This Productivity Tip Will Blow Your Mind

Screen shot 2014-02-02 at 5.03.39 PMI use Twitter every day to gather news, ideas, recipes, and the occasional “cute emergency.” I often “favorite” tweets with articles so I can read them later. They are usually ideas for blog posts, interesting tidbits, and, of course, productivity tips. I have all of these stockpiled in my “favorite tweets” but I never actually go back to read them. NEVER. What a waste, right?

Then I found IFTTT.com and discovered the most amazing productivity tip ever! “If this then that” is a service that allows you to connect different apps and sites (channels as they call them) to create your own “recipe” or action that you want your media channels to perform.

IFTTT.com has almost 10,000 pages of different “recipes” to choose from or you can create your very own for pretty much any function. For example, want to know when there will be a chance of rain? Create a recipe to receive a text whenever a drizzle or thunderstorm is near – no more bad hair days! Or want to save all your Instagram photos to your computer? There is a recipe that will automatically save them to Dropbox.

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Fab Find: PocketSuite Connects You With Small Businesses Nearby

A friend of mine is getting married and has been really into getting fit before the big day! I wanted to get her personal training as an engagement gift, but I don’t live near her so I struggled researching nearby gyms and reading several conflicting reviews on the internet. It was important to me to find the right person for her because I didn’t want to waste my money or her time. Then I discovered PocketSuite, the app that would solve my dilemma!

PocketSuite is designed to connect freelancers, personal assistants, trainers, and small business owners with clients in their area. The app helps you find professionals based on your location for a wide variety of services. Simply sign up, attach a credit card to your account, and then PocketSuite handles:

  • Scheduling Appointments – The app maintains a calendar of appointments, making it easy for you to find the best available appointment time for your busy schedule. Read more

5 Ways to be a Better Complainer and Get What You Want

United Breaks Guitars

United Breaks Guitars (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A few weeks ago, I told you about an app that helps you skip the wait-time when calling customer service. However, just because you get to talk to a person faster doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get what you want. I’ve had amazing customer service, but I’ve also had really horrendous help that leaves me so frustrated. You know what I mean – it can be really hard to keep your cool when the stranger on the other end of the phone is being difficult about their company shipping you the wrong pair of pants.

A few years ago Dave Carroll was flying United Airlines when he noticed that the people loading the plane were throwing his guitar around, resulting in a broken guitar when he landed. He spent months dealing with United’s customer service, only to discover that they weren’t going to do a thing about his smashed guitar. Dave took matters into his own hands, writing the song “United Breaks Guitars” and exposing the airline’s bad behavior in a viral video that resulted in United reaching out to David and offering to replace his unusual guitar. Now, when the rest of us have to get a new guitar, we can’t quite get United Airlines to send one for us. Instead, we can compare a range of small bodied guitars on a site like thesoundjunky until we find the guitar that is right for us.
I know that we don’t all have the luxury (or the musical ability) to handle bad customer service the way Dave did, but here are a few ways anyone can complain smarter and get better customer service: Read more

Join Me Tonight for My Webinar!

Tonight’s the night! I’ll be hosting my webinar tonight, January 15, 2014 at 8 pm ET

 

If you want to do more in less time, the solution could be as simple as downloading the best app or making the right list. That’s why I’m here to help!

 

Join me tonight to learn:

  • How to prioritize your lists
  • How to make the best lists for your life needs
  • Why list making is so beneficial
  • How to be more efficient day-to-day

Lists are my secret to success – join me to find out how! RSVP here

If you have any issues you’d like me to address, please don’t hesitate to reach out and drop me a line.

When you sign up you will get a reminder email with a link to the webinar. See you there!

 

Fab Find: Stop Waiting On Hold With Fast Customer

As far as annoying things go — waiting on hold is right at the top of the list. It can literally take hours out of your life that you will never get back. Talk about being unproductive — well, luckily there is another way and it’s my Fab Find.

I recently had to call customer service to report a duplicate charge on my credit card. Instead of being aggravated and waiting on hold, I tried out a new app called FastCustomer. It does the waiting for you! Skip the menus and bad hold music – with a few taps you can choose what business you need to speak to and then sip coffee, check email, whatever – a representative will call you when the wait time is over!

It works for major companies like American Express, Bank of America, 1800 Flowers, insurance companies and even airlines. It is really a great way to outsource a necessary but irritating task. When I used it — the app called me back and I waited an additional three minutes for a representative. I think that’s time well spent.

Think about all the things you can do while someone else is waiting on hold for you!

1. Read a few articles on ListProducer.com for a more productive day

2. Clean out your email inbox Read more