Six Phone Apps Worth Paying For (For Your Business)

January 13, 2017 Nicole Ouellette

So I was sitting in an airport when I downloaded Osmos without even a second thought of paying for it. It was a fun game (and totally mesmerizing if you never have played… your objective as a bubble is to get bigger by absorbing other bubbles. It’s like more fluid Tetris).

And yet, I totally hesitate when it comes to spending money on apps for functional things like my business. I get that it’s probably because business apps seem more expensive (or maybe your phone is supposed to be your destination for fun). I will say, I’ve been glad to have paid for some of these features because they are handy, have saved me money, or simply made me look good to the professional people I have the pleasure of dealing with. Here are six apps I have paid for and, looking back, I’m glad I’ve done so:

Split Screen Multitasking ($3.99)

How many times have you wanted to watch a Youtube video while checking your Facebook messages? I used to like how my phone made me do one thing at a time but now that I know this exists, I am not sure what I did before.

Cloze ($159.99 annually)

Hope you’ve picked yourself off the floor from reading that price but here’s my thing: I have A LOT of contacts to manage and sometimes, I need to be prodded to contact them. I also want to classify people (Customer, Family, etc) and add notes about them (birthday, kids’ names)… and have things like phone number and email addresses automatically synced. For all that $160/year doesn’t seem so nuts. Plus you can try it for two weeks free and see if it’s you’re thing before buying.

Quickbooks Online (Monthly fee)

So many people have tried to tell me that I should install their free Quickbooks on ONE COMPUTER. This terrifies me for many reasons which is why I use Quickbooks Online. But the best thing I wasn’t expecting about Quickbooks Online is being with a customer and having them say “I think I owe you a check, can you remind me of how much that was?” I’m able to tell them in about thirty seconds and send them a receipt, right from my phone. If it costs a few bucks to get paid faster, in the long run it is worth it for you not having to chase people. Trust me, I resisted forever and now I am a total convert.

Genius Scan+ ($6.99)

So the free version of this app served me for years. You can scan PDFs and email them to yourself or other people. It was great for collating, say, all my physical receipts together every year… until I realized that since I don’t have automated backups on my phone (I know, I know) it could all go poof. The pro version automatically syncs things into whatever Dropbox folder I want and I personally appreciate the backup. The scanning is great on this; I’ve had some people come into Anchorspace looking for a scanner and when they see the results of me scanning with this app, they are blown away. If you need a historical photo scanned to retouch, by all means go to a real and high quality scanner, but if you just need to get a lease to your lawyer, this is more than adequate, doing things like straightening out the document and finding the edges of scanned items automatically for crisp edges.

It looks like they have a cool app called Genius Sign too, which allows you to sign and annotate documents (how many times have you printed something only to sign it and rescan it?)

MileIQ ($59.99 annually)

I resisted this for years thinking I could keep track of own driving. I downloaded this app as a free trial and within the first month, I saw how many business meetings I drove to I wasn’t counting. I got more mileage tax credit than I paid for the annual subscription. Also, classifying drives is something I can do while sitting waiting, say, for a doctor’s appointment where I can check off a business to-do rather than just waste time on my phone. Generating my spreadsheet of driven miles every year for my accountant made me crazy but this year, it’s going to be a one click thing.

Note: This is an affiliate link where you save 20% and I get a $25 kick back if you sign up.

iMovie ($4.99)

You know when you take a video and think ‘Gosh, only ten seconds of this is actually funny’. Having iMovie on your phone lets you lop off those too-long videos. So you can just send the part where your dog runs toward you in the snow without the part where she stops and pees a little. Remember that some light video editing before uploading a video is something 99% of people don’t do so by even trying to do this before uploading to Facebook, your customers will take notice and appreciate (plus you can add your website URL at the end or something similarly useful in case it ‘goes viral’).

Point is, our phones are less the music players/gaming devices they started out as and more like computers that help us run our businesses. As such, investing in them can be a no brainer for your business or productivity.

Systems 101: Why You Need Them (And How You’re Already Using Them Anyway)

December 2, 2016 Nicole Ouellette

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This Week In Business

When I think systems, I think people wearing suits, being filmed in high power meetings in conference rooms, smiling their capped teeth at the camera.

Truth is, we are all already using systems whether we want to or not. A system is a process for doing something. You have a system for checking and responding to email, for example, whether you’ve thought consciously about it or not.

Sometimes people think about systems falling under two categories:

Anything that needs to be done.
Anything that needs to be done by someone who isn’t you.

Most people only start caring about systems when it gets to #2 (you have to tell someone else how to do it). Something about explaining or documenting a process formalizes it and can help you see inefficiencies. Starting off with making systems for scenario #2 makes sense but ultimately, the most effective people we know move on to make systems for #1.

How do you know when something needs a system?

When it isn’t getting done consistently.
When it isn’t getting done well.

Most systems save time and/or money. What if you came up with systems for three things in your life (personal or business) and saved yourself $500 a month or 10 hours a week? That could be game changing.

So as we head into the new year, think about what personal and professional systems you may need.

Step 1: What needs systems in my life?

If you are like me, it’s hard to view your life under the seemingly cold lens of everything being a system. Sam Carpenter’s book (which you can get as a free PDF or audiobook) called Work The System can help. One of my friends made me come up with a list of ten personal systems I needed and ten business ones to get my brain moving in this direction. Here’s my list in case it helps you start yours:

10 Business Systems I Needed:

1) Systems for ordering/purchasing needed supplies (mainly paper, toilet paper, dishwashing liquid, sponges, binders, paper towels, garbage bags, cleaner)
2) System for cleaning off computers: running scans, how often desktops and download folders get cleaned off, when do programs get deleted, etc.
3) system for papers as they come in: do they get scanned, filed? What gets thrown out?
4) System of recycling: Get a bin(s) and figure out how often it gets taken to the recycling place.
5) System for meeting scheduling/changing- Do they need confirmation? Do I need a VA? This is a time suck!
6) System for saving ideas for social sharing/blogs with my team. I use Delicious and Pocket for long term storage. How can our team be sharing post ideas? How can I be helpful in this system without taking away creative freedom?
7) System for paying bills
8) System for checking email (nicole, info, and maintenance)
9) System for editing podcast
10) System for password management (currently two Keepass files, need to be merged and have a mobile component)

10 Personal Systems I Needed:

1) Meal planning system: How can I use a combination of my farm share, the pantry, and what I have on hand to make a combination of easy to deploy (known) recipes and exciting new recipes?
2) House chores system: who does them, when, to what extent.
3) Morning routine (times when I need to be out the door vary. Need to make sure breakfast is eaten, household chores advance somewhat, dog gets some exercise, and I can leave the house somewhat attractive.)
4) Exercise system: How do I get 3-4 times weekly exercise? Scheduling walks with friends has only somewhat been reliable. Should I make it a group thing?
5) Editing/Writing My Book: How can I get new chapters planned, written, edited, collated? Do I have a deadline and if so, what do I do after?
6) Kombucha system: How to take care of scoby, when to bottle, when to feed
7) System for birthdays/events: How to remember these yearly and one off events, how do I keep others informed who’d want to be informed
8) System for getting rid of excess stuff: How often to evaluate possessions, which things get posted to what sales websites, how often to have garage sale or other mass purge event
9) System for cleaning Anchorspace: What gets cleaned, how often, how is space improved incrementally
10) System for nurturing friendships: How often to have in person events? How to build relationships one on one? How to be thoughtful from a distance (texting, cards, etc.)

Once you make yourself have ten each, it’s easier to think of a lot more. Now pick one (maybe the biggest time suck) and start with that. I’m going to use meal planning as my system because I am sitting here realizing I have no idea what I’m eating for dinner so clearly that’s an issue.

Step 2: What is your system now?

Documenting what you do now is illuminating. What you’ll notice is some gaps/assumptions in your list, like I did. (Really? I expect myself to walk into my house at 6 PM, open the fridge, and feel magically inspired to make dinner based on what is in there?)

I spend Wednesday mornings batch cooking (way to go me for at least putting time in my calendar dedicated to thinking about food when the week is half over!) and I have a system of cataloging and trying new recipes with my Pinterest board (you’ll notice there are three boards: Try This Week, Did It Meh, and Did It Loved).

Step 3: What needs to stay? How can this be better?

In my case, here is not in my system for meal planning:

when I go grocery shopping
a master list of items I keep on hand
an inventory control (way to record what I need or will need)
how many and what meals get planned (what from ‘Try This Week’ Pinterest board makes the cut? When does each recipe get moved to Did It Meh or Did It Loved boards?)

Step 4: Make a new system.

So here’s my new meal planning system, which takes what was working and adds in the parts that weren’t.

Ongoing: a piece of paper is kept on the sideboard and as items get used up, Nicole adds them to sheet of paper for weekly shop
Saturday morning: Nicole chooses two recipes to make from the ‘Try This Week’ Pinterest board and three old standby recipes to make considering a balance of breakfast, lunch, and dinner and limited cooking time most days. Nicole archives old recipes based on how good they were.
Sunday afternoon: Nicole goes grocery shopping with master list and preps three meals.
Wednesday morning: Nicole preps remaining three meals.

Step 5: Try and tweak.

It’s hard to do documentation, even if you are being really careful. The key is to try it because there is likely something you are forgetting. For example, it might make more sense for me to prep Tuesday nights between 5 and 6 pm since I have a standing 6 PM happy hour at my house and I’m getting things together for that anyway.

This month, our theme is systems. We create systems to be more efficient, to decrease stress, to make sure things get done, to be able to let others help us, to be able to reach our larger goals, and to be happier. As we head into 2017, it’s a good time to think about systems and what we want to change. We’ll be discussing how to use the internet in some of your systems for getting your favorite (or, ok, just necessary) things done.

100 Better Decisions: An Approach Toward A Big Goal

November 28, 2016 Nicole Ouellette

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Good For You

What if you made 100 better decisions? How could things be different?

This is what I asked myself at the beginning of this month. (By the way, if Oprah is reading this, I 100% made this up so please give me the credit if this becomes one of your favorite things.)

A hundred decisions sounds like a lot. In reality, you make hundreds of decisions a day. What time to wake up, what clothes to wear, whether to shower or not, what shampoo to use, if you’ll blowdry your hair, what toothpaste you’ll use, whether you’ll brush your teeth before or after you shower… you get the picture.

Now in your decisions lies your lifestyle, your values, and your ambitions. Once you hack how people make decisions, you can help them reach their goals. Here are two approaches I’ve seen to this:

Option 1: The Limited Decision Approach

Productivity experts like Tim Ferris say to have a completely structured routine for the first two hours of every day. The idea is that your brain uses energy to make decisions and rather than wasting that brainpower on oatmeal versus eggs, you should save it for more important decisions later in the day. This totally makes sense to me. This is why you see a bajillion articles about what successful people do the first hour or two of every morning. It’s a thing.

You can also look at this on the other end of the day, where people often protect the last hour of their day for reflection or planning the next day so they can go to sleep with a clear mind and wake up with their decisions already made for them.

Option 2: Following A Plan

If you aren’t keen on making up your own structure, there are PLENTY out there for you to follow, whether you want to learn to fall asleep faster or run a marathon.

When you are on a plan, you have a set of rules you follow for a set period of time to achieve some goal. It’s easiest to think about this with diet. If I am doing Whole30, for example, and someone offers me a gin and tonic, I say no. Alcohol is not allowed on Whole30. That decision of what I can and can’t eat (or when I can eat things) has been made by whatever plan I’m on: paleo, low carb, Mediterranean, etc.

I have issues with both these options.

Why Limited Decisions Is Not Entirely It For Me

My schedule varies day to day and in particular, weekdays to weekends. The idea of doing the same thing every morning not only bores me to tears but doesn’t work well with my life.

For example, every Friday morning, I have a super early standing meeting. The idea of getting up at 5:30 am EVERY MORNING makes me want to gouge my eyes out. (I don’t mind doing it once a week though.)

My modification to Tim Ferris’ plan is that I have Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning blocks planned for myself. One day is meal prep, one going to the transfer station, one for running errands (post office, car registration, library, etc.) Monday is my ease into the week morning and Friday is my early meeting (ie no time for my block-o-productivity). I am ok with this arrangement as it gives me some flexibility but it chunks out my morning and I get some of the benefits of minimizing decisions.

Why Following A Plan Doesn’t Entirely Work For Me

One of my core traits is my flexibility. You wouldn’t know it to look at me but I can actually be pretty spontaneous and laid back. Like if I go to your house and you made a fresh loaf of bread and asked if I wanted a piece? I would say ‘Yes!’ even though I don’t normally eat or buy bread. Because you made it and that’s awesome. I can’t categorically say no to things; it’s not in my nature or sustainable (in my opinion).

So what’s a gal like me to do?

What if I just look at my life as a series of decisions and write down when I make a better one until I reach 100 decisions?

Like maybe I have one gin and tonic and while considering a second one, I have two glasses of water instead.

So why did I think this would work for me and potentially others?

Most of us remember bad things and forget the good things. This is like an easier to fill out gratitude journal.
Sometimes we fall of the wagon and use it as an excuse for continued bad behavior (well, I had one glass of wine today, might as well have the ice cream too!). With 100 Better Decisions, each decision is an opportunity to start fresh.
By looking at each decision framed by the question ‘Will this get me closer to my goal?’, we train ourselves to spot times when we could make better decisions. Asking the question repeatedly makes sure the larger goal gets cemented in.

Now my goal has to do with getting healthier. Some things I wrote down out of 100:

Saved half my breakfast and ate it at lunch.
Chose vanilla seltzer instead of a cocktail.
Put cinnamon instead of cream in my coffee.

Has this approached helped me get closer to my goal? Yes.

Does it fit into my lifestyle? Yes.

Do I think you should try it? Please!

Four Noteworthy Apps (…for Taking Notes)

June 10, 2016 Kassandra Strout

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This Week In Business

Last week, we shared tips about getting ideas out of your head and organized. In that post, we stressed the importance of being consistent with where you keep these notes. Some people prefer to have them physically written down, others prefer to have them stored on electronic devices.

For those of you who fall in the electronic note taking category, this is your post! (Or even if you’re in the first category- this post just might change your mind). There are tons of apps out there for notes, with as many or as little extra features as you would like. I’m only going to talk about 4 of the apps I’ve found that offer their own unique twists on the note-taking process that are also totally free.

Evernote: Arguably the most popular note taking app. You can download it on all your devices, that way the notes you take on your PC will be with you on your phone if you’re on the go. Free for 60 MB of uploads per month. If you want to upload more, save emails, have offline access, it does cost a bit of money. There is also a business plan (also paid) which aims to improve collaboration within a business. For a smaller company it might not make a lot of sense, but there are a lot of different people attached to a project, it seems like a useful and convenient way to stay organized.

Things that are cool: You can search through text and images, and easily share notes with others. The website has a pretty incredible blog/testimonial section, and this story about Nisha Harish using Evernote to help write a book about her experience in the Marathon des Sables caught my interest.

This was just the sample page after sign-in, and I already felt overwhelmed

OneNote (Microsoft): Another app that’s available for free, and on desktop and mobile devices. It also comes with similar cloud-access so you can get your information wherever you are. The interface reminds me of Excel, with different tabs for different sections. From the perspective of a girl who breaks a sweat at the mere mention of spreadsheets, this isn’t how I want to keep track of my notes. Then I actually logged in and tested it out (clearly nothing serious) and it was actually pretty awesome.

Things that are cool: It’s very straightforward and easy to use. You have all the basic options, like drawing notes, writing, sharing, adding pictures-without it being overly complex. Easy to navigate, both in terms of writing a note and accessing it later on.

I had a little fun testing this one out…

Google Keep: A free Google app that is a more organized version of the Stickies program that Macs have (which I totally loved in my tween-hood). Like Evernote and OneNote, you can share your notes with other people. You can also sync your notes with your other Google apps, add location based reminders (with the help of Google maps). As someone who already uses Google apps AND enjoys the visual organization, this is the app that gets my vote. (Unfortunately, I’m a physical note person).

Things that are cool: As mentioned earlier, I really like the interface on Google Keep. It’s more friendly for visually inclined individuals. You can enable dictation (which the other apps don’t have) and can easily move it to a Google doc for further editing/sharing.

Simplenote: A slight step up above the Note app on your phone- it’s text only and doesn’t let you add any attachments or images, or share with others. However, it does have a cool restore history feature, so if you accidentally delete something you can easily get it back. (Note does not have this, trust me.) You can also tag notes, share the note URL, and invite others to edit. In other words, it has a lot of the same features as the other apps but with a simpler interface.

Things that are cool: It’s pretty minimalist, so if you’re the type of person who JUST wants to jot things down without dealing with annoying extra features, this is your app. The ability to retrieve older notes is a nice safety feature, too.

These are just four of the MANY apps you can download for note taking, but they’re a) popular and b) free, so if you’re in the market for organizing notes in a digital way, you’ll probably be able to find something that will get the job done.

June is note month! Stay tuned for more posts about note taking and keeping, and remember to check out other posts as well:

Take Note: Tips on Having (and Keeping) Your Ideas

The Weirdest Places We’ve Worked From

March 11, 2016 Kassandra Strout

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This Week In Business

One of the cool aspects of our work is that it can be done remotely (I’ve talked about this a bit before).

While 90% of the time you can find Nicole or I in the office, occasionally we are working from…elsewhere. And with John and Alilia on board, we have an eclectic combined work history. You’ve seen our posts about working effectively on the road or from home, but today, we’re going to share the weirdest places we’ve worked from (so far).

In compiling this list, I feel like I’ve learned some interesting things about my coworkers here at Breaking Even… maybe you will too

Weird Places Where We’ve Worked

Nicole worked on a houseboat in Amsterdam. Let’s say the house across the way was much nicer than the one she was in but hey, still cozy with coffee and WiFi.

Nicole

When I was in Europe two years ago for ten days. Because it was in July (our busiest time), the two hours daily of checking email wasn’t cutting it so I decided to have one work day while I was there to get a chunk of work done. My travel friend Sarah and I had rented this houseboat in Amsterdam on AirBnB. I wasn’t sure what to expect with the houseboat but it had better internet than any cafe… so I parked it at the kitchen table and left the screen door open while I watched the boats go by. There were also some very friendly ducks and a coffee maker that was relatively large for the size kitchen it was in, so I was pretty content.

On a different European trip, I actually went to Bosnia to visit a friend who started a web development company there. I worked from his company’s office and had a great time. When I work I need it 1) quiet and 2) some place where I can really settle in (get snacks freely, leave my stuff set up for a few hours)… maybe that’s why I’m so drawn to the idea of coworking spaces?

Alilia

I once was in California visiting my grandparents’ house where my mom and sisters also live, and I was in the middle of a software conversion project, so for one of the status call meetings, I was prancing around on my sister’s trampoline while on the project call. That was my best working remotely experience.

My worse working remotely experience was on the same California trip. I had set my desk phone in Colorado to forward to my cell phone, and I had asked the front desk to please not transfer any customers to me without letting me know first. They clearly disregarded my request as evidenced by the customer call I received while shopping at Costco with my relatives. I had to take the customer’s name and number and get back to them when I could get in front of my work laptop back at my grandparents’ house.

John

I once tried working remotely from a hospital waiting room while my son was in surgery. This isn’t as callous as it sounds—-I was desperate to keep my mind off what was happening in the operating room, and working was as good a way as any to do that. It was either that or watch the Fox News program that was blaring in the waiting room. Everything turned out well in the end and the operation was a success, and I took a few days off to be with my son and watch our daughter at home.

Kassie

This past fall, I experienced a lot of unfortunate car problems. During one such incident, I worked from a VIP Auto while waiting for cylinders in my car to be replaced. It was actually awesome- no one else was there, so I got a lot done, until a lady came in with her dog who clearly didn’t want to be there.

One of the coolest places I’ve gotten to work was Gillette Stadium (also this fall). I was trying to write a blog post before a Monday night football game in a hotel room with my parents, brother, and brother’s girlfriend. The lobby downstairs was packed with fellow Pats fans, so I was stuck writing on a cot in the hotel room while The Godfather was playing in the background (which John will appreciate, I am sure). It wasn’t a great writing experience- fortunately I’m highly skilled when it comes to tuning out my family- but then again, I was getting ready to watch a Pat’s Game. You win some, you lose some (also…the Pat’s lost that game).

The internet lets us work weird places… and if you work online, I’m sure you have some fun stories too.

Out of curiosity, do you have any weird/interesting remote working experiences? Let us know!

Everyday I’m Buffering

February 5, 2016 Kassandra Strout

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Social Media

Er, actually, not everyday, because that’s the magic of a service that schedules things in advance.

When someone says “Buffer,” I usually think a) they’re describing someone who has spent a lot of time at the gym or b) c’mon, YouTube, I don’t want to wait 3 minutes to watch a 30 second video that may or may not be funny. Within the past month, “Buffer” has also come to mean the online scheduling service that allows bulk scheduling for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest (not available in the free plan). We’ve been testing out Buffer for a couple weeks here at Breaking Even, and here are my thoughts:

-I love the ability to schedule from one location. With the Individual Plan (which is free), you can link one account for each type of profile and schedule up to 10 posts in advance for each (the paid options allow you to link more accounts and schedule further in advance). The amount of time I spend toggling among various tabs in my browser has cut down considerably, leaving more time . To move from LinkedIn to Facebook, all I have to do is click on a sidebar. If we upgrade, I can add all the LinkedIn accounts I manage and not have to search for each page every time I update, which means even more time saved. I hardly even know what I’d do with all this free time.

-Sharing links and images is a piece of cake. Maybe you’ve noticed buff.ly shortlinks in your social media explorations. These links are what happens when you shorten a URL within Buffer (Hootsuite and Bitly also offer this service). Normally, I have at least 3 tabs open for this process- one for the article I want to share, one for Bitly, and one for scheduling. With the help of Buffer, scheduling is less cumbersome. Buffer also pulls the images from an article and lets you choose what to attach as part of the update (up to 4). Rebuffering, or re-sharing older content, can be done with a click of a button as you scroll through what you’ve already shared. Next to each update that gets posted, there is a “Rebuffer” button that allows you to re-share any post.

-Flexible scheduling options. All your updates for a certain account, like Breaking Even’s Facebook page, for instance, go into a queue. There are a couple options for scheduling posts. Option 1) I simply write out an update and click “Add to Queue.” Buffer sets 3 different times per day for post sharing, and will simply pull whatever is next in the queue. You can change these set times in the settings. Option 2) I write out an update that I want to send at a specific date/time, rather than get added to the queue. Instead of “Add to Queue,” I hit “Schedule” and fill out the information. Option 3) Share Now, which is exactly what it sounds like.

-Analytics everywhere. As you share content, you want to know how it’s performing, right? With the Analytics tab, Buffer lets you see how each of your posts performed. Available analytics vary among the different social networks. For instance, Twitter gives you a look at “Potential Reach,” Facebook gives you “Reach,” and all offer number of clicks, shares, likes (or like equivalents), and comments. These are all available with the free Individual option, but if you upgrade, you gain access to more in-depth reports.

-Business/Awesome Plans. Buffer is a freemium service as an individual (1 account for each platform and up to 10 scheduled posts for each), but there is the option to upgrade. The Awesome Plan allows you to connect 10 social profiles and schedule up to 100 posts in advance. If you, like Breaking Even, have a team that needs access to the dashboard, the business option allows you to connect up to 25 others to the account, and link up to 150 social media accounts. The largest plan Buffer offers is the Enterprise plan, which allows over 200 social accounts and over 25 team members. Both Business and Enterprise offer RSS feeds and the ability to generate marketing reports.

The one shortcoming I’ve encountered is that while working within buffer, I can’t necessarily see what people have commented or view streams from their accounts. If I want to see what people a page follows on twitter are saying, I still have to go look at their Twitter account. One solution is upgrading and linking RSS feeds to the accounts, so it isn’t the worst shortcoming in the world. Also, Buffer has just acquired Respondly, which is a service that handles the customer service end of social media marketing (responding to and engaging with customers), which will be released soon.

Overall, I recommend using Buffer as a tool because it allows you to keep everything in one place, it’s easy to navigate as a user, and it’s free (to a point).

productivity