Browsing Category: "Productivity"
There’s a lot to be said for the advent of mobile applications and mobile software. Since I picked up a Nokia N95 earlier this year, I haven’t looked back. As a mobile phone it is solid, performs well under pressure, offers great audio quality and helps me to no end in my work with photos, video streaming, access to the web via WiFi etc.
If I have to change my mobile, or should I look to add an iPod Touch / iPhone to my collection, two applications I simply have to have are
While the S60-based N95 boasts a massive selection of applications for download, these two applications alone allow me to keep up with so much and offer a terrific and efficient alternative to checking Google-hosted mail as opposed to logging in via the native phone browser.
I can access my inbox, spam folders, star conversations, grab attachments etc. as you would normally through your Gmail account. The easy thing about Mail by Google for your domain is that you simply need to enter your email address and password to log in, no having to visit your Google Apps homepage or your dedicated Google apps subdomain (if that’s how you’ve organised your addressing). A plus for me as I have Google mail set up for several different domains, including ProFreelanceBlogger.com.
If you have a Series 60 based mobile phone or your phone can run java based applications, then point your mobile browser to m.google.com and follow the links for Gmail (download) or see the included links above.
Popularity: 6% [?]
One of the great features of using Gmail or Gmail for your domain is the auto responder. This past week in particular, between training days and increased time spent out of the office, I’ve been using the auto responder to inform clients and regular correspondents that I’m away for a few days / hours and will reply to their mail on return.
What is an auto responder you say? It is an automatic response issue on receipt of an email. The sender of the original mail gets an automatic response from your mail host with a pre-set message, as outlined below.
Want to know how to set yours up?
- Sign in to Gmail.
- Click Settings along the top of any Gmail page.
- From the General tab, select Vacation responder on in the Vacation responder: section.
- Enter the subject and body of your message in the Subject: and Message: fields. If you’ve enabled a personalized signature in your settings, Gmail will automatically append it to the bottom of your vacation response.
- Check the box next to Only send a response to people in my Contacts if you don’t want everyone who emails you to know that you’re away from your mail.
- Click Save Changes.
While the vacation responder is enabled, you’ll see a banner across the top of any Gmail page, displaying the subject of your vacation response. To stop Gmail from automatically sending the response, click end now within the banner. Or, if you’d like to edit the response, click vacation settings. (via)
Working online, I rely an awful lot on email and email access. With a regular flow of content through my inbox and a regular line of people looking to contact me, I think it’s only good practice to let people know you’re unavailable to return their mail at a particular time. If you drop me an email and I’m unavailable you’ll have a quick automatic mail delivered telling you politely that I’m unavailable, telling you when I’m back and that I’ll reply to your email on return.
In dealing with a lot of journalists (who tend to go on holidays every now and again), one useful tip to include in your responder message is an alternative contact i.e. who (if anyone) to contact in your absence. That said you can use it for anything - include links back to your website, maybe simply use an autoresponder to thank people for emailing you or submitting a query from your website.
If you haven’t yet discovered the automatic responder / vaction responder in Gmail, give it a look today. It’s a very handy tool indeed!
Popularity: 5% [?]
When it comes to work-life, I’m a total techie. I rely on technology for everything I do - mobile phone, laptop, broadband, TV, sound recording, the whole lot.
However, there’s some things I feel are totally necessary to have in the home, especially if you’ve set up a dedicated work space.
High Speed Broadband Connection
I rely on the internet for everything - my daily news, delivering my client work, sharing large files via FTP with the theatre company, keeping my blogs updated etc. I’ve got a 6mb cable broadband connection coming into the house and at this point find it difficult to work at lower speeds. Working from my Sligo base is tricky due to restrictions on mobile broadband coverage but for any freelancer, particular those working in the field of web design, a high speed broadband connection is a must.
Finding the balance between speed and affordability is the key.
A Wireless Router
A wireless broadband router is a must, especially if you’ve got a laptop. Yes - I mentioned dedicated workspace but sometimes it’s good to be able to get out of the room, out of the small office and sit in the garden or maybe the kitchen and get some work done - without the worry of “will my cable reach?”. I picked myself up a Linksys WRT54Gs wireless router last year and haven’t looked back since I bought it.
A Skype Phone
More and more I find myself turning to Skype when ringing clients and dealing with clients and friends out of town. It keeps my home phone bill down and more importantly it keeps my mobile phone bill donw. I picked up a cheap Skype phone (USB) on eBay for around US$15, upgrading to a desk phone (dual PSTN / USB) earlier this year. Both are fantastic working solutions and beat the hell out of a headphone and mic combination.
Good speakers
I don’t listen to the radio an awful lot, only tuning in if there’s something very specific I feel I need to hear. So on a daily basis I often play through my MP3 collection. I like the music loud and I like it clear. So I invested in some desktop speakers. Hearing music through the laptop just doesn’t cut it and I couldn’t face wearing headphones eight hours a day and then some.
You could pick yourself up a simple 5.1 speaker setup from Logitech for under the €60 mark (Irish market, see here on Komplett)
A Laptop
A simple one, but not often a given. The wireless router is useless unless you’ve something solid to work from - I chose a MacBook Pro almost two years ago. While MacBook’s are expensive (in comparison to PC-based models from the likes of Dell), I’ve found the Mac to be a solid investment that has more than paid for itself in the last two years. If I had to make the choice again to choosing a platform to work from, I would choose Mac all over again. It’s light, portable and hasn’t thrown a single day’s trouble since day 1.
A Second Monitor
A second monitor has become a must for me. Being involved in a lot of design work, the extra desktop space and screen space provided by an additional monitor has been a lifesaver and times, and boosted my productivity. The laptop has a secondary DVI port to connect a monitor, while my desktop also holds a graphics card with dual monitor output.
I managed to pick up a 19″ flat panel LG monitor for under €180 some time ago and like the MacBook, I’ve never looked back and even now find working on a single-screen setup restrictive.
A Mobile Broadband Option
I raved about this so much before buying into it. More to convince myself than anything but now that I’ve secured the mobile broadband option, my internet options are secure. Firstly, I can travel outside of the house, working from a client’s premises, a coffee shop - whatever happens. Secondly, already this week we had a power outage. A power outage means the desktop PC won’t turn on, the wireless router won’t turn on. But providing I’ve still got a charge in the laptop, I’m free to work away with the mobile option as a back up.
That option in itself alone came in so handy this week.
Small things, but things nonetheless that I rely on a daily basis. How about you?
(A late night post again for my ‘post a day’, thank my current theatre production for that! But we got there)
Popularity: 8% [?]
Allow me to start by saying it is important to make time for your own projects.
I’m one of “those people” who have to have a dozen small projects on the go. I’ve always felt that the best way to build your portfolio, enhance your experience and understanding of a particular topic or area is to actually do something in that area.
Case in point, as I may have mentioned before, with American football. My knowledge on the sport was extremely limited, restricted to those moments you find yourself in front of a Playstation or somebody handing you a rare copy of First Down (newspaper). I had a desire to learn more and more about the sport, the rules, the day-to-day runnings, so I start a blog on it. Gradually, through reading, time, making posts, I find myself with a much greater understanding and appreciation for the sport.
But, you won’t know if these projects and ideas you have are going to work unless you try them. So I encourage you, make time for your own projects, especially if you’re working in an online or design environment and especially where you need something of substance in your portfolio in order to attract more work.
It can be difficult at times, especially when you are so focused on your client’s needs and concentrating on the actual business side of things. However, I’ve had as much joy in generating leads, picking up referrals and generating new business off side projects and sample projects that I’ve launched as much as I have from working with regular clients.
Ultimately, you’re the end user, you’re the one making the spec, making the build, designing the brief and you’ve only yourself to please. If you can get that right, you open the door to so much more opportunity.
If it doesn’t work, at least it hasn’t cost you anything. As for me, I’ve got another few projects in the pipeline that have been grabbing my attention of late. All will be revealed in due time.
Popularity: 11% [?]
I read this guest post by Alan Johnson recently on spreading yourself too thin. One of the key points to the post is that we’re only human and no matter what way you look at it, there’s only 24 hours in a day and as such “acting accordingly is definitely a must”.
Subsequently, time (as in hours and minutes) to a blogger and freelance work is extremely valuable and too little time or misuse of available time can be costly.
This is particularly evident with myself when it comes to blogging. I was quoted in a magazine recently as being a serial blogger, something which isn’t far from the truth at all. At one point in the last year I counted myself as being an active author on new fewer than a dozen blogs on a range of topics.
Keeping that kind of momentum going though is crazy. I found myself eating into my lunch hour (pardon the pun) with blogging or researching a post, cutting and hour or two’s sleep out of the night in order to get publishing, staying up later, neglecting certain offline duties, all to make the blogs work.
Analyse and delegate, that is the key.
Making The Change
At the turn of the year I decided a change was most definitely needed, a change backed by a conversation I had at a blog awards night in March of this year (a few weeks prior to the launch of this blog) where it was highlighted I was definitely spreading myself too thin. The same can be said of my activities in the offline world where I run my own web design business, take freelance work, look after the day-to-day running of a theatre company, work actively to promote homegrown and independent music (also on a daily basis).
So, when it came to blogging, I put the virtual pen away on a number of blogs, including one of my personal favourites (favourite thanks to the community of readers had been building and revenue it would bring in on a monthly basis), instantly creating more time for the 2-3 blogs I decided to keep.
The decision to cut certain blogs wasn’t taken lightly though, but in analysing the situation (as raised in John’s post) it was likely the best move to make.
Delegation Is Key
While cutting down the number of blogs I maintain and author on certainly frees up time in the day to tackle other things online, or to increasing my posting activity on my main blogs, it doesn’t do much to make any changes in the offline world.
This is where delegation comes into play, more importantly knowing when to delegate.
There is the old saying that “if you want it done right, do it yourself” but at the risk of burning yourself out and losing all run of yourself timewise, you have to know when to delegate and realise that it is in fact okay to delegate tasks to others.
Whether it is making a phone call, writing and sending out a press release, posting an invoice, doing a run to the shop… you reach a certain point where although you want to do everything yourself, it’s just not possible.
So, tasks in work got managed better, tasks for the theatre are managed better and slowly but surely, things are changing in terms of how promotional activities for the music are working.
While, for a time, it can feel great to take on a lot of things at once, I’d rather take on a smaller number of activities and devote more of myself to seeing those prosper.
I’m learning to change though…
Popularity: 13% [?]
While I’ve been away for long stretches at a time lately on a project, I’ve had to look at ways of increasing my energy (naturally of course!) during the day to sustain longer working hours in the office.
In recent conversations too with other freelance designers, there seemed to be a common element among those who could work longer hours or boost their productivity within their set working timeframe.
The answer? Exercise.
One designer went as far to say he felt “super charged” after just 20-30 minutes in the morning. It is well known that large companies, corporations and multinationals often offer employees gym memberships or even have a gym on location. If you’re working for yourself though, gym memberships can be a real stretch on the budget and there’s a likelihood that after the first month of use you might tire of the trip to the gym and watch the remainder of your membership slip away.
I’ve felt the benefits of it myself - getting up a half hour earlier in the morning to grab a brisk walk or lift some weights at home, anything that gets the blood pumping and energy starting to flow. The early morning exercise often helps settle into the morning work routine that bit easier. There’s no settling down with emails and blogs and constantly sticking the kettle on - it’s just straight into the work, churning more of it out in the process.
Why not try it for yourself? Wake up 30 minutes earlier in the morning and go for a walk, do some stretches, lift some dumbells, hop up on your bike… you’ll be surprised at the difference it can make to your working life.
Popularity: 15% [?]
While I have a number of offline applications for viewing RSS feeds and blog subscriptions, the bulk of my feed reading is done through Google Reader.
I could dip in and out during the day and start reading through a variety of blog posts on technology, sports, freelancing, music etc. often getting lost for five minutes here, ten minutes there, ultimately losing a large chunk of time from my day.
Rather than culling feeds or giving up on reading blogs during the day (I do like to stay informed!), I made one simple switch.
I made the switch from expanded view to list view. Rather than spend time scrolling through post after post, the list view in Google Reader (pictured above) allows you to view the latest headlines at a glace. A single click opens the post, a click to close, or use your keyboard shortcuts (e.g. ‘J’ for next post) to read through them.
It reminds me of the good old teletext days (which I still rely on) on the TV but I find I’m able to skim through the latest headlines, star what I want to read based on the title and blog and ditch the rest.
I guess that means you would want to have catchy titles for your blog posts then, wouldn’t it?
Popularity: 22% [?]
