Productivity with Purpose
Posts tagged business trends
Top Iphone Apps to Increase Productivity
Aug 24th
Tools are an indispensible part of your productivity strategy. Choosing the right tool for your needs can be a confusing and somewhat daunting task. The decision must be based on your needs, working style, and level of comfort with technology. With that in mind I have decided to do a series on productivity tools that I have found to be the most useful for improving efficiency, organization and focus. Each week in the series I will feature a different type of tool. Is there is some particular device or tool you’d like to learn about? Please let me know and I’ll try to report on it.
Since I have been absolutely enthralled by my iPhone lately, I’ll start with that device. *Note most of these apps have a version for the iPad as well so I am lumping them in together. I unfortunately don’t have the iPad yet, but one can dream. ..
These are the most useful iPhone apps that I have found to be effective, easy to use and as glitch-free as possible. This list is by no means exhaustive as there are literally thousands of apps available, but they are what currently work best for me.
Evernote – Free, open source note program, but way more than just notes. Evernote allows you to capture thoughts using text notes, voice recordings, photos and web clippings. You can tag notes or separate them into different notebooks. All notes are fully searchable and sync with a companion desktop application is desired.
Home Routines – This is my favorite home management app. It helps me to keep my home neat and organized, but keep those household tasks and maintenance off my business calendar. You can make as many routines as you want, and choose which days you want to see them. Routines can reset their stars overnight, or wait for you to clear them. Plan your most important one-off tasks for today, this week and the future with the handy built-in To Do list, and use the daily message feature to give yourself a short reminder for each day of the week. Home Routines is customizable to suit your home and priorities – get things done without cluttering up your calendar, email or to-do list.
HootSuite – Hands down my favorite iPhone app for every day social media management. Monitor Twitter and Facebook accounts, send and schedule updates, view statistics, watch lists and track keyword searches.
Paymo – I use Paymo to track my client and project time for billing and time management purposes. The Paymo iPhone app allows you to easily track your time while on the go. You can use it during client meetings or while working on tasks when you’re away from the office. Use timer or manually enter your time and it syncs with your online account to keep accurate time logs.
Pomodoro Pro – Really neat timer that helps you to focus for short periods of time and reminds you to take breaks. You can set the length of time and breaks if you don’t want to use the default 25 minute periods.
Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite – Create, open & edit Microsoft® Office Files (DOC, DOCX, XLS and XLSX.) Email, view & access attachments with popular file formats (PPT, PDF, iWork, HTML, PNG, JPG, GIF, SVG, TIF, MP3, etc.) Remotely access files via cloud storage services (Box.net, Dropbox, Google Docs and Mobileme.) Share files via email or cloud service providers. Manage and transfer files via WiFi. *Note – if you don’t need the “Cloud” features look at Quickoffice Mobile Suite.
Shopper – This is the most useful shopping list app I have come across: Barcode scanning, customizable lists and stores, aisle layouts, local store sale flyers, multiple lists, recurring list templates, list sharing and more. This little app has cut my shopping headache down to practically nothing.
Please come back and let me know what you like or dislike about the various apps or if you have any to add to the list.
Smart Time 4 Adaptive Organizer – I have just recently started trying this app, but it has serious potential, especially for those who use Google calendar and tasks. This is a really neat logic-based organizer and calendar for busy people. It looks at your appointments, then finds time for your tasks – and integrates both into one simple view. Keep track of lists, tasks, to-dos, appointments, events, and recurring anniversaries all from one integrated view. Categorize your tasks and events and share with family or team members. Don’t need the calendar views, look try Smart Tasks 4.
Todo – I tried many task management apps, but this is the only one that synced well with Outlook for me. Todo is able to sync with Outlook tasks using an interface that runs in the background on your desktop (though you can get a paid subscription to sync over the air. This app will sync categories which are crucial to me. It also has tags, different types of tasks (checklists, projects, calls, etc.) allows notes, recurring tasks and has the ability to share via email.
Traxitall – This is a very effective goal-setting tool. Track sales calls, social media followers, weight, spending budget, hours works, sleep, client load any anything else you can think of. It has recurring tasks, reminders, notes and best of all graphing of data and goal progress.
Invest in yourself
May 4th
Invest in Yourself is one of the most important Golden Rules of Productivity.
Investing in yourself will yield the highest returns of any investment you have ever made. If you want to stay competitive or be at your most effective you need to keep learning and growing on a regular basis. In today’s world with the constantly changing technology, concepts and guidelines if you aren’t improving your knowledge and skills, you will be out-of-date in mere months. You have to stay current if you want to be the best – and I am assuming that you do or you would not be reading this blog.
What does investing in yourself look like? It does not mean that you need to be perpetually enrolled in higher education, though that is an option if it appeals you. Learning and growing can take many forms. It may be as simple as having subscriptions to trade publications – either in print or online – to stay up on new trends. The caveat there is that you must actually read them! You may attend conferences, workshops or other forms of training, take online webinars or read current books in your area of expertise. You may work towards an advanced degree or certification. Any knowledge or skills that you can acquire can help you grow.
This is not just limited to your business skills either. If you want to take a writing course at the local college or learn photography that’s fine. Maybe you want to hone your musical skills or become a gourmet cook. All of these skills help you to stretch and grow as a person and can be easily transferable no matter what you do in your “business” life. Your mind stays sharp, your comprehension of current trends and conversations increases, your confidence rises and your proficiency in areas such as analysis and problem-solving also improve. Knowledge and growth will help you become a more valuable commodity in any area.
To read more about the other Golden Rules of Productivity click here.
Personal Branding Trends For 2010
Dec 29th
The following article is excerpted from Small Business Trends.
Personal branding is not a new concept, but it’s something small business owners and marketers have to pay attention to now and certainly through 2010. Your brand is your clear differentiator and your competitive advantage. It’s also the first impression you have with potential customers and the source of attachment you create with your current customers.
Over the past few years, we’ve seen personal branding become more and more important because of the pressure of the economy and through the rise and acceptance of social media technologies for both business and personal use.
With a 10.2% unemployment rate across the U.S., we have to stand out and become more exceptional in what we do. Aside from competition, business is being shifted into new territory. Instead of traditional transactions offline, we are starting to use social networks for business more and more. For instance, Facebook, with 325 million active users, has been turned into a money making empire. In previous years, the company was laughed at for not having a business model, much like Twitter was earlier this year. It’s now obvious that readership and engagement amounts to big money.
So without further ado, here are some personal branding trends to watch out for in 2010:
1. New content models are on the rise
Content, such as the articles you find on Small Business Trends or Anita’s podcasts, is made freely available across the web. In many instances, this makes a lot of people stop paying for content because they can access free content on any topic they desire. A recent Forrester report stated that 80% of U.S. consumers won’t pay for online content. Another survey by BCGshowed that for online paid subscriptions, the most people will pay is $3 per month. What this tells us is that the personal brands of 2010 are going to be built through a different model, based on consumer demand, the endless supply of content and the free distribution systems we all have. The more people that know about your brand (free content), the better, but since you have to make money, the options are freemium (having some free content and then some paid content), advertising or selling products and services on your site. News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch has even announced that all of his media properties will be blocked from Google spiders next year. 2010 will be the year of the major content shift, new business models and the fall of many media properties. You can benefit from this by turning your corporate site into a media property.
2. The year of building lists
2010 will be the year of small businesses developing and building upon their lists, including email and blog subscribers, Twitter followers, Facebook fans, LinkedIn contacts, etc. A survey by VerticalResponse, Inc. shows that 74% of small businesses plan to increase email marketing and 68% will increase social media marketing. More and more small businesses are viewing social media and email as an important way to build lists of people interested in their products and services and then to convert them over time. We’ll see this more next year because of the competition and the understanding of how these tools can be used to support overall corporate efforts.
3. A saturated web
Most small businesses have websites, but the world is forcing every single person to have their own website. A lot of business owners have ignored their own personal brands in the past because they feel that their brand might conflict with their company’s brand. In 2010 and beyond, everyone in every company (anyone with a pulse) will have a website, typically under theirname.com. Right now, there are over 1.3 billion internet users, with 200 million websites and there will be a 40,000 fold increase in websites in 15 years. There are incredible disadvantages to ignoring the explosions of websites and blogs, such as lack of online visibility. Next year, there will be a lot more websites because of this.
4. Reputation management fatigue
Over the past few years, it’s been a best practice to review online brand mentions using a variety of tools, such as Google.com/alerts, search.twitter.com and backtype.com. With more and more consumers making decisions based on what they find online, small business owners are going to have to set time aside every single day (not every week or month) to review comments said about their brands. According to a survey by the Opinion Research Corporation, 84% of Americans say online reviews influence their purchasing decisions. In 2010, reviewing comments isn’t going to be good enough. Brands will be forced to react to brand mentions in order to prevent negative word of mouth. There will be victims and there will be winners next year. Those that invest more time protecting their online identities will succeed.
5. Transparency will rock your world, literally
The truth about you and your company is going to come out next year, whether you like it or not. Search engines are starting to blend with social networks and status updates are being made visible and accessible just about everywhere on the web. This poses incredible opportunities but also some threats that you will have to be aware of. Every single time you publish a tweet, it will appear in Google and other search engines and, with your permission, it can appear on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other places like Brazen Careerist and Ning networks. This is starting to occur because it’s a revenue stream for social networks and because the “real-time web” makes search engines more relevant to the end user. When consumers start trashing a brand (such as yours), it might make the first page of your Google search results and damage your brand. This is something to really pay attention to in 2010.
6. Brand realization
A lot of people don’t have a deep understanding of what their brand really is. What’s starting to happen is that your online audience is giving you feedback, without you even realizing it. For instance, Twitter lists are really personal brand categories. If someone puts you in a list of influencers under a certain topic such as “personal finance,” then they are giving you a hint about how you’re branded. People will make categorization decisions based off of two things: your profile and your tweets. When you’re on a hundred of so lists, then you have great survey data that will show you if you’re branding yourself properly or not. More brands will start using tools such as mustexist.com to figure out what their brands are and get feedback from their audience if they are doing a good job.
7. The cream will rise to the top and niches are inevitable
I introduced this post by talking about competition and then went on to explain how the free nature of content destroys barriers to entry and creates an ecosystem of unlimited choices. Well, the truth is that not everyone will be able to become mega brands. Those that have the best content next year will float to the top, while everyone else will make less money and have fewer opportunities. What we’ve already seen is that the first-movers, such as Anita Campbell and Pete Cashmore (of Mashable) have owned their niches. It will be much harder to compete with big brands, which means next year the focus will be on niches and “hyper-niches.” People will have to really narrow down their market in order to stand out and succeed.
8. The value of information will increase substantially
If you aren’t in tune with what’s going on in your industry and with the latest technology developments, you are set to lose out next year. Have you heard of FourSquare.com? If not, then you better Google it right now. Are you reading at least 20 articles or blog posts each day? If not, then you better start because you’re competitors are and they are forming relationships with the media and bloggers as we speak. By not keeping current and not being open to new trends, you’re going to be in a world of anxiety in 2010. The business world is moving too fast and if you can’t keep up, then you’re out of business.
9. The video and mobile scene catch fire
According to “The Global Web Index,” from Trendstream, with research conducted by Lightspeed Research, early this year 72% of US Internet users watched video clips monthly. You might have seen your favorite show on Hulu.com or watch music videos on YouTube before, and that’s where a lot of the action is now. Video is the most powerful personal branding medium because it closes the gap because between knowing of someone and actually meeting them. In business, this is called building trust and a connection with your audience. Text and audio doesn’t have that type of impact, which is why video will be a huge trend next year. 607.5 million mobile users will be using social networks by 2013, which means that businesses will have to start making their websites mobile friendly. It also means that a lot of branding will be viewed and spread from one mobile device to the next.
10. You will be judged on voice, not just your resume
Most people judge others by their resume. A resume is an account of what you’ve accomplished in the past and an attempt to show a prospective customer what you’re capable of in the future. Sorry to say that a resume won’t be powerful enough to build your brand in 2010. In addition to all that work experience and all of that credibility you’ve built up, your online conversations will be just as valuable. If you don’t blog or comment on blogs or at least update your status on social networks, then you won’t be perceived as a valuable contributor. Your opinions and thoughts is what people will want to hear in 2010 and beyond, not just previous projects that get outdated really fast.
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About the author: Dan Schawbel is the bestselling author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, the owner of the award winning Personal Branding Blog and publisher of Personal Branding Magazine.
