Satellite phones

[Jon Wehrenberg]

You must really want to talk to someone to go to all that trouble.

When we finally allowed ourselves to step away from our business to get a vacation we decided we could trust our employees to make the right decisions. If we couldn't trust them to make decisions then we had the wrong employees.

So the message we left the employees with was to do what they thought best, and do the best they could. We did not want any phone calls unless it was an emergency, and we told them that an emergency was something we needed to be involved with. If the factory was burning down it was not an emergency because there was nothing we could do while we were gone.

We did not get any phone calls on our vacations and during our absence our employees did a great job.

Even when we got cell phones we often left it turned off until we wanted to call someone. I am constantly amazed at people who are away from home and business who spend most of their time on the phone dealing with business issues. They either have bad employees or they don't trust them or they haven't learned how to delegate. We still forget to turn our cell phones on most days.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Maybe it is a personal communication with a loving family member that needs reassurance that all is well.

JIM

[Danss]

Do not remember what brand or carrier on Sat phone. Just goes to show you, if I go to all the trouble to borrow something it should at least be top of the line!! My carrier on my cell is Cellular South. I assumne they somehow piggy back on someone else. Only used cell around poppulated areas.

[bluevost]

Jon,

Respectfully, I could not disagree with you more. Today's technology with cell phones, sat phones, laptops, skype, etc. are tools that help us get away a little longer, get away a little farther. It has little to do with trusting your employees. I have 6 employees and would not trade any of them for anything. They work hard, and are glad to be working. They know how far they can go to close a normal sale. But not all sales are normal, and sometimes they need the boss to make the decision. And when it's MY money at stake, I want to make those decisions. So a cell phone call to me while I'm on vacation on the U.P., (making my way round about to OKC), is alright.

And let's not forget the value of a sat phone in an emergency. When out in the middle of BFE with no Verizon, no AT&T, no nuttin', a sat phone looks pretty sweet indeed.

Ken

[Jon Wehrenberg]

We have to agree to disagree Ken.

One of the biggest mistakes I ever made in business was trying to be involved in everything. On the last business I got it started and within 6 months I outlined for the employees my expectations and then went away for 9 months. I was essentially at home, but to break myself of having to stick my nose in everything I did not go in and only reviewed the numbers periodically. (I can hear the busness people gasping for breath now.)

During that time I did things I wanted to do. I wrote aviation magazine and newspaper articles, I got my commercial and ATP tickets, and I drove contractors crazy by supervising the construction of a very elaborate deck at our house.

When I finally went back to work I essentially worked on policy and long term projects and remained removed from day to day. I never had a company grow as fast.

We bought our bus shortly after that and the rest is history. My employees were better stewards of my money than I was.

[merle&louise]

I second what Ken said. I don't normally post but I feel that it is warranted here. I WANT to be in touch with my mother and my children everyday and so do they! The only way to do that when traveling in Alaska is with a sat phone. It doesn't have any thing to do with business, it has everything to do with my piece of mind!

Tuga WANTS to be in touch with his children and grandchildren everyday also. There's nothing like hearing about the baseball game that Braden scored the winning run in. It's worth all the effort to get a satellite phone!

Louise

[jello_jeep]

I think in regards to being in touch for business, it depends on what your business is, and how many people you employ.

If you have a fairly large business, with employees numbering maybe in the hundreds, you can afford to have people on your management team that are capable of making big decisions.

At some point though, if you are a small business like we are, there likely is nobody that is going to make decisions of the same quality you will as the owner. Face it, if they were a greater decision maker than you were, they would be signing your check, not the other way around.

I don't get calls too often, and if I did as Jon mentioned, and told them not to, I wouldn't get any at all. But I would rather they have access to help if they need it.

Most of the time they don't really know if I am in town or not and I would just as soon have it that way.

I leave my phone on 24/7, very seldom get any night calls (maybe one a year), only key people have it, and they all have enough sense as to when they should bother me.

But I think they feel assured as much as I do, that if needed I will respond.

I hope to someday have the luxury of having something more turn-key, but I aint complaining one bit and am happy to be a Capitalist (if the govt allows it to continue).

Life is pretty good.

[truk4u]

Tuga & Karen,

We have to stay in touch also, do whatever you have to do to keep in touch with the family If your in BFE and need medical help with no communication, your next available call may be to Denny!

[ajducote]

My 2 cents worth.
Not everyone who owns a Prevost owns and runs a business. Some of us actually work for someone else. The only way we get to travel any distance is to be able to work an 8 hour day while on the road. Data cards and cell phones allow that. Being able to stay in touch with my mother is just as important. I do occasioaly get work calls at odd hours of the night and on weekends, but I will pay that price to be able to work from home or on the road full time. I have not been in an office in 3 years. I talk to my boss on the phone maybe twice a year. To young to retire, no trust fund or rich relatives. BUT traveling and working from the bus makes putting up with the cell phone a minor issue.

[0533]

We run an online business that requires us to be able to get to our websites everyday to manage the business. We also need to communicate with salespeople and customers.

We are planning on heading to Alaska next summer as well, will add to our Cellphone booster a portable sat internet dish that we can place on the ground (Dish on roof is too limiting) for internet access and Skype if needed, that is if we cannot get internet connection using our Cell Phone booster.

I outfitted all of our photography teams around the world with Sat phones, we rented them from a tampa Florida company, a total waste of $$ the signal is unusable unless you are standing in an open field, cannot use inside big waste of $$ my crews lost 3 of the dam things as well @ $1500 a copy. anyway if you really need to be connected get the Cell phone booster and a portable sat dish for internet.