So there I was, presenting my piece during the online conference. We were supposed to be discussing the way forward for a new project. Just the day before, Mrs Paloma had spoken with me over the phone.

‘The boss at the top liked your pitch during the last meeting. He wants to hear any more ideas you might have,’

I was thankful she couldn’t see me because I was silently squealing like the girl I am and jumping all over the place. Opportunities like this didn't come all the time, and if I played my part well, I could be looking at some sweet benefits in the future.

‘Thank you, Mrs Paloma’ I said as calmly as I could.

‘You DO have new ideas, don’t you?’  

Thankfully I did.

The day finally came and everything was prepared, set and ready to deliver…or so I thought. I had forgotten one crucial factor - my five year old cousin.

All eight people on the call had been introduced, it was time for me to speak and speak I did - until that horrible moment when danger pattered in on two cute little feet. I was so focused on delivering a perfect pitch that I didn't register her presence till it was too late. Standing beside me of all places, screaming at the top of her lungs, little Gracie called for her mother…that was nowhere near the area.

I was horrified.

I couldn’t yell at her - that would be too unprofessional, and I couldn’t mute myself - I was still speaking. That left me to pray and hope that my cousin whom I loved until that very moment, would leave on her own.

She eventually did leave, but the damage was already done. 

Nevertheless, if you take out the screaming children and annoying family members with no sense of privacy, business has been completely revolutionized with technology.

First of all, people can work from anywhere which means we have more flexible schedules. It’s a great diversion from your usual 9 - 5 and let’s face it, everyone wants to be able to shut down and maybe watch a movie or take a nap sometimes. You definitely can’t do that if your boss sits a few feet away from you.

Secondly, enhanced communications. Because of remote work, offices aren’t restricted to people in their immediate vicinity. You could literally find and hire talent online without ever meeting the other person face-to-face. Absolutely brilliant.

Thirdly, we can’t leave cloud computing out of this conversation. That sounds like something terribly complicated, but I assure you it isn’t. Cloud computing is basically storing company data in a cloud. So rather than saving the minutes from my embarrassing meeting on a personal computer, the office can upload it and share my disgrace on a wider scale. In layman’s terms, everyone with access can access. It saves you from losing data should a particular device crash or decide to frustrate you just for the fun of it.

Technology is growing every single day, and smart businesses are growing with it. Rather than stubbornly sticking to old methods as a young entrepreneur today, comforting yourself with ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, accept the changes as they come.

Sometimes, it is broke, but just not the way you expect.

To really expand your business, you must expand your mind.