#GrowSmartBiz : Pat Troy Using Technology to work smartly
September 21, 2009 :: Shashi BellamkondaSmall Business Conferences are about getting actionable ideas and implementing them in your business and Pat Troy signed up for this very reason to the GrowSmartBiz conference on Sept 29th. Pat Troy , CAE and MCA is the Executive Director of nextwavegroup.com and very busy person. NextWave Group among other things is a Association Management company. I had the opportunity to meet Pat Troy at a recent event in Annapolis at the Social Media Workshop for the Mid Atlantic Car Wash Association conducted by Network Solutions with Steve Fisher giving great tips and demos to the audience of Car Wash owners and vendors. Pat Troy said she was looking forward to the GrowSmartBiz conference on Sept 29th and when she mentioned that her business was completely virtual I was impressed. I interviewed her and here are some interesting ways she has increased the efficiency of her business. The Small Business Success Index , found that the most “plugged-in” or “tech-powered” small businesses – ones that used 6 to 14 of the technologies tracked by the survey – were far more competitive on the SBSI than those deploying fewer Internet business solutions
The video of the interview is at the bottom of this post. We also have another common connection i.e her son Dave Troy is a friend and I did not know that till Pat just mentioned his name. Dave has a lot of achievements and you can read them here. Thank you Pat for your time and sharing your secrets with our audience.
a) What made you think of taking your company virtual?
I first considered it when I needed to move my office in 2000. At that time, however, we were still doing a lo of functions that were not Web based. After 9/11 I surveyed my employees to see how well they could function from home if they had to, and just about everyone could. After Hurricane Isabel, our offices were without power for nearly three weeks. Many of us had power at home or could find it at friends’ homes or businesses. We managed to operate relatively normally. But we still had one client that required physical space because they had a big awards contest. But that contract came to an end, and I decided I really didn’t need to maintain office space.
b) What advice do you have for people who feel they are technologically challenged?
There is nothing that I am doing now that is any different than what I was doing when I had an office — I am using the Web, email and standard software applications. We do have our phones set up using VoIP, but all we have to do is answer the phone and it says which line is ringing (necessary to answer it properly).
c) How are associations coping with the economy ?
Some are facing some serious hardships due to declining membership, hotel attrition charges for under-attended meetings, and investments gone bad. The smart associations are taking a hard look at their operations and making changes. Web applications, properly used, are one way to reduce costs.
d) Are members interacting more now with their associations?
That really varies with the association. Certainly job boards are in demand, and so are low cost seminars.
e) How did you encourage your son Dave Troy to form a technology company at the age of 15 ?
Actually, he was only 14 when he started Toad Computers. It really was all his idea, and we just didn’t stand in the way. We told him to write a business plan and he took that plan to the bank (we never saw it) and got funding. He managed to balance his business with his education. I did drive him around until he got his driver’s license. Financially, he was on his own with it from day one, though we had to co-sign his first loan.
f) What are the tools you use for your virtual office.
We use the Internet, online accounting software, as well as online association management software for database management and communications. We are now adding electronic filing cabinets as part of our online accounting package. Our phones use VoIP. We also make heavy use of cell phones.
Have you made your business virtual ? Chris Anderson the keynote speaker at the GrowSmartBiz Conference also runs 3 small business and told me that are virtual and use technology smartly.
Note: Network Solutions®, LLC and the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business have partnered to track the competitive health of small businesses over time. The baseline survey for the Small Business Success Index (SBSI) was collected in December 2008 through January 2009 by interviewing 1000 small business owners over the telephone. The second wave was collected in June 2009 from 500 small business owners. More details at http://growsmartbusiness.com/wp-content/files/SBSIwave2.pdf
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