When I travel for business, do you know what really tickles my fancy? I enjoy being picked up at my mansion, chauffeured by my polite driver to my private jet whilst my porter handles the bothersome baggage. Then, while I’m reclining in my in-flight massage chair sipping Dom, I remember…that I’m dreaming.  Why? Because I work for a growing business…and sometimes, we need to learn how to travel on a budget.

I realize that this is a web conferencing blog and here’s the part where you’d expect me to say, forget travel! Use Fuze! Well. You’ve come to the wrong place for that one…because while online meetings save money, sometimes you’ve just got to fly.

But (there’s a but), there’s no reason that you shouldn’t be just as efficient with your dollar on the road as you are when planning the rest of your business.

Here’s 3 easy tips for keeping an eye on your dollar. (Your wallet will thank you.)

1. Help your business associates to plan in advance. It is obviously not news to anyone that booking flights in advance will save a buck, but frequently when you have to travel to meet someone, it’s not on their dime, so they don’t hear the cha-chings in their heads when you’re planning travel. If you plan in advance, you’ll save gobs AND you’ll let everyone see how organized you are.
2. Don’t eat where you sleep. Once you get to the hotel, I know it’s super convenient to pop downstairs to the hotel restaurant or order in but ooo-eeey, may as well just toss some greens down the toilet because it’s likely your most expensive option.
3. Rent a car but skip the extras. The truth is, your car insurance is probably going to give you just as much coverage as the one they offer at the car rental and your phone probably has GPS. The biggest money saver is to SKIP the full tank of gas. There’s almost no chance you’re going to run the tank dry just in time to return the car. Even at a reduced rate, you’re not saving much if you leave more than a gallon or two in the tank, so skip the pre-fill and pay for the overpriced gas  near the airport if you have to.

Got any money saving tips to share?

Little did The Clash realize the implications for business meetings when in 1982 they posed that pivotal question: Should I Stay Or Should I Go-oh?

Being at a company that does online meetings, it’s funny how some people approach me at all my fancy parties and say something like… “well you JUST can’t replace a personal relationship and that’s why virtual meetings
just don’t work.”

Oh. Hey there, slippery slope. You’re lookin’ slick today!

Hold up. We’re the first to admit that sometimes a plane flight and a one-on-one meeting is just what the doctor ordered. However, we also recognize that there are quite a few people who are hopping on planes without really evaluating if it’s necessary for each particular meeting considering the cost and the consequences for the environment. I know…if it’s what you’ve “always done” it’s going to be a stretch to believe all this new(ish) technology can really cut the mustard.

So, before you cash in all your Starwood points or write off web conferencing completely, here’s a quick little guide to help decide when to stay and when to go-oh.

See, we get it. And way back in the research phase, we learned that even when budgets were tiny, one HUGE reason people still decide to travel is because sometimes seeing it on screen is just not clear, just not sharp and just not good enough.

Well, like a good neighbor, state fa I mean, Fuze Meeting alleviates some of that stress by offering digital collaboration in high resolution – you know, just to show off how hard you really did work on it.

What other kinds of meetings do you meet online for? What kinds of meetings do you always have in person?

Yes that’s right everybody. Your favorite Iclandic volcano and mine has been doing quite a number on the air space around Europe and has stranded quite a few would-be meeting attendees on the other side of this big blue ball of dense space dust (or on my side for that matter).

So what does this mean? Since you’re on the Fuze Meeting blog, I’m going to let you guess… But OK FINE, I’ll just tell you. If by chance you happened to be stranded, enjoy your few extra days of vaycay, but take advantage of this moment to learn about web conferencing!

If you haven’t been doing online meetings yet, THE TIME IS NOW.

Q: What have you got to lose?

A: Literally…nothing. I mean…do you really have another choice anyway?

So, *hint hint wink wink* sign up for our 30 day free trial (or just get free unlimited meetings for 3 attendees by fanning us on Facebook) and (for heaven’s sake!) use this opportunity to learn something new about whatever unexpected culture you’ve just found yourself amidst.

Take that, Eyjafjallajökull! You and your ridiculous spelling won’t keep us from being productive with our co-workers.

Crews work to return connectivity to surrounding buildings while Fuze Box employees telecommute for a day.

No thanks to a big ol’fire in a manhole at 7^th and Mission, the entire Fuze Meeting office had no network connectivity Monday morning and after about 30 minutes (don’t worry…our web conferencing software was still up and running), we all just called it quits and headed home with our laptops and mobile phones in tow, ready for a day of wildly productive telecommuting.

You work remotely-ers. You work from home-ers. You on-the-go-work-outta-your-hotel-ers. It’s not all a walk in the park!

Which leaves me to the real point of this blog – a plea for advice for our community that works remotely. A request for help and any tips that could make ‘working remotely’ productive and not painful.

Real life testimonial:

After immediately changing out of my work clothes and into my civvies (1 point telecommuting), I sat down, popped open the laptop and NOPE. It took me less than 5 minutes to realize this is not happening. Not at my house. There was way too much to get distracted by, including but not limited to quite a few DVR’ed episodes of 24. So off to the coffee shop.

After one quick little “working from home today” Facebook status update, all of a sudden, my friends are all up in my bid-nezz like I somehow snaked a day off? “Oh great, I’ve been meaning to catch up with you. Let’s get coffee!” Hel-LO, I’m WORKING!

“OK. OK. This is all part of the gig,” I remind myself in a soothing zen voice. But…at this point I’ve been camped out at a coffee shop for 3 hours and honestly couldn’t stomach one more banana nut muffin and the guy behind the counter is giving me the stink eye, so I pack up and head out. Goodbye 30 minutes of productivity.

Where am I supposed to go now? Another coffee shop, of course! And on to coffee number 3 for the day. By 4 PM with caffeine buzzing through my veins, I canceled my evening plans because I realized I was already shooting way under target and could count on a whole evening working. Goodbye work/life balance.

The conclusion: Hats off to all of you who manage to do this effectively, because I can tell it’s the sort of thing that would take a lot of practice to be good at.  Thank goodness I have my web conferencing software all picked out and ready to go, but let’s face it; online meetings are just going to scratch the surface.

So the question is: How do you do it? What tips/tricks/software do you use to make working from home more efficient? And hopefully my next telecommuting blog post will have incorporated all your fun little tips.