January 29, 2013

Take your business on the road

Scoutie Girl - Tooling Around: Business on the road

First, a disclaimer. As much as I’m a workaholic sometimes, I’m a firm believer that when you’re on holiday you should be doing just that: holidaying.

I’ve just returned from an amazing five weeks travelling overseas without working, except for blogging my travel photos. Bliss!

With that out of the way, there are times when you will have to work while you’re away from the office or studio. You’ll want to fire off your line sheet straight to that shop owner at the trade show or arrange dinner with your fellow conference-goers. Sometimes life will throw a curveball and a family emergency will have you a thousand miles away from your desk, but still with your regular workload to deal with. Or perhaps you actually want to go all-out and embrace location-independent working.

Whatever your reasons, you’ll need a bit of preparation before you leave the office, including a few well-chosen tools.

Note: This post will assume you have a laptop or tablet, plus a smartphone. I’ve tried to be as device- and platform-neutral as possible. You should also read the previous post about holiday-proofing your business, as this post picks up where that left off.

In the clouds

Working remotely no longer means dialling into some expensive server back at head office. With cloud computing it’s never been easier or cheaper for business people (no matter how small the venture) to access files on the go.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a fantastic tool for storing your work and sharing large files. I particularly loved it on our trip for backing up our (many!) photos every evening using the hotel’s wifi. To have the storage space I need I have the premium version at $10/month but the peace of mind that our precious memories were safe was priceless.

Google Drive

Now that Google Docs has changed to Drive and can be used for all kinds of files (not just the in-built Docs formats), its potential rivals Dropbox. Its advantage has always been the functionality for collaborations, so if you work with colleagues and other collaborators I’d opt for Drive over Dropbox. Existing Google users will also appreciate the integration with other apps.

Basecamp

While my own business doesn’t use Basecamp, I have experienced it on the client end and I was super impressed with how it stores all the necessary information for project management. There’s no switching between your email here, your project calendar there and your file storage somewhere else, everything is contained in the one online home. If you’re in a service-based industry, especially if you work alongside virtual assistants/employees, I would highly recommend looking into it.

Expensify

Don’t come home with pocketfuls of scrunched up receipts and transport tickets that you’ll then have to sort through to lodge your expense claims. Instead, sign up for Expensify and take photo records of your receipts. It can even pull data straight from your bank account and integrate with Google Apps and Evernote.

Last Pass

Of course, to access of these tools you’ll need to remember your passwords! Sign up for Last Pass and you’ll never be caught out.

Go offline

As awesome as cloud working is, it does require the internet which can be problematic when on planes, in remote locations, outdoors or places like conference centres. Many apps now have an ‘offline’ mode for those times when we can’t be connected. Even if you have data on your device, if your fees are high (particularly if you’re on global roaming) it pays to stay offline unless necessary.

Gmail

Catch up on emails and access info from your archives using Gmail Offline. You never know, you might just find you love the interruption-free productivity that you start working offline even when you do have internet access! To install it, open your Gmail and go to Settings > Offline.

Evernote

If you’ve installed Evernote on your laptop, you’ll have all of your data stored locally, however if you’re relying on a mobile device you normally need an internet connection to access it. That is, unless you activate offline notebooks. You’ll be able to access to your itinerary, conference timetable and reading material no matter how shoddy (or non-existent) the network connection is. It’s supported on most devices but I believe there are some limitations with the free version. Here is a great article to walk you through it.

Instagram

While you can’t publish your Instagram images without a network connection, you can set it to airplane mode. You can still take your photo as usual and instead of posting it online it will add it to the photo album on your phone so you’ll have it handy when you then want to add it your Facebook or blog.

Maps

You can ditch the bulky paper maps because you can now access maps offline! While you can’t use it as a GPS to direct you, you can use it to navigate yourself as you would with a regular map. Be sure to save the relevant maps beforehand while you still have a connection, so that they are pre-cached to your phone. Save the location of your hotel, conference, sights, train station and meetings. Note that they only save within a 10 mile radius, so they’re perfect for your business trips and inner-city sightseeing. There’s Google Maps offline for Android and Apple Maps offline for the iPhone.

Keep on bloggin’

If blogging is a big part of your business (or if it is your business), you likely want to maintain the momentum even while you’re away from home. Here’s what was in my on-the-road blogging arsenal:

WordPress

I closed my studio while I was away, but I still wanted to check in with my blog readers and share my travel diary. While the limited functionality and different workflow of the WordPress app compared to the desktop version did take some getting used to, ultimately it did the job. Use one of the various mobile app versions instead of the browser version and you’ll be able to work on your drafts and publish them when you have connection again.

Camera connector

To transfer photos from my DSLR to my iPad for backing up and blogging, I used a camera connector. Simply plug in your regular camera cable and the other end fits into the iPad plug.

Filterstorm Pro

I used Filterstorm Pro for some serious photo editing while travelling. At $15 it’s pricey for an app, but the amazing advanced functions and bulk exporting tipped me over (the regular version still has very impressive capabilities but without the premium price tag). With one click you can export your photos to your backup Dropbox or share on social media, so you can make the most of your travel time instead of sorting out your photos. If you’re after something a bit simpler, try Photoshop Express, Photoshop Touch or Picasa.

Google Calendar

Set up your editorial schedule using Google Calendar so you can access it anywhere.

Stay in touch

Personally, I find one of the best things about going away is being unconnected for a while. It helps you fully experience the moment and have a clear head without the constant noise of news and social media. That said, you’ll still be wanting to contact family and (if you’re travelling for work) colleagues, peers and clients.

Skype

Phone calls are great but there’s nothing like seeing your loved ones when you’re calling home. Particularly great if you have little ones who may not be able to communicate well over the phone. Install the Skype app on your tablet or phone for free communication. Alternatives are Hangouts (for Google users) and Facetime (for i-device users).

TravelSim

If you can’t get away without having a phone while you’re overseas, check the global roaming fees on your plan. If they’re exorbitant, you’ll want to look into an international SIM card such as TravelSim. You can use your own handset and while they do give you a new number, you can set up a diversion so people can still use your regular number. Best of all, it’s prepaid so you won’t get any nasty surprises when you return! It looks like it’s aimed at Australian travellers so folks located elsewhere will want to check out local alternatives.

Twitter

I was trying to avoid using my email while overseas, so when I needed to contact industry friends to arrange a meetup or ask for local recommendations, I used Twitter. I didn’t have internet access on my phone, but it’s not too hard to find cafes and public hotspots while you’re out and about.

***
I hope that’s made your next trip a bit more productive and enjoyable!
Share with us in the comments what your must-have on-the-go business essentials are.
Filed Under: Buy You, For You Tagged With: , , 3 Comments
January 2, 2013

Make 2013 your best year yet

SG Tooling Around - Make 2013 your best year yet

As you’ve probably worked out by now, I could talk all day about productivity tips.

You can make all the productivity hacks in the world, but if you’re using your freed-up time on yet more useless busywork, you’re not going to get anywhere.

Are you ready to step up your game and make 2013 your best year in business? I know I am! Let’s get started.

Define your goals

The new year is a great time to sit down and figure out your goals. What do you want your day to look like twelve months from now? Think about your life goals not just your business goals, as one will impact the other. Maybe you want to:

  • Launch a wholesale line by August and be carried by at least five local and national boutiques.
  • Create a tutorial using your hand-dyed yarns featured in Mollie Makes this year.
  • Maintain a consistent blogging schedule three times a week.
  • Take a three-week holiday every summer.
  • Reduce your crazy hours to school hours by the start of the next school year.
  • Open a retail store within three years.

You’ll notice that they’re a mixture of short-term and long-term goals and that they are specific and have deadlines.

If you’re struggling to see the big picture because you’re down in the trenches, ask yourself these questions:

  • What did I enjoy last year and want to do more of? What did I not have time for and missed doing?
  • What did I not enjoy and want to do less of? What wasn’t working?
  • What was I always complaining about to my spouse/cat?
  • What are some things I was dreaming of ‘if only’ I had the time or money?

>Write down all of these goals and when you want to achieve them by. Now it’s time to turn each of these goals into projects.

Create projects

Do you think Napoleon put ‘Invade Russia’ on his to-do list for Thursday? Of course not, so why do you have the mammoth task of ‘Open online shop’ on yours?

I know you don’t have a whole army at your disposal, but the principle is the same. Break it down into single, actionable steps. Suddenly the step of ‘Research web developers’ is much more manageable and you’ve taken your first step in opening your virtual doors.

If you have spending goals, such as investing in a new sewing machine or taking that three weeks off, the first step might be to set up an automatic debit every week into a savings fund. You can thank me later.

Longer-term goals will require a bit more thought and may involve several projects. For example, if you’re planning to go on maternity leave, you might want to hire and train an employee now, create a wholesale line so you don’t have to do craft fairs with a newborn, and set up a fulfillment house so orders can be shipped without you.

Next, enter your projects and tasks into a program such as Zendone or OmniFocus and assign a date for each step, working backwards from your deadline. You’ll then be able to track everything from single little to-dos to your large-scale projects and view according to context, date, project, person, or ‘next actions.’

Plan it well and things should turn out better than they did for ol’ Bonaparte.

Find the time to do it

“That’s all well and good,” I hear you grumble, “but where am I supposed to find time to work on my three-year goals when I’ve got work to do now?”

While we all have times in business (and life) where we have to go into survival mode and just focus on the urgent stuff (like getting your orders out for Christmas), this shouldn’t be the norm.

You need to make time for the important tasks, not just the urgent ones. Don’t be afraid to…

  • Shut down your email and turn off notifications.
  • Get up early so you can work uninterrupted by calls, emails and family/co-workers.
  • Use a weekly schedule to make sure you’re creating time for everything you need to do.
  • Batch your tasks such as email, bookkeeping and social media.
  • Use a timer to focus your work – try the Pomodoro Technique.
  • Treat it like a real business - if friends call you up during the day to go out shopping what do you say?
  • Jot your ideas down using Evernote so you don’t forget them, then get back to whatever you were doing.
  • Switch off your phone if you really need to finish something (that’s what voicemail is for).
  • Make an appointment with your work – if something come up, say you’re busy.

What are your business goals for this year?

I hope some of them are now looking a bit less scary and more achievable!

(P.S. I’m off travelling for a few weeks, but please chat amongst yourselves and I will chime in when I return at the end of the month.)

Filed Under: Buy You, For You Tagged With: , , 2 Comments
November 29, 2012

Grow Your Handmade Business: Benchmarks

The following is an excerpt from Kari Chapin’s new book, Grow Your Handmade Business. This fantastic guide has tons of excellent advice for starting and maintaining your business — and also features our very own Tara Gentile as well as many other much-loved entrepreneurs. Enjoy this chapter, and make sure you read to the end to find out how you can win your own copy of Kari’s book!

- – -

Setting benchmarks is a good way to define what success looks like to you, and is an important step in the business-planning process. Success doesn’t always mean that you have accomplished everything you set out to do. It can look and feel like anything you want. Sometimes, if I just get two paragraphs written, I feel successful. Success can be fluid and changeable if that works for you. For me, if I feel good about what I’ve done during the day, with how I’ve spent my time, I feel successful. And that can go a long way.

Measuring Your Success

How do you measure your success? Since it has a lot to do with your intentions and goals, only you can decide what success looks like to you and your business. I’d like you to take your journal and look at one of your favorite intentions. (Perhaps it’s something like quitting your day job and working for yourself within the next year.) Now work on the goals underneath that intention, and then break a few of your goals down into tasks. If you complete a few of the tasks, you have come that much closer to reaching the goal, and you’re that much closer to realizing the intention, which means you’re being successful.

Another way to measure your success is to determine how you want to feel. Take some time and make a list of the feelings you want to experience from your business. Your list may look something like this:

  • Free
  • Self-reliant
  • Happy
  • Secure
  • Abundant
  • Creative
  • Exuberant
  • Accomplished

Check in with yourself from time to time. Is your business making you feel how you want to feel, which is to say, fulfilled? If so, you’re achieving your personal definition of success. Congratulations! If not, figure out why. What could you do to improve the state of your feelings?

From the Creative Collective

I focus on results. I think about the money, credibility, relief, excitement, or pride that I’m going to achieve or feel when I’m back on track. It’s not enough to think about the end goal; I need to be able to touch and taste every bit of the result. Once I do that, accomplishing things becomes easy.
– Tara Gentile

I have a yearly financial goal that I work into my spreadsheets on a monthly and annual basis (related to how far away I am to that target), and I came to that number by figuring what’s realistic to hit and raising it about 20 percent. That way I have something to reach for while still believing it’s not gonna take a parallel universe or a lottery win to get me to that number.
– Michelle Ward

Think Ahead

While you’re busy making that list of feelings, spend some time thinking about where you’d like your business to be in six months from now, one year from now, and then five years from now. I know. These are age-old questions, asked in many job interviews and by parents the world over, but there is a good purpose behind them. Thinking ahead will keep your planning muscles in shape. Once you take a good look at your long-term plans, you’ll see some intentions and goals take shape. Reviewing these monthly or quarterly or even yearly will help you know if you’re on track.

It’s important to measure your success because it’s necessary to know what’s working and what isn’t. If you have been pursuing a line, a project, or a service but you’re just not getting the results you want, it’s definitely time to reevaluate.

What Does Success Look Like?

Say one of your ultimate intentions is to become a gazillionaire. You want to be filthy, stinking rich. So you have an intention that looks like this:

I want to be a GAZILLIONAIRE!

Just because that gazillion dollars isn’t in your pocket right now, or likely won’t be even a year from now, doesn’t mean you aren’t successful. But ponder this: The more reasonable and easily attainable the financial goals you set for yourself are, the more successful you’ll be. For example, if your intention is to increase your profit by 15 percent over the next three months rather than, say, doubling it, chances are you’ll feel better about the direction your business is heading, and the boost you get when your intention is manifested will be huge.

From the Creative Collective

My plans for my business are almost completely driven by objectives. I believe in setting really spacious goals that allow for victory in “failure” and flexibility in “destination.” I create objectives around income, influence, experience, and personal freedom. I come up with goals by just concentrating on what I really want. Generating goals based on personal desire but grounded in community value will help you find the motivation you need to execute them.
– Tara Gentile

Exercise

Think about what success means to you. Really, really think about it. In your journal, write up a personal definition that you can return to again and again if you need or want to.

Likewise, think about what failure looks like to you. What would have to happen for you to feel like your business was failing? Write that down, too. If you ever feel like things are way off track, look back on your personal definition of failure. Compare it to what you’re going through. Chances are, according to your very own definition, your business is not failing.

Calculating Success One Step at a Time

Consider some areas of your business that can offer easily calculable success. As always, when trying out something new, you can make things easier on yourself by starting small. Setting small benchmarks, little check-in points, can assist you when you’re deciding if you’re on track or not.

Remember how I mentioned starting at the end, figuring where you want to be, and then working your way backward to the beginning? Let’s put that exercise into practice by imagining where you want to end up and then work backward to get there. We’ll use social media as an example. Let’s say you want to improve your social media connections, which ties into your marketing and sales. Specifically, you want to increase your followers on Twitter by a thousand people. So imagine that you’re already there, and then work backward toward where you actually are right now. By retracing your steps, so to speak, you’ll discover what you need to do to get to where you want to go.

Specific Steps

Here are some specific steps you can take, using social media as an example:

Intention
By the end of the year, I will increase my Twitter audience by 1,000 people.

Goals

  • Connect further with like-minded businesspeople by responding to their tweets more.
  • Post useful and relevant content.
  • Post links to my best blog posts.
  • Add a tweet button to my website so that others can tweet links from my site with ease.

Tasks

  • Ask a pal how they installed the tweet button on their website.
  • Follow the links others tweet, and retweet the best ones, as time permits.
  • When I’m reading new blogs, look for people’s Twitter links.
  • Connect more with people who follow me.
  • Respond to strangers when they communicate with me.

How Success Will Be Measured
Record my current number of followers, and increase the number by 25 percent every three months. I’ll notate my calendar as a reminder.

See? You set an intention and some goals, and then listed some doable tasks. Since you notated your calendar to check in with your intention in three months’ time, you can decide then if your tasks are really helping you reach your goals. After three months, you could decide that your intention was too ambitious for the amount of time you spend reaching out through social media. Or you may have already added those thousand Twitter followers. If so, you know that your intention has been met and so you are ready to set a new one.

From the Creative Collective

I’m usually focused on growth. How can I reach X number of subscribers to my blog, how can I hit X number of sales, and so on. I look at what’s possible, based on past statistics, then try to push myself to go a bit further.
– Nicole Balch

I set fresh intentions, raise my financial threshold, and revisit my service structures whenever I’ve hit a leaden blockade, either energetically or revenue-wise. During my first year as a full-time entrepreneur, I had to stop and recalibrate several times. Trial and error is a fussy, messy business. But that’s the nature of creating something out of nothing. Intelligent experimentation. These days things are ticking along much more elegantly. I’m no longer in perpetual “launch mode.” I feel grounded and graceful in my business. I suspect I’ll spruce up my master plan in six months or so. Or whenever I get hit with a bolt of brilliance that changes everything, all over again.
– Alexandra Franzen

Periodic Checkups

Periodically checking in on your progress is essential to your success. At regular intervals, look over your business plan, see what areas you’d like to monitor closely, and decide how you’d like to assess your progress.

Oftentimes people make things hard on themselves by reviewing things just once or twice a year or when things are going poorly. But if you set aside time to review your business plan every couple of months, you may well avoid some heartache and some pitfalls because you’ll be able to notice details and kinks before they become problems. Conversely, you’ll pick up on things that are working well that you may not have noticed, and maybe your next big idea will come from tracking your stats.

- – -

Win a copy of this book!

One randomly chosen reader will receive a free copy of Grow Your Handmade Business by Kari Chapin. Leave a comment below and you’ll be entered! Winner will be announced on Friday, December 7, 2012 by 5:00 pm EST.

Filed Under: Buy You, For You, Dialogue Tagged With: , , 42 Comments
November 27, 2012

Holiday-proof Your Business

Scoutie Girl - Tooling Around: How to holiday-proof your business

You dreamed of quitting the daily grind so you could spend your days leisurely making your art while your kitty napped in the sunshine beside you. You’d make the most of your new-found freedom by taking romantic long weekends and exotic adventures with all the copious amounts of annual leave you would entitle yourself to.

In reality, though, you’re working three times as hard as you were before, you’re up til all hours crocheting scarves and your cat doesn’t have a spot to nap because of the stacks of in-progress orders and packaging piling up all over the studio entire house.

You’re thinking, ‘I don’t have time to take a holiday!’

Sound familiar? I know how it feels. But you know what? You still need to take time off.

There won’t magically be two weeks where you have no work to do. You need to make the time to take off so you can rejuvenate, have new experiences and spend time with loved ones.

I know many of you will be currently in your busiest time of year, frantically getting Christmas orders out, so I’m not suggesting you pack up and leave your customers hanging. The timing of this post has more to do with the fact that very soon I am heading off overseas for a much-anticipated six week holiday. Hooray!

Yep, I am leaving my baby, my little business, for half the summer.

I admit: it is not easy. But when I’m looking back on my life, I’m going to remember the amazing experiences I’ve had, not the missed emails or potential client orders.

Now that I’ve got you mentally planning your next trip, let’s take a look at some strategies to help you take off from your business — or even keep it running while you’re off making snowmen in the Austrian Alps (which is precisely what I plan to be doing this time next month).

Give notice

I’ve been mentioning my trip on social media and in direct communications regularly over the last couple of months, so with this advanced notice none of my clients will be surprised at the last minute to find I’m not available. Even potential clients I have advised of the timelines required to complete their wedding invitations before I leave. Far from being annoyed, they have thanked me for letting them know so they can order early to avoid missing out.

Your checklist:

  • Mention your plans on social media (also helps show you’re a real person!).
  • Contact current clients (including wholesale customers) to let them know.
  • Let potential clients know you’re going away when they contact you.
  • List your closure dates and order deadlines on your website/shop.
  • Put reminders of dates and deadlines on your blog, newsletter, and social media.

Be realistic

I am always starting new projects — a new product line here, a rebranding there, a collaborative photo shoot (or five) there. I had to be realistic about what I could achieve before my departure. I had to accept that as much as I wanted to get the ball rolling on my blog redesign or new product launches, I was much better off putting all of that on the back burner and focusing on the jobs that needed to be completed.

This doesn’t just apply to your own work, but also outside opportunities. This means increasing the use of the word ‘No’ in your vocabulary. If you find this hard, like I do, try saying ‘Not right now’ instead. This only applies to collaborations you actually want to pursue in future, though!

Don’t think of this as a ‘mañana, mañana’ mentality. I’m normally an advocate of making time for the important — not just the urgent — work, but when you are trying to prepare for time off, it’s about prioritising the work that needs to be done before you go. If you find yourself with spare time before you leave, by all means bring some of those longer-term projects back onto the to-do list. Speaking of your to-do list (I use Zendone), it’s time to take a good, hard look and see where you can trim the fat.

Your checklist:

  • Don’t start any new projects. (New orders are okay if they come in before your order deadline, I’m talking about non-urgent projects.)
  • Limit the scope on current commitments (maybe you can’t do a full video tutorial for that guest post but you can share an existing knitting pattern instead).
  • Say ‘No’ (or at least ‘Later’) to external projects if you don’t have time.
  • Scrap useless busy-work from your to-do list (do you really need to make yet another tweak to your Twitter background?)
  • Delay tasks that can wait until your return.
  • Don’t start any new projects!

Open or closed?

You’ll need to make the decision whether you would like to keep your online store open while you are away or whether it’s better to close it. Every business is different and it will depend on many factors including the type of product you sell, whether you have employees, and what time of year it is. For my stationery business, I have to close the custom invitations side of things and won’t be responding to quotes and enquiries, but I will have a trusted friend taking care of dispatching orders of readymade products such as prints and greeting cards (more on getting help in the next section).

You can also think about a fulfillment house, which will store your inventory in a shared warehouse and dispatch orders on your behalf using your own branding. I looked into this, and while ultimately I wasn’t going to have enough time to undertake all the setup in time, it is something to consider. This is a long-term commitment, though, not an occasional plan B while you are on holiday, so be sure you are ready before taking this step.

Your checklist:

  • Decide whether it is worthwhile and feasible to keep your store open.
  • If you plan to remain trading, work out how you’ll go about this.
  • Consider a fulfillment house (especially if you don’t have an employee to handle dispatch).
  • If you’re closing your store, set up a notice at the top of your website (try Hello Bar) or within each product page letting shoppers know when their goods will be dispatched on your return.
  • Log onto your third-party shopping site accounts such as Etsy and set them to Vacation Mode. Users may opt to be notified when you reopen.

Call in help

If you’re lucky enough to have employees, now is the time to delegate to your heart’s content. But make sure you allow time to train them; don’t just walk out and leave them to deal with the accounts or customer service if they’ve never had to do that before!

Even if you’re doing it solo like me, there are ways to share the burden. Have you considered outsourcing? Handballing your entire marketing strategy and management to a specialist could take a load off not just your schedule but also your mind.

How many times have people told you to ask them if there’s anything they can do to help? How many times have you actually said yes? They wouldn’t have said it if they didn’t mean it. If your mummy friend would quite happily combine her daily walk with taking your orders around to the post office or if your niece would love a summer job being the cashier at your brick & mortar gift shop, why not take up their offer?

Your checklist:

  • If you have an employee, train them in any tasks you want them to handle.
  • Consider outsourcing some of your regular business tasks such as bookkeeping, newsletter writing, and social media management.
  • If anyone has offered to lend a hand, accept their offer.
  • Approach other people you know who may be willing to help.

Make it self-serve

I bet you get the same type of email and phone call all the time, am I right? Do you do custom orders? Do you ship internationally? What’s your exchange policy? How much do you charge for…?

Sure, you pride yourself on excellent customer service, but there’s no reason why you need to be answering these kind of basic questions personally. Make the information readily available for customers to help themselves whenever it suits them, even if you’re not around. You should find you have far fewer emails and annoyed customers to deal with on your return. Best of all, setting this up will not just benefit you come holiday-time, it’s an investment that will streamline your processes and ease your workload well into the future.

Your checklist:

  • Write a comprehensive FAQ section. (Here’s mine – see, comprehensive, right?)
  • Make sure your prices and product information are clear.
  • Set up a Dropbox for your press kit and send the link to your press contacts so they can access images while you’re away.
  • Set up an email autoresponder series (I use MailChimp), so potential clients can be informed and may be ready to buy when you return.
  • If you’re having someone else looking after your emails, set up templates (I swear by Canned Responses in Gmail) for common responses.
  • Set up your ‘Out of office’ reply, but make it useful! State exactly when you will return their email and include links to your FAQ, pricing, about page, mailing list sign up, shop, or anything else that will be helpful.

Schedule, schedule, schedule

You’ve built up momentum with your blog, marketing, and social media efforts and you don’t want everything to grind to a halt because you’re not there for a few weeks. You can maintain momentum by scheduling some of your updates. Blogging software like WordPress allows you to schedule your posts at a specified date and time in future. Now’s not the time to publish your best new content — after all, you won’t be around to promote it and engage with readers — but it’s a great opportunity to pull out some hidden gems from your archives or do a write-up on some of your fave links elsewhere.

If you update daily or at least a few times a week, you may wish to ask some of your peers to contribute a guest post. I’ve done that with my own blog and was overwhelmed by the response. Start with people who you already have a relationship with, but don’t be afraid to ask some bigger fish — you never know, they might just say yes!

You can schedule social media updates using a platform such as HootSuite, but do be careful. An innocent update that you’ve scheduled in advance may seem insensitive or inappropriate in the current day’s context. Oh and if you are planning to close your shop, please don’t send people there! They will only end up frustrated. Instead, provide some inspiration or link to some of your favourite articles or products.

Your checklist:

  • Schedule your blog posts.
  • Request guest posters.
  • Schedule social media updates.

Go mobile

If you’re planning to do any work while on the road (or if you’d just like to ensure you have access in case of emergency), you’ll need to plan your tools carefully. Consider your equipment, software, apps, and also what your internet access will be like.

If you’re like me and are completely useless with remembering usernames and passwords, make sure you sign up for a password manager, too.

Your checklist:

  • If you don’t already, make sure you have web access to your email and calendar (I love Gmail and Google Calendar).
  • If you have time, consider moving other processes online, for example your accounting software, document management, or design software.
  • Set up Dropbox with any files you think you might need.
  • Download any apps you’ll need and practise using them (they may have limited functionality compared to the desktop version you’re used to, so check that it does what you need it to).
  • Sign up for a password manager such as LastPass so you can actually access everything!

Tie up loose ends

The final days before you leave should be reserved for finishing up last-minute jobs and making sure everything is taken care of.

If you’re leaving behind a helper/employee, make sure they have everything they need, know where to find it, and know how to use it. This could include preparing written instructions, doing a quick video tutorial, writing down passwords, ordering sufficient supplies, and showing them around the storeroom.

Your checklist:

  • Pay all of your bills (you may need to pre-pay an estimated amount to cover regular accounts that will come in while you’re gone).
  • Make sure all your emails have been responded to.
  • Dispatch all of your orders.
  • Ensure your helpers have everything they need.
  • Arrange how mail will be dealt with (e.g. set up a PO Box, redirect your mail, or have a friend collect it).
  • Tidy your studio so you can come home to a clean slate.

Note: I’ve written this guide with taking holidays in mind, but the same could apply if you need time off to care for a sick relative or if you’re having a baby.

I know it’s hard to go on holidays when you have your own business, but with a bit of planning you can (and in fact, should) take breaks from it.

I hope you can now make that dream holiday a reality!

Filed Under: Buy You, For You, Tooling Around Tagged With: , , 1 Comment
October 30, 2012

Top 10 Tools for Creative Business Owners

Top 10 Tools for Creative Business Owners

I know, I know. You want to get off your computer and phone so you can spend more time at your workbench. But a handful of well-chosen tools can actually reduce the amount of time you need to spend on technology so you can focus on the work that matters.

Let’s get stuck in, shall we? In no particular order, we have…

1. Google Calendar

Organising your time is critical in business, but even more so when you’re the owner and your work hours are often blurred with personal time. You can use a paper calendar or day-planner of course, but a digital version such as Google Calendar has many advantages.

An obvious but important one is that it’s with you wherever you are. Using your phone you’ll be able to schedule in a meeting with that store buyer right then and there at the trade show.

Setting up a separate calendar for each of your areas of responsibility is also important. If you’re trying to focus on your client deadlines you’ll want to have just the ‘Business’ calendar showing, but then if you want to schedule a time for a client meeting you can switch on your ‘Home’ calendar to make sure it doesn’t clash with your daughter’s piano recital.

Don’t just limit yourself to traditional calendar items. How about your blogging schedule? Your babysitting club? Or your staff roster? You can either keep them private or share them with collaborators as necessary. This is another reason why your separated calendars are vital – your spouse doesn’t care about your editorial calendar and your assistant doesn’t need to know about Thursday night’s bikini wax.

Cost: Free

Get Google Calendar here!

2. Gmail

Since switching from Outlook to Gmail I’ve been whizzing through my inbox, then actually shutting it off to get some work done (imagine that?).

‘But wait!’, I hear you cry, ‘I’m trying to look professional here, I don’t want to be sending my emails from a Gmail address.’

You don’t need to! I send email through my own domain by setting up an account through Google Business Apps and my clients and contacts are none the wiser.

The single biggest thing you can do to immediately ease your inbox overwhelm is making use of the filtering and labelling function to direct incoming mail into folders that make sense for you. For example, all of my Etsy and Hardtofind sales go into my Orders folder which I check once daily, right before I head to the post office. The newsletters I’m signed up for go straight into my Subscriptions folder so they don’t interrupt me. I can’t overstate how critical this has been to keeping me focused and efficient.

If you find yourself writing the same type of email over and over, the canned response plugin will be your lifesaver. Another super handy add-on is the delayed response from Right Inbox, which is excellent for scheduling your responses to fall within business hours (just because you’re replying to email at 10pm doesn’t mean you want clients to think you’re still available at that hour!).

Cost: Free trial | Full version from $5/user/month

Get Gmail for business here!

3. Zendone

After a well-functioning inbox and calendar, an efffective to-do list is the next crucial weapon in your business ninja arsenal. There are a TON of options out there so it can be a bit overwhelming to decide. After much research, I landed upon Zendone. It’s based on the Getting Things Done method and integrates with Google calendar and Evernote. Even if you’re not a crazy fan of these like I am, you’ll be able to see the logical and powerful system.

Just like with your calendar, you can set up multiple tabs for each area of your life. From there you create Projects under which you list the sequential steps required to complete it. You can create recurring projects, assign deadlines and even mark it as ‘delegated’ to remind you to follow up. The other great part is searching tasks by context, that is, where do you need to be to complete the task. For example, when I’m whipping out my photography gear to take a photo for my blog, I’ll check the ‘Camera’ context and find that there were a couple of other things I needed to shoot too and save time doing it at the same time.

Unfortunately Zendone is still in Beta testing at the moment, so there’s no tablet or phone app as yet. But for someone like me who works predominantly on a desktop computer it has been tremendously helpful.

Cost: Free

Get Zendone here!

4. Evernote

Where Zendone keeps track of my tasks, Evernote keeps track of my ideas. I was forever writing things down on scraps of paper or in various notebooks and could never find the idea for the blog post / new product / genius marketing campaign when I later needed it.

I started with the free version and it was great and I later upgraded to the paid version to deal with the larger file sizes when I started using it to photograph and organise my receipts.

Some other ideas for using it are:

  • Use the Web Clipper to keep track of interesting articles and blog ideas
  • Store inspiration for top-secret projects that you don’t want the world to see on Pinterest
  • Store your ‘someday’ ideas for travel, house projects, recipes and more
  • Forward invoices and other paperwork directly to Evernote via email

Cost: Free | Premium version $5/month

Get Evernote here!

5. IFTTT

I have been on a mission to automate as much as I can in my life and work. Not to become some impersonal machine, in fact quite the opposite: to automate the repetitive tasks so I can spend more time on what is really important.

Of course many apps and software have their own fancy synching/integrating functions which is great. But who wants to spend hours working out how to do it in each proram?

This is where IFTTT comes in. Standing for If This Then That, it’s the genius concept that brings all of your tech tools together. Facebook, WordPress, Evernote, Google Reader, Email, Dropbox, Instagram, Google Drive… you name it!

I’ve really only scratched the surface, but here are just a few of the ways you could use it:

  • Send Instagram photos to your Dropbox retrieve them later to use on your blog
  • Send starred items in Google Reader to Evernote so you can refer to favourite articles later
  • Send your Facebook status to Twitter so you only have to log in once
  • Receive an SMS on your friend’s birthday so you remember to call her at lunchtime
  • Receive a text when rain is forecast so you don’t show up at your client meeting looking like a drowned rat

Cost: Free

Get IFTTT here!

6. Hootsuite

As great as social media is, it can be a total time suck. Especially if you have more than one platform and have multiple ventures, you could find yourself logging in and switching between accounts all day long.

I find Hootsuite great for managing my multiple Facebook pages and Twitter, all from the one screen. In addition to the time saved by having a single account, it can also help you schedule your posts. No, I don’t have to remember to get up early every Saturday and post congratulations messages to my wedding clients – I batch prepare and schedule these ahead of time. It’s great for things like promoting your blog posts and for spacing out your updates so they don’t all appear at once.

Cost: Free

Get Hootsuite here!

7. Dropbox

Want a sure-fire way to annoy bloggers, editors and family? Send them huge files as email attachments.

If that’s not your aim, sign up for Dropbox. I initially used to set up shared folders, but after a media contact deleted all of my press photos and a client started using it to store all of their music, I now only share the links to the read-only folders.

The main thing I use Dropbox for is my online press kit – media peeps can browse and download product photos and headshots at their leisure so they can get what they need even if I’m not availabe. I also frequently use it for submissions and to share high-res photos with family.

If you have colleagues/employees or often work remotely, you will find it significantly more useful. You can even use it to replace your hard drive if you wish.

Cost: Free up to 2GB | Pro version from $10/month

Get Dropbox here!

8. Xero

We’re nearly at the end and we haven’t even talked moolah yet. I know it’s not sexy, but managing your cashflow, invoices, bookkeeping, budget and tax is super important for any business.

When I started my business I am embarrassed to admit I had a woeful accounting system. I can honestly say that Xero changed the way I think about my business overnight. With automatic bank feeds, easy budgeting and a user-friendly interface, I now have to spend very little time grappling with my books. When it’s tax time, I simply make sure everthing is up-to-date and my accountant logs in and does the rest!

Outright is another popular options for a cloud-based accounting system. I chose Xero because they realise that not everyone lives in the US (ability to handle multiple currencies, Australian banks and GST, yes please!).

Cost: From $29/month

Get Xero here!

9. Analytics

I’m sure you’re putting in loads of effort with your various marketing strategies, but if you don’t track the results you’ll never know what’s working! Google Analytics takes out the guesswork.

I mainly use it to track where my traffic sources are coming from so I can then maximise those opportunities (hello Pinterest marketing!). Other handy tools are demographics, click-throughs, time spent on site and most popular pages. If you dig a little deeper there are also loads more insights including tracking your e-commerce sales, advertising campaigns and a whole lot more than I haven’t even got to yet.

It’s a little technical but it’s a goldmine of data. You’ll be able to confidently ditch that advertising campaign that didn’t work, make that traffic-spike-causing guest post a regular thing and craft your message to better appeal to your market.

Cost: Free

Get Analytics here!

10. Google Drive

As we’ve unchained ourselves from our workdesks and increasingly embraced multiple devices and location-independent working, it’s more important than ever to have access to your documents wherever you are. Dropbox is one way, as we’ve explored, but it does require the original software to be installed on the device in order to open and edit the file. For example I can put a Word Document in my Dropbox, but I can’t open it on my mobile phone or iPad since Office isn’t installed.

Google Drive (formerly Docs) has the advantage of having its own inbuilt file formats for things like documents and spreadsheets. The advanced functions and formatting of Word aren’t yet matched, so I wouldn’t use it for your fancy business plan or proposal. For basic internal use, especially for collaborations, it is excellent.

It’s not just for word processing and data though, you can use it just like a hard drive on your computer and store any kind of file and have it available synced to your various devices.

Cost: Free

Get Google Drive here!

***

Now, I haven’t tried every option out there so this is just my personal experience.

If you have any favourites you’d like to share, please tell us about them in the comments!

Filed Under: Buy You, For You, Tooling Around Tagged With: , , 11 Comments