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bettsfic · 5 years

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hey betts! can you give us any insight into your new drafting process (the one you mentioned on Twitter?) those results have me green with envy

sure! this is going to be a fairly quick run-down because i have to start planning my classes here soon.

(anon is referring to this tweet)

required reading

shitty first drafts by anne lamott, which is where i modified my process from

on fear by mary ruefle, which talks about procedure and i may have taken the wrong meaning from the essay but basically, my entire process is about mitigating the fear innate in writers’ block by having a procedure in place to counteract it

tools

google docs (or some other word processor)

google calendar (or some other calendar app; i wrote about my scheduling process here)

toggl (or some other timekeeping app)

airtable (i’ve also used trello, but i like airtable better. ps big thanks to @electricalice for introducing me to it! it’s a lifesaver)

pre-writing

so first you need an idea. whenever i have an idea, even if there’s 0 chance i’ll end up writing it, i add it to my airtable, plus any notes or details i come up with. i also copy and paste any text convos i have about the fic, like if i headcanon something with a friend. (i used trello for this until recently; it works just fine and is a bit easier to use. airtable also has a kanban function though, along with other formats, so it’s a bit more flexible)

airtable is a project management spreadsheet software. i’m sure there are others out there, but i started fiddling with this one and haven’t looked back. it takes a little while to figure out, and you might have to google some things you want it to do that aren’t terribly intuitive.

my fanfic table, filtered by ideas, looks like this:

(you may have to expand to look at it, also note that the pretty colors are a Pro feature of the app and i’m still on my trial)

the idea here is to have space to store my ideas. let’s say i hang out with a friend and we started talking about fic, and i bring up i have an idea for a endgame coda but i’m not really sure where to take it, so we start headcanoning back and forth, and now i have a few scene ideas. i made my endgame coda card already right after i saw the movie, so all i have to do is open the app and jot down the main points of my headcanoning. now when i go home and start working on it, i can easily pull up our brainstorming session.

narrative outlining

i have never been an outliner or a planner. i’ve always been a pantser. i have a premise and i run with it, and that worked for me for a long time. pantsing has a lot of benefits: your story always surprises you! you can get really immersed! it’s certainly the more whimsical writing process.

but what i found was that i would often write myself into a corner, or lose steam once i realized what should have been a 10k fic was actually going to be 80k and i didn’t like the story enough to sit with it for 80k. i also spent a long time thinking about future scenes and writing them down but losing them later, or forgetting about them.

so i started doing narrative outlines, which are just me going “and then THIS happens” repeatedly and sometimes inputting “and something causes this other thing” until eventually i have the whole story written out. the goal of the narrative outline is pacing. all you have to do is get the major beats down. it doesn’t have to be good. no one is going to see it (unless you want them to).

ideally my paragraphs will be all around the same size. those are going to become my chapters. if a paragraph is significantly shorter than another, it’s likely that i don’t have that beat fleshed out yet. i call chapters “beats” because to me, each one should have its own arc, and end at a high or low point in the story.

in my fanfic airtable, i have a table for chapters. all chapters of all multi-chap wips go here, and i can filter out ones that are complete later.

the beauty of the chapters table is that it can connect to your ideas/wip table and vice versa so everything is kept together. i had 7 paragraphs in my narrative outline so i made 7 rows.

notice i also gave myself a due date. i don’t really like due dates, but i’m trying them on for now and seeing how it goes.

i copy and paste the chapter paragraph as i go into the “summary” field. then, as scene or line ideas come to me, i toss them in the “scenes/lines” field. I was in a car for 8 hours and coming up with scenes all over the place, and i needed somewhere to put them. if i didn’t know where they went, i put them in my idea table instead, and filed them later.

you’re still idea-ing, you’re still outlining, but now it’s time to write.

gauge

i make a folder for the fic and open a doc and label it ch1. then i copy and paste the narrative outline paragraph into the doc and separate it out by scene with an asterisk between each one.

here’s where the timesheet and calendar come in. i have a reminder on my calendar to schedule the following day, and on that schedule i put my writing time. when it’s time to write, i start the toggl clock. at the end of each week, i put in my time in my personal timesheet.

the first chapter or 10% of anything i’m writing tends to take longer than the rest, because i need to get into the story, and choose the voice and tense and tone and things like that. so i take however long i take to make what i call a gauge. in knitting, a gauge is the thing that determines the size of the piece. if you’re knitting a sweater, you knit a little square to make sure the sweater comes out the size you need it to be.

so i write the gauge and it takes however long it takes. sometimes i rewrite it a few times, test out POVs and tenses and description and whatever else. what i like best, what seems the most sustainable, is what i choose. i wrote 3 chapters of a novel in present tense and a childish tone before i decided it needed to be first person reflective and i rewrote the whole thing.

don’t get frustrated with yourself if your gauge doesn’t work. that’s what the gauge is for. you’ll know you’ve chosen the right voice if, by the end of your gauge, you’re really eager to keep writing.

down draft & punch list

so now you’ve got a pretty gauge to follow, and the rest is going to be an absolute mess. the down draft is exactly what it sounds like – you get the idea down. i personally believe you need to tell the story to yourself a few times in order to get good at telling the story, or to know what the story is. you’ve told yourself the story once in outline form, and now you’re just breaking out the scenes a little bit more.

the key to the down draft is not to self-edit. i’m not talking about going back and tweaking typos and shit, that’s fine, whatever. i mean doubting yourself structurally. like, oh shit, you forgot to mention that they took off their clothes and now they’re naked.

here’s where the punch list comes in, which is yet another table. (i’ve also used google tasks for this, because it pops up in a side window. either works!) a punch list is a to do list. instead of fixing things, you put the thing on your punch list and save it for the next draft. a down draft is all about speed and figuring out where all the pieces go. revising during the down draft only slows you down.

the punch list is my solution to the contrived advice “you can fix it later!” to which i always say, “BUT I WON’T REMEMBER TO FIX IT LATER I HAVE TO FIX IT NOW.” as soon as you think of something to fix, put it on the table. it may seem like it’s faster to fix things as you go. it is not. i promise.

this is all my punch list notes for all fics, which i then connect to my other tables/filter as needed. put everything in your punch list. it’s better to make a punch list item that you don’t end up implementing than forget an important revision note. if you end up putting the project down for a while, you’ll want to know what you’d intended.

up draft

in the up draft, you clean up the down draft. here, i take each document in a new window, put it on the right half of the screen, and open a new document to put on the left.

then i rewrite the whole fucking thing. i pull up my punch list and fix all the things as i go, to the best of my ability. here’s where the writing gets pretty and fleshed out. but still, it doesn’t need to be perfect. you have more revisions to go. it’s important to remember during this entire process that everything can be changed. nothing is permanent. you’re not writing in stone. there’s no cost to words or documents, so you can revise as much as you want.

it’s also worth noting that the longer your project, the more sectioned out your story will be. sometimes you’ll have a chapter on a down draft and another chapter on an up draft. sometimes you might down draft out of order just to make sure you get your ideas down when they occur. whatever works for you. the idea is that you’re constantly building spaces in which to put your stuff that can be easily found and implemented. the creative process is messy, so you need to make clean spaces to put the mess in.

while you’re up-drafting, you’re still idea-ing and outlining and down-drafting and punch-listing. maybe you don’t have the answer to a problem yet, but you might later. decision fatigue in the creative process is real. this process is designed to mitigate decision fatigue. there are only ever so many decisions to make at once when you expand out your process like this one.

and sometimes, sadly, the solution to a problem never happen. that’s okay. what you write might be flawed. in fact it should be flawed. flaws are what make things beautiful. all you can do is the best you can do, and if it’s not good enough for your tastes, you can learn from your mistakes and try again.

beta

sometimes i have a beta and sometimes i don’t, depending on how confident i am about the work. when i have a beta, this is the stage i send them my stuff. sometimes i tell them specific things i’m looking for, like just line edits, or cheerleading, or whatever else. sometimes i have questions about whether or not something is working. i tell them what date i intend to post and when i would like edits to be done by, and if they don’t get around to it, that’s okay. i can just hustle a little harder in the next revision.

dental draft

here’s where, per anne lamott, you check every tooth. i implement my remaining punch list items and beta feedback, fix pacing issues, typos, unclear sentences, etc. sometimes i do the side-by-side window thing for chapters that are particularly messy, and sometimes i just fix the existing doc. by now your story should be looking pretty good, or the best you can get it.

final read-through :) or additional revisions :(

for fic, this is the point where i hit it and hope. i copy and paste the chapter/fic into an ao3 shell with the tags and summary i’ve kept in my airtable, and do a final readthrough. i don’t do it in the original doc because seeing it in a new font and format usually makes me notice things i’d missed before.

for ofic, here’s where you might need more feedback and more revising if your piece isn’t working yet, or if you’ve submitted it a couple dozen places and haven’t had it accepted. while this process is thorough, sometimes pieces still aren’t working for whatever reason. don’t throw anything away, though. keep it, file it, log it in your airtable, and maybe one day while you’re driving an idea will pop into your head and you’ll be able to come back to it.

this was a really really quick run-down of an extremely long and complicated process, but it works for me! i probably wouldn’t have been able to do this even a year ago. it’s taken me a long time to cultivate this kind of discipline, and i’m still a work in progress. so if it’s too much or too structured for you, that’s fine. maybe you can take one or two things for yourself and try them out.

#writing advice #process #Anonymous

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andrewuttaro · 5 years

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New Look Sabres: GM 66 - EDM - Numbers

Perhaps this game represents the Sabres season; at least from a standings point of view this game last night was what being a Sabres fan has felt like this season. Favorable numbers toward the start followed by an ugly decline that turns the math against you. The simplest stat in hockey is goals. In this game last night Buffalo had more of those up until the dying minutes of the second period. It ended 4-3 Edmonton. I went into this game giving some good thought to the Phil Housley criticism. I thought: You know what, this guy is in his first NHL coaching job and in spite of it being his job, you could say he still is wrapping his head around what he’s got. I was feeling very generous having those thoughts and if the game didn’t kill the good will I was trying to foster for Housley then his postgame comments did. He said his team played 55 minutes of great hockey. The other 5 were bad minutes. That would be a nice piece of analysis with a team that consistently plays well and beats the teams they should. This team does not, and that comment is stupid. The numbers that do not represent time are against those comments. Jack Eichel scored two goals in a loss. Linus Ullmark was hung out to dry as his defense let up the greater number of high danger shots. The Oilers outplayed the Sabres in every statistical category except the powerplay and shots on goal. You had me fooled, Phil! I was sitting happy halfway through this game looking at the next four to five games being winnable! Boy, am I fool! The numbers are clear. After having an 83% chance of making the playoffs at the start of December, the Sabres are now nine points out at the start of March having gone 34 games without back to back wins! The 2014-2015 Tank team that was designed to lose and drove me to watch the Rangers most of that season, that team only got as bad as 31 games in that category. This ain’t it, Phil. I don’t know who I want to replace him in any intelligent way but when he’s back behind the bench for the home opener in October I am will not be a happy camper about it. This game was the microcosm of this season and oh so appropriately that microcosm ends in a loss.

The game starts off with an unlucky shorthanded goal against when Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl teamed up for the latter’s 41st goal of the season. Edmonton maybe wasting Connor McDavid and will likely miss the playoffs this season but there are guys tearing it up there in spite of it all. I hate that Buffalo and Edmonton are still comparable in this way because on the very same powerplay Jack Eichel revives the home crowd with a tight net-front goal to draw the score even again at 1. If there is one big positive for the Sabres in this game it was a full display of Jack Eichel’s leadership. The rest of this first period is a vision of what we thought the Sabres would be in 2019 in 2015. Jack Eichel helping Montour get a great chance. Okposo getting a great chance. Sheary knocking at the door. Jeff Skinner was chopping at that net like a lumberjack because he wants to get Rocket Rickard trophy votes. Casey Mittelstadt broke through Mikko Koskinen with a point-blank blast at 13:19 into the first period. The primary assist on that was Scott Wilson who, only now gets his first NHL point of the season having missed the majority of it with a gruesome ankle injury sustained way back in Training Camp. The fun only continued when Jack Eichel made it 3-1 unassisted in a no-look smacker that earned his team a standing applause as they went to the locker room for the first intermission! The likes of Jeff Skinner, Rasmus Ristolainen and Evan Rodrigues all shined bright with beautiful chances in the second period too. While the pushback came in the second that lead remained into the second half of the middle frame and I began to foolishly let myself hope looking at the schedule. Oh what a fool I am.

Less than four minutes left in the second period the whole Sabres defense was caught puck watching when Zack Kassian got a McDavid assist on a one-timer snipe that made Ullmark look confused. It’s now 3-2 Oilers and the floodgates are opened. A puck squirted out of a battle on the wall to Darnell Nurse who wired it home for the equalizer. Credit where credit is due, Jeff Skinner starts taking shots from Ovi spots to try and get the lead back, but the Oiler kept pushing. Give me an intermission, PLEASE! The horn to end the period did not come soon enough and with a mere five seconds left in the second period Adam Larsson takes a shot on net from way out that trickles in past Ullmark. Evidently Kyle Brodziak tipped it in, and I have not seen Ullmark angrier than after that goal. Some folks I heard wanted a challenge for a kicking motion by Brodziak but gee, I just don’t have the energy to litigate shit like that when the Sabres are this bad. Boos came down and Carter Hutton replaced Ullmark in net for the third. A one goal deficit never looked so demoralizing for a team and the Sabres never looked like they were going to come back. Sure, like many times this season its been encouraging to just see the Sabres have legitimate rushes in on net; hell, Brandon Montour is worth the price just for his ability to pass the puck to the offense if nothing else. In spite of Jeff Skinner not getting the puck across the line behind the Edmonton netminder and Jason Pominville blocking his own tap in (?) the threat of a Sabres equalizer just never seemed real. It ended 4-3 Oil.

I legitimately had a moment last night where I sat down to write this reaction and for the first time this season doing that I just couldn’t. My wife and I were having a good night and I just said no for my own mental health. With 16 games left in this season the Sabres need to go 14-2 to legitimately have a chance to make the playoffs. Pardon my French: What the Fuck? I had to talk myself out of buying a Skinner jersey that probably wouldn’t fit me at this time in December we were all so into this team. They were gold at that point, the best team we’d seen since before the Harbor Center was built! Now I would rather watch MLS Review videos and blog about a soccer team that isn’t even playing this calendar year than watch this team take on clubs they should be beating by multiple goals! WHAT THE FUCK! So, let’s turn away from the frustrating team stats for the far less frustrating individual stats. Jeff Skinner sits at 36 goals 9 back of goal leader Alex Ovechkin. He probably doesn’t have the most goals by the end of this season but if he can get north of 40 and push near 50 in these last several games its going to do a lot for how we feel going into next season when he’s inevitable signs. He should get some MVP votes. Jack Eichel sits at 25 goals. He needs to reach 30. I say that because this season has been such an encouraging step forward for him that hitting the 30-goal mark needs to happen as a bookmark if nothing else. Casey Mittelstadt just hit 10 goals and sits at 21 points with his 11 assists. He’s probably not quite the Calder Trophy contender we thought he could be but that’s ok because he’ll be a great C2 real soon. His fellow rookie Rasmus Dahlin on the other hand should get the majority of the Calder Trophy votes in my bias opinion. Dahlin has more points than all but one rookie forward has. The lone guy ahead of him in that category, Elias Petterson, has cooled off a fair bit from the first part of the season in which he was destroying worlds with his goals. What Dahlin has done puts him in an elite company among rookie D-Men in this league already and that’s more special than anything Petterson has done. Rasmus Dahlin for Calder!

I hate pushing hard for individual awards because it feels so dirty against not making the playoffs. Then again, I still feel cheated that Artemi Panarin came in out of nowhere and stole it from Jack Eichel in 2016. Those however are the things I’ll cheer for to avoid the crushing gloom of what a missed opportunity season this has become. That and I eagerly await exit interviews to see how Jason Botterill and Phil Housley envision next season. There is an outside chance that changes Botts’ opinion of Housley prompting a coaching change, but the more likely and interesting outcome is the two of them hammering out a plan of Playoffs or bust. Their comments have grown a little bit conflicting in these late phases of the season in spite of that vote of confidence a couple weeks back. All this and the Amerks will go on a run. How many times have I mentioned that? Not enough, one more time: the Rochester Americans are going to probably win the division and make a deep playoff run. Like, comment and share this blog with your friends. The end of this Sabres season, for how disappointing the lack of a playoff berth will be, will be very interesting in terms of Front Office Palace intrigue. There will be a new Will for the playoffs in 2020 at that point and how this organization fixes to get there will be fun to watch. For now, we eagerly anticipate Jeff boy. Come on, Skin man, sign on the line!

Thanks for reading.

P.S. Columbus is my favorite non-Sabres Eastern Conference team to watch going into these last 15 games. They pushed all the chips in on a run this post-season and its not even for sure they make the playoffs right now.

#buffalo sabres #hockey #blog #nhl

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tiny-personal-university-thing · 6 years

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A Realistic Student's Guide to Surviving Finals

With finals rolling around - I'm sure we are all feeling the pressure. Here are just a few tips I hope will help you all during this stressful time in the semester.

Time Block Method ⏰

Find yourself a template online, here's one (x) or lay it out yourself. Block off times you know you will have time to study (you are home from class with no interruptions). You can get creative with it and use colors if you feel so inclined. This can just help you stay focused ahead of time. I'd say to go ahead and make it about a week or two out. It's similar to a 5 day study plan, but obviously will include all classes, time for meals, breaks, extra curricular activities, work, doctor's appointments, final projects, etc. Specify when you want to get things done.

Now, this technique doesn't work for everyone. Sometimes it doesn't even work for me because my schedule can get really crazy, and I just need to play it by ear. You know yourself best.

Pomodoro Technique 🍅

If time blocking one to two weeks in advance is not your style, you may find luck with the Pomodoro Technique.

You'll want to set a timer - perhaps on your phone (and then put your phone out of sight). Set the timer between 15-20 minutes during which you will work uninterrupted on your assignment/studying. Typically, when the timer goes off you will find that one of two things will occur: 1) you can work a couple more minutes and wrap things up or 2) you REALLY needed a break!

I actually love this method because when I sit down to study, I naturally feel a little drained after 20 minutes - so that's a good time to get up and stretch, send a quick text, check my social media real quick, or watch a short YouTube video. Whatever you need to do to decompress. Your prerogative.

Take It Slow 🐢

One chapter at a time. Don't overwhelm yourself by cramming 15 chapters worth of material in one sitting. Your brain is like an athlete - you don't want to overexert.

Create Your Own Study Guides📑

I always loved creating large study guides, complete with color-coded highlighting and diagrams. It's much easier to re-read notes that are written neatly (or even asthetically pleasing). Additionally, I've found that taking the time to highlight key material breaks up the monotony of taking copious amounts of notes.

Change of Scenery 🌻

If you find yourself restless while working in the same place you normally do - change it up. Go to a coffee shop, your school's library, a friend's place, or somewhere on campus. You might find that your motivation is rejuvenated.

Do The Task You are Dreading the Most F I R S T 🐸

Have a nasty, big research paper to write? Hate one subject in particular, and loathe studying it? Do it first. There’s a saying by Mark Twain, it goes something like “if the first thing you do in the morning is eat a live frog, you can go through the rest of the day knowing the worst is behind you.” Your worst task is the frog

Utilize a Study App. 📲

Personally, I love love love Quizlet. It's portable and easily accessible through your phone, laptop or tablet. So any moment you have some spare time you can pull up tried and true old Quizlet and have a little study sesh. Features included on Quizlet such as the "Match," "Test," and "Spell" functions can prove to be useful in a myriad of different classes.

I also hear Forest is great!

Something similar that I love (because you can get free stuff) is Pocket Points; however, you do need to have your location services on and you will need to be on your campus to obtain points. Again, it just rewards you for staying off of your phone for extended periods of time. I used PocketPoints all the time my freshman year to buy free tanning sessions before the tanning place wised up and realized they were losing a lot of money.

Try Teaching the Material to Another 👩‍🏫👨‍🏫

Your dog. Your mom. Your brother. Your best friend. Your boyfriend (even if he isn't really listening). Your classmate(s). Reiterating the material in your own words helps you retain it better.

If no one is around to listen (or you don't feel like you can bring yourself to make them sit through your tiny lecture) stand in the mirror and pretend like you are giving your own TedTalk over the subject. It works for Sims, doesn't it?

Don't Shy Away From Services Provided by Your Institution 📚

So tutoring centers, writing centers, office hours, peer mentors, etc. These services are typically free to you because you have already paid for them via your tuition. Basically, you won't be paying out of pocket and you might as well get your money's worth! Additionally, perhaps hearing a challenging concept explained to you differently by someone who is not your professor may help you figure it out.

Remember Your Handy Dandy Planner 📒

Planners are life and it is never too late to utilize one, or forge the habit of using one.

I wasn't always a die hard planner gal; however, this semester using my planner religiously has changed my life. You can always go paperless too, perhaps with an Outlook calendar or the calendar on your phone.

Rest 💤

Sleep is C R U C I A L.

Eat 🍴

Three square meals and two snacks. Feed your brain.

Stay Hydrated. 💧

This means water, folks. Man cannot survive on coffee alone.I think Jesus said that.

Don't Neglect Hygiene or Self Care 🛀

Warm showers, long baths (maybe one with bubbles or a bath bombs), a skin care routine, painting your nails, shaving, doing a face mask, washing your hair etc. can all help you decompress when the going gets tough.

Also showering and bathing? Self explanatory.

Take Breaks When You Need To🌙

Again, do not study to the point where you feel like you are about to crack. Let your brain breathe. Let your body breathe. Sit on your balcony for a few minutes. Talk to a friend. De-stress, not distress.

Try Epsom Salt Baths to Relieve Tension 🛁

Epsom salt baths are life changing. Choose your salts based on what you need; they can be both energizing (wake up) and relaxing (so you can fall asleep).

Personally, I like to stay in a hot tub until I break a sweat. While soaking I may pull up a YouTube video to get the ultimate detox effect. With this being said, there may be some of you with health concerns that limit your ability to do something like this. Again, know yourself.

Ask for Help When You Need It ❗

Whether it's regarding material, or you are struggling with depression, anxiety, or stress severe enough to cause you frequent headaches/stomachaches - ask for help. You will probably find dozens of people that will gladly help you however they can- they just had no idea you were struggling.

Take Advantage of Extra Credit Opportunities (aka Become A Point Whore) 🏫

This might give you a little extra cushion if every point matters for you.

Believe In Yourself and Remember That You Got This. ☀️

You have to believe that you are capable of doing this! You are intelligent enough, you are worthy enough, you are strong enough to do this.

If you feel like this semester may not go as well as you anticipated, and you need a 465% on the final to get a C in the class - talk to an advisor. Figure out a plan for the worst case scenario so that you are not left scrambling and freaking out after the semester is over.

Be honest with yourself about where you fell short this semester. How can you improve for next semester?

Remember that mistakes happen. We all fail sometimes. Failure is a part of the path to success, yes, but the only time you really fail is when you stop trying. So don't stop trying.

“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” -H. Ford

More Specific Posts:

Night Before Your Exam Pt. I

Night Before Your Exam Pt. II

Day of Your Exam

If your final is an essay look here or here

Other Simple Study Methods

For Dead Day If You Want To Be Productive Without Studying

Academic Probation to the Dean’s List in One Semester is Totally Possible

To Remind You That You Are Not Alone - My {Formerly} Bad Student Story - Read if you struggle with chronic physical health and/or mental health + school

What are your favorite finals tips to study/stay focused/reduce stress? I encourage you all to comment and share what has worked best for you!

Happy studying, realistic students! Save the semester! 🌻☀️

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vincentyappk · 3 years

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[What's my job? | Hiring]

Ability to identify and hire the right people into an organisation is a crucial factor in building A team.

For the first six (6) months of 2021, I'd conducted approximately 85 interviews, averaging 14.2 (8-15hrs) interviews per month, which I admit, is taking a toll on my already crazy schedule. We had been hiring on various positions and experience, ranging from fresh graduates to senior managers, and YES, we are still hiring.

In Solarvest, we take hiring seriously, and I happened to be (one of the) gate keeper - to validate if the candidate has complementary skills, experience and personalities if he/she landed on the respective role. In addition to attracting the right talent that can fit into our culture and aligned with our vision, we also want to hire the right candidate with individual potential to meet our long term growth plan.

Conducting the interview, is of course, an activity, and by no means measure of output (successful hiring). Throughout the past six (6) months, we encountered: -

candidates that were well prepared vs candidates that don't bother, obviously the interview process was cut short on the latter

some have the right aptitude, but not attitude

a handful rejected our offer

During one's career, he/she may be well prepared and researched on "How do you prepare for interview". However, as one's career progress, when he/she became the hiring manager, one seldom research or learn on "How do you conduct an interview" in order to find the right talent - which based on my experience, a relatively tough challenges on new hiring managers.

As the saying goes "attitude is more important than aptitude" - while it is relatively easier to validate the right aptitude on the candidate, how does one determine if the candidate has the right attitude in mere one hour of interview session?

My secret sauce? - (1) ask provoking questions, provoking emotions when necessary to find the values and behaviour that reflect the organisation's value and culture. (2) as we practice in Solarvest, conduct multiple interview sessions (by different interviewer) for second/ third opinion.

Hiring is crucial to fuel the organization success and ambition. Thus, if you are new to this, please research well.

Good luck.

p.s. snapshot of my calendar history on this subject.

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beautifulrzilience · 6 years

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And suddenly you know...It's time to start something new and trust the magic of [new] beginnings.

Spiritual Guide Book

Hey everybody! 😘

I hope you’re doing well on this beautiful Sunday! It’s 10:40 a.m here on the East Coast and I’m getting settled in so I can write about this last week, which has been quite the warm and soul nurturing one for me.

For those of you who know me, know that I am a very organized person. I have a big calendar hung up on my wall of my desk, a planner in where I divide up my homework for the week, and then I have my Passion Planner, which serves as a birds-eye view of my goals (both personal and academic) for the week.

Now, what I really love about Passion Planner’s is that not only can you break down your hour by hour schedule, but if you notice (below) on the left hand side there are boxes that say “This Week’s Focus,” “Good Things That Happened,” and a little quote with some kind of challenge or mantra for the week, to incorporate a mindfulness for your mental health wellness. I really appreciate it and have found myself taking up these mental health challenges seriously.

For this week (4/15-4/21), the quote was “Never say ‘no’ to adventures, always say ‘yes,’ otherwise you’ll lead a very dull life” (Ian Fleming) and the challenge was to say ‘yes’ to five new experiences and to reflect on what I learned by the end of the week.

As you all now, Sundays at 11:00 am on the dot, I go see my therapist, Michelle, and this past Sunday was no different. As usual, our session was beautifully profound, enlightening, painful, and eye-opening. There was definitely a lot of crying. The focus was on re-claiming how I define strength, vulnerability, and finding closure for myself to continue on my path towards radical self-care, self-love, and healing.

One huge take away I had was that many times we have this understanding that to be strong is healing, however, Women of Color have time and time again redefined healing as strength. And while I was writing this letter to my former partner, pouring out some of my most painful childhood memories, in the hopes of shedding some understanding of some of the choices I had made in our relationship, I was feeling like I was actually falling deeper in love with him, as opposed to simply writing to find closure in our relationship. I was having a hard time figuring out the fine line between how much to share (for transparency and honesty) and protecting my heart.

But in this session, Michelle helped me have 4 important epiphanies: 1) remind myself that I actually don’t have a problem sharing my personal life, 2) while most people fear sharing intimate details of their personal life because they fear that it will be used against them (which makes the process of healing a little more complicated), I actually fear being vulnerable with people because I am not confident in their ability/care to actually listen and/or empathize with my pain, 3) the times that I have tried to be vulnerable with people, I have felt uncomfortable with people’s responses because they are not used to seeing me in pain, I am the friend who (for the most part) listens and empathizes with my friends’ pain and suffering, so I really live in this box of either I am happy go lucky or broken, but don’t have the people to hold space to hold me in my in between of happy and broken, and finally 4) realize that I can be strong and (rather than state ‘but’) cry; I am strong and I have gone through pain; I am human; and it doesn’t take away from me being a ‘strong Xicana.’

I know. Some deep shit.

Now usually post-my 45 minutes of soul searching and understanding with Michelle, I go home and write my post-therapy notes in my journal to decompress and process everything that I said and felt in Michelle’s office, all the while burning either some sage, cedar and tobacco, or some palo santo.

Interestingly enough, the day before, while I was perusing on Instagram, I had come across this flyer for a writing and wellness workshop for “Woke women and girls of all ages” hosted at Cafe Con Libros (one of my favorite coffee shop/book stores in Brooklyn), curated by a woman named Leah Hart (@her_musing). Whether it was already written in the universe or was coincidental, the theme for this workshop was to explore Personal Truths while tackling the tough question: When did you last belong to yourself? Granted, it was going to take place at 7pm in Brooklyn on April 15th (my therapy days). Knowing that I usually like to sit with myself in my apartment on those days, I was debating on whether or not to buy the $10 ticket to attend.

But for whatever reason, when I got home, wrote up my post-therapy notes, I felt this urge to go. Something about the theme of the workshop and asking myself “When did I last belong to myself” was so relevant to me, especially post my break up with my former partner.

Then I got a text from my homie Beto, “What are you doing?” So I let him know I was heading to Cafe Con Libros, to which he responded, “I’ll meet you there.” So I hopped on the 4 train and within 45 minutes, found myself beating the rain, sitting comfortably perusing through some of the new books that had arrived and were carefully placed on the shelves of CCL.

So, this workshop became my first yes and my first adventure of the week.

1. {Personal Truths} When Did You Last Belong to your Self?, HerMusing

[SIDENOTE: So you may be wondering, why is Beto’s bald ass doing in the picture and in the workshop? He actually had no idea that the workshop was exclusively for WOC, but as his mom always says, “The universe always provides,” and dealing with some of his own hurt and pain of this particular week, maybe without even realizing, he needed a safe space with WOC to work out some of the challenges he was dealing with, guided by the workshop question. I’m glad Leah didn’t boot him out when he joined our circle because I learned how crucial it is for men of color to also have spaces to meditate and heal.]

It was beautiful to sit in a circle with all these Women of Color (of all ages) to talk about our reflections on the question Leah had posed for us to write about during the workshop. Although I found it difficult to write in the journal she provided, I just pushed myself to write. Maybe I wasn’t ready. Maybe I would’ve preferred to have written in my own personal journal. But Leah was so encouraging and patient with us. Reminded us that it is our duty to write our personal truths so that we could share with others and the power that is in the act of writing. It reminded me of Audre Lorde’s quote “Your silence will not protect you” and Zora Neal Hurtson’s “If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.”

One thing I found so interesting during the workshop, was that although there was diversity in age in our group, a lot of the women were in their mid to late 20s, which Beto and I later wondered if that spoke to the kind of healing and soul-searching that people in our age/generation are experiencing as a collective. Serves as a reminder, that you-I-we are never alone. One thing I really appreciated was that Leah, at the beginning of her workshop asked us to thank ourselves for showing up for ourselves, because by showing up to the event, on a NYC rainy day, spoke to our commitment to reclaiming ourselves and our space. I was so grateful for all the stories, words of encouragement, and love that all the women (and Beto) shared with one another in what became more than just a workshop, but a healing circle that was guided by all the ancestors and inner children that folks said they brought with them to the space when Leah had asked us to introduce ourselves.

After getting treated by Beto with some Jamaican Jerk chicken (my favorite) and hanging out at his place, I took the 4 train at midnight back to my home in Harlem. I was having a hard time staying up on the train, so hearing my own inner voice and intuition, and perhaps Leah’s voice, I pulled out my journal, and really began to reflect on the question, when did you last belong to yourself? And I came to the conclusion, that I never really have. And it dawned on me, me being 26 (going on 27 this May! Go Gemini Baby’s!) in the city of New York, is the perfect place for me to be on my journey towards finding radical practices of self-love, self-care, and healing.

2) Decolonizing Memory Studies Graduate Panel, Columbia University

One of the members of my dissertation committee had (months ago) let me know that Columbia University (which turns out is literally a 27 minute walk from my place) was hosting this graduate student panel on Decolonizing Memory Studies. Given that I am interested in this kind of work, I had set my heart to attend the event. However, due to the snow storms in NYC, the event had been postponed a couple of times. Finally, when the day arrived, I had made sure to plan accordingly to attend the event. Funny enough, the world tested me to see if I was really committed to this being one of my 5 adventures for the week. I had originally thought that the event started at 6:30, so I had left the Graduate library at 5:15pm. But when I was looking at the event flyer, I quickly realized that it actually started at 6:00pm. I arrived to 116th St. Harlem at 5:40pm. I was tired, it was cold, and I was hungry. To go or not to go? With the weeks challenge ringing in my head, I started power walking. I was hoping that even though the event was supposed to begin at 6pm, that the introductions would buy me time.

After climbing more than these 100 steps that I did not know I would have to climb to get to Columbia, sweating like a little meatball, I found the building where the event was taking place. I saw this side door with a doorbell. I started ringing it only to find this Latino man coming towards the door. When he opened it, assuming he was Latino, I said “Hola!” and had asked him if this was the entrance to the campus. He said that I actually had to keep walking up towards the gate to the university to get in. I’m sure he could read the dissappointment on my sweaty face and with some compassion, he said he would let me go through the worker’s corridors, but to hurry because he could get in trouble. I was so thankful! Asked him for his name, to which he responded, “Luis.” So with a huge smile, I thanked him and said “La Raza siempre tiene que unirse!”

So with his help, I was able to make the event and as I stepped in the room, filled with all these white and old academics, they were barely about to start the event! Winning! Even though the event wasn’t what I expected, I enjoyed my walk to the campus and was inspired to come back just to enjoy the quiet and peacefulness of the university.

3) Neuyorican Poets Cafe

NEUYORICAN POETS CAFE! I had been itching to come to this famous poet’s cafe but never had anyone I wanted to go with. So I kept putting it in the back of my head, but since I had gotten back into writing poetry, I was itching not only to see other people perform, but I wanted to speak my truths into a mic in this space. So last week I had asked my friend J if he wanted to join me, which he had responded with an eager yes. However, me havin issues with commitment, was proloning on buying the tickets. Not sure why I was being so hesitant! It was actually annoying me. So when Friday rolled up, one of my new homies, Martin had hit me up to see what I was up to. At that moment, I was like, man fuck it, I’m going to this event, and invited him to come through. I didn’t think he would say yes but when he did, I ended up getting ready, hopped on a train to J’s house, and from there we took an Uber to NPC. The tickets had to my horror sold out online, so we made sure to get to the cafe by 9pm. As the line grew, I worried that I would disappoint J because I dropped the ball in getting the tickets and that we wouldn’t be able to get in. But to my wonderful surprise, we were so close to the front, and were able to get in! Man! As we walked in the building, African dance hall, old school hip-hop, the new hip-hop was blaring off the Dj’s set. The place was bumping!! Turns out it was the Grand Slam Finale so it was no ordinary Friday. We got to see some amazing poets and it definitely inspired me and J to come back this upcoming week.

4. Women of Color in Solidarity: Transnational Resistance as Healing, 2nd Annual Conference, April 21st & 22nd, NYC

When I had started opening up to my close friend’s about my breakup, one of my former students then-turned friend, Diana had let me know she was coming to NYC for this Women of Color Conference which was being hosted by WOC for WOC. When I started looking into the event, it had definitely peaked my interest, but I wasn’t completely sold. I wanted to see the itinerary. The ticket was only $7 so I should’ve just bought the ticket, but I kept pushing it back. Until the week of, 4 days before the conference, Diana had forwarded me an e-mail with all the workshops that were being hosted. With titles like, “Altar Building as Storytelling to Reclaim Ancestral Knowledge,” “Regular Degular Feminism: A Hood Feminist,” and “Women of Color in The Academy,” I realized that I needed and wanted to attend this conference! So I immediately scrambled to see how I could get a hold of ticket. Thankfully, I was able to do so and on early Saturday morning, rushed out the door to head to the conference.

However, since I had stayed out late the night prior, attending the Grand Slam Finale of Neuyorican Poets Cafe, I had arrived home at 1:30 am and woke up at 7:45 am. This resulted in me quickly showering, making myself a shake, realizing I had forgot my headphones at J’s house, and not have a meal prepped to take to the conference. Consequently, I was hungry at the conference, and there was no lunch provided by the conference, it was beginning to be hard to stay present during the workshops. Eventually, Diana and some of the other women, and I left the conference to get some food. My body was really shaky and wasn’t feeling too well. After getting some sushi, I hopped on the 6 line to head back home. I made myself a quick bite and took a nap. I thought my night was going to be over. I definitely wanted to get rest for Sunday.

[One of the workshops I attended was how to make yourself an altar. The curator of the workshop was Amanda Everich (@amandapoints), a Brooklyn teacher, and naturist. She encouraged us to pick whatever earth materials we were drawn to and build ourselves an altar. I ended up building one for myself. Mine is the one with the black and red felt. She later encouraged us to make a story out of our collective altars. My group and I noticed that our altars carried the theme of youth and ancestors, life and death, symbolizing the cyciclical nature of life. I decided to take my altar with me and put it in my personal altar at home. Really appreciated getting to sit down and go with the flow of my ancestors.]

5. Hanging with my A Squad Papis: Beto & Nick

[Beto, Matt, Nick and I ended up at one of “Nick’s” bar spots, called La Marcha Cocina, Dominican owned grill & bar. There were a lot of beautiful people, great music. Definitely makes me want to come back again!]

Now on that same Saturday night of the conference, I had had it in my head that I was going to stay in and rest. I didn’t want what had happened to me on Saturday to be the case for Sunday. I didn’t get to work out, didn’t meal prep, felt rushed out the door, which resulted in me feeling off balance. So again, when I finally got home, I made myself a quick shake to appease my growling stomach, and took a two hour nap. Earlier in the day, my homie Nick had invited me to go out with his friend who was visiting from London. I wanted to go because when my girl Tatiana had come, I had invited Nick to come out and he did. I wanted to show that same reciprocity, but when I woke up and saw his messages asking me if I was coming, when I looked at the price of the Uber, it was going to be $40 roundtrip! So I let him know that I was going to stay in. Turns out he had invited Beto out too and when I had sent him that text, Beto and he insisted I go. I let them know that it was too expensive to Uber. This is where my heart kinda melted. “I got a dub on it,” I read in my text message from Beto. “Do you want me to spot ya,” replied Nick. These fools clearly wanted me to come. Now usually, I don’t like taking money from friends let alone asking for it. But since my contract ended with one of my side hustles, I don’t have much cash flow coming in, and NYC is no joke in terms of living expenses! So I said, “Ok fuck it!” So I got ready, got an uber, and headed out to Nick’s. Got to meet his friend who had come from Japan (who was NOT Japanese haha) and we all went to this really cool Dominican food spot/bar. I enjoyed some witty British banter and shit talking and by midnight, took an uber back home.

So what did I learn this week?

As the week progressed, I started noticing I was having a hard time committing to doing the very things that I was interested in! It was so annoying lol. And the more I pushed myself to say yes to adventures, I realized how much fun I was having, and how quickly the week was zooming on by. I think the huge take away for me was that I need to stop second guessing myself and just commit to saying yes to new people, things, and experiences in my life! If not, I am going to be missing out on all this fun and laughter, and personal growth that I have been seeking to have. I am only young and 26 once in NYC, it’s time I take the city by its reigns, and go about with my bad self. By saying yes to these adventures, I was really saying yes to myself.

what i like about her is that she blooms. whether you water her or not. whether you give her light or not. she exists without your existence

-@Counseling4AllSeasons

BTW!

Don’t think I haven’t been keeping up with my fitness challenge! This marks Week 4!

While it hasn't been easy, having constant internal battles of whether I really want to love myself or not and not loosing motivation, here are the results:

4 more weeks to go!

Can't believe I'm at the halfway point of this fitness challenge.

3 notes · View notes

reputationiseverything · 4 years

Text

Best ERP Software

email marketing industry benchmarks

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

Historically, ERP (enterprise resource planning) software was used by large corporations and multinational organizations for managing their entire operation from a single platform.

But now these solutions are more accessible than ever before. In addition to enterprises, lots of SMBs have started to leverage these tools over the past several years.

ERP software essentially combines all of your business tools into a centralized console. It encompasses components like accounting, HR, CRM, supply chain management, and more.

By consolidating your business tools into a single ERP solution, it’s much easier to manage. Plus, ERP software gives you tons of extra value from a big-picture point of view, that you normally wouldn’t see from standalone software.

So which ERP software is the best? Find out below.

The Top 5 Options For ERP Software

Infor

AccountMate

Epicor

IFS

Deltek

How to Choose the Best ERP Software For You

In order to find the right ERP software for your business, you need to understand what to look for as you’re shopping around. All ERP systems are not created equally, and there’s not really a “one-size-fits-all” solution.

Rather than blindingly picking a tool, use these feature sets and considerations to narrow down potential options.

Business Processes and Modules

As previously mentioned, ERP software encompasses various types of business processes. These typically come in the form of modules as you’re customizing an ERP solution.

Some of you might only need a handful of these processes, while other businesses could be looking for a dozen. It really depends on your business size, existing tools, and future goals for resource planning.

Examples of modules and processes to keep an eye out for include HRMs, financial management tools, CRM, SCM, inventory management, purchasing and supplier management, sales and marketing tools, and more.

There are even industry-specific processes for things like manufacturing or engineering. These will include crucial functionalities for product planning, production scheduling, bill of materials, shop floor planning, etc.

Make sure the ERP software you’re evaluating has the capacity to handle your needs with modules for these types of functions.

Reporting, Analytics, and Dashboards

The best ERP software on the market today has advanced reporting capabilities. These go above and beyond basic spreadsheets and PDF downloads. Look for a solution that includes real-time data and smart filters.

Some tools might even have agile reporting and ad hoc reporting, so you can quickly adapt to ever-changing needs without interruptions.

You should be able to manage these complex reports and analytics through a simple dashboard. If you can’t figure out the dashboards, you’ll never get the most out of these reports (which renders them useless).

Dashboards should also display KPIs and let you analyze different data with just a few clicks. For example, you might want to compare qualitative vs. quantitative data based on departments or users within your organization.

Integrations

Your ERP software must seamlessly integrate with your existing tools and software.

From simple file transfers to complete integrations, it’s crucial that these all work together. For example, you should be able to sync your existing CRM with your new ERP software. Or you might want to link an ERP payroll module to an HRMS software that you’re already using.

ERPs that provide flexible integrations can expand the functionality of your existing tools or completely replace them after a smooth file migration.

Custom Capabilities

Customization is crucial when it comes to evaluating ERP software. Otherwise, you won’t get the most of the potential benefits; here’s why.

Each department will have different business workflows. These could potentially have contradictory priorities and goals. For example, marketing teams will focus on spending while accounting teams will be focusing on saving money. Sales teams will be prioritizing a monthly quota, and production departments prioritize daily output. It’s impossible to configure these various workflows into an all-in-one solution.

So your ERP software should have configurable workflows and custom dashboards for each department. This will allow those decision-makers to define specific KPIs and goals based on custom parameters.

Setup and Deployment

It’s no secret that ERP software can be complex. Unlike other business tools, it’s not really a “sign up today and deploy in seconds” type of tool. This is largely due to the custom nature and different modules required to run smoothly.

But with that said, some ERP software providers are definitely easier to set up and deploy than others. If you don’t want to install anything locally, look for a cloud-based ERP solution. You’ll still need a custom solution, but this will be easier overall.

Between cloud-based SaaS solutions and on-premises deployment, you’ll have different options to consider.

Training and Support

Again, ERP software isn’t always easy. You need to find a provider that offers you the resources required to hit the ground running.

In most cases, they will need a proper installation by someone with technical expertise. So if your business doesn’t have a dedicated IT team, make sure you review your SLA.

In many cases, the installation could be charged entirely separately from the ERP license or subscription. Cloud-based ERPs are definitely easier to set up (as mentioned earlier), but it might still require some training.

What happens when you have a question or need some assistance? Will your software vendor be there to help you out?

These are the types of questions you need to ask yourself as you’re evaluating different options.

The Different Types of ERP Software

Before we get into the ERP software reviews, I want to quickly explain the different types of ERP software available on the market today. This will add some clarity as you’re shopping around.

General Purpose ERP Software

Generalist ERPs are flexible enough to fit the needs of various industries. They have robust customization capabilities, easy integrations, and processes that match a wide range of requirements.

The vast majority of ERP software is branded as a general-purpose ERP. This gives software vendors the ability to target as many different organizations and industries as possible.

Vertical-Specific ERP Software

As the name implies, vertical-specific ERPs are targeted for specific industries. Unlike a generalist solution, this type of software is not geared towards the masses.

These types of ERP solutions are popular in niches like manufacturing, construction, or retail. A vertical-specific ERP won’t be nearly as flexible as a general-purpose tool, but they do a great job hitting the specialized industry.

Open-Source ERP Software

Open-source ERP software only makes up a small portion of the overall ERP market. However, it’s important to know that they exist.

An open-source ERP is ideal for tech teams that want the ability to develop and integrate custom apps to an ERP solution. Since ERPs can handle such highly customized functionality and processes, this type of software is the preferred choice for developers.

Small Business ERP Software

As previously stated, there was a time when only large organizations would be using ERP software. But cloud deployment has made ERP software significantly more accessible to small businesses.

Since some ERPs are delivered with custom modules (as opposed to a fully integrated solution), small businesses can choose just two or three modules and omit the others. For example, you could get an ERP software with just functionality for accounting and HRM. Then down the road, you can add-on a module for CRM or inventory.

Small business ERPs are also known as “lightweight ERPs” because of this flexibility.

#1 – Infor Review — The Most Versatile ERP Software

Infor is a cloud-based ERP software with solutions for SMBs and enterprises alike. They have several different ERP products for you to choose from based on your industry and business needs.

With 30+ years of experience in this space, Infor’s robust and flexible technology earns them a high ranking on my list.

The ERP solutions offered by Infor are a popular choice for wholesale distribution companies, manufacturing organizations, and various service industries. Some of the notable highlights of the software include:

Ability to personalize home pages and dashboards

Intuitive role-based user interfaces

Unlimited financial calendars, ledgers, basis reporting, and dimension strings

Embedded analytics directly within different user’ workflows

Production planning and scheduling management

Optimized purchasing with advanced order controls

Ability to ensure maximum margins with integrated pricing modules

While Infor is definitely known for its cloud solutions, they do offer single-instance and on-premises deployment options for some of their software.

Infor also has a wide range of specific software for things like HCM, CRM, PLM, SCM, and more. So if you just have one single need, you can explore those choices as well.

#2 – AccountMate Review — The Best Vertical Specific Solutions

AccountMate is branded as the “world’s most customizable accounting system.” It’s designed to help growing businesses gain a competitive edge with unique ERP software based on specific verticals.

The software is trusted by 125,000+ companies worldwide. In addition to the software, AccountMate provides additional services to help you get the most out of your ERP tools.

AccountMate’s vertical solution catalog is extensive, to say the least. They have 30+ vertical-specific category options available. Their development partners help businesses get industry-specific functionality in addition to the base financial software.

Some of those top categories include:

Billing

Budgeting and forecasting

Business analytics

Business intelligence

CRM applications

Document management

Ecommerce

Food processing

Human resources

Invoice automation

Job costing

Payroll

Route management

Sales analysis

Warehouse management

The list goes on and on. As you can see, these vertical-specific offerings are extremely versatile. AccountMate can ultimately provide you with a comprehensive front office and back-office solution.

Businesses within industries like manufacturing, wholesale distribution, utilities, government, solution providers, ecommerce, and business services all rely on AccountMate for ERP.

For those of you looking for a vertical-specific solution with a core focus on accounting and finance, look no further than AccountMate.

#3 – Epicor Review — Best ERP Software For Manufacturing

Epicor is another industry leader in the ERP software space. They provide cloud and on-premises solutions for businesses in spaces like manufacturing, retail, automotive, lumber and building, and distribution.

With that said, the manufacturing ERP software offered by Epicor is the clear standout.

It’s trusted by a wide range of manufacturers producing products like industrial machinery, lumber and wood, rubber and plastics, high tech electronics, aerospace and defense products, fabricated metals, medical devices, furniture, and more.

Here are some of the top benefits you’ll get with Epicor’s ERP software:

Ability to track, measure, and monitor entire operation from raw materials to final product

Improve efficiencies with real-time visibility into plant and business operations

Streamline your processes to reduce costs and increase profits

Adapt to new strategies, changing customer needs, and new manufacturing methods

Implement lean manufacturing methodologies to eliminate waste

Make smarter decisions and prioritize customer satisfaction

Overall, the software is designed for mid-sized and large businesses in the manufacturing and distribution space. If you fall into these categories, I strongly recommend Epicor for ERP.

#4 – IFS Review — The Best Agile ERP Software

IFS is a bit unique compared to other ERP solutions on the market today. The software isn’t as complicated and rigid as other tools that you’ll come across.

Instead, IFS gives you the ability to adapt in real-time as market landscapes change, and new technology becomes available. This approach helps maximize the agility of your organization.

IFS has pre-configured ERP solutions for areas like supply chain management, human capital management, project management, financials, service industries, and manufacturing.

Within those categories, some of the noteworthy highlights of the ERP software include:

Risk and opportunity management

Digital asset lifecycle journey

Contract management, variation order management, and payment applications

Real-time planning and scheduling optimization

Sales forecasting and demand planning

Multisite and multi-entity supply network visibility and planning

CRM and SRM

Financial accounting, management accounting, project accounting, and strategic accounting

Again, all of these tools and functionality are designed to keep your organization agile as the market changes. You’ll be able to gain a competitive edge and make strategic decisions in real-time using IFS for enterprise resource planning.

#5 – Deltek Review — The Best ERP Software For Small Business

As previously mentioned, ERP software is no longer reserved for global enterprises. There are plenty of great options out there for small businesses that want to leverage these solutions.

Deltek is one of those options for smaller companies, and it’s my top recommendation in this category.

Overall, Deltek is a great option for project-based businesses seeking an ERP solution. They have a wide range of products and modules in categories like:

Information management and collaboration

Business development

Project and portfolio management

Human capital management

They even offer niche-specific solutions like costpoint for government contractors or project lifecycle management for small architecture and engineering firms. These examples showcase the versatility of Deltek.

The cloud-based deployment makes it easy for smaller businesses to implement as well.

Summary

There are dozens of vendors out there offering ERP software. But after extensive research and testing, I can only recommend the five options reviewed above.

Which one is the best? It depends on your situation.

Make sure you follow the methodology I described earlier in this guide to narrow down your options as you’re shopping around. This will make your life much easier and ensure you make the right decision for your business.

Youtobe

0 notes

jjpocketbook · 4 years

Text

Best ERP Software

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

Historically, ERP (enterprise resource planning) software was used by large corporations and multinational organizations for managing their entire operation from a single platform.

But now these solutions are more accessible than ever before. In addition to enterprises, lots of SMBs have started to leverage these tools over the past several years.

ERP software essentially combines all of your business tools into a centralized console. It encompasses components like accounting, HR, CRM, supply chain management, and more.

So which ERP software is the best? Find out below.

The Top 5 Options For ERP Software

Infor

AccountMate

Epicor

IFS

Deltek

How to Choose the Best ERP Software For You

Rather than blindingly picking a tool, use these feature sets and considerations to narrow down potential options.

Business Processes and Modules

As previously mentioned, ERP software encompasses various types of business processes. These typically come in the form of modules as you’re customizing an ERP solution.

Make sure the ERP software you’re evaluating has the capacity to handle your needs with modules for these types of functions.

Reporting, Analytics, and Dashboards

Some tools might even have agile reporting and ad hoc reporting, so you can quickly adapt to ever-changing needs without interruptions.

Integrations

Your ERP software must seamlessly integrate with your existing tools and software.

ERPs that provide flexible integrations can expand the functionality of your existing tools or completely replace them after a smooth file migration.

Custom Capabilities

Customization is crucial when it comes to evaluating ERP software. Otherwise, you won’t get the most of the potential benefits; here’s why.

So your ERP software should have configurable workflows and custom dashboards for each department. This will allow those decision-makers to define specific KPIs and goals based on custom parameters.

Setup and Deployment

Between cloud-based SaaS solutions and on-premises deployment, you’ll have different options to consider.

Training and Support

Again, ERP software isn’t always easy. You need to find a provider that offers you the resources required to hit the ground running.

In most cases, they will need a proper installation by someone with technical expertise. So if your business doesn’t have a dedicated IT team, make sure you review your SLA.

What happens when you have a question or need some assistance? Will your software vendor be there to help you out?

These are the types of questions you need to ask yourself as you’re evaluating different options.

The Different Types of ERP Software

Before we get into the ERP software reviews, I want to quickly explain the different types of ERP software available on the market today. This will add some clarity as you’re shopping around.

General Purpose ERP Software

Generalist ERPs are flexible enough to fit the needs of various industries. They have robust customization capabilities, easy integrations, and processes that match a wide range of requirements.

The vast majority of ERP software is branded as a general-purpose ERP. This gives software vendors the ability to target as many different organizations and industries as possible.

Vertical-Specific ERP Software

As the name implies, vertical-specific ERPs are targeted for specific industries. Unlike a generalist solution, this type of software is not geared towards the masses.

Open-Source ERP Software

Open-source ERP software only makes up a small portion of the overall ERP market. However, it’s important to know that they exist.

Small Business ERP Software

As previously stated, there was a time when only large organizations would be using ERP software. But cloud deployment has made ERP software significantly more accessible to small businesses.

Small business ERPs are also known as “lightweight ERPs” because of this flexibility.

#1 – Infor Review — The Most Versatile ERP Software

Infor is a cloud-based ERP software with solutions for SMBs and enterprises alike. They have several different ERP products for you to choose from based on your industry and business needs.

With 30+ years of experience in this space, Infor’s robust and flexible technology earns them a high ranking on my list.

Ability to personalize home pages and dashboards

Intuitive role-based user interfaces

Unlimited financial calendars, ledgers, basis reporting, and dimension strings

Embedded analytics directly within different user’ workflows

Production planning and scheduling management

Optimized purchasing with advanced order controls

Ability to ensure maximum margins with integrated pricing modules

While Infor is definitely known for its cloud solutions, they do offer single-instance and on-premises deployment options for some of their software.

Infor also has a wide range of specific software for things like HCM, CRM, PLM, SCM, and more. So if you just have one single need, you can explore those choices as well.

#2 – AccountMate Review — The Best Vertical Specific Solutions

The software is trusted by 125,000+ companies worldwide. In addition to the software, AccountMate provides additional services to help you get the most out of your ERP tools.

Some of those top categories include:

Billing

Budgeting and forecasting

Business analytics

Business intelligence

CRM applications

Document management

Ecommerce

Food processing

Human resources

Invoice automation

Job costing

Payroll

Route management

Sales analysis

Warehouse management

The list goes on and on. As you can see, these vertical-specific offerings are extremely versatile. AccountMate can ultimately provide you with a comprehensive front office and back-office solution.

Businesses within industries like manufacturing, wholesale distribution, utilities, government, solution providers, ecommerce, and business services all rely on AccountMate for ERP.

For those of you looking for a vertical-specific solution with a core focus on accounting and finance, look no further than AccountMate.

#3 – Epicor Review — Best ERP Software For Manufacturing

With that said, the manufacturing ERP software offered by Epicor is the clear standout.

Here are some of the top benefits you’ll get with Epicor’s ERP software:

Ability to track, measure, and monitor entire operation from raw materials to final product

Improve efficiencies with real-time visibility into plant and business operations

Streamline your processes to reduce costs and increase profits

Adapt to new strategies, changing customer needs, and new manufacturing methods

Implement lean manufacturing methodologies to eliminate waste

Make smarter decisions and prioritize customer satisfaction

Overall, the software is designed for mid-sized and large businesses in the manufacturing and distribution space. If you fall into these categories, I strongly recommend Epicor for ERP.

#4 – IFS Review — The Best Agile ERP Software

IFS is a bit unique compared to other ERP solutions on the market today. The software isn’t as complicated and rigid as other tools that you’ll come across.

Instead, IFS gives you the ability to adapt in real-time as market landscapes change, and new technology becomes available. This approach helps maximize the agility of your organization.

IFS has pre-configured ERP solutions for areas like supply chain management, human capital management, project management, financials, service industries, and manufacturing.

Within those categories, some of the noteworthy highlights of the ERP software include:

Risk and opportunity management

Digital asset lifecycle journey

Contract management, variation order management, and payment applications

Real-time planning and scheduling optimization

Sales forecasting and demand planning

Multisite and multi-entity supply network visibility and planning

CRM and SRM

Financial accounting, management accounting, project accounting, and strategic accounting

#5 – Deltek Review — The Best ERP Software For Small Business

As previously mentioned, ERP software is no longer reserved for global enterprises. There are plenty of great options out there for small businesses that want to leverage these solutions.

Deltek is one of those options for smaller companies, and it’s my top recommendation in this category.

Overall, Deltek is a great option for project-based businesses seeking an ERP solution. They have a wide range of products and modules in categories like:

Information management and collaboration

Business development

Project and portfolio management

Human capital management

The cloud-based deployment makes it easy for smaller businesses to implement as well.

Summary

There are dozens of vendors out there offering ERP software. But after extensive research and testing, I can only recommend the five options reviewed above.

Which one is the best? It depends on your situation.

The post Best ERP Software appeared first on Neil Patel.

Original content source: https://neilpatel.com/blog/best-erp-software/ via https://neilpatel.com

The original post, Best ERP Software, has been shared from https://imtrainingparadise.wordpress.com/2020/09/25/best-erp-software/ via https://imtrainingparadise.wordpress.com

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autodeskpostproductionsoftwareuh · 4 years

Text

Post Production Editing Timelapse

OpenDrives is the first to admit that expensive all-flash drive technology is not always the best solution for higher resolution, large capacity workflows. There are ways to ensure that a filmâ€™s sound is diligently handled, while working within a budget. This often comes from a transparent discussion at the onset of the project about a directorâ€™s expectations versus the reality of the budget/schedule.

What is pre and post production?

â€œThat's a wrap!â€ When a movie director makes the call, cameras stop rolling, and a film is ready to move into its final phase: postproduction. This the final step in taking a story from script to screen, and the stage when a film comes to life.

A lot has to happen between the time when the director yells â€œcutâ€ and the editors begin their work. Raw video also takes significantly more processing power in order to view, edit, or transcode. With a few exceptions, raw video is almost always much larger than non-raw video. That means more memory cards, more hard drives, and more time spent copying files.

Companies will hire runners who have experience in post, or wish to progress their career in this field. The hours will be long, and the list of task unrelenting, you need to wish to work in some aspect of post to get the most out of the junior roles.

Come see us at #NAB2019. Schedule a demo and when Strawberry knocks your socks off, we can help you out with our show goodie. We are co-exhibiting with #ToolsOnAir in the South Lower Hall SL14813. https://t.co/WSoJb3hJGR pic.twitter.com/mvqvilAIb7

— Projective Technology (@ProjectiveTech) April 1, 2019

The VFX editor will then create a proxy with the same codec thatâ€™s being used for the rest of editorial and drop it back into the sequence to make sure that it works as planned. When a VFX shot is completed and signed off on, the VFX house will render out the finished version of the shot to a high-quality Mezzanine codec or to an uncompressed format and send it back to the editorial team. Animatics â€“ A group of storyboards laid out on a timeline to give a sense of pace and timing. Helpful in lengthier sequences, they allow the editor to work with music or voice-over to help create the flow of the sequence(s) prior to commencing computer animation.

Fortunately, plenty of marketers and production managers have already gone through the steps and learned from their mistakes. That's why we decided to put together a list of 20 video pre-production tips that'll help save you a lot of time, money, and hassle. He is also editor-in-chief of the GatherContent blog, a go-to resource on a range of content strategy topics. Rob is a journalism graduate, ex-BBC audience researcher, and former head of content and project manager at a branding and design agency. Online collaboration tools, like Trello, can help teams track their workflows, possibly using a built-in calendar to give a graphical view of the editorial calendar.

Is editing post production?

In the industry of film, videography, and photography, post production editing, or simply post-production, is the third and final step in creating a film. It follows pre-production and production and refers to the work, usually editing, that needs to be completed after shooting the film.

In addition to using a structure map similarly to how you would use a wall of index cards to track your story, you can also use it as a way to track your editorial progress through your first cut using colored labels.

Joined by our primary VFX supervisor Ben Kadie, we developed a plan to address the impact of VFX on 100-plus shots in our film.

Any number of workspaces can be created and can be assigned to individuals or entire teams.

But you will have the ability to leave time-stamped feedback, which makes it much easier for video professionals to interpret and implement requested changes.

Since they are the final stage of production, they are under huge pressure to make deadlines on time. Therefore, this can be a very stressful job and many may have to work nights or weekends close to deadlines. If you work as a post producer, you may spend significant amounts of time working on the computer in a dark room.

XML is a much more flexible format, and so itâ€™s possible to include much more data in an XML file than in an EDL file, but this actually creates another potential issue. Because XML is so flexible, itâ€™s possible for different tools to create XML files in different ways. An XML exported from one piece of software is not guaranteed to work in another.

mediaCARD Densu X

What are the 8 elements of film?

Post-Production is the stage after production when the filming is wrapped and the editing of the visual and audio materials begins. Post-Production refers to all of the tasks associated with cutting raw footage, assembling that footage, adding music, dubbing, sound effects, just to name a few.

I understand that I will pay an additional $1.00 per month for bank processing fees included in the dues amounts in this application. I can at any project manager time resign from PPA and stop charges being made to my credit card. If PPA is unable to successfully process my monthly payment, my membership will be considered void, and I am required to pay the balance in full to reinstate my membership.

Top 5 Questions About Working in Post-Production

VEGAS Pro is non-linear, so you donâ€™t have to edit your project in sequence from beginning to end. If you decide to work on scenes or sections separately, nested timelines make it simple to work on individual scenes and then bring your entire project together.

When working on your CV check it through (or ask someone else to) to see it reads well and is correctly formatted. Correct spelling and grammar are crucial; you have to stand out from the hundreds of other people applying for the role so silly errors will mean your CV automatically gets disregarded. Post-production companies are always looking for keen new entrants to take on the role of runner. If you look at the larger companies, the turnover of staff can be very high, not because people drop out but because progression can be quick for the right candidate. However, you should know if your dream job is working in production then working in post production isnâ€™t for you.

Purchasers of the book can download Chapter 10:

Time Savers in the Title Tool.Â See page 2 of the book for details.

Going to IBC? Visit us at Hall 3 A.28 and see how Strawberry Skies will dramatically improve how media productions create and share media content! https://t.co/utOdCiSYAw pic.twitter.com/7x8FhVZ9GL

— Projective Technology (@ProjectiveTech) September 5, 2019

As with any project, having a workflow can help you manage resources effectively, invest your time efficiently, and keep different teams and individual contributors on taskâ€”even if youâ€™re working remotely. Managing video production requires input from many different teams, creatives, and contributorsâ€”and that can get messy fast.

ACES aims to solve that problem by creating a single, standardized workflow that can work for everyone who really cares about preserving all of their image data through the entire image pipeline. StudioBinder is a film production software built out of Santa Monica, CA. Our mission is to make the production experience more streamlined, efficient, and pleasant.

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entme · 7 years

Text

ENTP Care and Handling User Guide and Manual

This manual is part of a series brilliantly thought up by @intpboard

Congratulations! You’ve come into possession of a rare and often exhausting ENTP unit! Now that you have your very own ENTP here are a few helpful tips and tricks to maximize the fun on their maelstrom of…. stuff…..

Your ENTP comes with:

Four everyday outfits

One extra snazzy suit for special occasions

One mobile device for research and communication purposes

One laptop for next-level research and communication

One gaming console and accessories

Five complex strategy games

Software

Your ENTP comes preprogrammed with the following traits:

Ne: Your ENTP can generate 45,673 ideas per minute, change subjects at a rate that will make you dizzy, and is always interested in anything and everything. Loves to make comparisons or analogies that make no sense but they will insist it works perfectly.

Ti: Your ENTP unit will want to analyze and understand ALL THE THINGS. If interested, will demand as many details as possible. They may process by arguing to see all sides of a situation or idea. Favorite questions are why? And what do you mean?

Fe: Your ENTP has the uncanny ability to pick up on other’s emotions, and will occasionally push to see just how far they can go socially. Low-key cares about people and their opinions and doesn't really like conflict among friends or loved ones (but good luck getting them to admit it).

Si: As this is their lowest function, your ENTP unit will struggle to keep track of things and lose their keys frequently. Also, makes them prone to buck tradition in favor of doing something novel, but may have strong attachments to certain memories or people.

Getting Started

Place your ENTP in front of an open computer with the internet browser open.

Tell them that they can’t accomplish something.

Show them your favorite meme.

Challenge them to beat you at your favorite strategy game.

If your ENTP unit has not booted up yet, bring 2-3 friends to talk about their nerdy interests or favorite TV shows.

Modes

Eccentric Scientist Mode (default): Your ENTP will get very excited by whatever random idea or talent or skill happens to catch their eye and obsessively research it on the internet for a good 2-3 days. Then they will dedicate their life (and a considerable financial investment) to master this project. Within two weeks it will be added to the clutter of abandoned or “In progress” projects in favor of something new.

Tony Stark (default): Your ENTP will fire up their impressive mental capacities to whirr through countless ideas and possibilities to find the best possible solution for nearly any situation. Be forewarned; just because an idea makes sense to them and they are convinced that it’s amazing, doesn't mean it’s actually foolproof.

Manipulative Bastard: When your ENTP brings their tertiary Fe out to play they can be manipulative little bastards.They are scarily perceptive of what others are feeling and thinking. On the innocent side, they’re sassing you back within hours of meeting you. On the devious side, they know just how to pull your strings to get what they want.

Detached Robot: Activated when your unit is angry, stressed, or sad. If your ENTP unit refuses to “talk about it,” complains bitterly that life always sucks, or removes themselves from society to bury in a project, then things are BAD. Resist the urge to push ENTP to open up about it or fix their problems for them. Chances are your unit has already been overthinking the situation and needs a mental escape. To restore to default mode: keep them company and try to redirect their attention to a favorite project or interest.

Relationships with Other Units

NF: Your ENTP unit will often appreciate the depth and understanding of the NFJ’s and enjoys the random and giggly fun that comes with the NFPs. Caution is advised, however, as NF’s care quite a bit about their feelings and opinions, which your ENTP may find to be boring or muddled.

NT: Relationships with NT types can go one of two ways for your ENTP:. They will either be in mutual delight over how logical and similar the NT’s brain is or your ENTP will reject the NT as useless, arrogant, and not worth tolerating. They can either end up as an awesome power duo or a cold rivalry.

SJ: Your ENTP will most likely view SJs as useful tools to uphold society, but not good for much else. Your unit will tend to be aggravated by their reliance on tradition or repetition but could stand to learn a thing or two about order and stability.

SP: This combination is double trouble. Your ENTP secretly admires the SP mastery of their physical environment and will often attempt feats that are beyond their abilities when around SP types, especially XSTP. Generally, they get along well but don’t leave your unit unsupervised with a group of SPs.

Feeding

Your ENTP will forget to eat if not reminded. When left to their own devices, will often skip meals and then wonder later why they are dizzy, grouchy, or exhausted. Feed regularly to ensure they maintain a balanced diet and peak mental efficiency.

Grooming

Your ENTP will often put effort into picking out outfits and combinations, only to throw on whatever works for that day and cover the rest with charisma. Remind your ENTP to brush their teeth, shower, and exercise, as they often forget to do so for periods of 2-3 days.

Sleeping

Your ENTP generally views sleep as a waste of time and do so only when absolutely necessary. The preferred sleeping pattern is to stay up through the night and catch up by taking naps throughout the day. ENTP will stubbornly insist that this works (it doesn’t). Send them to bed anyway.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do ENTPs like talking with people, even those they aren't particularly fond of? What do they find in that?

Your ENTP’s Tertiary Fe enjoys watching people react to things, especially things the ENTP causes. They derive a certain smug pleasure from watching people react predictably (Ti) to purposely offensive, crazy, or outlandish actions or claims. On a less sinister note, your ENTP most likely views pretty much everyone in the world as a potential friend or resource, so they are more than happy to connect and see what happens.

My ENTP won’t shut up about season 6 of Battleframe Nebula. What do I do?

Your ENTP unit is very excited about their newly discovered interest and likely is one of the most knowledgeable persons in existence on the subject. Ask two or three generic questions about their new interest, such as what do you like about [insert name of new interest]? Or ask them to explain it. Above all, do not panic: within two weeks they will have forgotten about Battleframe Nebula.

My ENTP has decided that organizing or planning things is a waste of time. How do I fix it??

Your ENTP unit has most likely decided that things will work just fine if they go with the flow. Your unit has a preference for keeping their calendar in their head, which is subject to constant change. Point out to your unit that a keeping a written schedule helps them see where they are budgeting their time and helps others know when the ENTP will be available for socializing.

#entp #entp personality #entp manual #mbti #myers briggs #personality #original post

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onlinemarketinghelp · 5 years

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How to Use Google Tasks to Optimize Your Life http://bit.ly/2KyvR9O

Redesigned, revamped, and relaunched last year, Google Tasks is equipped with simple task management features that are so easy to use that you could be the least tech-savvy person around and still use it effortlessly.

If you have been searching for a to-do list that synchronizes with your email and calendar, look no further — Google Tasks is your answer. It has the ability to declutter your life and get you so organized that even Marie Kondo would be proud.

In this guide, we’ll go through everything you need to know about Google Tasks to help you optimize your daily life. From how it works and how to synchronize it with other Google services to keyboard shortcuts and more, we’ll hit them all.

Ready? Let’s dive in!

What Is the Google Tasks Manager?

Officially known as Google Tasks (not to be confused with Google Chrome’s Task Manager), this to-do list by Google was actually first launched way back in 2008. It has, however, spent much of its existence being overshadowed by the tech giant’s many other more popular features.

The fact that there was no direct one-click access to it from the Gmail or Google Calendar desktop interface also meant it was not as often explored as other services.

But this all changed in June 2018.

As part of efforts to enhance the G Suite experience, Google launched a series of changes, including adding Tasks to its core services alongside Drive, Calendar, Hangouts, etc.

How to Use Google Tasks

Simply put, Google Tasks is a task management service ripped down to its basic core. With it, you can:

Add and remove tasks

Add details to tasks

Set due dates and times for tasks (synchronizing with Google Calendar)

Receive tasks notifications

Add emails as tasks (synchronizing with Gmail)

Add subtasks

Mark tasks as complete

Have multiple lists

Have different lists for different accounts

It pretty much offers the most fundamental features of a to-do list in an extremely minimalistic and user-friendly layout and design. You can think of it as a digitized version of the traditional pen-and-paper notebook that you carry around with you, but this is integrated with your email and alarm clock.

As it stands, it is meant for individual use and does not have the more complex project and productivity management capabilities like those offered by Trello, Asana, and other productivity apps.

Aimed at providing users with the ability to make their lives more efficient, it is integrated and synchronized with possibly the two most-used G Suite features: Gmail and Google Calendar.

Where to Find Google Tasks

If you are a regular G Suite user, of the changes Google launched last year, most of your attention would have been on the new Gmail design.

Smart replies, smart email compositions, and the ability to snooze emails are great and exciting new features. But what about beyond your email to other new features such as the brand new Google Tasks?

With its revamp, Google has now made it extremely easy for G Suite users to access Google Tasks. Here’s how.

Google Tasks Desktop

On your desktop, Tasks is already integrated into your Google interface. You may locate it in a side panel on the right from any of the following: Gmail, Google Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

This is a panel that you can choose to hide or show.

Click on the icon to open up your Tasks list(s).

If you are a first-time user, you will see that a default list called “My Tasks” has already been created. You will not be able to delete this list, but you can rename it to whatever you like.

And that is as easy as clicking on the overflow menu (the three vertical dots) on the top right to pull up the options available to modify your list — including renaming it.

Google Tasks App

The app is completely free to download from the Google Play Store and iOS App Store.

Likewise for the app, first-time users will have the same “My Tasks” list already created for them that can be renamed.

Navigating your way around the mobile and desktop versions is pretty much the same. The only difference is that the overflow menu on the mobile app is located on the bottom right instead of the top right.

And just like all other G Suite features, both app and desktop versions are automatically synchronized.

Add Reminders to Google Tasks From Google Calendar

If you have been using Google Calendar reminders and are getting started with Tasks to organize your life, it would certainly help to have your reminders and tasks in one single list for easy viewing.

After all, Google Calendar reminders work just like Tasks, and condensing everything into one view eliminates the need to switch back and forth. Plus, it all falls into Google’s plan for Tasks to be the “one destination to track what you need to do in G Suite.”

You can copy your existing reminders from Google Calendar in two easy steps:

Open the overflow menu

Select the last option on the list: “Copy reminders to Tasks”

This is, however, only a one-time import. So, changes such as edits to reminders or new reminders added to Google Calendar after existing reminders have been copied will not be automatically reflected on Tasks. Any synchronization of Reminders and Tasks from this point on must be done manually by repeating the above steps.

View Tasks on Google Calendar

If you are a planner, you will want to be able to view your tasks on a calendar so that you can get organized. Fortunately with Tasks, you have the option of doing so on Google Calendar as long as you have set a date (and time) to your task. Here’s how to schedule a task:

Select the option to add a task, or if you already have a task created, enter edit mode

Click on “Add date/time”

Indicate the date (and time) you want to schedule the task for

Click “Ok” if you are on your desktop or “Done” if you are using the app

You can also choose to schedule a recurring task, which could be helpful for if you have medication you need to take on a daily or regular basis, or tend to be a little more forgetful with things like paying bills on time.

In order for your scheduled tasks to be visible on Google Calendar, make sure you have the “Tasks” option selected on your Google Calendar and it will be listed in the corresponding timeslot. If there is no specific time assigned to the task, it will simply be listed as an “All day” task.

Reschedule Tasks on Google Calendar

Amid the hustles and bustles of life, it is common for plans to not always pan out as scheduled. If you need to reschedule your tasks, you may do that directly from Google Calendar on your desktop.

This actually works in the exact same way as rescheduling an event. There is, of course, the old-school method of selecting the task, going into edit mode, and then assigning it a new date and time.

Alternatively, you could simply drag and drop.

If you are on the day view, tasks that have been assigned a specific time can be moved to a different time slot. “All day” tasks will, however, require the old-school method in order for them to be rescheduled.

If you are on the week view, tasks that have been assigned a specific time can be moved to any time slot in that specific week. “All day” tasks can also be moved to a different day as long as it falls on that same week.

The rescheduling process becomes a little more rigid on the month view as things then become rather condensed. Tasks that have been set for a specific time and date cannot be moved to a different time slot on the same day and can only be moved to a different day (within the same month) while maintaining the same time slot. The same goes for “All day” tasks.

Receive Google Tasks Notifications

If you lead very packed days, you may want to activate notifications to facilitate your life and remind yourself when a task is due. If you have set a time for your task, you will receive a Google Calendar notification on your desktop at the scheduled time. Don’t worry if you happen to be away from your computer, as you will also receive a notification from the Tasks app.

If you have set a date but not time, you will receive a notification at 9 a.m. local time on the date the task has been set.

Only tasks that have dates set will appear on Google Calendar. These are synchronized automatically, meaning that any changes to its date, time, or details will be automatically reflected on Google Calendar. And vice versa.

Add Email as a Task

Have an important email to reply to that you simply didn’t get to when you received it? That may very well be the case if you are a successful entrepreneur with a jam-packed schedule. Fret no more, there’s now a simple solution to that.

One of the best features of Tasks is how easily it integrates with Gmail. Besides having an all-in-one view of both Gmail and Tasks on your desktop, you can now easily add emails to your tasks.

On Your Desktop Browser

Go to your inbox

Open Tasks from the right sidebar

Drag and drop the email into your task list

If you are already in the email, click on the overflow menu of your inbox at the top and select “Add to tasks.” This works regardless of whether you have the Tasks sidebar opened.

If your list is sorted by date, the new task is added into the “No date” category at the bottom of the list. If you have it sorted by “My order,” it goes right to the top.

The task is automatically named as the email subject, and to facilitate matters, there is a direct link in the task to the email.

On Your Gmail App

Open the email you want to set as a task

Tap on the three vertical dots at the top right corner (next to the mark as read/unread option)

Select “Add to tasks”

To view or edit the task, you simply click on “View” on the confirmation message that pops up immediately. However, this is only there for a few seconds.

If you miss it, simply open up the app to locate the newly tasked email. If you have your list sorted by date, you’ll find the task at the bottom under “No due date.” Otherwise, it should be the first task on your list.

Just like any other task, you can add details, subtasks, and set a date and time (as a reminder to yourself to reply, for example). And just like the desktop version, there is a direct link to the email at the bottom for easy access.

Sorting Tasks

You may sort your tasks by date or in any order you wish to have them. You can do this by pulling up the overflow menu and selecting between “My order” or “Date.”

Having your tasks sorted by date basically means tasks with the earliest scheduled due date will be listed at the top of your list and descend accordingly.

Note that you cannot rearrange your tasks if you have them sorted by date.

To bring in the “urgent versus important” debate here, the task that is due next obviously does not mean it is the most pressing task. So, you are welcome to sort your tasks yourself with “My order.”

By default, this is the order in which you have entered the tasks, with the newest addition at the top of the list. But you can rearrange the tasks however you wish.

It is worth noting that you can choose to have your tasks sorted differently in the app and desktop (e.g., by date in the app and by your own order on desktop or vice versa).

Keyboard Shortcuts

As if Tasks wasn’t already easy enough to use, Google introduced keyboard shortcuts to the desktop version to make it even more user-friendly.

Most of these shortcuts require the task to be first selected. You do so by clicking on it to bring up the cursor and then hitting the “escape” button twice. A task is selected when it has a grey shadow around its border.

Here’s a list of useful keyboard shortcuts:

Shift + Enter: Views/edits task details (task must be selected)

Esc: Exits task detail view or edit mode

Space: Marks a task as completed or incomplete (task must be selected)

Enter: Adds new task or enters task edit mode (any task must be selected)

Backspace: Deletes task (select the task you want to delete and hold down backspace as if you’re deleting the name of the task)

And a few more:

Alt + Up Arrow: Moves task up (task must be selected)

Alt + Down Arrow: Moves task down (task must be selected)

Ctrl or Command + ]: Adds an indent to a task

Ctrl or Command + [: Removes an indent from a task

Shift + T: Adds email as a task

G + K: Opens Tasks

And hey, we will make it easier for you, too. To get a full list of these shortcuts, simply open the overflow menu and select “Keyboard shortcuts.”

Alternatively, just hit Ctrl or Command + / on your Gmail or Google Calendar desktop view. Note that Tasks must be open for this to work.

Conclusion

Google Tasks’ easy accessibility and usability makes it an absolute delight to use. Google has a detailed guide published on its G Suite Learning Center. But it is honestly so straightforward that no training or guide is really needed to understand how to navigate your way around it.

In addition, its seamless integration with other G Suite features, particularly Gmail and Google Calendar offers a very user-friendly experience. Here is a quick summary of what this integration allows you to do:

Copy Google Calendar reminders to Google Tasks to get a comprehensive overview of your schedule on either service

View your tasks on Google Calendar to avoid having to switch back and forth

Reschedule your tasks through Google Calendar for easy organization and/or reorganization

Add emails from Gmail as a task to remind yourself to get to them later

Use keyboard shortcuts from basic G Suite services for easy access and management of your tasks

Whether you are thinking of starting a business or already have one up and running, Google Tasks’ simple design and features are guaranteed to make your business’ task management hassle-free.

Want to learn more?

How to Use Google Trends: 10 Mind-Blowing Tricks for Entrepreneurs

The Ultimate List of The Most Popular Online Business Ideas

16 Reasons to Start a Business

What is Entrepreneurship? Entrepreneur Definition and Meaning

The post How to Use Google Tasks to Optimize Your Life appeared first on Oberlo.

from Oberlo

Ready? Let’s dive in!

What Is the Google Tasks Manager?

The fact that there was no direct one-click access to it from the Gmail or Google Calendar desktop interface also meant it was not as often explored as other services.

But this all changed in June 2018.

As part of efforts to enhance the G Suite experience, Google launched a series of changes, including adding Tasks to its core services alongside Drive, Calendar, Hangouts, etc.

How to Use Google Tasks

Simply put, Google Tasks is a task management service ripped down to its basic core. With it, you can:

Add and remove tasks

Add details to tasks

Set due dates and times for tasks (synchronizing with Google Calendar)

Receive tasks notifications

Add emails as tasks (synchronizing with Gmail)

Add subtasks

Mark tasks as complete

Have multiple lists

Have different lists for different accounts

As it stands, it is meant for individual use and does not have the more complex project and productivity management capabilities like those offered by Trello, Asana, and other productivity apps.

Aimed at providing users with the ability to make their lives more efficient, it is integrated and synchronized with possibly the two most-used G Suite features: Gmail and Google Calendar.

Where to Find Google Tasks

If you are a regular G Suite user, of the changes Google launched last year, most of your attention would have been on the new Gmail design.

With its revamp, Google has now made it extremely easy for G Suite users to access Google Tasks. Here’s how.

Google Tasks Desktop

This is a panel that you can choose to hide or show.

Click on the icon to open up your Tasks list(s).

If you are a first-time user, you will see that a default list called “My Tasks” has already been created. You will not be able to delete this list, but you can rename it to whatever you like.

And that is as easy as clicking on the overflow menu (the three vertical dots) on the top right to pull up the options available to modify your list — including renaming it.

Google Tasks App

The app is completely free to download from the Google Play Store and iOS App Store.

Likewise for the app, first-time users will have the same “My Tasks” list already created for them that can be renamed.

And just like all other G Suite features, both app and desktop versions are automatically synchronized.

Add Reminders to Google Tasks From Google Calendar

You can copy your existing reminders from Google Calendar in two easy steps:

Open the overflow menu

Select the last option on the list: “Copy reminders to Tasks”

View Tasks on Google Calendar

Select the option to add a task, or if you already have a task created, enter edit mode

Click on “Add date/time”

Indicate the date (and time) you want to schedule the task for

Click “Ok” if you are on your desktop or “Done” if you are using the app

Reschedule Tasks on Google Calendar

Amid the hustles and bustles of life, it is common for plans to not always pan out as scheduled. If you need to reschedule your tasks, you may do that directly from Google Calendar on your desktop.

This actually works in the exact same way as rescheduling an event. There is, of course, the old-school method of selecting the task, going into edit mode, and then assigning it a new date and time.

Alternatively, you could simply drag and drop.

Receive Google Tasks Notifications

If you have set a date but not time, you will receive a notification at 9 a.m. local time on the date the task has been set.

Add Email as a Task

One of the best features of Tasks is how easily it integrates with Gmail. Besides having an all-in-one view of both Gmail and Tasks on your desktop, you can now easily add emails to your tasks.

On Your Desktop Browser

Go to your inbox

Open Tasks from the right sidebar

Drag and drop the email into your task list

If you are already in the email, click on the overflow menu of your inbox at the top and select “Add to tasks.” This works regardless of whether you have the Tasks sidebar opened.

If your list is sorted by date, the new task is added into the “No date” category at the bottom of the list. If you have it sorted by “My order,” it goes right to the top.

The task is automatically named as the email subject, and to facilitate matters, there is a direct link in the task to the email.

On Your Gmail App

Open the email you want to set as a task

Tap on the three vertical dots at the top right corner (next to the mark as read/unread option)

Select “Add to tasks”

To view or edit the task, you simply click on “View” on the confirmation message that pops up immediately. However, this is only there for a few seconds.

Sorting Tasks

You may sort your tasks by date or in any order you wish to have them. You can do this by pulling up the overflow menu and selecting between “My order” or “Date.”

Having your tasks sorted by date basically means tasks with the earliest scheduled due date will be listed at the top of your list and descend accordingly.

Note that you cannot rearrange your tasks if you have them sorted by date.

By default, this is the order in which you have entered the tasks, with the newest addition at the top of the list. But you can rearrange the tasks however you wish.

It is worth noting that you can choose to have your tasks sorted differently in the app and desktop (e.g., by date in the app and by your own order on desktop or vice versa).

Keyboard Shortcuts

As if Tasks wasn’t already easy enough to use, Google introduced keyboard shortcuts to the desktop version to make it even more user-friendly.

Here’s a list of useful keyboard shortcuts:

Shift + Enter: Views/edits task details (task must be selected)

Esc: Exits task detail view or edit mode

Space: Marks a task as completed or incomplete (task must be selected)

Enter: Adds new task or enters task edit mode (any task must be selected)

Backspace: Deletes task (select the task you want to delete and hold down backspace as if you’re deleting the name of the task)

And a few more:

Alt + Up Arrow: Moves task up (task must be selected)

Alt + Down Arrow: Moves task down (task must be selected)

Ctrl or Command + ]: Adds an indent to a task

Ctrl or Command + [: Removes an indent from a task

Shift + T: Adds email as a task

G + K: Opens Tasks

And hey, we will make it easier for you, too. To get a full list of these shortcuts, simply open the overflow menu and select “Keyboard shortcuts.”

Alternatively, just hit Ctrl or Command + / on your Gmail or Google Calendar desktop view. Note that Tasks must be open for this to work.

Conclusion

Copy Google Calendar reminders to Google Tasks to get a comprehensive overview of your schedule on either service

View your tasks on Google Calendar to avoid having to switch back and forth

Reschedule your tasks through Google Calendar for easy organization and/or reorganization

Add emails from Gmail as a task to remind yourself to get to them later

Use keyboard shortcuts from basic G Suite services for easy access and management of your tasks

Whether you are thinking of starting a business or already have one up and running, Google Tasks’ simple design and features are guaranteed to make your business’ task management hassle-free.

Want to learn more?

How to Use Google Trends: 10 Mind-Blowing Tricks for Entrepreneurs

The Ultimate List of The Most Popular Online Business Ideas

16 Reasons to Start a Business

What is Entrepreneurship? Entrepreneur Definition and Meaning

The post How to Use Google Tasks to Optimize Your Life appeared first on Oberlo.

http://bit.ly/2ETNNbC June 07, 2019 at 08:04AM http://bit.ly/2wGLlkg

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airoasis · 7 years

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Entrepreneurial motivation: 6 important elements to move into action

I’m sitting here, cup of tea in hand, at the end of the first week back from school holidays. Usually at this time of year it takes a while to get moving. However, using my usual entrepreneurial motivation factors, techniques and tools, I’d already launched myself into planning events with fellow local entrepreneurs, assisting corporate clients with unique projects and invitations going out for a mastermind for women who have been in business 3-5 years before the week started.

Things feel good!

How are you feeling about what you’ll be achieving this year? This week on Facebook and Youtube I talked about planning and goals, but at some point you have to take ACTION. Otherwise, we end up with virtual shelves full of half started ideas, a wall calendar brimming with tasks that never get done and clients never truly understanding how it is we can help them.

I have a few strategies I use to help me move beyond PLANNING and step into ACTION. I want to share those with you today in the hope it will help YOU have your best year, because for many of us 2016 just wasn’t what we hoped it would be when we stepped into January 11 months ago.

Before we dive into the actionable activities you can do to help with motivation, find out what style of motivation suits you best to allow you to remain motivated year-round in this quick, fun quiz:

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Your 6 Entrepreneurial Motivation Factors

And now, here are some action items to ensure what you do this year is purposeful and meaningful, not simply another time wasting task.

Let’s begin:

Turn Your Big Picture Vision Into An Actionable Plan

Don’t just make big, grand quarterly and yearly visions and plans. We can spend a lot of time doing those things. The key is to get down to the day to day tasks.

I didn’t realise that having the ability to zoom out and look at the big picture vision and then zoom into the step by step actionable tasks to allow something to come to fruition was unique - but apparently I’m one of those rare people that can do both when it comes to creating digital campaigns, product launches and soulful sales funnels.

So if you lean more towards one than the other, be sure to align yourself with someone who can balance out that big picture vision or that detailed plan.

Surround Yourself With Positive Influences

The turning point for my business was when I joined a mastermind. Suddenly I was accountable to this small group of women. I stopped making stupid excuses for not doing things, because this supportive group of women would call me out. They knew. Heck, they admitted to having the exact same issues.

But that first year in a mastermind, what I achieved was phenomenal. It was my biggest income year and a real lightbulb moment that all the courses in the world won't get me to where I want to go. I already know enough. What I needed was support, accountability and some gentle guidance.

I'm not into the butt-kicking style of coaching. It's not my style as a coach and not how I tend to respond as a client either. Finding out what your style is and then aligning yourself with the right people can go a long way to helping you reach your goals in a way that lifts you up, rather than tears you down.

You Know Enough Already

I love this quote I saw on Facebook earlier in the week: I can spend money on learning, or I can spend it on doing. I plan on the latter.

We often each follow a similar path when we come into business. Firstly, we try and do it alone. Then we move into “Bright Shiny Object Syndrome” where we feel we need to buy every course under the sun because we believe we don’t know enough.

Next, we invest in a coach or mastermind that allows us to move forward with accountability and support and so we can stop second guessing ourselves. Lastly, we reach a point in our businesses where we now know how it all works but also understand that there are certain areas that aren’t our zone of genius so we outsource them to others to do.

Where do you sit right now? The big concern is when we sit in the Bright Shiny Object phase for too long. It’s expensive and only 2% of people ever finish online courses. If I’d saved up all the money I spend on digital programs and instead invested that into a mastermind earlier, I would be a lot further along in my business.

Automate The Things You Don't Love Doing

Much of our time each day is wasted procrastinating over the things we don’t want to do. The reality is, there is so much in our everyday activities we actually don’t need to be doing every day.

Like posting to Facebook, attracting traffic to our website, gaining leads for our email marketing system, converting subscribers into clients….These might be tasks you think you have to do manually every day, but there are ways to schedule and/or automate these things so you can take them OFF your daily to do list and focus on the things that truly light you up. I’m guessing marketing isn’t one of the things you got into business for (unless, of course, you’re a marketer like me and love the stuff).

Make a list of all the tasks you do in a given week, and define which tasks you're doing daily that could have better systems around them to give you back more time. Even something as simple as bulk creating and then scheduling your social media in one afternoon can save a lot of time. The time it takes to get the energy to do a new task is where we lose time. If we do a given task in one sitting, we can achieve much more.

Tap Into Mindset Tools

I used to think mindset work, meditation, ho’oponopono, EFT, crystals… all that stuff… it was just woo woo to me. But, in understanding the different ways I often hold myself back, I now know the importance of mindset work to overcome those blocks and fears.

You only need to pick one activity. Sometimes it’s as simple as reading the right book to get you motivated, to stop that little negative voice in your head and have you ready to take action. Or it’s listening to the right meditation to quieten your mind and allow you to easily move into a difficult task with calm and quiet.

A friend and I were talking about the power of the mind this week. Back in my journalism days, I had no issues whatsoever walking up to the biggest celebrity at the time and then asking them all sorts of questions (sometimes personal). Because there was nothing personal in doing it. It was just a job I did.

A fellow journalist always used to tell me it wasn't her chasing after the police sirens or walking up to interview the angry politician. It was someone else. Because in "real life", she was too shy for that. Yet there she was, every day, right in the thick of the day's breaking news.

Yet, as soon as we own our own business, we take things personally. Where we could pick up the phone and call the head of a global organisation when we were working for that multinational company, as business owners we now struggle to get the courage to email the so-called internet guru of the moment or pick up the phone to a nearby business you just know you could help.

We need to find the tools and techniques to become braver in business. To help us switch from taking our businesses personally so we can do business as we would do for someone else. In the book I wrote, , Fairbrother Constructions CEO said: "I wouldn't have taken half the risks I did if it were my own business".

Do you take everything that happens in your business personally? How do you shift out of fear and leap into brave action?

Ensure You're Regularly Celebrating

This can feel weird to many of us, because we’re just not used to celebrating our successes. Take, for example, the fact that earlier in the month I discovered I’ve been featured on one of my idol’s, entrepreneur Melanie Duncan’s, website. And, until this blog post, I haven’t bothered to share that with anyone. Sure, I did a little dance in my office - by myself. But I didn’t shout it from the rooftops, like I really should.

Part of it stems from a post I put up on Facebook last week about people who always show their highlights reels. The majority of us then end up comparing that to our own low lights - and it makes us feel like we’re not good enough.

I don’t want to be one of those people that tries to tell others my life is perfect. Because it’s not. But a note (more to myself than you) is that you need to have balance. You need to share the vulnerable Facebook posts amid some celebration posts too.

The act of celebrating can spur us on to greater heights or pull us out of a funk when we feel stuck.

Motivating Entrepreneurial Stories

Whether it’s a blog, a book or podcast, I’d highly encourage you to follow a few entrepreneurs who are where you want to be and who also embody the style of entrepreneur you want to become. For me, it's those who take a holistic approach to business and life. It's not solely about the dollars, but about making an impact on others' lives and doing something that's fulfilling and on purpose.

Be wary of entrepreneurs who sell you programs guaranteeing a certain figure by a certain period of time. Everyone's business is different. But listen to those who are doing things in a style that resonates with you, who you can learn the good and bad lessons from, and who you may just get the opportunity to meet or work with too.

When I'm struggling to get started, I find reading the stories of others inspiring. It makes me realise what's possible and that it's not always a smooth road.

Know Your Why

When it all boils down, if you don’t know why you’re doing what you’re doing, it can be super difficult to stay motivated. If you haven’t already done some work on your why, then I highly encourage you to do so. This was a difficult one for me when I first started in business, because the truth is that I fell into a business. Someone gave me a nudge and the next thing, here I was. I never set out to start a business.

Now, I’m clear about wanting to not only create a certain type of lifestyle business for myself and my family, but also to help others create more systemised businesses to achieve more ease and leverage in their own businesses and lives.

I have huge empathy for women who are knee-deep in overwhelm and feeling burnt out from their business. Because that always flows onto other areas of their life.

What about you? What's your style and how do you go about staying on purpose, even when you get the wobblies or bright shiny object syndrome creeps in?

I've put together a short quiz to determine the best method to keep you motivated, moving forward and on purpose so you can achieve your goals this year. Of course, a combination is always good, but this will hone in on a core strategy you can use… starting today!

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lbenologa · 7 years

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“There is only one you for all time. Fearlessly be yourself.”

– Anthony Rapp

I have currently accumulated 27 rough drafts (28, if I include this one) – all-the-while publishing zero entries over the course of the past year. Suffice it to say, I’ve been trying to keep up with blogging, but with the balance of work, play, and the gym – it’s hard to find much time these days. Even though I have free periods, those times are often spent planning classes, and when that’s not the case, they’re spent planning for my (self-initiated) 英会話 (English conversation) class. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy being busy, but I think my stress levels are on the rise because of my inability to vent through blogging. I’ve been writing/keeping a journal ever-since I was in elementary school, so it’s somewhat of a disappointment when I can’t find the time to complete even one, simple entry.

In other news, I’ve also been thinking about creating a short music video with photos that I’ve managed to accumulate during my time in Japan so-far. I’d really like to get that project off the ground soon, but we’ll see if time will allow me to at-least start it up in the near future.

It’s kind of hard for me to believe that we are well-past the halfway point of 2017 already, and I didn’t even get the chance to reflect on the previous year. In order to remedy this, I found 7 simple, reflective questions that might help bring all of my readers and followers up-to-date about my life over the course of the past year. (My apologies in advance in case some of my answers sound a bit cryptic).

If the last year were a movie of your life, what would the genre be? Drama, romance, adventure, comedy, tragedy, or a combination?

As much as I’d rather not like to admit it, and despite the fact that there were a lot of high points, I’m sad to say that it might have played out a bit more like a drama. I’d go further into detail about it, but I figure that I should let the past be the past and stop dwelling on things that I can’t really change or control.Hakuna Matata, right?

What were the two or three major themes that kept recurring?

Change: There was a lot of change that happened last year. Some were welcomed and some weren’t, but in the end, I believe it all worked out for the best, in the end.

Growth: I firmly believe that if you always keep yourself in your comfort zone, growth becomes limited and/or non-existent. I think that it’s because of this way of thinking that I always do my best to stay out of my comfort zone – despite having feelings of insecurity and vulnerability that comes with this decision, from time to time.

What did you accomplish this past year that you are the most proud of?

Being called into my Board of Education’s Superintendent’s office and being told that he was pleased by the recent phone calls he was getting from principles and even from the prefectural Board of Education about my recent English classes.

I was able to return home for a week, last summer, and attend a very close relative’s wedding. I also got to see some of my closest friends and family members, after 2 years of living away in Japan. Although I would consider going home more frequently, I think that would also make it more difficult for me to continue staying in Japan on my own (much like the homesickness that hit while I lived on Okinawa for my first 2 years in the Marine Corps).

My local government has recently been asking me what I’ll be doing after my five years on the JET program has run its course, and it seems as though they are hinting towards retaining me once my first five years are complete. This has been mentioned by my superintendent, the previous vice-director, my previous supervisor, and more-recently, my current supervisor. I guess we’ll see what the future holds when that time comes.

Most recently, I have managed to implement some changes at our elementary school levels which provide my schools’ homeroom teachers the chance and opportunity to plan and prepare English lessons for our students as the designated T1, with me as their support. It still has a few hiccups, but I’ve come to notice much more confidence in my fellow teachers’ English-teaching ability, as well as the overall interest of our students. I was fearful that this would have turned out to be a disaster, but I’m very glad that my principals listened to me and allowed me to implement these changes without too much of a resistance.

What do you feel you should have been acknowledged for but weren’t?

Having the moral courage to disagree with others despite my dislike of confrontation.

Speaking from my heart and my mind despite opposition and/or tension on ‘sensitive’ topics such as racism and-the-like in America (and abroad).

Starting up my own eikaiwa class for one of my villages despite my already-tight, weekly schedule.

Re-contracting for my fourth year on JET.

I don’t know when it started happening, but I have recently found myself thinking in Japanese, instead of thinking in English. Not only this, but I’ve even had dreams where my friends and I were having conversations in Japanese (despite the fact that in real life, some of these friends don’t speak any Japanese). I remember when my Japanese teacher asked us whether it had happened to us before, while I was a college student, but at the time it hadn’t and I wondered if it would ever happen to me, someday. Suffice it to say, I’m quite ecstatic that I’ve realized that it has.

What disappointments or regrets did you experience this past year?

Despite joining my gym almost 2 years ago, I’m disappointed in myself for not going more frequently. (Even though the 30-45 minute one-way commute, along with the monthly membership cost of ~$120, is enough to detour most people) I go there almost everyday now, but I feel as though I wasted too much time by not attending.

Additionally, I recently learned that I can burn more calories by doing cardio after my weightlifting routine, instead of doing it before. Regardless, however, lesson learned! 🙂

In my three years living in Japan, I’ve never taken the time to complain and/or comment about some of the negative aspects of my job to anyone, but thankfully, I was recently able to vent about some problems I was having at one of my schools with my supervisor; and that has helped me out a lot.

I stayed home too many weekends due to adequate lesson planning, so I regret not going sightseeing more than I have, so far.

I also regret not remaining in better contact via social media, etc… with some of my closest friends and family members back home.

What was missing from last year as you look back?

I didn’t travel enough last year, so I think that’s why I’m trying to make up for it, this year. I’m not saying that I didn’t leave Nara, but I definitely didn’t travel to many new places outside of the big cities that I often frequent and/or travel to.

What were the major life-lessons you learned this past year?

Be a good person, but don’t waste your time on someone who needs you to prove it.

Surround yourself with people who look and think differently than yourself.

Focus on the people that truly matter.

Grow through what you go through.

Get out and meet new people.

Lessons I didn’t know I knew, from snotm.com (Stuff No One Told Me):

“Someday you will miss today.”

“Now is the best time to be happy.”

“Challenge yourself a little bit every day.”

“Things that are hard to say are usually the most important.”

“People who only call you when they need something aren’t really your friends.”

Well, that’s all I have to write about for now, but I want to sincerely thank you very much for taking the time to read my first completed blog entry in over a year! I hope to go back and complete some of the other rough drafts I’ve managed to accumulate in the near-future, but as for now, I think this one will do. Hopefully, we can all enjoy what’s left of this 2017 calendar year (as well as sneak in a few adventures here-and-there, whenever possible. Hahah).

Cheers!

"There is only one you for all time. Fearlessly be yourself." - Anthony Rapp "There is only one you for all time. Fearlessly be yourself." - Anthony Rapp I have currently accumulated 27 rough drafts (

#friends #goals #japan #japanese #JET #JET Life #JET program #Life #people #reflecting #travel

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covertcreativemedia · 4 years

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Blog 1

Strengths

What was the most successful project you ever tackled (in or outside of school), and what made you successful?

A project that I feel is successful is a brand identity project created for design studio. It was successful because I went through countless iterations, and when I believe I found a solution, I continued to push forward to make new innovations.

What was the most critical team role you ever fulfilled, and why?

The most critical team role I have been assigned is the President of a University of Colorado Denver Student Organization. This was a major role because I would manage and oversee the entire organization internally and externally. Ensuring all committee members and staff editors are fulfilling assigned duties while recruiting new students to participate in the organization. It was my duty to successfully run the organization and digital publication itself. Ensuring all platforms and communications represent the organization, student contributions, and the University of Colorado Denver as best as possible.

When faced with an overwhelming obstacle, what’s your “go-to” skill to overcome it?

My go-to skill is to face the problem, understand each possible outcome, and create an organized plan to achieve the desired outcome. If I cannot take on the task myself I will bring in assistance.

What are the strengths that others acknowledge in me?

From what my peers have told me, I am a go-getter and when I see an opportunity that calls my name I will go after it. I have also been told that I am able to present and communicate my project and ideas publicly and electronically well.

Which skills do you enjoy using as often as possible, regardless of the task?

A skill that I apply to most projects in and outside of school is research. Research plays a crucial role in the design process. The research methods that I tend to use most include Literature Reviews, Ethnographic Research, Contextual Inquiry, Secondary Research, and Customer Experience Audits. I believe research and these particular research methods lay a good groundwork in the beginning stages of the design process.

Another skill I enjoy and tend to use often regardless of the task is immersing myself in the problem I am trying to solve, or the solution. This allows me to understand who I am designing for and have a sense of potential wants and needs while identifying what is already working or not working to achieve a solution.

A skill that I always use no matter the task is creating good communication and dialogue with team members and clients. I believe it is crucial to be on good terms with everyone involved in the project. This tool and skill offer clear communication that can go both ways, ensuring the teammates or clients can easily reach you with any concern.

What skills have you mastered but would rather not use every day?

I believe a skill that I have mastered but not used every day is critical thinking. When I begin to get into a critical thinking mode I become extremely enveloped in the problem, solution, or project. Although this can be an extremely beneficial skill to have, it can become very stressful.

What strengths and skills do you believe (and will research to find out!) will be most helpful after you graduate and begin your career search?

Critical thinking, communication, and creativity. I believe these skills be extremely beneficial throughout my entire life and career. They will allow me to apply new perspectives to a team and become immersed in collaboration, offering insights that would not have been made before. I believe my communication can help strengthen team relationships while building connections outside of the organization to inspire the community and create new ties.

What skills are you missing? What skills would you like to build but have not yet had the opportunity to practice?

I believe a skill that I lack but try to practice every day is organization. I tend to believe that I can keep things organized in my head without getting them down on paper, this always tends to be a problem for me. This can eventually lead to procrastination. Finding ways that allow me to be more organized and efficiently such as documenting thoughts and ideas, using a planner and calendar, and organizational tools can be very beneficial.

Top five strengths

Communication

Creativity

Critical Thinking

People Management

Emotional Intelligence

Weaknesses

What are the weaknesses that you aware of?

Organization and documenting ideas is a weakness of mine. I can often find myself getting lost in thought brainstorming but not letting these thoughts and ideas out onto paper. I tend to believe that I can remember them or recall them when necessary, but that never really happens. I have also relied on electronic forms of staying organized such as electronic calendars and agendas but those tend to get lost in the shuffle for me. Physical planners and calendars seem to work best for me, but it can be tough to stay on the tack with filling my calendar out when projects and tasks need to be added. I end up just relying on memory when I need to turn something, call someone, or have an appointment. This typically results in missed appointments.

When working on a team, what roles do you avoid that may be important to your goals?

I believe that I have great collaboration and communication skills, however, it can sometimes be difficult to communicate with a team member that has decided to shut themselves off from the group. This can happen when the team member lacks communication with the group and is inconsistent with the work.

When faced with an overwhelming obstacle, what’s most likely to cause you to become frustrated or give up?

Frustration can happen when my lack of organization gets out of control. What I mean by this is when I have loaded my schedule with many tasks and projects, but did not divide the time to work on them efficiently. When the tasks add up I can become overwhelmed and frustrated.

What was the least successful project you have ever tackled, and what tripped you up?

Sometimes projects can begin unsuccessfully and you begin to lose hope when you believe you have tried every solution. This can happen in work, school, and personal life. You tend to focus so hard on the solution you are attempting to achieve that you feel hopeless after many failed attempts. But if you continue to seek out the solution in a way that is reliable and sustainable you can eventually achieve that goal.

What are three weaknesses that you want to use your thesis project to overcome because they may hinder your ability to achieve your professional and life goals?

Organization

Coordinating with everyone on the team

Active listening

How will you use your thesis project and future planning to mitigate, manage, and overcome your listed weaknesses?

I would like to create a clear plan of action for myself when beginning my thesis project. This plan of action would be my first step to creating an organized and efficient schedule to achieve my goals and eventually complete a successful thesis project. It is important to set realistic goals when creating my plan of action. This will allow me to create an organized schedule that is realistic to my time frame and the problem/solution I am trying to recognize and design around.

What skills are you missing that you have not yet had the opportunity to practice? What weaknesses would you like, or need, to turn into strengths?

A weakness that I will eventually turn into a strength is organization. This means I will stay organized not only in my school, professional, and work-life. But this means I will remain organized in other areas that can be more efficient. This might include being more consistent with my sleep schedule, my physical exercise regime, my social life, and reading more books. By being more organized all around, I believe that I can successfully achieve this goal.

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kennethmjoyner · 4 years

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New Practice Management Platform Debuts; How It Differs from the Others

It is rare these days to see the debut of an entirely new law practice management platform, let alone one launching out of the gate with a full array of end-to-end features, and then some. But that is what is happening today with the formal launch of Lexicon.

And coming into a market that that is already fairly crowded with competing products, this one is hoping to stand out in part by offering something none of the others do — tight-knit integration of its software platform with related services integral to a law practice, starting with virtual receptionists, marketing and recruiting.

Lexicon says its platform is fully scalable and customizable to suit any sized firm and practice area. It offers — or at least will offer over the next couple months — three tiers of subscriptions to allow firms of various sizes to select the tools and services they want.

The company’s goal, says CEO Scott Brennan, is to free lawyers to focus on practicing law by providing everything else required to grow and manage a successful firm.

“We’ve paired intuitive practice management software with the essential services that every firm needs, and it’s all accessible through one seamless interface,” Brennan said.

Although the product is new, the company is not. Based near St. Louis, Mo., and with more than 100 employees, it has been in business since 2008 and started as the practice management group supporting Cordell & Cordell, one of the world’s largest family law firms.

Preview of the Platform

Last week, Lexicon executives gave me a preview demonstration of the software and then provided me with a trial account to test it for myself (which they kindly populated with dummy data).

What was striking to me was the full array of features this platform has right out of the gate, offering almost everything a lawyer would want in a practice management product. These include:

Client intake.

Matter management.

Document management.

Contact management.

Calendar.

Timekeeping.

Billing and reporting.

Trust accounting.

Not offered is general accounting, for which Lexicon integrates with Quickbooks and eventually with other accounting programs. However, the Quickbooks integration is not available in the lowest of the three subscription tiers, as I discuss further below.

A client profile page, showing the client’s stored payment methods.

Product manager Lauren Hoffman told me that the product is designed to be client-centric, not matter-centric, as are some other practice management products. That means the client-profile page is the hub of everything you do for that client, and where you can start work on any of that client’s matters, as well as see all of the information pertaining to that client.

(Oddly, however, you cannot add a new matter for the client from its profile. To do that, you need to go back to the full list of clients, find the client’s name, and then click a drop-down to show the Create Matter option.)

Logging in to the platform, you start at a dashboard that shows your pending tasks. In a future version, users will be able to customize what appears on the dashboard page. Constants on every page are the navigation menu on the left and a universal search bar at the top.

The search bar can search everything in the system except the text of documents in the document management system (DMS), but the company says that is coming in a future version.

Within the platform, many common functions are automated to make them easier. Start entering notes on a potential client and the person is added as a contact. If the person retains you, click “Convert to Client” and the person is added to the system with all essential information. At the same time, the system automatically creates a set of folders and subfolders within the DMS specific to the new client’s matter type.

Testing Out A Trial Account

I was given a password to a trial account on Friday evening, so as of this Monday morning post, I have had only a little time to explore and try out the platform. Here are some initial impressions.

As noted, every page is bordered by the navigation menu on the left and the search bar on the top. This makes it easy to get to the page or item you need. A drop-down menu in the search bar lets you narrow the search to include just matters, clients, employees, contacts, offices or documents.

Something missing, in my opinion, is a quick-add option to add contacts, matters, tasks or calendar items. From what I could determine, the only way to add a new client or matter is to first add the person or company as a new potential client, then convert them to a client, and then add the matter.

Likewise for the calendar, the only way to add an item is to navigate to the calendar page and add an item there. Although the dashboard page purports to list upcoming tasks, I could not find anywhere to add a task, as opposed to a calendar entry, and my calendar entries did not show up on the dashboard.

Here again, the company told me that future enhancements will include both the ability to add tasks and to have calendar items show up on the dashboard.

This is by design, the company says, in keeping with its client-centric organization. “Research told us users weren’t pleased when there were matters just sitting in the system, especially if they didn’t move forward or if they didn’t have a contact to associate with them.”

The matter dashboard provides information on all facets of a case.

However, once you’ve added someone as a client, then adding a new matter for that client is easier. From the page that lists all clients, click the actions button next to a client’s name to create a new matter. Surprisingly, as I noted above, there is no way to add a new matter from either the client’s profile page or from the matters page.

Each page of the site has a Track Time button, but in the preview version I tested, this was not working. The platform does not yet allow multiple timers (such as when you need to stop work on a brief to take a call on a different matter), but this is planned to be added in a future release.

With regard to billing, the platform supports hourly, fixed-fee and contingent billing. You can set standard billing rates for certain types of matters or employees, and change those on the fly for individual matters.

The calendar integrates with all major calendar applications.

Lexicon has a full calendar native to the platform. The calendar is capable of two-way integration with other major calendar programs, including Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft 365, Google Calendar, Microsoft Exchange and iCloud Calendar.

A cool feature of the calendar is the ability to schedule travel time apart from meeting time. When creating a calendar event, in addition to setting the event start and stop time, you can add travel time for both before and after the event. That way, your calendar accurately reflects your actual availability.

A future version of the calendar will allow firms to set default duration times for certain types of events. For instance, when you schedule a client consultation, the calendar can default to set the meeting to one hour. Of course, users will be able to override these defaults.

Lexicon has a fairly robust document management system built in.

The platform has a fully integrated document management system. Currently, you can search documents by names and folders. A future release is slated to include full-text search. Documents can be checked out for editing and then checked back in. There is no native version control, other than through naming.

The company said that future enhancements to the DMS will add features such as redaction, predictive filing, internal and external collaboration, forms, fillable templates, and e-signing, although some of these features will not be available in the base-level subscription.

Among other features included in the platform:

Billing. You can view and edit prebills within the platform and then generate invoices to send by email or print as PDFs. You can create a custom invoice template with your logo, and add individual messages at the top of invoices, such as holiday greetings or news about your firm.

Reporting. Lexicon provides a full array of financial reports, including accounts receivable, billing activity, credit card transactions, payment history, time entries by attorney, and more.

Conflict checking. When adding a new client, you can run a conflict check that searches the system for any possible conflicts.

Planned for a future release is a client portal, through which clients will be able to securely message with attorneys, view documents, and view and pay invoices. The portal will not be included in the basic subscription tier, although basic-tier subscribers will still be able to send clients e-bills and receive electronic payments by credit cards and e-checks.

The platform has a responsive design that allows it to be used on tablets and mobile devices. That means you get full access to the platform from any device. I was told that you can begin a timer on one device and then continue tracking your time on another. Because my tracking was not working, I could not test this.

Integration between Software and Services

A key way in which Lexicon plans to distinguish itself in the market is by tightly integrating its software platform with complementary service offerings.

With today’s launch, it is rolling out with three service offerings: Virtual Receptionist, Recruiting and Marketing. The company plans to add additional services throughout the year, including information technology, legal operations, accounting and billing, and account care (helping with receivables).

Like other virtual receptionist services on the market, Lexicon’s uses real people to answer your calls. These receptionists are employed by Lexicon and trained in its software, so receptionists can send notes and appointments directly to your account.

The recruiting service will help identify, recruit and screen new hires for a firm and help manage the interviews and hiring process. Later this year, the service will also help firms manage other employee relations and policy matters.

The marketing service offers both inbound and outbound marketing assistance. This includes such services as digital retargeting, search engine optimization, graphic design, public relations, video and audio, ad production, media buying and more.

Three Pricing Tiers

Lexicon plans to offer three tiers of subscriptions. All three tiers include access to the core elements of the software platform. The differences among the tiers are in which advanced features and add-on services they include.

As of today, only the basic tier, which the company calls Emerging, is available. It costs $63 per user per month. Subscribers to the Emerging tier can purchase add-on services on an a la carte basis.

The two other tiers are:

Ascending, slated to be available in a month, will be $83 per user per month. It will include services designed to help manage a firm’s day-to-day operations. These will include features such as a richer DMS and the ability to do batch billing.

Iconic, slated to be available in two months, will be $99 per user per month. The company says it will offer “effortless practice management at the scale you need.” Brennan said that this is intended for a relatively complex firm with multiple practices and offices in multiple states.

Prices are per employee, regardless of the employee’s role in the firm. However, the company said it would work with firms that need log-ins for part-time employees or those whose use of the system would be limited.

Firms with multiple offices can manage details for each.

The basic tier will not include some of the enhanced features planned for future releases. Among the planned features this tier will not include are the client portal, Quickbooks integration, bulk generation of invoices, recurring billing, fillable document templates, multiple timers, and automatic timers.

Each law firm that subscribes to the platform gets training in using the software and a dedicated customer success manager.

The entire system is cloud-based and is hosted in Microsoft Azure. If a firm terminates the service, the company will export all of its data and provide it to the firm.

The company is privately owned by a family trust and has no outside investors.

My Thoughts

Different practice-management products on the market take different approaches to how they bundle the various features and tools that lawyers need to run their practices. Some build their platforms with a core set of functions and then integrate with third-party applications for additional functionality. Others take a soup-to-nuts approach, trying to offer everything a lawyer would need within a single platform.

Lexicon takes that latter approach, and then extends it even further, offering core services, such as virtual receptionists and marketing, in addition to the software. It describes this approach as holistic, and in bundling both software and services, it creates a product offering that is like no other on the market.

For a product that is brand new to the market, Lexicon is surprisingly robust. And a full list of planned features that the company shared with me suggests it will become even more so as its development continues over the next year or so. A smaller firm could buy this product today and have most of the functionality it would need to manage its practice.

The bigger question is whether Lexicon’s approach of combining software and services will prove successful in distinguishing it in an already crowded market. For the base-level Emerging subscription tier, none of these services are included in the price and they must be purchased a la carte as add-ons. In that sense, it is little different than, say, a Clio subscriber purchasing Smith.ai or Ruby.

Arguably, there is an advantage to buying both software and services from the same company, especially when the service needs to interface with the software. And, arguably, there is an advantage to being able to bundle multiple services, including marketing and recruiting, through a single provider.

All of that suggests to me that Lexicon’s greater potential is not among solo and small firms, but among larger firms that can benefit from bundles of software and services at, presumably, advantageous pricing.

Nevertheless, the bottom line here is that Lexicon is debuting on the market as a mature, practice-ready platform with almost all of the features a firm would want. That means that, for any firm shopping for a practice management platform, it should be on the short list of ones to check out.

from Law and Politics https://www.lawsitesblog.com/2020/06/new-practice-management-platform-debuts-how-it-differs-from-the-others.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

#law #legal

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kadobeclothing · 4 years

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12 Social Media Tools You Need to Use in 2020

You already know how important social media is to increase brand awareness, generate more leads, and ultimately score more conversions. The world is on social media — 45 percent of it, at least — so if you want your product, service, and mission to reach the maximum amount of people, your business needs to be on social media, too.

Social media, however, can be extremely time-consuming. Additionally, it spans so many diverse tasks, ranging from number-based activities like tracking analytics, to creative jobs such as designing graphics. It can be difficult to find the skills and manpower needed to execute a good social media strategy — which is why you need social media tools to help you out. Here, we’ll cover the top eight social media tools you should be using in 2019 to help you save time, while getting more conversions than ever.

What Makes A Good Social Media Tool? Although the term “social media tool” is very general and can apply to a wide range of services, there are a few key features each social media tool should have. 1. Saves You Time The goal of a social media tool is to save you time while getting similar — or better — results than you could without it. Look for social media tools that automate a process, but make sure the process still happens correctly, since some shortcuts might be too fast and therefore won’t focus on quality. 2. Increases Brand Awareness One of the biggest benefits of social media is its ability to increase your brand awareness, which is why each social media tool you select should perform its services with brand awareness in mind. Maybe your tool of choice is an editing platform such as Lightroom, which can help you create images to match the rest of your feed. Or, maybe it’s an Instagram scheduler so you can preview your profile before you post images. Whatever the case may be, social media tools should focus largely on brand awareness. 3. Easy to Use Social media tools are only a time-saver if they’re easy and intuitive to learn how to use. Each tool you select should be super user-friendly so that your accounting team could edit photos if they needed too, and your creative, right-brained writers could still use the analytics function to track daily social metrics. Many social media tools provide tutorials on their websites. Others, such as Kicksta, have top-notch customer service so you can get immediate expert advice if you need help getting off the ground. 4. Affordable Social media tools should be affordable (and most of them are). Many high-quality social media tools are even free, such as the Unfold app, which is perfect for creating Instagram stories. With social media tools, there’s no need for you to go back and forth with the accounting department trying to get your budget approved. Most social media tools are already budget-friendly so all you need to do is sign up. 5. Focuses on Organization One of the ways social media tools save you time is by keeping you organized, so make sure the social media tools you decide to use are efficient and tidy. For example, HubSpot’s social inbox tool helps you prioritize your social media interactions, and graphic design website Canva saves your designs so you can go back and edit them later.

Best Social Media Tools

HubSpot’s Social Inbox Tool Kicksta Later Lightroom Canva Unfold LightAuditor Retouchup Quuu Marketing Video Builder Design Wizard Falcon

1. HubSpot’s Social Inbox Tool Price: Starts at $800/month, included in the Marketing Hub Professional tier HubSpot’s social inbox tool saves you valuable time while still optimizing your social efforts. Schedule your posts, integrate your social networks with your blog, and monitor messages and mentions so you can nurture new leads. HubSpot also integrates all of your marketing with your CRM, so it’s easy to figure out how many leads and customers you’re receiving directly from social media. “HubSpot Marketing Hub… puts the potential of corporate marketing within everyone’s reach,” one customer says.

2. Kicksta Price: Starts at $49/month for individual creatives Kicksta is an Instagram growth service that helps you get more organic followers on your Instagram business account. Using your company account, the growth service “likes” around 30,000 photos a month on carefully-targeted accounts. Those users — real people, not spam bots or fake accounts — will begin to follow your account, increasing your brand awareness. Kicksta is a good fit for any industry and provides a friendly, responsive, and helpful customer success team. “Kicksta helps introduce new audiences to our brand while providing consistent organic Instagram growth,” says Ryan Beltran, CEO of watch company Original Grain. “It’s great for social proof too!”

Source 3. Later Price: Starts at $9/month Social media marketing platform Later lets you plan and schedule your Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest posts. The drag-and-drop calendar makes it easy for you to map out your upcoming posts and see at a glance how your feed will look. You can also track your analytics, which will help you figure out the best time of day to post, and the best hashtags to use. Additionally, the Linkin.Bio feature for Instagram helps your posts become instantly shoppable. “I love that you can either use it via the website or app on-the-go,” one user remarks. “It is one of those apps that I could not live without … Later is [a] super easy tool to set up.”

Source 4. Lightroom Price: Starts at $9.99/month Adobe’s Lightroom product is a tool that lets you organize and edit photos. Since social media is all about visuals, it’s critical your business’s social media accounts showcase vibrant, on-brand photos. Sliders, filters, and many other features make Lightroom a user-friendly tool to create beautiful photos even if you don’t have much editing experience. Lightroom is available for both mobile and desktop, and best of all, changes made on one device immediately apply to all devices.

Source 5. Canva Price: Free or $12.95 per team member per month Canva is an easy-to-use graphic design website where you can create custom, on-brand graphics for your company’s social media accounts. The website has dozens of templates — everything from Facebook banners to Instagram stories to Twitter posts — so if starting from scratch to create social graphics seems intimidating, use a template instead. One user said, “Canva has been a lifesaver to me and my business. No more hours sitting in front of the computer coming up with graphics for social media post[s] or Pinterest post[s].”

Source 6. Unfold Price: Free Described as “a toolkit for storytellers”, Unfold is an iOS and Android app that helps you create beautiful templates for Instagram stories. Bringing your creative visions to life is the driving idea behind Unfold. It’s an ideal app for lifestyle brands who want to create stylish collages to keep their social media accounts on-brand and receive the maximum amount of engagement from followers.

Source. 7. HypeAuditor Price: Starts at $30/credit (one credit equals one Instagram report for one year) You’ll never earn money from fake followers — they just make your engagement look bad (think millions of followers, but only a few hundred likes per photo) and ruin your reputation. That’s why HypeAuditor weeds out fake followers on your Instagram account to help you determine your organic reach. Additionally, HypeAuditor analyzes your audience to figure out where they live, their age and gender, and which of your followers are ghosts.

Source 8. Retouchup Price: Starts at $0.25 per image The website Retouchup provides an easy way to edit photos for social media, from basic color correction to more advanced Photoshop-like features such as adding or removing people from a photo. With Retouchup, you don’t do the work yourself — instead, just submit a photo and the website’s experts will edit the photo for you within 24 hours. “You’re making me look like an awesome photographer!” one user gushed. Retouchup can save you time during the editing stage, and make your images appear higher-quality and more compelling.

Source 9. Quuu Price: Free, or starts at $19/month. Quuu is a platform that helps its users execute visually stunning social media content. It automates the time-consuming process of properly creating professional, engaging multimedia assets for campaigns. When using Quuu, you can choose from over 500 interest categories, like marketing or real estate, and receive content suggestions based on those choices. You’ll receive a certain amount of content suggestions per day per profile based on your settings, ensuring you’ll always have relevant posts for your audience. Source If you’re a HubSpot customer, you can integrate the two platforms. Quuu finds the best content for your social profiles, and HubSpot lets you control those suggestions. You can go to your draft folder via HubSpot and pick which content you want to upload if your Quuu account isn’t automated, which you can change. Quuu looks for content so you don’t have to. The tool also integrates with Buffer, Hootsuite, and Socialbee. 10. Marketing Video Builder Price: Free, or starts at $33/month. Marketing Video Builder by Animoto helps you make professional-tier videos to engage with audiences. Videos can be created in minutes using the online video editor. The best part about the tool is that you don’t even need editing experience to get started. You can increase brand awareness by making videos for your company, and share them across social channels to grow your audience. Additionally, if you’re a HubSpot customer, you can integrate that account with your Animoto account.

Source When you create videos, you can use a pre-built storyboard template curated by either Animoto or HubSpot. Alternatively, you can make a video from scratch. When you’re done, you can export the video to your HubSpot file manager with one click and manage it from there. Animoto also integrates with Getty Images, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn, so you can have video tools for a good portion of social media platforms all in one place. 11. Design Wizard Price: Free, or starts at $33/month This tool lets you create different types of content, like photos and videos, with no professional editing experience required. If you have a limited budget and time on your hands, this free visual content tool is ideal for you. Design Wizard has a library of over a million multimedia graphics for inspiration and use. Plus, all images are licensed for commercial use, so if you use one from the site, you won’t run into copyright infringements.

Source Your beautiful, on-brand images will be able to integrate with HubSpot. You can manage all of the files you create with Design Wizard from your HubSpot account, which you can use for campaign posts. 12. Falcon Price: Free, then $129/mo. Falcon is a social media management platform that allows you to create posts for social networks on a collaborative content calendar. It integrates with HubSpot, Microsoft, and Salesforce to help users streamline marketing tasks among teams. For a visual to see how Falcon integrates with other software, refer to the photo below:

Source HubSpot customers can use this integration to create audience segments. These segmentations will help you target your customers with social media posts, making sure your content is being seen by the right people. Any changes you make within HubSpot will automatically transfer to Falcon, so you don’t have to worry about manually updating content. There are numerous choices out there for high-quality social media tools. Ultimately, it’s your job to decide which tool is the best fit for your needs, your budget, and your marketing goals. Need a painless way to track your social interactions? Try HubSpot’s social inbox tool today.

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