Handy tip: Use MyFax for emergency printing

Funny how sometimes we get so caught up in new ideas that we forget there is still a lot of value in things that have been said before. Here’s an example.

I was looking through some old materials recently and I came across a tip that we’ve sent out from time to time, (though not recently). It’s a pretty cool way to work around a situation where you need to print out a document – say you need it signed – but there’s no printer in sight (or it’s in sight but is out of toner, out of service, or just generally acting up in that way only printers can when you really need one).

If there’s a fax machine nearby, use your MyFax account to send the document to the fax machine. It will print out for you and you’ll have the hard copy you need.

That’s one of those ideas that probably makes you hit your forehead and say “duh!” because it seems so obvious. But a lot of people don’t think that way.

There are a few good uses for this little trick. One is if you’re at a customer site. You may be using their wireless Internet connection, but don’t have access to their full network resources. And getting someone to get you that access may be like asking for the keys to the company jet. But, if you can send yourself a fax to their machine, you’ll have your document in moments.

Hotels are another place it might come up, whether you’re using an Internet connection in your room or a PC down in the business center. If you have access to your documents, either on your laptop or through a VPN on their computer, you can use MyFax to send the document to the hotel’s fax machine.

Pretty cool right? You may not need much, but if you do I’m sure it will be an emergency. And of course, I’ll expect a big thank you present for letting you know!

MyFax as a wedding planning tool?

You know that bizarre thing where you don’t hear from someone in forever and then you see or hear something that makes you think of them and like an hour later your phone rings? Or, sometimes an idea you’ve never really considered crops up, and suddenly you’re seeing it all over the place. Is there a name for that? It’s along the same lines as déjà vu but different. There has to be name for that (if you know it, please let me know, this is the type of thing that will drive me crazy!)

Anyway, to get to the point, something like that has happened recently, in the last few days, we’ve seen not one but TWO mentions of using MyFax to plan weddings. One was from a wedding planner who has used it in her business, and the other from a guy (yes, that’s right a guy) who was planning his own wedding using online tools (mostly from Google), and decided to tell the world how he did it.

In all of our creative planning and brainstorming sessions, this is a use for MyFax we’ve never really thought of before, but it totally makes sense.

Planning a wedding seems to be one of the more complicated endeavors you can get yourself into. There are a million people to contact –caterers, florists, musicians, hall rental people, bridal shop people – the list is pretty much endless.

Once you’ve decided who you’re going with, most of them are going to want a signed contract. Now, if you’re planning your own wedding chances are you’re running around like a madman, and stopping by each supplier to sign a contract is the last thing you want to do. This is where MyFax comes in! With a MyFax account you can have the contract faxed to your PC or laptop, print it, sign it, scan it and send it back. It’s still a bit of work, but it’s a whole lot easier than driving all over the planet, while stressing out about getting to wherever before closing time. You could even do it at 3 in the morning during one of the pre-wedding jitters bouts of insomnia you’re probably going to have! (You knew about that right?)

If you’re a wedding planner, it makes even more sense. Assuming you’re good at what you do, you’re constantly on the move lining up multiple suppliers, making sure everything is working right, and meeting with clients. Being able to send and receive faxes from anywhere you can get an Internet connection is a huge time-saver. Being able to store them on your laptop or handheld so they’re always at your fingertips is even better.

So let the wedding bells ring. Just remember to open your MyFax account before you start the planning the walk down the aisle!

Tackling the telecommute

Ouch! That’s all I can say after filling up my sister’s gas tank last night at more than $1.44 per liter in Canadian dollars. That’s like more than $4 a gallon to you Americans. Ouch! And every time we think we’ve hit the limit of how high it can go, the oil companies prove us wrong. I’m personally amazed that the villagers have not been storming their corporate headquarters with torches and pitchforks (like in the old Frankenstein movies), but so far not a whisper. Maybe everyone’s afraid they’ll raise it another couple of dollars if we make too much of a stink.

As I’ve mentioned before I ride my bike to work and don’t own a car so you may be wondering why I even care. Two reasons really, first I do have to pony up my share of gas money when I’m travelling farther than my bike will take me, and two, because most of my friends drive I am forced to listen to conversations on this topic whenever we get together.

The solution seems to be looking for other ways to cope. One of course is riding your bike to work but I realize this isn’t practical for everyone.

Another way is telecommuting. If you can believe what you’re seeing in the media, telecommuting is on the rise.

Back in the good old days, when gas was a “mere” 77 cents per Canadian liter/$2.25 per American gallon, telecommuting was used primarily by people who worked for a company but lived hundreds of miles away, working moms who didn’t want to see their entire paychecks swallowed up by the cost of day care, and freelance writers. Today, though, things are changing.

Some companies are actually encouraging employees who live within a few miles of the office to log in from home one or more days a week to help them offset rising fuel costs. That’s a huge change from the days when people assumed their telecommuting co-workers were actually sitting in the sun on the patio sipping Margaritas while the office-bound workers slaved away under the cold glow of the fluorescent lights (and the cold gaze of the Boss).

For some of us, the challenge of telecommuting is self-discipline. There are a lot of distractions at home not present in the office. For example, it’s very tempting to get a head start on the week’s laundry rather than looking at a month’s worth of sales figures. And let’s not forget the Oprah factor…

But one of the biggest challenges is being able to operate out of your home they way you operate out of the office. There are a lot of little conveniences there we take for granted. A well-stocked supply cabinet is certainly one. At the office, if your stapler runs out of staples, you just go to the cabinet and get more. At home, you probably don’t even have a stapler let alone staples. So if you’re planning to telecommute regularly, carve out a little space to store the essentials – pens, pencils, paper, rubber bands, binder clips, paper clips, etc.

Another good tip is to make sure you have a comfortable chair and desk. Sitting on the couch with your laptop perched on your lap is not going to cut it.

Sending and receiving faxes is another consideration. We take the technology for granted until we suddenly find we need a client to send over a 10-page document and there’s no fax machine in sight. Fortunately, there’s a solution for that one – a MyFax account.

For just $10 per month (or the approximate cost of 2.5 gallons of gas) MyFax lets you send 100 pages and receive 200 pages anywhere you can get an Internet connection – including the sunny patio. That’s a pretty good deal – especially when you figure what it would cost in time and gas to drive 10 miles each way just to pick up that same document.

Of course, I’m sure some of you veteran telecommuters have some good tips of your own. Tell you what. If you’ll share them in the comments section below, we’ll pick out two or three favorites and give you a free month’s worth of MyFax service. That may not quite be the “free gas for a year” promotion some of the desperate car dealers are running. But it will certainly help make your telecommuting a little easier.

The world is now your office

You know, I remember reading once somewhere that there was a time in business where when you walked out the door at night you were done for the day. If there was a dire emergency at the office you might get a call at home, but that was the exception. If you left for a week’s vacation, well, either someone else had to figure it out, or it would wait until you got back. Those were the expectations, and they were universally accepted.

Not anymore, of course. The office is no long a single place. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, the whole world is now your office. That’s the new expectation. And if you can’t live up to that expectation? Well, customers, prospects, and business partners will find someone who can.

What got me thinking about that was reading one of the case studies on the my1voice web site. We have a customer, Chris Biber, who operates a small business called SearchingWorks that helps its customers with search engine optimization, search engine marketing, pay per click advertising and Web analytics. All very cool stuff, and all very important in today’s marketing world.

The thing is, a lot of Chris’ business happens outside of the office. First of all he has a distributed workforce, including one person in Romania. (I always picture going there as being like landing in the middle of a spy movie.) Then there are the client visits. Even if everyone was in one location, the nature of their business takes them out of the office a lot anyway. Which means they could be tough to reach at any given time. Add in the fact they’re all over the place and it was really tough for their clients to figure out who to call where. And when.

That’s what brought Chris to my1voice. He wanted to be able to give out a single phone number to every client, partner and supplier, then have an auto attendant funnel the calls to the right extension. Not only would that make things more efficient, it would also present a more professional appearance than handing out multiple phone numbers for each person. While he had looked into a traditional PBX (private branch exchange) phone system like many small businesses use, he found it was very costly. It also only worked for people who were in the same office as the equipment. Furthermore, if someone left the office there was no way to forward an important call to a mobile or home phone.

Glad to say my1voice solved all of that for him. He was able to set up extensions for people inside and outside of the main office, just as though they all worked in one office spanning the world. He also has taken big time advantage of the find me/follow me feature – his personal favorite – that rings his second office, mobile and home phones either simultaneously or in a particular order (depending on how he sets it up). my1voice has helped SearchingWorks improve their response time to clients, and has made them a lot more reachable. In the fast-paced world of Internet marketing, that’s huge.

My generation (and those that follow) will never know what it’s like to just leave for the day and be completely disconnected from the office. I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing. But as long as the expectation is there, it’s good to know that technologies such as my1voice are around to make it a little less painful – and a lot more convenient.

How to Profit in any Market

I know we have a lot of real estate agents and brokers using MyFax and my1voice. My colleague forwarded this blog from Chris Pollinger to me today and I thought it would be of interest to you, our customers working in this industry.

Actually, there is a lot of useful information here for every small and medium business.

What do you think about this list? Do you have additional ideas you’d like to share here?

my1voice (could have) Saved the Day!

In my last post I told you a little bit about some of the different products we now have at Protus, and I thought today I’d go into a little bit more detail about one of them because something annoying happened to me that directly relates to my1voice, and I need to vent.


Tell me if this has ever happened to you. You get a voice message and it goes something like this:

Hi Tara, it’s Jon from xxx I really need to get in touch with you today so if you could call me back I would really appreciate it. If you get this message before 9:00 am (oh don’t forget I’m on the west coast, so that’s my 9) could you give me a call at this number, xxx-xxx-xxxx. If it’s after 9, call me at this number instead xxx-xxx-xxxx. If it’s after 9 but I don’t pick up at that second number, try me at this one. xxx-xxx-xxxx. It’s really important I talk to you so if you can’t get me, can you leave me a message? Better do that on the second number, so I’m sure to get it during office hours.

While this is playing I’m scribbling numbers down like crazy and trying to put little notes beside them so I remember which number is which, and of course, the numbers are said fast so I have to listen to the message more than once, AND THEN I have to Google the west coast time zone because I can never remember if it’s two hours or three hours difference. By the time I’m finished I can’t figure out any of my notes, and I hate Jon for putting me through all of this, so the last thing I want to do is call him at ANY of his numbers.

Are you with me? Are you feeling my pain on this one? I know this has happened to you at some point.

What makes it even worse is now I know I don’t have to go through all of this, if John had a service like my1voice he would have left me one number that he had set up to call all of his phones. I in turn would have listened to a nice, normal-length message and promptly (because I always return my phone calls right away of course) called him back. I would not have spent 10 mins trying to get the numbers down, 5 mins on Google, and 10 mins complaining about Jon to everyone within earshot of my desk.

Oh and if you are Jon, or someone like him, and you leave messages like this on a regular basis, I’m telling you, people are calling you names and muttering all sorts of other things under their breath as they’re constantly looking up and/or dialing your multiple numbers. So you should really at least check out my1voice and see if it’s right for you. Like MyFax there is no obligation or contract, it’s easy to use, and you can be setup right away, even before you leave your next annoying message!

Protus Spring Fever!

I know. I know. I have fallen behind on my blogging. In my defense, it’s been a crazy but incredibly rewarding couple of months here at Protus. Our family (of products) is growing!
In addition to MyFax, our communications portfolio of services now also includes my1voice, a virtual PBX phone service designed for home and small offices – particularly those mobile professionals always on the go. And yesterday we announced the acquisition of GOT Corporation, the provider of industry-leading email marketing services called Campaigner and Campaigner Pro.

I could go on and on about all our offerings but I’d just be repeating what’s already a fast growing story. Check out yesterday’s story in the Ottawa Citizen.

Bloggers are covering our news too. There’s a lot of information out there on the web. Here are a few: www.webworkerdaily.com/2008/06/18/protus-welcomes-campaigner-to-the-family, http://www.smallbiztrends.com/2008/06/protus-acquires-campaigner.html and http://www.techtribe.com/viewArticle.html?articleId=a379e632-841a-102b-a627-000f1f68a9bf .

You can also check out our site for articles and more information. www.protus.com.

Let me know what you think of our new services!