successful home working
Posts tagged workshops
Top 13 tech tools for home workers, part 3
143 months ago
In the final part of her write-up of San Sharma’s Top 10 Tech Tools Francesca Geens of Digital Dragonfly describes San’s bonus, plus a couple of her own favourites:
11. iftt: San’s bonus to the list was completely new to me and a great little service that lets you automate various tasks. If This Then That lets you set triggers and actions. So if you would like to save the photo you take with Instagram to your Dropbox account you can. Simply look at their list of top automations to pick the ones that would save you time.
Personally I only use 4 of the above on a daily basis (Dropbox, Twitter, Buffer and Google Reader) so don’t feel overwhelmed if there are unfamiliar names on the list. Best to use just one effectively than set up accounts with lots and then loose track of what you are storing where!
I am all for keeping thing simple and try to use as little as possible to do what I need to do. The following 2 are essential daily tools for me:
12. Office365: this is how I manage my emails, calendar and contacts. Office365 is a recently launched service from Microsoft which offers Exchange Online to sync all your data across as many devices as you like. I have Outlook on 3 different laptops at home (all different sizes- I am in tech, remember!) and also manage my calendar, contacts and emails on my phone. Sometimes when I am working on the go I will borrow a laptop and access all my data through an Outlook browser app. Unlike everything on San’s list this one will cost you £4+VAT a month and is available for both Mac and PC users.
13. 1Password: another essential for me- password management software so you never need to remember your passwords. Sloppy password management will make you vulnerable to hackers so its important to keep strong and different passwords for everything. Spending some time setting up this software is a great way to protect yourself and save time from having to reset passwords when you can’t remember them! Again not a free one but in this case also worth paying.
I hope this list of 13 tools proves useful in saving you time – if there is anything we’ve left off the list leave a comment and let us know how you use technology to save you time.
Francesca Geens founded Digital Dragonfly to help tiny businesses with their IT and technology. She is especially interested in productivity and the use of technology to improve people’s day-to-day business lives, and is offering one of her unique Best-Practice Consultancy sessions for free every month to support individuals setting up their own businesses. Find out if you are eligible to apply.
Top 13 tech tools for home workers, part 2
74 months ago
Francesca Geens of Digital Dragonfly, non-geeky IT help for one man businesses, continues her summary of Top 10 Tech Tools, the recent How to Work from Home event:
6. Flow / Toodledo: I am a big fan of Getting Things Done by David Allen and ever since reading it use a task list to manage my business and personal to do’s. Personally I use Outlook tasks but both these apps are other great cloud based ways of tracking your tasks.
7. Twitter: We looked at a range of Twitter options from the ‘just’ Twitter’s own app to more complex apps like Tweetdeck and Hootsuite. The latter are great if you need to manage more than one stream, if you want to schedule tweets or get analytics. Overall the preference fell for Hootsuite as being user friendly and having good looking interface. We also briefly discussed apps like Qwitter which let you see who unfollows you (might be best not to find out!) and Tweriod which lets you know when your followers are most likely to be online.
8. Buffer app: still on the subject of Twitter- whilst we all agreed that scheduling tweets needs to be done with care as it’s a good idea not to flood your followers with tweets. So if you are catching up on your reading send tweets to Buffer and let it automatically spread your tweets throughout the day. Since the workshop I have now added this to my Google Reader so I can tweet to Buffer straight from there: time-saving or what!
9. Basecamp: a great project management app from 37signals which has a free option giving your full functionality with a single project. So whether you are managing your wedding (as in San’s case!) or a client project another great way to keep everything organized and in the cloud.
10. Dropbox: Everyone attending the workshop was already using Dropbox though perhaps not to its full potential. This is a great way to work offline, backup to the cloud and get access to your work from any browser or other machine in which you log into your Dropbox account. I personally have saved all my business and personal documents to Dropbox (the free account is large enough for this) and can access them from 3 different computers that I work on, from any browser and from my phone- essential for any mobile worker.
San also had a bonus for us, plus Francesca has some favourites to add, so there’s still more to come soon! Have you tried any of these suggestions? We’d love to know how you got on.
Top 13 tech tools for home workers
114 months ago
As promised, here is Francesca Geens’ write-up of last week’s event and it’s so comprehensive I’m splitting it into 3 parts for easy reading!
Last week at Judy Heminsley’s regular ‘How to Work from Home’ workshops at Central we had a tech theme and San Sharma, Community Manager, from Work Snug and Enterprise Nation came along to talk us through his top 10 tech tools to save you time. As a few people couldn’t make it I promised to write it up and as I am in tech myself am going to throw in a few of my favourites at the end as well.
So what were San’s top ten tech tools?
1. Chrome: a good browser is really important. This one is quick, secure, has great add-ons and works across all platforms. Mac user should also check out Safari. Great tip: make sure you are making the most of tabs.
2. Instapaper: Save the shortcut button into your browser and whenever you see some great content you’d like to read later on send it to Instapaper for offline reading on your phone through the Instapaper app. Show You is a similar site for keeping track of video content you’d like to go back to.
3. Google Reader: RSS feeds are a great way to stay productive. Instead of visiting various sites to find relevant contents and news for your industry have it come to you through Google Reader. You can star items you want to save for later and also tweet straight from inside Google Reader (or post to other social media sites, including Buffer). Mac users will also like the aesthetic of Reeder- which also gives you the option to send to Instapaper.
4. Delicious: tagging bookmarks and saving them to your Delicious account is another way to save time by making it easy to go back to great content you come across but don’t have time to read or want to keep going back to. The social side of Delicious is not to everyone’s liking (ie you may not want to show the world what your reading) so note that you have the option to keep everything private. Either way you get to make the most of the great tagging facilities to easily find contents. More advanced users will want to check out the Stack feature.
5. Evernote: Another classic app which is available across platforms and which offers great ways to organize information. Especially useful when travelling or to keep track of receipts- send or scan information to Evernote, tag it or do a key word search and watch the character recognition at work.
To be continued – in the meantime, have fun experimenting and do let me know how you get on.
Home working news
44 months ago
I’ve been away for much of the last 10 days, enjoying Cornwall in early autumn and then brushing up my marketing skills in London. Here’s a quick pick of information useful for home workers and freelancers to break my blog silence:
Pinterest has been in the news this week. Apparently it’s considered one of the hottest new online startups, so one you’re likely to hear a lot more about. It’s described as ‘a visual bookmarking site used primarily by women’, but if that means nothing or sounds utterly dreary, take a look at my Work from Home Offices board, where I pin images from the web related to home offices and their accoutrements. It’s simple, fun and a great way to share extra visual content that might not fit too well on your website or blog.
I’m just planning the next How to Work from Home – The Inside Guide event that’s happening at Central a week on Thursday. You may well know San Sharma from #watercoolermoment on Twitter or WorkSnug and he’s our special guest for Top 10 Tech Tools to save Time. As a keen early adopter and fluent translator of geek-speak he’s the perfect person to tell us less IT-savvy folk what works and what’s worth investing in. Do contribute to the discussion by visiting the Central Linkedin group and telling us your favourite app, software or piece of kit. And don’t forget to book your place – previous meet-ups have resulted in some big wins for participants, so don’t miss out.
Better get on with my catching up – happy pinning and don’t forget to tell me if you start your own board. San and I hope to see you next week to talk tech!
Marketing Masterclass for Mystified Home Workers
135 months ago
The latest How to Work from Home – The Inside Guide event at Central was a great success last night. James Layfield, co-founder of both Central and international marketing agency, The Lounge Group, gave the group some valuable insights into marketing a small business. Here are a few of the many points I jotted down:
Be authentic in every area of your business. You started it in response to an event or a feeling, and that conviction must pervade everything you do, whether it’s choosing suppliers or dealing with staff.
Get connected – Central spoke to 500 people before opening to ask for their opinions and changed tack where necessary. Those people will become your advocates and tell your story.
Keep it simple, stupid! Have just one singleminded message like Central’s ‘the best place to work on the high street’. What you do must be told in your business name, logo and URL.
Be consistent – keep saying your simple message a million times, especially if you don’t have a big marketing budget.
And be relentless, don’t give up – a wave will eventually erode a rock by washing over it repeatedly, and your message will get through!
The meet-up closed with a lively discussion about URLs and business names, and Jo Gilbert, commercial artist and Central member, came up with a strong new name for her business. Not being one to hang around, Jo has already bought her new URL and changed her Twitter name – meet @YourBrandedArt. It was obviously Jo’s lucky night – she also won the competition for best tweet promoting the event and went home with a copy of my book!
As usual we ran out of time long before things to discuss and conversation continued out on the street as the Central staff locked up! The How to Work from Home – The Inside Guide groups are always great fun, very informative and produce real change for the participants (coming soon – a photo showing Eva‘s pristine working area after the procrastination event in August!)
Next month we have the charming and self-confessed computer nerd San Sharma of Bitsy and WorkSnug talking to us about the Top 10 Tech Tips to Save Time in language a non-techie can understand. Come and join us!
Kill procrastination at How to Work from Home
117 months ago
I don’t think I’ve ever come across a home worker who doesn’t think they are guilty of putting things off. This may partly be due to spending time alone and dwelling on that dreaded job we’re avoiding, whereas in a busy office it’s easier to put it out of your mind and concentrate on other things. Or it might be the tendency of folk who work from home to give themselves grief over what they’re achieving, not having anyone to compare themselves or commiserate with.
Whatever the reason, I’ve chosen procrastination as the topic for the next How to Work from Home – The Inside Guide meet-up at Central on Thursday 21 July, between 7 and 9 pm. We’ll be talking about why and how we procrastinate, when it can actually be helpful, and what we can do to kickstart ourselves on the jobs we need to do.
If you came along the the first meet-up in June I’m looking forward to hearing how you’ve got on with the tips you picked up that evening, and whether the changes you’ve made in your routine have been for the better. If you didn’t make it last time, come along and meet some fellow home workers in a friendly environment – it really is a great help to realise we all share the same highs and lows! As Catherine Raynor said afterwards – ‘I had such a boost from the experience.’
Members of Central come free of charge (but space is limited so please book a place) and for non-members it’s just £11 plus booking fee. It’s an ideal opportunity to check out what’s on offer at Central, and even if you don’t live in London it might be just the base you need when you go up for meetings. On my last trip it was an oasis after battling crowds, heat and dodgy internet connections!
Don’t put it off – come to How to Work from Home – The Inside Guide this month!
