As a home-based travel consultant, I’m sure that you suffer from some form of identity crises and have to figure out on a daily basis which hat you’re wearing to be most productive. I’m not a selling agent anymore, but I was back in the day, and do work with them on a daily basis so I can empathize with how hard the job is. And, while I can’t tell you exactly how to keep it all together, I can tell you that many of my technical red herrings and downright diversions have been minimized by doing the following:

1. Decide clearly what I want the technology to do and write it down.
I was hired to help choose a back office back office accounting system for an agency and I was starting to be overwhelmed by the choices out there – some were cheap, some were expensive, some were web-based and some were installed programs. As I learned more about each system I started thinking that one feature in one particular system was very, very cool. It became the focus of my comparisons because it was so forward-thinking and awesome. The problem was that the one feature, while cool, cutting edge and potentially cost-saving, was not necessary for the day-to-day activities of the agency. I was overthinking the solution and not focusing on the simple problem.

2. Consider How All The Technology Fits Together
Since I have two physical offices, plus a world of virtual ones, I had to consider all the needs I had (see step 1) and then figure out how to make all the technology fit together. Thinking this through before you buy anything will save hours of integration later.

Here’s my basic example when I was focusing on my cell phone model:

a. need to read email when away from office
b. need to be able to blog when away from office
c. need to be able to update task list without paper/real-time
d. want to be able to wear headphones while working out and take calls
e. need to use it as a modem for my laptop
f. need to be able to check on the server remotely

There were other criteria, but you get the idea. I then made a excel spreadsheet of phones with the criteria and put an “x” where the phone met the need. It helped me stay focused on my needs without going down a rabbit hole. The most “x’s” won – and it was the Palm Treo 650. Now I’m thinking of upgrading to the Centro and I’m pulling up that old spreadsheet so I don’t upgrade and miss a feature I still need.