel that when that meaning ceases to change – ceases to evolve – the exit ramp will look more tempting.I’m not sure why I feel that way. It seems illogical that “the meaning of my company to me” must continually evolve or else I look for greener pastures – but there it is.

In Michael Dell’s case, we could safely assume that “legacy” might be his reason for returning to Dell. With a company as large as his and with so many people working for him, it’s an answer that is as easy understand as it is sincere.

Legacy might be what drives small business owners to stay in a business longer than they should, but I suspect it to be other things.

What’s yours?

While these tips and tricks can be used by anyone, for almost any reason. I am going to explain how I use them from the perspective of a business owner. Why the distinction? Because business owners are generally juggling many responsibilities at the same time: business development, operations, administration, short and long term projects, serving on non-profit and association boards, etc.

In the digital age, a lot of management is done from the inbox. For many business owners, the inbox serves as both a communication repository as well as a t0-do / follow up list. The problem with this approach is, that given how many things the business owner is involved in, the inbox can fill up pretty fast – to-dos get mixed in with communication follow ups, etc. Here’s what I handle it: (all of these tips are based on Outlook 2007)

Organize Using Subfolders & Categories

The most commonly used method of organizing email is to use subfolders. I have several just under my inbox. I have one subfolder that acts as my GMail inbox, so those emails stay separate from my Carceron email (I use my GMail account strictly for personal stuff). Another way that I use subfolders is to store important emails relating to any association management that I am involved in. For example, I might have one subfolder called “Corporate Connections”, one called “Kiwanis”, etc.  – anything where I am on a board of directors or serve in a management capacity outside of my company, Carceron. It is important to note that I do not archive all of my business emails in my personal subfolders, but in Public Folders in Exchange – this way everyone in my company has access to them. To create a subfolder in Outlook, simply right click on the Inbox (or whatever folder you want to create the subfolder under) and select New Folder. Name the folder and you’re ready to go.

Many business owners and managers use their inbox as their follow up repository. An easy way to organize your inbox is by Categorizing email. To Categorize email, simply right click a message and click Categorize. You can create your own custom categories and colors by selecting “All Categories” at the bottom of the Category menu. Once you start categorizing, then you’ll want to sort your Inbox first by Categories and and then by date. This way, newer and un-Categorized emails is always at the top and  email is always together bundled below. The end result should come out something like you see below. Note that the “Categories: (none) (1839 item, 2 unread)” is my unread and or unprocessed email.  The email in the Category containers below are for follow up (e.g. CARCERON Accounting – which I will open when meeting with my book keeper or CPA)

Prioritizing & Email That Needs Your Attention

I get a ton of email from a variety of sources: my staff, clients, the associations I belong to, social media, vendors, etc. Obviously I want to prioritize my staff and clients. To do this, I “re-color” their message in my inbox so that I can quickly identify them amongst the hundreds of other messages in my inbox. To do this, simply click on any message from a person that you want color coded in the future, then, from the top menu bar, click Tools –> Organize; select the “Using Colors” options and then simple select your color. Here’s an example:

If you have a very full inbox, a more effective way to get to the emails you need to respond to faster is to use Search Folders. If you look just below your Tasks folder, you will see the Search Folders section. To create a new Search Folder, simply right click “Search Folders” and select “New Search Folder”. A window will pop-up that will allow you to configure the your new Search Folder (which is really more of an inbox filter). There are many ways to configure your Search Folders. The primary way that I use them is to filter by people. For example, I have one folder for my company, Carceron. When I click this folder, it will display all emails currently in my inbox from everyone on my company (assuming that I have specified them in the search folder criteria). I have similar folders setup for various Corporate Connections chapters, clients, VIPs, etc. It also comes in very handy for voice mail. I use YouMail for my mobile phone’s voice mail. This service emails me a transcriptions and MP3 file of all voice mails that I get. Using a Search Folder customized to view only emails from YouMail is a very fast and effective way of processing voice mails because I can just “read” the voice mail as an email message and respond to it or delete it without having to listen to every single voice mail.

Automate Email Sorting

Using the Rules, you can automatically sort emails a variety of ways. I use Rules to route all of my GMail correspondence to a separate subfolder, to route all e-newsletters to a separate folder (I can get to those later when I have time), routing electronic faxes to other folders, Google Alerts, etc. To setup custom Rules, click on Tools –> Rules and Alerts. You can do a great many other things with Rules, like create different sound notifications based on the sender, or automatically flag messages for followup base on sender. Have fun with it.

Some Other Strategies

Do It, Delegate It or Delete It

If you want to really take your mastery of Outlook to the next level, purchase the book, Take Back Your Life with Outlook which is chock full of tips and tricks to make Outlook really work for you as well as how to better manage your time. One of the core teachings of the book, as it relates to inbox management, is “Do it, Delegate it, or Delete it”. Basically this means means do whatever needs to be done at the time you are reading the message, or, delegate it (forward it to a staff member, convert it to a Task and assign, etc.), or, delete it (junk mail, unimportant FYIs, etc.). If you follow this to the letter, than you should have a very small inbox. This philosophy does not work for me as well it could, because I keep so many categorized follow up emails – but it is essential to keeping my Inbox much slimmer than it could be. Delete is especially useful when your checking messages via a mobile device like a Blackberry – as long as you remember to do it. I get tons of FYIs and CCs  (e.g. FaceBook notifications, etc.) that I have no need to keep that clutter up the inbox. If I remember to delete these messages that become useless once read, then they will not be waiting on me when I open Outlook later on for some real email processing.

Schedule Email Checking

If you are trying to focus on a particular task, like writing a proposal or SOP, it can be very distracting to have emails continually flow into your inbox, making noise and popping up notifications in the lower right corner of your screen. The solution is very simple, yet surprisingly hard for so many people who have the need to always feel connected: Set Outlook to Work Offline or close Outlook down while you’re working. When I have an admin day where I need to get a lot done, I check Outlook 2-3 times a day: 1st thing in the morning, after lunch and, perhaps, late afternoon. In between those times it is set to Work Offline. Incidentally, this is also a great way to catch up on email without being interrupted. How many times have you been working on trimming down your inbox only to be stalled by new incoming emails as well as ongoing email back and forth from what you are working on in your inbox? When I process my inbox, I have a goal, usually in days, of email that I want to process using Do It, Delegate It or Delete It. So I set Outlook to Work Offline and I process, for example, all email from the previous 3 days. Anything that I send, will hang in the Outbox until I set Outlook back to online.  To set Outlook to Work Offline, simply click the the area in the lower right corner of Outlook that says “Connected to Microsoft Exchange” and then select Work Offline.

I hope that this returns a little sanity to your life.

First and foremost, you will need to get your communications up and running. This means moving the telephone and computer systems and having them hooked backed up by professionals. In the Atlanta market, for telephone systems, I recommend Robert Brock’s company, Square 1 Technology. For computers and the network, I obviously recommend my company, Carceron.

As far as moving your office is concerned, you can do it yourself of course (that’s what we did, along with an army of youth volunteers). But you may want to outsource that part, especially if you’re a bit bigger (2000 sq ft. or more). In that case, Debbie Ponder from Suddath Relocation Systems is who I would use in the Atlanta market. Regardless of who you use to move or how, you should have a space plan for the new office. A space plan is a layout map of the office that shows where every piece of furniture is going to go and how it will be positioned. It’s especially helpful to have measurements of your furniture relative to each room’s dimensions. also be mindful of the position of the door into the office relative to your desk. “L” shaped desks may not be able to go into the office just how you want it based on the position of the door into the office. If you’re getting any additional new furniture for the office, make sure to coordinate with your furniture rep on the move in as well.

You also might have a lot of loose ends to tie up here. Such as:

• Getting office and server room locks re-keyed and disseminating those keys to relevant employees
• Signage (reception area, parking, etc.)
• Touch painting after move in (hopefully not)
• Security system operational
• Interior Decoration (hanging plaques, awards, etc. – adding some plant life to soften the place up a little)
• Stocking the kitchen / break room
• Commercial Insurance is updated for the new property and you have a certificate of insurance into the landlord / lender

If you brain storm with your staff over everything that needs to get done from the very beginning, then put that list where everyone can see it (in LifeTick or SharePoint for example), you should have a very successful and relatively pain-free move.