Book Preview: Phone Control = Kid Control

It is clear that we are now addicted to our phones. Go to any airport and you'll see tons of people locked to their devices as if they are being controlled by their bright little screen.  This is even more true when it comes to children.  The kids of today have been born in an age of social media and information that drives them to be dependent on their smartphones.  This creates a perfect opportunity to use these devices as a parenting tool.  Below are some ways to leverage you kids phone addiction to keep them safe and discipline them:

1. Use the "Family Locator" app - This is a great app to that allows  you to track your kids whereabouts.

2. Control your kids data usage - On most large carriers there are limits of how much data that you use.  This data can often be controlled for each phone.  Threatening to take a kid's ability to use data for all their vine videos, and kik is enough to get most teens to straighten up.

3 .  Use the "Cozi" app  for chores for the kids - Keeping up with home chores can be challenging. By using an app like cozi you can make sure that any and all chores are clearly defined to your kids. They also can update you when they have completed their tasks regardless of where you are.

These tips and more are in my upcoming book : "The Tech Savvy Parent".

Increase Productivity by Going Paperless

Coming this month, from a series of e-books, is "The Paperless Entrepreneur" . If you feel overwhelmed by all the endless paper in your business, I can help you become more efficient and organized. Migrating from a paper pushing business to a digital one is necessary in this fast and competitive market. In this report you'll learn:

- Mobile scanning.
- Selecting the right scanner.
- Cloud storage.
- (OCR) optical character recognition.
- And much more.

With a purchase of the book I provide 1 free month of consultation by email. 

Evernote Power User Volume 10 - The Mighty Day Tag

This is not for those light users of Evernote. This is a simple tip , but implies that that your daily workflow will center around Evernote. This tip is the mighty day tag.  Every note that I create, I create a tag with the current date on it. This provides the following benefits:

• The ability to review any previous days notes for reference.  
• By creating a shortcut for the current date tag, it serves as a dashboard for all other applications that need to access. 
• Notes with reminders are easily accessibleto conquer tasks. 

This , by far , is the most useful feature that I have used in Evernote as I use it all through the day.  By sorting the notes that are jut relevant for the day , you can tackle the important things without cluttering your interface. 

School Tip: Paper Due? Use Voice Dictation

Both Apple and Android have worked hard to make voice dictation very powerful.  It is a shame that most people fail to harnest this power by using it to write long documents. If you are one of those people that type faster then you speak, then this tip is not for you.  However, there are a large part of the population that are still using their index fingers to type .  Here is a way to get that paper done in record speed:

1. Install Google docs on your phone or tablet.

2. Open your phones keyboard.

3. Click on voice button and speak at a normal pace and include punctuation.  

4. Go to the completed paper on your computer and correct any mistakes. 

With a little practice this works very well with few error. 

Evernote Power User Volume 9 - Email Management in Evernote

Email has as a technology has been with us for many years. I have always had a problem with managing my email so that the things that come in, I act on in a effective manner.  I have found that I have had real problems the with just processing my emails so that I don't forget to respond.  Why not use the power of Evernote to manage those important emails?  Here are a few ways to do that:

1. The add button in Outlook will allow you to add emails and attachments to Evernote

2 . Forward email from any email client using the Evernote email address in your account information. 

3.  Use the IFTTT (If This Then That) service which as a recipe to allow you to star and email 

Note: When using IFTTT the attachments are added to the Evernote as a link and not a attached file. 

Universal Copy & Paste with Push Bullet

Pushbullet is one of those pieces of software that plays many different roles.  In a lot of cases, this would mean that it won't do any of those things well, this is not the case with PushBullet.  They have managed to cram a lot of functionality into this software.  The most valuable I have found has come recently with Universal Copy & Paste.  This is just what it sounds like. Copy something on your computer and the text automatically pushes to your linked device.  Take a look at the video below for more information: 

Evernote Power User Volume 8 Using Sunrise Calendar with Evernote

One limitation that I have found with Evernote reminders is the lack of a way to keep track of completed tasks. When you complete a reminder in Evernote it is only crossed out and no record is kept. I find a benefit in being able to know how well I am doing complete tasks during the day. Sunrise calendar provides a work around, as you can see the completed task in the prior days.

Get Sunrise Calendar here

Evernote Power User Volume 5 - Note Template (Windows App)

I use Evernote to drive my entire day.  When I am at work, I am feeding Evernote information constantly and referencing old notes to stay productive.  I find that I add the same type of information consistently, so I found using templates as a fast way to create notes.  Doing it this way allows for clean and consistent notes. To do this, follow the steps below:

1. Create a note that has elements that you need in your daily notes such as sections, grids, and tasks.

2. Export the note to a .enex file to the desktop. 

3. With the Evernote app pined to the task bar, drag the .enex file to the pinned shortcut.  This will allow you to the right-click on the Evernote app and create a note with the pinned template. 

Evernote Power User - Volume 4 - The "Take Action" Tab

When you become a heavy user of Evernote, you will notice that your notes quickly pile up. The challenge with creating notes on the go is managing the use of the notes.  There are notes that need to be archived for later use such as a receipt.  There are others , like a business idea, that need to acted on in a timely manner.  There is an easy solution for differentiating this, and this is the "Take Action" tag.  The strategy works as follows: 

- Create a tag called "Take Action".

- Create a shortcut for the "Take Action" tag.

- Create a note.

- If the not is something that you will need to take action on soon, place the tag "Take Action" on it.

- Schedule a time , daily , to go through the items in the "Take Action"

- Remove the tag once action has been taken. 

Using a Smartwatch to Increase Productivity

There is a lot of talk about the new wearable technology that is out there.  If you listen to most of the reviews you hear about how smart watches are useless.  They talk about how the price is way too high and the technology is in its infancy.   I have a different opinion.  I think that there are clear ways to make the a smartwatch fit into your life that warrants the price: 

1. Using a voice note - As busy as we are we are only as good as our last good idea.  These ideas usually don't come when you are on the computer ready to jot them down. They usually come in the middle of traffic while your mind wonders.  Hitting the voice memo button on your smart watch and capturing those ideas are a great way to not let great ideas fade.  

2. Using it as a back up alarm - There is going to come a time when your trusted smartphone is going to crash while you sleep and will not ring the alarm in the morning. This is not going to happen on a Saturday, when you have no real obligations.  This is going to happen when you have that important interview at your dream job.  Using your smartwatch you can ensure that you will be up and ready at those crucial moments. 

3. Save phone battery life -  Despite the fact that the smartwatches use battery life of your smartphone by connecting through bluetooth, it saves you a considerable amount of battery life. The savings come mostly with the fact that you are not checking the phone constantly when a notification comes in.  I find that I keep my phone i n my pocket more often because I can check my watch for my notification and only pull out my phone for the important things. 

My point? Buy a smartwatch! 

Put Your Phone Away! - Android Notifications on Your Desktop

When going into the office, I often find that people's biggest distracting is their phone. I see people constantly checking their smartphone as they look as they work.  This is often because they are looking and responding to notifications that makes their phone buzz on their desk.  Since not all notifications are created equal, people will often waste time, taking their attention away from what they're working on to look at a Candy Crush Saga request. These minutes that we lose every time this type of thing happens can be a real drain to our overall productivity. 

The answer to this dilemma is an application called PushBullet.  PushBullet's main functionality is to allow you to move links from one device to another.  It has a secondary feature where it will allow you get your notifications that come to your show up on your computer . 

This can be done by simply installing the application on your android device and and also on your Chrome browser.  When the notification comes in , it displays on your computer that also allows you to dismiss the notification from your android device. 

Now useless notifications can be recognized while staying locked into your task at hand. 

Evernote Power User - Volume 3 - Read Later

With all the information that we are  thrown everyday,  we need a way to keep the information stored for easy access when you need to read it later.  A well known solution for this is an application called Read it Later , which allows you to send links to the application and read it later when your time allows.  As a Evernote Power User , I try to find ways to move task like this into the Evernote world so that I may reduce the amount of applications I am accessing daily. 

The "_Read Later" Notebook 

What I do is create a note book called "_Read Later" and all links that I can't get to at the moment into that Notebook.  Placing the underscore (_) before the notebook name, places the notebook in the top of your notebook list.    

The Process 

All during the day add items into your "_Read Later" Notebook.  Make sure to tag the note based on it's relevance.  This could be articles you find on the web, mail that you have taken a picture of with your smartphone, or videos that you want to watch from youtube. Block out a time during the day to go over all of the items in the notebook. Once you have read the item, place it in it's own notebook and clean out the _Read Later folder for the next day.  

Doing this will help reduce information overload. 

Cure Children of Convenient Alzheimer's with Evolve SMS

For those that have children, like myself, it is a well known fact that children have Convenient Alzheimer's.  I have no medical evidence of this, but when I tell my kids that something needs to be done, and it is not in the next five minutes, this condition creeps up and over takes them.  I have found a cure and it's scheduled text messages through Evolve SMS. Evolve SMS is a great SMS replacement with some nice features.  I only use it for scheduling SMS messages. The way I use it is whenever I have a task that will be in the next few days for my kids I set up three scheduled texts:

1.  First text asking them to do the task (ex. "wash the car").

2. Second text asking if they started (ex. "how's that car wash going?").

3. Third a text asking that they confirm (ex. "let me know when you get that done").

With a little help we can rid our children of this horrible disease.

Resource:

EvolveSMS

Evernote Power User - Volume 1 - Evernote Reminders

I am a productive tool junkie.  I have the need to find different applications, books , and videos on making me more productive and efficient. In this journey, I have tried to find the best note application to dump all the crazy ideas that I have on the daily . There are no applications that came even close to Evernote. There is way to much in Evernote to cover in one blog , so I am going to address specific parts of the application that I will explain in small snacked sized portions. Your Welcome. 

Evernote reminders is a great place to start with this series. Evernote reminders are simply that, they are a setting in Evernote that allows you to make a note a reminder. The reason that this is powerful is the mobile component.  Since the Evernote reminder syncs with any and all platforms you place it on, you will get your reminders where ever you are. Another benefit is that you can create a widget that will show just the notes with reminders. This makes it easy to make Evernote your task management program as well as notes. 

Simply making a note of what you need to do is not enough to stay productive. Evernote reminders are a great way to make your notes actionable.  

Resource:

Evernote.com 

School is a Forever Thing, Lynda.com

Being in the technology field, I have found that there is no way to get away from continuous learning.  The minute that I stop building on my skills, is the minute that I become less competitive and reduce my opportunities to get money.  I stumbled upon Lynda.com which is an online the site where there are quality instruction videos from everything from video editing to program coding. 

There are a number of Youtube channels that provide some great video tutorials on the same subjects.  The difference that I see is that Lynda.com has a layout of the videos that are the much easier to navigate through.  This makes it easy to get to a specific topic.
 

The site gives me confidence that I can keep up with the trends of my industry.  Take a  look at Lynda.com and keep your skills sharp.

Over 30 School Tools

For thirty somethings that are in school trying to add to their resume and move to higher income brackets going for more schooling is the answer for many.  Making the school experience successful  for an adult with obligations such as work, house duties, a spouce and children is a hard thing to do.  As I finally received my degree at 35 , I took a hard look at what it took now, versus what it would take someone fresh out of high school.  There is a significant difference, so the approach that adding school to a busy adult's life, needs to be handled in a very special way.  I will detail some of the tools that I used to manage my school life in a way that I could still take care of some of my home duties.

The first would be a Phablet (phone /tablet) .  Not an iPhone not a regular smartphone. When the girls need to get to dance , the boy needs to get to football practice and the wife's van needs servicing, time is a premium. The key to this is to use google docs so that you do your homework where ever you are. Having a   large phone can  a parent it is hard to nail down open windows of time during the week.  The key is to be able to work on tasks in those stolen moments.  Some examples of stolen moments:

- Waiting for kids to get out of extra coricular activities like dance or sports.
- Waiting in the grocery checkout line.
- In the bathroom (yep). 
- Pretty much any time that you would normally play candy crush saga, replace it with homework.

The next thing that I would suggest is to buy a tablet.  A tablet can be very useful as you can use it for reading most text books and access your schools website.  The benefit I have found over a laptop is the speed of access.  Since accessing your tablet is no different than waking your phone from sleep,  you can get to work quickly.

Finally I would purchase evernote premium.  Evernote is a note program that becomes your hub for all of our information.  I am going to go more into this in later blogs, but the true benefit of the software is the flexibility of it. This makes managing the information overload that comes with being in your 30s and in school more manageable. 

 
 

Updated: SPIGEN SGP Slim Armor view Case for Samsung Galaxy S4 Review

There is no worse feeling for one that is a hustler/go-getter than to have their money line drop to the floor and shatter into a million pieces. As your phone slips out of your hand in slow motion , you think of all of he calls that you are going to miss.  That job that you interviewed for , that new client who's calling you about that $10,000 deal , that new vendor that is going to charge you 20% less than your current one. Yes, they are all calling today! "The phone looks so  pretty without a case on it" , you recall as your Galaxy S 4 makes a crashing sound that makes the people around you say "Ouch "!

This is why people that are productive NEED to have good quality cases. There is a balancing act that you have to engage in.  It looks ridiculous for you to pull a jumbo rubberized case out in a business meeting.  However, with all the things you must do, you have to secure your phone in anticipation of you inevitably dropping it . 

The SPIGEN SGP Slim Armor view Case for Samsung Galaxy S4 strikes that balance between the a rugged case like the Otter Box but is sleek and professional looking.

Pick this up up here . 

Update: Pick up the black version here

Use Cloudii to Upload Files to the Cloud

As great as the Galaxy Note is there had always been a small issue that I have had with them.   The lack of ability to back up S Note.  The S Note software becomes much more valuable when you feel safe that the data that you place in it will not be lost.  Cloudii is a cloud service that allows you access to your many cloud storage services such as Google Drive, Box.net, and DropBox.

The way that Cloudii is different is that it allows you to back up files from your phone from any folder to any folder in the cloud.  The software also allows you to back up automatically.  This is great for the S Note users as you now can rest assured that you important notes are recoverable. 

Resources:

Link to Cloudii in the Play Store 

Revisiting DOIT.IM .. Getting Things Done has a Champion!

I made a post some time ago on the task management software DOIT.IM. The software is great and has made changes recently that makes it essential to my daily workflow. This program is the first app I open while brushing my teeth and second to only my alarm app when I am going to bed.

Some of the features that make this a must to anyone that wants to get things done are:

Sub-tasks, which are essential for doing projects.


Many task management software packages are horrible at this (i'm talking to you Astrid!).  DoIt.IM does it the right way by actually allowing you to create a project.  Within those projects you can have all the tasks that pertain to that project.

Goals, "Where there is no vision, the people perish " Prov 29:18

This is the heart of the program for me, and where I start my day.  Above projects is the Goal section , within these goals can be many projects.  This allows you to get an overall view of the things that are important to you.  Approaching tasks this way ensures that you never feel unaccomplished at the end of the day.

Review, check how productive you were ..or were not...

There is a benefit in giving yourself a grade.  DoIt.IM has a beta feature where you can grade you performance on a daily and weekly basis. This feature gives you a way to make sure you are improving as the days go buy.

This program is what thehustlerstech.com is all about. The android counterpart works exactly the same; and at $20 a year the increase in productivity you will enjoy is well worth the price. 

Resources: 

DoIT.IM web site

DoIT.IM Android Application

$59 for a tablet! Business People Rejoice!

It's time for the business community to rejoice.  Tablets have now reach the point of an easy expense.  A California company is now offering a reasonably powered tablet for only $59.  I will open your eyes by giving you an example of what the smart entrepreneur can do:

You have a small restaurant with 10 servers.  Pay $600 for each of them to have a tablet and place videos of each item on the menu on the tablet.  You cannot imagine the impression to a customer that you will be able to give off  when you show a sizzling steak on the 7 inch screen of this tablet.

This is just one idea, let your imagination tell you how you may incorporate them into your business.

Resources:

MatrixOne