CoSchedule Is A Smart Way to Schedule Social Media

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cos-logo-icon-orgwht-250x250I’m all about shortcuts and tricks to get more done and with managing this blog — it’s no different. I pre-schedule blog posts in WordPress so I don’t have to worry about them. I also use Buffer and Hootsuite to help fill up my social media calendars. That way I can set everything up ahead of time and be less stressed out about having to tweet or Facebook a message. Plus, I have a day job so it’s essential to automate so I can make the most of my time. I could also, once I find the time – employ a company such as these wordpress seo experts to try and get more traffic to my blog as well as my social media that I try so hard to upkeep and maintain as to not let me content go stale or unseen.

Scheduling social media has always been a hassle for me though. I’ve had the help of some wonderful interns but it’s just one of those things that I always dread doing. It’s normally the last thing I think about but something I know is so important to the survival of this blog.

It should be fun but often it’s not. Read more

Umano App is History – Here’s some on-the-go Solutions

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umano1-300x300It always seems to be that whenever I fall in love with an app, it makes serious changes, or gets bought out. Well  that curse has struck again!

Umano will be closing down on June 12th. I’ve been a huge fan of Umano since I discovered it.  The app gave me the chance to listen to articles I was interested in but didn’t have time to read while I was walking to the subway. I’ve also enjoyed recording my own posts, so I will be sad to see it go.

But what’s next? What can I do now to consume content on the go?

Here’s what I plan on trying to help move on now that Umano is closing down: Read more

Get Control of Your Calendars

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sunrise

I often hear a common complaint from productivity seekers like yourself — “I wish I had a better way to keep track of all my calendars.”

I get it – I have the same problem.

I have an Outlook calendar for work and I use Google Calendar for my personal and book stuff. And sometimes iCal gets thrown in the mix too.  But sometimes they don’t cross pollinate and I forget stuff.  I never like feeling like I’m missing out or not hitting a deadline.

Not to worry — I’ve found a pretty cool solution.  I was a guest a book club last week (yes, they read my book Listful Thinking and asked me questions about it!) — and we started talking about apps of course.  And one popped up that I’d never heard of — the Sunrise App.

So I took a closer look and it’s basically amazing.  It allows you to connect multiple Google Calendar, iCloud, Exchange and Facebook events all in one place.  So you’ll be able to keep track of your appointments, work meetings and social events.

Pros:

  • It’s really pretty.  In my book a gorgeous design goes a long way.
  • It can be used on your desktop, iPhone and Android.
  • It’s smart and uses appropriate icons for your entries.  For example, if you enter “Lunch with Ali” it will instantly assign the knife and fork icon for quick reference.
  • It includes the weather forecast and any holidays or sports schedules you’d like to add.

Cons:

  • You’ll need to rework your alert system.  I still had my Google Calendar alerts on when I started using Sunrise and I was getting double notifications.  So that’s really annoying but totally fixable.
  • I’ve had a friend (Ok, so it’s my friend Terri, who you all know by now as the host of Solopreneur on the Whatever It Takes Network) tell me that it doesn’t update quickly enough and changes made outside of the app take a while to show up on Sunrise.  This hasn’t happened to me but don’t say we didn’t warn you!

 

11 Free Fab Finds for Productivity

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Screen Shot 2015-02-18 at 5.03.21 PMGetting things done doesn’t always have to be time consuming and costly. There are actually a whole lot of free ways to be more productive.  I’ve put together this list of freebies that will get you on track:

Time Savers

1.  Pathtalk: This app is really versatile (and awesome)! It allows you to contact local businesses, make dinner reservations, book appointments, compare prices, and check in-store availability. Not to mention, you can do all of these things without making a single phone call!  I use it all the time.

2.  Dragon Dictation: Have a brilliant idea but don’t have any paper? Dragon will transcribe whatever you say with pretty good accuracy into a tweet, Facebook post or e-mail.  This is great for capturing to-dos that pop up when you’re on the run.

3.  Umano: This app allows you to listen to professionally recorded short news articles! Sign up and choose from a wide variety of publishers and bloggers (including me!) to listen to. It’s perfect for when you want to listen to stuff on-the-go! If you decide to try it out, use my code when signing up to get unlimited listening: NN8MEZ.

4.  Timeful:  A way to schedule all the things you really want to do!  You can connect Timeful to a calendar you already use and schedule in tasks like reading and meditation.Timeful will suggest the best times for you to complete each task – which you can accept or deny.

5.  Minutes Please: Control your web time here! You know how it goes — taking a 10 minute break to check Facebook turns into one hour. Enter the URL of the website and the number of minutes (up to 120) you want to spend on it. Minute Please will give you a countdown at the top of your browser. Never waste time online again!

6.  Scannable: A new mobile scanning app introduced by Evernote. I’ve already used it a bunch of times to scan receipts, insurance cards and articles.  All you have to do is point and click and you can instantly save or export the picture.

7.  HelloSign: You can sign e-signatures with this site that are legally binding.  This was a lifesaver when I was buying my apartment.  There’s just so much paperwork to fill out.  I used HelloSign to scan, edit, and sign documents.

8.  Hellofax: From the same makers of HelloSign.  With this app, there’s no need to have a fax machine anymore. HelloFax takes a high quality scan of your photo and securely faxes it to wherever you want. One of the best parts is, you can keep your current fax number to avoid confusion with customers. There’s a free 14 day trial.

Email

9.  Email Game: If you have an endless inbox — conquer your e-mail, with a game! This game encourages you to read and responds to e-mails faster and more decisively. This adds a fun twist on the boring task of sifting through your inbox.

10.  Unroll.Me*: Junk e-mail can pile up pretty quickly. When you’re in the store and they ask for your email, all of a sudden you’re getting a ton of useless newsletters. Unroll.Me will identify every newsletter that you’re subscribed to and you can opt-out with the click of a button.

11.  Boomerang: Get your inbox back down to zero. This app provides various useful features. If you’re up late answering emails, you can schedule to have them sent out in the morning. This way you can get your day starting out doing other tasks. You can also prioritize certain emails that you want to tackle later. Plus you can schedule emails you’d like to follow up on to pop back up into your inbox when you’re read to deal with them. The first 10 emails are free.

Still feeling overwhelmed by your email? Check out my course Take Back Your Inbox, which I created to help you get back in control!

Check out these free fab finds and let me know what you think below!

*Unroll.Me makes money by learning what people stay subscribed to and what they unsubscribe from – that data is valuable and helps corporations learn what people want and what they don’t want. Your email address is NOT sold. If you’d like to keep your subscription list private you’ll need to unsubscribe manually from individual email subscriptions. If you appreciate the swiftness that you can unsubscribe from multiple sources while helping brands service customers better then Unroll.Me is for you!

Stop Googling Yourself

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mentionI have a confession — I’ve been known to casually Google myself every now and again. Come on…we’ve all done it! I even have Google alerts set up for my name, and a few keywords like list making and to-do lists. But there’s a better way!

I’ve discovered the app and website Mention. It’s amazing and acts like your own personal Internet trolling system. I started using it just before my book Listful Thinking launched because I want to know who is talking about it on the Internet. It can be hard to track them down using Google alerts only.  Infact, Google alerts hasn’t alerted me at all about the book. What’s up with that? Read more