Freedom Ain't Free--Except When It Is

As an entrepreneur, the internet is arguably your best friend--you thrive on its endless supply of free marketing, e-business and communications tools. But it can also be your worst enemy--a web of timewasters that can be tough to escape from. In fact, the very online tools you depend on to run your business can distract you from running it.

If you're a Mac user, there's hope--no, not from your tragic hipness, but at least from losing time online. It's called Freedom, and, despite what the Second-Amendment crowd might tell you, it is, in fact, free. Freedom is an application that will disable the network of any Apple computer for up to eight hours. When the designated period ends, everything goes back to normal and you can go back to reading Spencer Pratt's Twitter. As of yet, Freedom doesn't make an equivalent application for PC users, who are already well-versed in the only way around the service--rebooting.

Cutting yourself from from the internet might seem like entrepreneurial suicide, but a few minutes off the grid won't kill you. Even if your business takes place entirely online, take a few minutes to make some calls, have a meeting with a three-dimensional human being or just read a book. It sounds corny, but sometimes we need to unplug for a while and reacquaint ourselves with the more basic principles of business and of life in general. You can talk about marketing all you want, but unless you're taking the time to constantly improve your product or service, all the marketing in the world won't make a difference.