Archive for efficiency
A Few Tools That Could Revolutionize Digital Coaching
Posted by: | CommentsTo start with:
37 Signals products- Highrise-Basecamp-Backpack- Now we can share pages and update them with task lists, notes, pictures and files. We can organize the info and act on it seamlessly.
Copilot- now I can sit at my computer and fix yours by actually taking over your mouse and looking at your screen. This happens with a simple link I send you and takes 30 seconds to download.
Apeer- Now we could share and edit documents, videos and photos in a live environment. This is not sharing- it’s better.
Gotomeeting- we can conduct live webinars or meetings from the comfort of our own offices. I can train you or your staff to work better, and use their stuff better.
These are just a few. Their are so many new ones each day I have trouble keeping up. Somebody has to sift the tools and show you how they make your business work better.
Put the blinders on and focus for 6 months.
Posted by: | CommentsAfter reading almost all of Zen Habits popular blog posts this weekend, I have reaffirmed a decision I had been leaning toward. My family and I are going to put the blinders on and see how much focus we can exhibit in the next 6 months. This was inspired by lots of thought and prayer and a little nudge from Seth Godin’s blog last week. Here are the bullet points:
- We are continuing our process of simplifying life by selling our larger home and moving into a smaller one with about half the payment.
- We are purging even more of our furniture, kids toys, clothes and other “stuff”- my favorite term for everything I don’t really need that takes up space in my home and my mind. I’m all for stockpiling some things which I’ll talk more about in future posts.
- We are cutting expenses and increasing our means per Ben Franklin’s famous quote.
The road to wealth lies in augmenting our means or diminishing our wants, either will do, but the quickest way to wealth is to do both at the same time- Ben Franklin
- We are going to lose the excess weight we’ve gained while having three children the last 3 years.
- We are going to stop doing things that we don’t value or that don’t serve others. No will be a frequent answer.
- We are going to wake up early and go to bed early.
- We are going to focus on growing our primary income through our services to local small business owners.
- We are going to create multiple residual income streams through Eniva and their wonderful health product Vibe and through some other means I won’t mention here.
- We are going to start investing our US dollars in gold- actual gold coins minted in Australia. One is shaky and decreasing the other has stood the test of time.
- We are going to start investing money with Euro Pac capital and Peter Schiff’s team.
- We are going to continue giving money to the ministries, missionaries, our church and local charities/nonprofits. We’ll make every effort to increase our support.
- We are going to pay off our business debt and avoid it like the plague for the rest of our lives.
- We are going to start enjoying life like the famous story of the Mexican Fisherman. I’ve never read this blog but they were the first result in Google so they get the link. I first read this story in Dan Miller’s book.
We may fall directly on our face and miss the mark, but I have a sneaky feeling our situation will look a lot better if we put forth this effort. The blinders are going on. We’ve planned a few rewards along the way for hitting certain benchmarks and we’ve committed to keeping our plans simple. Small daily improvements are the focus. Massive action through a series of small steps with one foot in front of the other. I’ve always had a problem with focus, so I’ll let you know how the battle is going. It will be a battle, but the stakes are too high today to sit on the sidelines. If you’re up for it, let’s draw a line in the sand today and hold one another accountable.
Make everything as simple as possible but not simpler- Einstein
Simplify, Simplify- Thoreau
To close, a large men’s bible study I attended this weekend had a guest pastor who taught us about simplicity. He said following Christ is not always easy, but it’s never complicated. He quoted Micah 6:8 which says “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” No matter what your faith background is, these principles are timeless. Justice- Mercy- Humility.
Elimination is the toughest principle to follow
Posted by: | CommentsFor me elimination is always the toughest efficiency technique to master. Timothy Ferris of 4 Hour Work Week fame, is a nice balance to David Allen’s GTD. Sometimes no matter how well we collect it, process it, organize it and review it, you still can’t do everything. Sometimes it’s effective to do a Commando Raid, as Peter J Daniels suggests. Sometimes we have to simply eliminate as Timothy Ferris suggests.
I often joke with my wife, that I could get along quite nicely with my golf clubs/bag- a laptop/printer- and my favorite books. The rest of the time I could sit and connect with people drinking coffee in front of a fire. Sure I love my wife and kiddos so I would never take certain joys and niceties away from them, but it is funny to see how kids can have fun with the simplest things. My 3 year old daughter and 2 year old son ( our baby girl is only 6 months and she watches with visions of participating) can play for an hour with the following objects:
- a cardboard box
- some bowls and spatulas
- dirt
Even though I say I can get along with very little, I look around at my office and it gets piled up with clutter from time to time. Things I’ll never use. Things I will never read again. Distractions and reasons to procrastinate.
I think I’ll eliminate some things tonight. I think I’ll do the same with my schedule. No is a great word that’s full of conviction when you say it, mean it, and stick to it. I often say it, kinda mean it, and then hedge when I’m asked a second time.
Breaking your word to yourself is just as damaging as breaking it to others.
10 Great Uses for Google Apps
Posted by: | CommentsLet’s cut to the chase here as well- If you don’t know what Google is, then sorry. The ship has taken off and you’re stranded on the desert island. The good news is that this is the search party. If you wave your hands and light a flare or two then we’ll swing by and pick you up. If you continue to ignore Google, it won’t be good.
- It’s free- well there are no free lunches right? That’s Econ 101 right? Well for your ticket to use Google Apps you must be willing to see their ads in the margins as you use their highly productive tools. I’m in.
- GMail is very effective at working with multiple email accounts. I have 3 different email accounts sent into GMail, but I can respond to to any email from my business email. Which is what I prefer because it has the free promotion from my signature byline. Ever have trouble with that one in Outlook?
- GMail also allows you to never really delete email unless you want to- which I do. The labeling system in Google is far superior in my mind to a simple drag and drop folder system in say Outlook. In Google I can label an email with 3 different labels. Then later when my mind tries to find it through association I can look in two or three spots that jog my mind. Of course you can also search your emails using the most powerful search engine in the world. Integration it’s amazing isn’t it?
- Google calendar allows me to create seperate calendars for my schedule ( My wife and I share calendars of course- meaning she can click on mine and I can click on hers at anytime). I have business calendar, a calendar where I schedule my customer site visits and organization jobs. We have a meal plan calendar for each month. I also access my backpack calendar with tasks via Google Calendar. How powerful for the small business owner!
- Google Reader allows me through RSS to bring in all the blog and news feeds I like the best into one location. Instead of going to Doug Wead’s or Eric Schansberg’s blog every time I want to check for updates, I simply open up my Google Reader application and it’s all there for me. I keep up with 15-20 different blogs and news sources on politics, business, my Christian faith, organization and sports. The typical guy topics. Sorry ladies.
- Google documents allows you to upload, share and access key files from wherever you are. Pretty straight forward but nice feature alongside all the others.
- GMail has a feature to house all your contacts as well. I imported mine via an excel csv and it was pretty seamless. Now if you follow my lead you have email, contacts, calendar, RSS/blog reader and document sharing all in one web-based application via Google. You also would have everything else you need in Backpack. One is free and the other is a great value.
- Igoogle may be my favorite Google application. I was slow to discover the power in igoogle but now I love it. Would you like to have exactly what you want on your homepage along with Google’s powerful and simple search engine box? If so give Igoogle a try. Pick your favorite news feeds or your favorite tools. I like the bible verse of the day, the google maps and mapquest boxes. How about a link to movies playing in your area or the local weather? I have a Youtube widget along with a craigslist search box. I use the digital and second hand clock widget telling me the time all day. Last but not least I have an ever-changing picture of a really neat place somewhere off in the world.
- Google checkout has some powerful applications and is great for non-profits I’ve heard. I haven’t used it a lot myself but I’ve heard it’s great.
- Do you really need a 10th reason to get started with Google apps? Even though they are free to use, maybe you need some assistance migrating your small business over to them. Give us a call and we can make that happen for your business. We have already helped other small businesses make this transition and they’re not looking back.
