Have you ever had one of those days? You know, those days that kept you active from 8 til 6. You were super busy. But looking back at the day, it was filled with mundane tasks. And while you felt eventful, in reality you didn’t accomplish anything.
I’ve had these types of days. I’m assuming you have too.
I call this, working for work’s sake. And it’s the murderer of an enjoyable life.
Learning from Rocks, Pebbles and Sand
To start this visualization, list your tasks from most to least important. Then associate these with rocks, pebbles and sand. The biggest rock being the most important task. Sand being the least. Also, let’s imagine a jar as your day, timeframe or project timeline.
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As entrepreneurs we sometimes find ourselves living much different lives than the rest of the world. An 80-hour workweek may be followed by an 8-hour week by a 60-hour week. We may find ourselves out grocery shopping at 1 PM when others are busily working. Or, if you are like me, happily working at 3 AM when others are sleeping.
We entrepreneurs play by our own rules because we want to. Sometimes, however, we want to escape it all – to simplify and forget the work for work’s sake trap we may occasionally find ourselves in. Ultimately, isn’t this the true reason we left the 9-5? With the continuous improvements in technology, freeing up time has become much easier to achieve.
Having the ability to work anywhere, anytime and on any computer is an amazing advantage for entrepreneurs. Personally, I do not miss having to head to the office daily, travel to most meetings or spend hours on paperwork.
Well I have put a ton of research into this and have found an extensive list of websites, software & other resources for simplifying your life – hopefully. In order to help a wide range of entrepreneurial styles, I made sure to include both lesser-known resources as well as some of the much more popular options.
Personalized Home Pages
1. iGoogle – You can add almost anything to your home page; weather reports, calendar & to-do list, rss feeds, Gmail, maps, site specific search forms, etc… And it’s linked to your Google account, so your settings follow you from computer to computer!
2. My Yahoo! – Similar to iGoogle
3. Pageflakes – Again another personalized dashboard
4. Netvibes – One more for your choosing!
5. Jimmyr – Aggregation page of a ton of technology, news & entertainment sites
Document Management & OCR
6. Evernote – I love this OCR software. Take a picture, scan, web clip, PDF, even hand written memo and Evernote will convert it to a searchable text document. It works! Better yet, they provide Blackberry & iPhone apps for mobile use. Highly recommended!
7. NetDocuments – An online document management system ideal for small offices. Haven’t tried it yet but will definitely give it a shot at my real estate office.
8. Google Docs – Great alternative to the overpriced (in my opinion) Microsoft Office suite
9. Cometdocs – Converts a wide variety of files – online! No software needed!
10. HTML to PDF – Great option for easily saving or emailing entire web pages. Converts any page into a PDF.
Data Storage & File Back-Up
11. Dropbox – The online backup system I use. A folder is created on the computer and any file saved into that folder is automatically saved online.
12. Mozy – I haven’t used this one but it seems to be the most popular online backup option.
13. Sugarsync – Another popular backup option. They have a mobile solution available which makes this option pretty attractive.
14. Box.net – Excellent solution for group collaboration & sharing of files. And it works with Salesforce CRM!
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The ultimate motivation for most entrepreneurs is the resulting freedom this career choice can provide. However, if not watched closely, work can become an overwhelming portion of your life. Personal time should stay just that, personal time. Seemingly harmless decisions such as always being connected to email will lead to your business running your life instead of you running your business. Below are a few tips that can keep you sane: [click to continue…]
Leading companies around the globe are constantly implementing the latest and greatest technologies. One such growing trend is the need for company wide document imaging, in other words, the scanning and organizing of all business documents. Your business’ ability to instantly search for any file is absolutely vital for maintaining a competitive advantage. Without further ado and in no particular order, 6 reasons to make the switch: [click to continue…]
By utilizing efficient buying techniques, you will greatly free up your valuable time and quickly negotiate for better prices. A need for a new office printer came up so I thought I would put these techniques to the test and the following is an extremely helpful example based on my purchase.
Here is how it works:
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Purchasing for your business is inevitable; make sure you do not get caught in the trap of using excess time and resources to save a couple bucks. Keep an eye on the big picture; you have but one job, building your business.
When I worked for a Fortune 500 company as a small business account manager, some of my clients would boggle my mind when it came down to making decisions. They would spend hours researching on the web between buying from my competition or me… for the same product. Most of these times would be because of a price difference under $10. While I will agree that $10 is $10 and these decisions can add up to a healthy sum of money, what could those two hours be better used for?
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