Today’s
post is another one prompted by a Dave’s Computer customer. This time it was a
woman who had decided to leave corporate life behind and go freelance. She
wanted to know what she needed to be able to work from home securely and how to
back up her data so she didn’t lose client briefs. As this subject is also
relevant to move people who use computers, I thought it would be a good subject
for a blog post.
Millions of
people across the world seem to be leaving traditional employment behind in
favor of working for yourself. I did it years ago when I first started Dave’s
Computers in New Jersey and haven’t looked back since. You will work harder
than ever before for a lot less money but nothing comes close to the
satisfaction you get from doing it.
As our
customer was performing clerical work, her needs were modest. All she needed
was a good internet connection, reliable computer or laptop, a VPN, external
drive and cloud storage. Most of us have these things already so it wasn’t much
of an expense.
A reliable computer or laptop – If you don’t want to buy new
hardware for work, you don’t have to. As long as you are using a relatively
recent computer with either Windows 10 or Mac OS and keep it up to date, use
antivirus, malware scanners and a software firewall, you’re fine.
You will
need enough disk space for your work. I would suggest using a separate SSD
purely for your work but you don’t have to. If you have a webcam and
microphone, virtual meetings will be much easier too.
Decent internet – Remote workers depend much more on a
reliable internet connection than home users. Even if you don’t work on the
internet, you will need to be contactable and be able to receive and answer
emails, messages and Skype calls quickly. It isn’t all about speed but also about
reliability. Don’t settle for less than 99.9% uptime.
A VPN – A virtual private network, VPN, is
essential. Not only for maintaining privacy when you’re researching online or
shopping but also when transmitting customer data. When you run a business, you
have to protect customer data at rest, stored on your disk and in motion, which
means being sent and received over the internet. A VPN is a cheap and easy way
to do that.
External hard drive – This is for backups. You may have gotten
away with not losing data when you were a home user but now the stakes are much
higher. Use an external hard drive and set your computer to back up to it
regularly.
Cloud storage – A backup is only regarded as robust when it
is stored in more than once place. Backing up to external storage is one place,
another backup to the cloud is another. You can get free storage from most
providers so make sure you use it.
It might
seem a lot, but most of us have Google Drive, a computer and/or laptop,
external storage and broadband. You should all use a VPN too, I have suggested
it enough!
If you need
help with any of this, come on down to Dave’s Computers in New Jersey. We would
be happy to help!