Abilities:

• Use a barcode scanner or manually enter items to log inventory items in your home or business
• Keep records of your items, including which have been loaned out
• Create wish lists and gift lists, as well as shared shopping lists

Great for:

• Keeping track of your belongings (either personal or business), including items you have loaned out or checked out to employees
• Keeping track of items for insurance purposes
• Analyzing inventory by type or price

Cost: Free

1. Start your day by spending 15 minutes planning your to-do list.  A to-do list serves as a reference that allows you to stay on task, so you spend more time getting things done instead of trying to recall what you need to do.
2. Organize your business cards and make it easy to reach out and follow-up with your contacts.  Implement a CRM tool if you do not have one yet and it will be even easier to keep track of important details and reminders connected to your contacts.
3. Follow the “2 minute rule.”  If you have a task that can be accomplished in 2 minutes or less (like answering an email or paying a bill), do it right away, rather than put it off for later.
4. Create an efficient workspace to ensure you can find what you need, when you need it.  If items you use often are within easy reach, it will cut down on the time you spend walking back and forth to retrieve supplies.
5. Schedule blocks of time to return phone calls, read and respond to emails, and be available to your employees.  Investing the time to respond and interact allows you to be proactive with your time, rather than reactive and constantly interrupted.
6. Make the most of apps.  Think about a challenge or situation that leads to a loss of your productive time.  If you spend a great deal of your time on the road, consider a traffic app that will help you avoid back-ups and delays.  Does trying to remember passwords take up your time?  Use a password manager app.  With a little research you’ll find, “there’s an app for that.”
7. Manage your social media efficiently by using apps like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to provide an easy dashboard-like view of your social media conversations throughout the day.  Tools like these enable quick management of your various accounts from a single source.  You will be amazed by how much time you save now that you won’t have to log into six different sites each day to see your messages, news, etc.
8. When possible, delegate tasks or responsibilities that someone else can handle.  We can’t always do it all ourselves, so when you need to, ask for assistance.

Challenge:
Each member of the team works outside of the office, whether it is from their home office or at a coffee shop.  The challenge was making sure that each team member could have access to the necessary data, files, and information they need no matter where they work or are located. 

Solution:
The Innovatively Organized team of Productivity Consultants set up programs to ensure the client’s team members each had access to their information, regardless of where they are working, by utilizing cloud-based services.  We set up a web-based file sharing program, virtual phone management system, CRM tools, and web meeting capabilities.

Result:
Now each employee has access to the data, files, and programs they need in order to complete their job and stay even more productive.  Each team member can utilize their computers, laptops, tablets and phones wherever they are to continue to work and stay connected with clients.   

Think your team could benefit from having some cloud services to enable virtual working?  Learn more about our business organizing services.

1.  Finances
Staying connected to your finances wherever you go can be challenging for many families.  Try a tool like Mint to help your family manage accounts and investments, as well as track spending and set up budgets.

2.  Photos
Online photo storage sites, such as SnapFish, can be a great way to let everyone view and access memories by using the sharing function.  You can also use these services to order prints or create cool photo products.  One of our favorite things to do is create photo books to preserve and show off memories at the same time!

3.  Calendars
Family calendars help to keep track of each family member’s schedule organized.  It is easy to create individual calendars and then share them as needed with other family members, or even a teacher, nanny, or carpool buddy.  One of our favorite options is Google Calendars since it works with just about any mobile device and is accessible online.

4.  Lists
Writing and sharing lists that the entire family can access is a must.  Using a tool like Cozi can help you keep track of shared grocery lists, to-do lists, and any other family priorities.

What are your thoughts?  How does your family use the cloud to stay organized?

Result:
The busy entrepreneur dad now knows when each of the children’s activities are happening, the on-the-go working mom knows when her husband is running errands or picking up the kids as she returns home each night from work, and everyone knows the Seattle family’s weekend plans. The busy family now has a cloud-based tool to keep them connected and aware of their various commitments, time constraints, and upcoming events!

Think your family could benefit from professional organizers or productivity consultants?  Learn more about our services and ask how our team could help!

Challenge:
A busy sales executive wanted to have access to his email and calendar on-the-go, but his cell phone didn’t sync perfectly with Outlook.  He scribbled appointments on scratch paper while he was out and added them to his Outlook calendar when he got back to the office – sometimes to find that he’d double-booked himself.  Sometimes he was late for meetings because he forgot about appointments when he hadn’t been near his computer for several hours.

Solution:
We set up a Microsoft Exchange Server so that all of his email and calendar items are always in sync, on every device!

Result:
Now his phone, iPad, work desktop, and personal laptop are all in sync at all times.  By having the ability to add calendar items while on-the-go, this executive feels more in control of his schedule and is able to take advantage of breaks by checking and responding to emails in between meetings.

We don’t know about you, but our team of Productivity Consultants at Innovatively Organized got into a conversation recently where we realized that we all have a hard time remembering complicated random passwords.  Plus, do you really want to type out G&6d4*V#f2z every day to check your email?

An easy trick to improve your passwords is to replace words with random characters like this: Ch@ract3r$.

But let’s do the math: that’s only 10 characters, it’s a common dictionary word, and since we can probably assume that hackers have heard of this trick, it’s possible they’ve written algorithms complex enough to eventually guess this password.  And, you’d still have to remember which “a” was substituted with “@.” 

Here’s what we suggest:
•  String random words together
•  Capital the first letter of each word
•  Add some numbers (beginning, middle, or end)
•  The longer the better, with a variety of numbers, letters, and symbols

Some examples to get you started:
•  MyDogEats42?Slugs
•  Chased!By86MaroonStaplers

Or try the multiple word method:
•  Use a longer phrase that is easy to remember (like a song, poem, or quote)
•  Use the first letter from each word to string into a password.

Example: Using the song “I’m A Little Tea Pot Short and Stout. Here Is My Handle, Here Is My Spout.” Creates: IALTPSASHIMHHIMS.

Hard to guess but easy to remember!

At Innovatively Organized, we explain the cloud as a place to access virtual servers that are shared by multiple people, where you can use software services, and store data and files from multiple devices.  Think of the cloud as a place up in the sky (with an internet connection) where you can save, store, and retrieve documents and data.  From any device or location, you and anyone else you allow can access your information.  The benefits of cloud computing are numerous: it saves energy, speed and money; data is scalable; security is enhanced; and there is ease of mobility for those working anywhere and everywhere.  

Join our team of productivity consultants daily this month on our blog, Twitter and Facebook for daily updates and tips for a better Cloud Computing experience!  

Here’s another tip: Get in early and register now for our Cloud Computing 101: Learning the Basics webinar on June 14. This session tends to fill up fast!