For a while now I’ve had two burning desires both which I have held off from due to timing, one because I wasn’t ready and the other becase it wasn’t ready.

The first like many of you is the desire to start your own business it could be a product or service, physical or digital whatever it is you just know you have to get on with it at some point and make the leap.

The timing is right due to a number of huge changes in my life but all of them were partly planned and I’ve had the good fortune to transition neatly to this point

The second is going to sound rediculious but for me it symbolised much more. I really wanted to buy a Chomebook! You know the sub standard, always in the cloud, dirt cheap laptops that Google have been promoting for a number of years.

These devices have been growing in both popularity and raw power and the best of 2016 really got me thinking that I could finally make the switch and leave behind Apple’s overpriced gear once and for all and get back to basics.

For the last ten years I’ve relied heavily my top end Mac Book Pro as a graphic powerhouse to support my freelance graphic design business. Both the machine and the work have done me proud but it’s time to move on.

Working from home, coffee shops and co-working spaces all over the world has been a true freedom of the last decade and while design is my first love it’s not something I really want to build a business out of anymore.

My skills and passion have grown towards helping people build businesses, specificly small or startup businesses and I’ve slowly transitioned through design and advertising, web design, marketing and finally digital business consultant.

If I’m to fully make the transition I have to take the leap of faith and make a change. And for me that change is hearlded with technology. I fully belive that Chromebooks can meet even the above average business owners needs and want to put my money where my mouth is.

It’s not essential to go out and purchase a new machine just to start a business but for me there are just to many distractions on my day to day workhorse and the limitations of the Chrome platform are a relief and outright restriction from my old working methods and routines.

If I can bring foucs to my new venture by removing many of the daily work tasks that I would have normally done in my old ‘job’ then I can move on and really apply myself to the task in hand.

This is if you will my resignation from my life as a design profesional. Which brings me to my misson…

Can I start a business from scratch with a sub-$500 Chromebook?

Yes, of course you can if you have any device these days and access to the to internet then you can do everything that the Chromebook can do and if that works for you then great, but if you are starting out on your journey it’s always good to start with a blank slate, whatever it is, it will discourage distractions and allow you gain a sense of distance from other areas of your digital life. It should feel like you are walking into a new office full of possability.