Leverage Technology to Save Time with These Tools
Don’t let your marketing efforts and business goals slip during the summer!
The weather is finally nice and the last thing you want to be doing is sitting at your computer. We totally understand. (I’ve recently taken up miniature gardening as a hobby, and I’m a bit obsessed.)
But while your competitors are playing hooky golfing and fishing and playing outside, you can get an edge by planning your marketing strategy for the next year, building business through networking, training employees, reaching customers via social media and improving your business website. At iCandy Graphics, we are finding ways to both enjoy the summer and accomplish our business goals.
One of the ways we are doing this is by leveraging some modern technology to help accomplish our goals to help make our processes more efficient and effective. This means more time in the miniature garden and less time in the office!
Online software training
For employee technology training, we are using the website www.Lynda.com. Their video tutorials are amazingly thorough and easy to follow. We use this for Adobe products, Quickbooks, WordPress, social media and more. There is practically an infinite amount of information waiting to be learned on this site. If you or your employees need training in technology (mainly various software programs), paying the $25/month for Lynda will pay for itself in no time.
Dictation software
Another cool technology that we are using is Nuance’s Dragon dictation software. Speak into a microphone or a digital recorder, and the software will type what you are saying. Again, the key with this is time savings. If you are writing a book, or blogs or anything with a substantial amount of text, you may find this helpful. You can also use Dragon in lieu of a mouse to do various tasks on your computer. That doesn’t really make sense for designers and web developers, but if you are a really slow typist, you could dramatically increase your productivity with this feature. The benefit of being able to use a recorder is that you could be anywhere “writing” a blog, including on the top of a mountain or on the beach! You just need a tiny recorder instead of a computer. Note: invest in a nice recorder (versus using your phone) that specifically works with this software so that the software is more accurate. I bought mine for around $50. You can find these on Amazon, Best Buy or any major office supply store.
Online To-Do Lists
Todoist is an online (or offline) software that helps you manage your to-do-list. It sits on top of Gmail, so you can associate emails with specific to-dos, and you can add a deadline to each of them. These are easily sortable and searchable, and you can drag and drop them into a priority list. Of course, you can get the app for your phone so you can always keep on top of your list no matter where you are. It’s helping me keep organized, and now I spend less time sorting through my emails and paper to-do lists. There is a free version that would work for most people, but I got the paid version at measly $29/year. That gives me the option to add file attachments to the to-do’s, which is really handy.
Accomplish your goals, but don’t spend your whole summer sitting in front of your computer. Get out and enjoy the sunshine!
