Back at the end of March, I went to Las Vegas for a few days for my sister’s 21st birthday. Myy sister, my mom, my grandma, and I all convened in Sin City. It was a lot of fun & interesting too (they aren’t lying when they say casinos are easy to get lost in!), and the last night I was there was particularly interesting.

See, my sister and I went to the strip, because she was in search of these massive margaritas in novelty glasses that we kept seeing. We eventually found the right place and I was rather forcefully coerced into buying a 32 oz margarita. (Ashley left with a 48 oz one. Yes, indeed.)

As we were walking back towards the bus stop, drinking our margaritas in a hurry (you can walk on the street with it but not ride a bus with it – what kind of sense does that make?!), we came across this kiosk with convertible dresses. You’ve probably seen them or something similar – it’s a dress, it’s a skirt, it’s a magical top. You know the drill.

Long story short, I ended up buying one not only for me but for my sister as well (who is obviously better at coercing me in to things than I give her credit for).

And…the dress has sat in my closet, unworn but for once or twice on laundry day when I had no choice but to try and figure it out. I’ve never been outsmarted by an article of clothing before but I’m pretty sure this one is just too smart for me. I’m honestly not sure how I managed to get it off after consuming a margarita that large.*

There’s a pamphlet that came with it with suggestions for different ways to wear it, and there’s videos on Youtube, but I haven’t taken the time to actually read the pamphlet or watch any of the videos. It’s a cool souvenir, but I just can’t seem to get in the habit of actually wearing the dress.

What can we learn from this?

1. Don’t buy clothes when you’re drinking. If you have to put down the margarita to hand over payment, it’s probably a bad idea.
2. Don’t buy clothes that require work.
3. If you buy clothes that require work, actually do the work to make the damn thing wearable.

And now you’re all “Yes, Michelle, this is all very interesting, but please tell me how this is relevant to those of us who aren’t impulsive buyers when drinking?”

Okay, can do. No need to sass me.

I see people doing the same thing when it comes to choosing & using tools & systems, all the time. Like, all the time. People choose a tool that seems cool and has tons of flashy features, but then they don’t ever take the time to do the set up work (learning how to wear the dress, so to speak), so they end up frustrated and confused every time they do it. Or they get something they don’t need. Or they make it harder than necessary. Do not do this, people. Learn from my dress experience.

Instead, do this:

Take the time to set it up right.

I know. I know. You’d rather stab yourself in the eye with a dull spoon, but if you’re going to try and use a new project management tool, for example, make an effort – a for-reals effort, possibly with actual sweat involved – to get past the learning curve. Set aside a few hours to learn all the tricks, watch the videos, read the material, and input all of your information, tasks, & team members.

(Your time at a premium? You could always hire someone – ahem, cough cough – to do planning & input for you!)

If you don’t do this, you’re going to be limping along every time you use it, not using the tool to the full extent of its potential, and frustrating the hell out of yourself, until you give up and go back to your previously disorganized ways.

Get reallyreally clear on what you want + need and avoid extra fluff.

As people, we almost always tend to think “more = better”. I’m sure you’ve heard the news, but just in case: more does not, in fact, equal better.  In fact, I purposefully avoid tools that have more than I need (one reason I don’t use Basecamp or CentralDesktop). If something has way more features than I need, I’m going to log in, look at the interface, get confused trying to get to relevant information, and then walk away in a huff. And then nothing gets done that day because I have no idea what to do and I can’t find my effing task list.

If you’re a team of one and you don’t want or need a visual interface, use Paprika. If you want something more visual, go with Flow. But whatever you’re looking for – a time tracking tool, a CRM, a project management tool, whatever – before you start looking, make a list of what you need and what you want. If, while you’re looking, you come across a feature and you think “Wow, that’s a great feature that I would use regularly”, then it can be added to the list. However, if you’re a one person biz, chances are you don’t need a massive all-in-one project management/CRM/wiki/time-tracking/invoicing tool that also makes a mean sub sandwich. Don’t be seduced into paying for one by a slick video.

Make it easy. Braindead zombie easy.

I’m not doubting your intellectual prowess – I know you can do something that’s hard and requires thought and effort. But, here’s the thing: thought, effort, willpower – they’re all very finite resources. We only have so much for the day and then we run out and kaput, we’re done. So if you choose systems or tools that require a large amount of them? Chances are, you’ll find it incredibly difficult to stick with them in the long run.

Here’s a question to ask yourself: whatever you’re trying to do here – how can you make it as easy as possible to do it? How can you make it easier to do it than to not do it? (This isn’t always possible, of course, but thinking that way can help you come up with good ideas.) Want to get start doing weekly planning dates for your business? Take yourself out to Starbucks with nothing but your planning tools and bribe yourself with sweet caffeinated beverages. And when it comes to tools, this circles back to point #1 – after you choose something that’s as easy as possible, actually take the time to learn it.

And that, ladies & gents, is how we avoid having the system or tool equivalent of a convertible dress in your closet that you’ll never, ever wear.  

Thoughts? Suggestions? Post ’em in the comments, I want to hear!

*In case you’re wondering, I do know how I got it on – that was the kiosk lady. (Smart lady. Once I had it on I didn’t want to leave without it.) 

Getting in the habit of sending regular emails and/or newsletters to your list is viewed as “must do” business activity. And for good reason – having a highly engaged list can make your business much more successful, even if it’s a list on the smaller side.

And yet, a lot of people put off getting in to this habit because they aren’t sure where to start, or they’re worried they won’t be able to find the time, or they’ve tried to do it in the past but kept coming up blank with nothing to write about. When you try it a few times and each time it takes you two or three hours to create it, you can definitely start to question the value for time you’re getting there. Howeva! I have three quick tips, all easy to implement, that can make your next go at writing a newsletter much easier & faster.

1. Have a dedicated day &/or time to create it.

This sounds overly simple, I know. But the fact is that every time we make ourselves repeatedly schedule a recurring task, we’re wasting brainpower, time, and thought. In my experience, we – as human beings – are actually disturbingly likely to not get around to doing something because we didn’t get around to actually deciding a day/time to do it!

Instead of trying to squeeze in time to do it every week, just make it a part of your routine. For example, I send out my newsletters Friday morning. So every Thursday is the day that I write and schedule my newsletter.

I don’t get to Thursday evening or Friday afternoon and think “Oh crap, I forgot the newsletter!” because it’s already on my calendar/task list at the start of the week, and when Thursday comes around, it’s on my list of things to do, so I do it. Simple. No muss, no fuss. (To check out project & task management tools that can help you schedule your days/weeks and my reviews of them, click here.) 

2. Have a format.

It doesn’t have to be anything fancy – just have a pre-determined list of things that go in your newsletter. For example, mine usually has an introduction, something personal about the week (sometimes short, sometimes a little longer), the blog posts for the week, interesting resources (see #3, below), and then a closing note. If I have a special promotion going that week, like the Peak Productivity Pack, I put in something about it at the beginning & end of the email.

Again – keep it simple. The point here is not to overwhelm yourself, the point is to make it so that you have to think as little as possible about the repetitive parts of this. You want to make it as easy as possible for you to get this done, so that you actually do it.

3. Make it easy for you to take notes/bookmark things throughout the week.

A big part of the reason that doing a newsletter seems so effing intimidating is that we don’t plan anything out, we don’t even have an idea of what we’ll cover, and then we freeze when we open up a totally blank email. The solution is simple: make it really easy for you to take notes and bookmark things of note throughout the week, so that you can feature them later in your newsletter – and then get in the habit of doing so.

Shenee does this really well with her Brand Notes pinboard, where she pins things of note to her that later end up in her newsletter; I use my Pretty + Useful pinboard in the same way. That technique also has the bonus of sending people from Pinterest to your website/email list & vice versa!

The other tool I use for this is Evernote – I keep a note for each week’s newsletter and as I have thoughts or ideas, I put it in the note; I also bookmark things using their website clipper.

In between using Evernote & Pinterest for this, when it comes to the day for me to write my weekly newsletter, I just open them up and immediately have a well of inspiration to draw from, and I already have a format to put it in.

This way, writing & scheduling my email newsletter always takes less than an hour (and usually takes 15-20 minutes). Pretty impressive, no?

Do you send a newsletter? What tips & tricks do you have for making it easier and faster, without sacrificing quality? 

This post is part of the June 2012 Word Carnival — a monthly group blogging event specifically for small biz owners. (It’s the most fun you’ll have all month!) Check out the rest of the fabulous carney work here.

You know how there’s that saying – “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”

(If you didn’t know, well, now you do.)

I get it. I get this saying, it’s all about taking tiny steps instead of overwhelming your brain with the big picture all at once. But the problem is that in real life, with actual elephant-esque ventures, not everyone has a way to go from the whole elephant to one tiny bite. Where do you even start eating? What part will be the fastest to eat? And for that matter, did we already have someone do the butchering for us? Because if eating an elephant is a difficult venture, I can only imagine the mess that comes with preparing it for eating.

(Okay, that’s where the elephant metaphor breaks down and gets a little icky. Moving swiftly onward…)

My point is this:

Taking a big project and turning it into a lot of little “bites” is not necessarily an intuitive process. After working with lots of clients, I’ve come to realize that people tend to either:

A. Not break it down into bites at all and just keep throwing themselves at the project as a whole (which can create progress but can also create frustration and that hopeless feeling that you’re not making any effing progress, argh).

B. Break it down into hundreds of tiny nibbles and then sit there, staring at their to do list and thinking “Holy crap, I am NEVER GOING TO GET THIS DONE.” Then they start drinking margaritas long before 5 o’clock.

C. Decide that the project is weighing on their mind so much they’re just going to scrap it entirely.

None of these is the best way to go about it. Obviously. You need to break it down into small, doable tasks, yeah, but you also need to have a way of organizing those tasks (to prevent to-do-list-overwhelm margarita syndrome) and a plan for doing them (to prevent that hopeless not-progressing feeling).

Kind of like this:

That’d be the outline (in flowchart form – flowline? outchart?) for my newest creation, the Get a Grip On Your Project Kit.

As for me, I’m taking some much-needed family time and visiting my family this weekend – I’ll be back on Monday evening, and have a post going up Monday morning. See you then!

This week’s review is a little different than usual – namely, that I decided not to do a video review, because Rule has become my project management tool of choice, and for me to give you a video tour I’d have to go back through and edit out a lot of confidential client details in the tasks/projects. Which, honestly, I’m not 100% for sure how to do in the video!

Instead, here’s their “Welcome to Rule” video:

What I love:

I have six words for you: drag & drop color coded calendar. Y’ALL. It has CHANGED MY LIFE. You may think I’m exaggerating but this is easily one of my favorite features, however simple.

I also really love the “My Tasks” window, always accessible from any screen. Currently, my favorite way to use Rule in day-to-day work is to have a pinned tab in Chrome with Rule open to the master projects calendar and also having the “My Tasks” window viewable. This gives me a really easy, at a glance way to see both what I’m doing today and in what order (because the tasks are arranged automatically in order of priority and also color coded for priority), and also see the week or month at a glance.

And, of course, the design is great. Unsurprisingly, I’m a big fan of the black/gray/blue color scheme – those are some of my favorite colors – and I like that obvious attention has been given to making things look nice.

Aside from the simple-yet-awesome things that delight me, Rule has a surprising amount of depth and functionality. You can use it in a lot of interesting ways – one of my favorite features that I haven’t got to fully explore yet is the ability to link notes, comments, and so on to tasks and projects (or reference a task or project in a comment); so that when you view a task or a project you can see all of the related discussion and information in one spot.

The wiki feature is great for creating a system operating procedures guide (something that’s essential for business growth as you add more people to your team), and it’s also incredibly easy to use with a great drag and drop interface. The CRM tool is another thing I haven’t fully utilized – I’m still figuring out how to add it into my workflow – but I like that they added it and that it’s so easy to use.

The price is very reasonable for the amount of features; there’s a 30 day trial and after that, the lowest priced monthly membership is $20/month, which covers up to 5 team members.

Things that could be improved:

Obviously, I’m pretty much a fan, but I think there’s still a few things that could be worked on:

• Currently, there’s a mobile website, which works well but isn’t super-intuitive (it took me a bit of playing around to figure out how to add tasks). I’d like to see a better mobile version, whether it’s an actual app or just the website. Once I did figure out how to add tasks, I really like the mobile version, though.
• Some way to create a default “assignee” (for lack of a better term) would be nice. For me, I’d love to be able to set it so that all tasks I created were assigned to me by default, unless I chose otherwise.
• There’s currently some weirdness going on with the personal calendar – it doesn’t show tasks that have been assigned to you but don’t belong to a particular project. When I talked to the Rule team they said they’re working on it, and there’s a pretty easy workaround – I just created a project for general business tasks and one for life/home tasks.
• I’d love to see recurring tasks added. I think when I asked them about the ETA on this, they said summer 2012, so it should be coming pretty soon. Something lacking recurring tasks would normally be a dealbreaker for me, but I loved the other features so much that I decided to death with it. The workaround I’m using in the meantime is that I have a Google Doc with a list of all my recurring tasks and what days they fall on, and then at the beginning of the month I go in and schedule them for that month.

For right now at least, I feel pretty solid calling Rule my productivity tool of choice, and I’m looking forward to using it in the future!

Have you used Rule? What did you think?

Let’s imagine you have a friend. (Hopefully, this isn’t too hard to imagine because you already have one or more of these for reals.) A single friend lookin’ for love. She’s mostly had good experiences, but goes on this one wildly horrific date. We’re talking sitcom levels of bad. And after that, she swears off dating entirely. She’s going to be a nun if that’s what it takes – no. more. dating. for this lady.

Seems a little extreme, right?

It does, doesn’t it? But – I see a lot of people doing something similar when it comes to delegating in their business. I’ve talked to people running very successful businesses who are still refusing to bring on any help because they had a bad experience once. Quite frankly, it’s seriously holding them back in their business.

Am I denying that bad experiences suck? No. 

Heartbreak – whether it comes from a bad date, an awful relationship, or totally getting screwed over by a service provider you thought you could trust – is no fun. It feels shitty. And you’re often left feeling like an idiot, too, for trusting someone and then having them later proven untrustworthy. I get it, I do. But you’ve got to pick yourself up & dust yourself off, and move on. (After you’ve soothed your hurt feelings with chocolate, of course.)

Once you’re past the chocolate and moping stage, ask yourself: what comes next? (And you’re in luck, because I have an answer for you!)

Here’s what comes next:

Analyze why it didn’t work & figure out what to do differently next time

• Did a friend hook you up without firsthand knowledge? “I know a guy” can be a great thing to hear, but if you’ve been burned before and want to make sure you aren’t burned again, make sure that you get referrals from people who have actually used this person, and who are okay answering any questions you have. If you get a referral from someone who doesn’t have firsthand knowledge, email the service provider & ask for references and to set up a time to talk. Anyone who’s worth their salt will be absolutely fine with that.
• Were there obvious personality incompatibilities? Did they expect you to do things that seemed absolutely off-the-wall to you? Did certain quirks of theirs grate on you like nails on a chalkboard? If so, try to figure out specifically what those things were, so that you can either look for them in the future or avoid them in the future. For example, some people want day-by-day updates – which is fine,if they’re paired with someone willing to do that and who understands that the client wants/needs that. However, another service provider might not roll that way – they’d rather check in only when a milestone has been passed. And if you’re laid-back and already have a full inbox, daily updates might sound like a nightmare.  If you’re incredibly clear on what you need and what you reallydon’t want, you’ll prevent future mishaps.
• Did y’all have different visions for the future? You wanted a permanent team member. They wanted to work on one project and leave. Or vice versa. These problems are pretty easily avoided by having a “getting to know you” chat (which is something that you should be doing anyways). During that chat, clearly state what you want out of the arrangement and what you envision it looking like. Then ask them what they envision working together looking like, and what they want out of the arrangement.
• Were there communication issues? In relationships of any kind, communication issues are the number one disaster-causing factor. Start asking yourself – am I assuming anything here? Am I hearing ‘tude when there’s no ‘tude? When all else fails, assume that people are being polite and trying their best until proven otherwise. (Which is a good rule of thumb in general, actually. Until they do something like telling you to go die in a fire. Then it’s probably safe to assume they’re just an asshole.)

Here’s the thing: even if you’ve had a bad experience, you’ve gotta get back on the horse if you want to find true love (and/or grow your business). Fun? Not necessarily – at least, not at first. You’ll probably be nervous for a little while. You might have some trust issues to work on. But eventually, you’ll get over it and be able to see the joys that come with having someone else do work that you don’t need or want to do (just like, even after the worst date ever, eventually you’ll have fun on a date again – if you allow yourself to do so!).

PS: Here’s some comfort for you – no matter how bad of a date you’ve been on, this date was worse. (If you have a worse date story than that, I have to hear it.)

Overview:

• Well designed – more of a minimalist vibe than I’m usually down with, but it’s at least apparent that they gave design/color schemes some thought
• Looove the calendar functionality!
• Love that everything is so easy to use and that there’s multiple ways to do anything.
• I really like the added functionality of being able to create task lists under a certain list. Makes it easier to map out complicated projects.

I don’t really have any complaints with Flow. It does cost $10/month after the free trial is up, but in my opinion, it’s worth it.

However, like I said in the video, I won’t be using it because I’d like to keep the option open to bring people in to my project management tool – and at $10/user/month (if I’m understanding their pricing structure right), Flow could get pricey quick. After I did a bit more poking around, it appears that there’s a discount of 30% for teams of three or more – for three people the price would be $20/month. And when the team gets up to 10 people the discount goes up to 50% (a team of ten people would be $50/month). So the price isn’t quite as disproportionately high as it appears on first glance.

I’m testing out another option right now that’s built with teams in mind and has a few things that I really like (CRM functionality and a color-coded calendar view, namely), and I’m really liking it, but if I change my mind Flow would definitely be the tool I’d switch to.

If you’re a solopreneur and want something streamlined, simple, & easy to use, with mobile & drag/drop functionality and a calendar view, I would wholeheartedly recommend Flow.

What do you think? Used Flow before? Anything else you’d like me to review? 

In my quest for the perfect productivity tool, I have found a lot of other things – things that might not be the best for me, but have unique features (which stand out in a sea of lookalikes, believe you me), and would actually be fairly difficult to do a video review of, for one of any reasons:

• the unique features make it difficult to give a quick overview of
• the system is well-designed, but complex enough that I would have to spend 2-3 hours inputting enough data/tasks to actually give a thorough review
• the tool is designed for a very specific target market, of which I am not one (web designers, for example)

SO. I bring you this roundup instead – a quick’n’dirty overview of seven awesome tools & what makes them different. Let’s go!

Apollo

What makes it different: Apollo integrates task and project management with time-tracking and CRM (customer relations management). You can use it not only to track your project progress, but keep track of all of your clients, when you last talked to them or interacted with them, and how long you’re spending on your tasks. Ability to categorize and create task lists within a project is handy, also has a calendar view with tasks & events/appointments. (I almost ended up using Apollo, but I need something a bit more intense as far as time-tracking goes, so I didn’t.) 

Price: Free trial, $14/month for lowest priced plan

Mobile: No apps yet, but the mobile site worked flawlessly on my iPhone.

Skinnyboard

What makes it different: Skinnyboard has a very visual interface – it’s also designed for coding teams. It looks like there’s a lot of different ways to look at the data. (I signed up for a free trial but as I am not and never have been a coder, most of the language is pretty Greek to me.)

Price: Free trial, $15/month after that

Mobile: No

Kanbanpad

What makes it different: It has an ADORABLE mascot and is well designed. Plus, it has a very visual interface – it looks similar to Trello but with color coding and  a slightly better interface. I haven’t fully tested this out yet, having only recently discovered it due to a tip from Andy, but I’m planning on playing around with it more.

Price: Free!

Mobile: Yes (main page says it works on iPhone/iPad, not sure if it’s a mobile version of the site or an actual app)

Solo

What makes it different: Solo is gorgeous. It’s also explicitly designed for teams-of-one, which is something I’ve never seen before. It appears to be mostly geared towards freelancers who work on a per-project basis (seems most users are designers), but I haven’t fully explored it yet. (Although, they’re releasing a team version, Studio, at some as-yet-undetermined point in 2012.)

Price: Free trial, $12/month after that

Mobile: Not yet, Android & iPhone apps in the works

FacileThings

What makes it different: FacileThings is GTD for the lazy person. They’ve gone & created a tool that walks you through, step by step, the entire GTD system and tells you what to do the entire way. Bonus: well designed.

Price: Try for free until June 1st, after that €9/month (approx. $11.50 USD)

Mobile: iPhone, don’t see mention of Android

ProjectManager

What makes it different: ProjectManager is an online tool that allows you to manage multiple projects in real time. You will never be out of touch because your project progress will be available online, every minute of the day. You can:

•  Manage your team
• Track projects online
• Report on progress, across the web
• Get an up to date view 24hrs/day
• Allow suppliers and customers to login
• Report on projects

Also, it’s easy to use – each new project loads in a new tab just like your browser, so you can navigate between projects easily.

Price: Free 30 day trial, starts at $25/user/month (for 1-5 users), with discounts after that for more users

Mobile: Free iPhone and iPad apps

Taskk

What makes it different: Taskk is very new, and I actually just got an invite to beta this weekend, so I had to go in and edit this post quicklike. It’s unique in that you input your tasks across your various projects, their order of importance, and estimated time each task will take. Then you tell it how many working hours you’ll have across the next few weeks and it automatically schedules your tasks out, based on your task priorities and time lengths. Pretty nifty!

Price: Free (still in beta, no idea if they’ll be charging later)

Mobile: I haven’t tested it out on my iPhone, but they designed the site to look good and function on mobile devices as well as computers.

And there you have it ladies & gentlemen! Seven standout project management apps. Is there anything you’d add to the list? Let me know, because I might do a second list if I come up with enough!

So, y’all may have heard of a lil thing called B-School, which is currently in a pretty large launch process. Right now, I have too much up in the air financially and personally to feel like I could commit to an expense that large, even though I’d love to & I’ve heard rave reviews…so when Marie announced a scholarship, I was on that like white on rice.

At the time of writing this I have no idea if I’ve won the scholarship or not (there were a lot of fantastic entries!) but I wanted to share the video anyways for two reasons: I got all riled up about my “why”, which is something I don’t talk about enough, and also, you get cute doggie footage at the end. Win-win.

There’s been a lot said about having a “why” and focusing on that above all else, and so I’m curious – what do you do in your life, and what’s your why for that? Why do you do what you do, whether in a “work” or “career” sense, or a more broad “daily life” sense? If nothing else, getting mine distilled down to less than two minutes was an incredibly good exercise – one I’d recommend to anyone. So pop in the comments and tell me YOUR why. 

Wunderkit is, sadly, still in beta. It’s from the same team that made the previously-reviewed Wunderlist, and the design is – unsurprisingly! – TOTALLY GORGEOUS. Kinda makes me want to lick my computer screen. Anyways, despite being in beta, it’s still very usable depending on what your needs are – watch the video or read the notes to find out more.

I could individually list out the things Wunderkit does well as I usually do, but that would be a pretty long list, honestly. It’s gorgeous, it’s easy to use, it’s easy to add people to projects, it’s fun and easy to collaborate on projects together, the notes tool is awesome. So, since the tool is still in beta, I’ll just throw out what I’d like to see added:

• Ability to see tasks on a calendar and/or timeline, for each individual project and across projects, with drag & drop functionality
• Some kind of color coding would also be pretty awesome

And…that’s it. If Wunderkit added those two things I’m pretty sure it’d be the Mona Lisa of productivity tools. The good news is that since it’s still in beta, we can cross our fingers and hope that those things will still be added! Alas, that means I still need something to use in the meantime (or in case those features aren’t added), so my search continues.

What do you think about Wunderkit? Anything you’d like to see the team add before it’s finished? 

Melissa is a good friend of mine, & she’s pretty much awesome. She definitely brings the rejuvenating creative mojo. In our interview below, we talk about what Melissa considers the three key ingredients for major transformation + mindset shifts, & why!

Don’t forget to check out Melissa & also Time to Glow! (Speaking of glowing, check out my whiteness in that natural light. Oh yeah.)