Productivity Primer

Your guide to getting more done Sarah Hawkins, Process Consultant

True North Business Management

www.truenorthbusinessmanagement.com

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

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What’s a system?

Your business

operations

marketing

Social Media

News letters

website time

money

resource A definition:

BusinessDictionary.com defines a system as “a set of detailed methods, procedures and routines created to carry out a specific activity, perform a duty, or solve a problem.”

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any task or activity that you do on a regular basis should have some

sort of system attached to it, even if -- and maybe especially if -- the “regular basis” is once a year.

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Why use systems?

Save time and energy

Delegate with greater ease

Focus on the work you love

Replicate your business for spinoff

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getting focused: tips Start your day with quiet time:

meditate, journal, yoga

Set your work hours and stick to them

Eat regular meals

Turn off the ringer on your phone, and all other notifications from email, text, social media

Move your body regularly

Brain-dump all of the work you need to do and create a “must-do today” list and work from it

At the end of the day, create your “must do tomorrow” list so you hit the ground running

Move your body regularly

Get at least 7 hours of sleep

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Getting focused: Apps Self Control: free application to

help you avoid distracting websites (Mac)

Cold Turkey: temporarily block yourself off of distracting websites (Windows)

Newsfeed Eradicator: a Chrome extension that replaces your entire Facebook news feed with an inspiring quote

Pomodoro Technique: work intentionally in 25-minute spurts with planned 5-minute procrastination breaks.

Insight Timer: stay in the flow without keeping an eye on the clock. BONUS: a range of soothing chime sounds to choose from

Todoist and Wunderlist for brain dumps and to-do lists

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Calendars & Scheduling

People who are in business for themselves

(whether freelancer, entrepreneur, solopreneur,

small business owner) are famous for

never/rarely taking time off, and resisting

spending time doing things that are not

"business-related."

My message is that it is IMPERATIVE that we

figure out how to incorporate self care (which

includes time off) into our schedules. We can

do this when we get more purposeful about

what we're doing, and how we are doing it.

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calendars & scheduling

Google Calendars

Online booking

forms

Herding the cats

Create multiple calendars (personal, business, family)

and color-code them so you can easily see at a glance

which category the appointment is in.

Make it easy for clients and potential clients to book time

with you with an online booking form. Calendly, Acuity, YouCanBookMe

To find a convenient time for multiple people to attend a meeting or an event, try Doodle.

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Social media Automate and schedule social media posts months in advance using

Hootsuite or Buffer

Systematize your marketing communications by having a plan for when

and what you post. Use a simple word doc or excel spreadsheet or you

can also use a task management system like Asana, or get a little fancier

using one of these editorial calendars.

Keep it simple and pick just one or two social media platforms to play on.

More than that and you spread yourself too thin.

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File management

Dropbox

Google Drive

Evernote

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Keep your files organized and easily accessible using online storage.

With these tools, you’ll be able to access files from anywhere, and

share with clients

Organize and collaborate Document your processes. Create checklists

each time you do a task; refer to them the next time so you don’t miss a vital step.

Record your on-screen processes using screen-recording software such as Jing or Recordit

Batch your tasks. Dedicate blocks of time to similar tasks in order to decrease distraction and increase productivity.

Collaborate with your team and/or clients using project management systems such as Basecamp, Asana, Trello

Use Evernote to store files, checklists, screenshots, and to manage your tasks. Evernote has a Chrome extension for the web called Webclipper that allows you to store information from the internet such as web pages, screenshots, emails. This tool has so much functionality, it’s mindboggling.

With Wunderlist and ToDoist, you can share your to-do lists

Google Alerts: get an email based on your individual search query.

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communicate

Skype

Google Hangouts

Zoom.us

Join.me

Appear.in

Free Conference Call HD

Uberconference

Periscope

Blab

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Try these Teleconference, videoconference, and screensharing apps

Email management

Active Inbox for Gmail has completely changed my life. Turn your emails into tasks and get to Inbox Zero.

Create canned responses to compose replies to common messages, and save them for future use.

Stem the tide of email overwhelm & unsubscribe from multiple lists simultaneously with Unroll.me.

Auto responders: not just for “Out of Office” notifications, they are also useful for letting people know that you received their email and you will reply in #days/hours/whatever. You can also list your FAQs.

Boomerang for Gmail allows you to schedule an email to be sent later, and also will send you follow-up reminders.

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Password management

LastPass saves your passwords,

stores online shopping profiles,

generates long and strong

passwords for you, and will even

allow you to safely share login rights

with fellow LastPass users.

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Client management Create a welcome packet for new

clients. Include all the things they need

to know about working with you: a

welcome letter, policies and procedures,

agreement/contract, an intake

questionnaire, and information on your

referral program. Put all of these items

in a folder on in your Dropbox or

Google Drive called “Welcome Packet”

and share this folder with your clients.

Use a client management system to

keep track of client information.

Satori and vCita are scheduling

systems that also capture client

information at the time of scheduling,

so you’ll have handy client cards to

reference later. Insightly is also a good

option.

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testimonials

Capture testimonials or create surveys using Google Forms (free) or Woofoo (free with a paid option).

Store them in the cloud and use them each time you complete work with a client.

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Financial flows

EchoSign from Adobe or HelloSign with Google integration

Contracts

Invoice to me and Free Invoice Generator (both are free)

Invoice generators

Outright, Freshbooks, and the ubiquitous QuickBooks

Accounting

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• Harvest

• Toggl

• Timelog

Time tracking

Remember the story about the goose that laid the golden egg?

You absolutely must ensure that you’re

taking care of yourself adequately as you build and run your business.

Take time to integrate into your life, and engage in self-care.

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Tending the flame

Get at least 7 hours of sleep each night

Meditate

Journal

Give yourself regular breaks during the day, the week, the month, the year

Go on an annual retreat

Eat healthy meals and snacks.

Exercise – get outside at least 20 minutes a day

Manage your energy. Introverts and Extroverts have different needs. Find out where you fit on the spectrum, and give yourself what you need.

Engage in community, online and in person

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When you’re inspired, you inspire your clients.

Here are some ideas to support you in tending your flame.

Thank you

I hope the tools I’ve shared with you serve as a supercharged launch pad to help you get more done with greater ease.

May your business soar to new heights.

Questions? Comments? Contact me! sarah@truenorthbusinessmanagement.com

Your next steps Go to www.truenorthbusinessmanagement.com and sign up to join the Business Incubation Lab to get your systems sorted before the holidays hit.

The Lab will be open from November 16 through November 20, when I’m running a special challenge to teach you how to implement the right systems for your business.

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Join the incubation lab Visit www.truenorthbusinessmanagement.com to sign up

Thank you

@sarahmartinhawk

truenorthbusinessmanagement

www.truenorthbusinessmanagement.com

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