Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

Honing Your Entrepreneurial Skills: Productivity

Given that I recently moved into a new office and it’s the end of the year, I thought that now would be an ideal time to tune up my productivity as a small business owner. My enhancements fall into four categories, including built-in exercise, time-saving office equipment, efficiency apps, and streamlined processes.

Built-in Exercise

My holiday gift to myself this year was a treadmill desk. The desk allows me to easily get in 10,000 steps a day without having to schedule in a trip to the gym or even a walk around the neighborhood. Now, Alyson Shontell at Business Insider used a treadmill desk from LifeSpan for a whole day and said it negatively impacted her productivity because she was so exhausted. I’m not surprised. It’s all about moderation, so in 2015, I will use the desk during busywork periods (answering emails, submitting invoices, making administrative calls, etc.). I have a regular computer desk for periods of intense, focused work.

Time-Saving Office Equipment

You already know that I’m a spokesperson for Canon, and as such, the company sent me a new Canon Maxify printer designed specifically for small business owners. I don’t employ a full-time assistant, so printing and scanning tasks can be laborious – not to mention a time and productivity suck. The best thing about the Canon Maxify is its speed: in just a minute or so it churned out a 20-page client contract. The Maxify also allows me to send documents to print from any location in the cloud, so I can take care of my printing and scanning tasks while on the go.

Efficiency Apps

The iPhone App Store is always full of interesting finds, and this year I’m adding Dashlane and Gmail Canned Responses to my repertoire. Dashlane, which is free, automatically logs you onto websites so you never have to remember individual passwords. Its security seems pretty robust, as I’ve already received an alert that one of my passwords was potentially compromised. As for Gmail Canned Responses, I learned about this from CNET’s Nicole Cozma and don’t know how I lived without it for this long. The Canned responses feature lets you compose replies to common messages you receive and saves them for future use so that in just few clicks, you can insert one of your pre-written replies. I tend to get asked the same questions over and over, so this tool was invented for me!

In 2015, I’ll also continue to use my go-to efficiency apps of Dropbox (cloud-based storage), Doodle (online meeting coordinator), Evernote (note-taking and content-clipping), and If This Then That (social media coordination).

 

Streamlined Processes

 

As a small business owner, three major time management pitfalls are small-task procrastination, working on tasks outside my expertise, and managing my finances. For 2015, I’m implementing a few processes that I anticipate will double my productivity in these areas. First, I’ll increase my use of the “Under 10 Minutes rule.” The rule states that if a task arrives in my queue and it can be completed in less than 10 minutes, I take care of it right away. I’ll also use TaskRabbit, a tool that quickly locates experts on a variety of topics and can also provide administrative support in case, for example, I need someone to help me respond to media pitches. I also plan to expand my usage of Intuit’s Quickbooks, Quickbase, and Mint products in order to better keep track of the money coming in and the money coming out, as well as my client engagements and budgets.

Please check out the first and second posts in this series on business acumen and self-discipline, and stay tuned for the last one, which will include advice on enhancing your reliability.

Canon will be spotlighting several small business owners on its social media channels throughout the next several months, so be sure to leave a comment and share your thoughts on this post using the hashtag #MAXIFY in order to qualify. If you are a U.S.-based small business owner (1-9 employees) and have faced a unique business challenge in your first year on the job, let us know! We’d love to hear what line of work your small business falls within and what you feel is the most important takeaway from this post.

We’ll also be rewarding select small business owners with a prize pack including the Canon Maxify MB5320 printer as well as other essentials to help you run your business more efficiently. So don’t forget to leave a link to your website or social media pages that way we can see how well you’re marketing your business and get in touch!

Who's Better at Business? The Answer May Surprise You

Entrepreneurs under the age of 30 are seeing more growth in their businesses than any other age group, according to the fifth annual DNA of an Entrepreneur report by Hiscox, a global specialist insurer serving the small-business community.

These small-business owners, members of Generation Y, were also most likely to report growth in their businesses over the past year (77 percent) and are optimistic about the year ahead (65 percent). In contrast, more than half (60 percent) of entrepreneurs age 60 and up reported negative revenue growth, or no revenue growth at all, over the past year and 40 percent weren't optimistic about the year ahead. 

The differences seen in the study between the two age ranges are significant. But what’s behind them? Entrepreneurship is a difficult road fraught with emotional and financial challenges, so what’s in Gen Y’s blood that makes members of this generation more likely to succeed?

Bullishness Toward Innovation

Younger small-business owners are driving innovation in their respective fields, with 41 percent of those 30 or younger creating new products in the past year, compared with 20 percent or less of all respondents 30 years or older. We know that in the world of entrepreneurship, you have to be content to throw lots of ideas against the wall and expect only one or two to stick. This mindset is second nature to Gen Y-ers, who tend to be more agile and comfortable with change. Their small-business cultures reflect the fact that they are happy to abandon the status quo if it’s not working, and are always looking to discover the next big idea. 

Freedom To Be Workaholics

Fifty-nine percent of Gen Y entrepreneurs cited increased stress levels in the recent past—the highest percentage of any age demographic—and 12 percent took no vacation days at all this year. But younger business owners can afford to be overly focused on work and its related complications because the other areas of their lives typically don’t take up as much mental real estate (e.g., most don’t yet have elderly parents or young children). Your average Gen Y place of business, for example, is likely to be empty at 9 a.m. but buzzing at 9 p.m. Contrary to popular belief, there’s no issue with the Gen Y work ethic when that person is passionate about his or her job.

For more, head over to the AMEX Open Forum.

Bring Back the Lunch Break!

A recent Robert Half/OfficeTeam study found that nearly half of workers either don't take lunch breaks or take breaks that last 30 minutes or less. Many workers also spend their time multitasking while they eat. More than four in 10 (42 percent) reported that, aside from eating, they spend this time socializing with colleagues, while 29 percent admitted they do work during lunch breaks.

Why has the traditional lunch hour diminished so significantly? The obvious culprit is technology.  Now that it’s easier to keep typing away while we eat, we feel freer to do so. In fact, only a tiny 1 percent of survey respondents said they do nothing but eat their lunch.

A secondary cause is a dysfunctional culture. Some organizations are so competitive that employees feel they must work around the clock in order to keep their jobs and get ahead. They view taking a well-deserved lunch break as a sign of weakness or laziness.

In a business world that's more stressful than ever, putting in long hours without a break is bad for health, morale and productivity. How can owners and managers help turn things around?

Walk the Talk

Instead of paying lip service to the idea of taking a break, let your employees see you doing it yourself. Come on, it won’t kill you. As Robert Hosking, executive director of OfficeTeam, says, “Lunch breaks are a time to get in the proper nutrients and give your brain a rest—and that means you’ll have the energy and focus to get through the rest of the day.” This applies to you as well as your team.

Make It a Communal Affair

Put a big table in your break room or kitchen area and hold court there every day at lunchtime. Encourage your employees to join you. Show them that hanging out with colleagues (and yes, even the boss) and interacting on a personal level can be a fun way to pass the workday and get to know each other better. These gatherings can also spark creativity and innovation in your business.

For the rest of my tips, head on over to the AMEX Open Forum.

 

How to Love What You Do

Although my friends sometimes accuse me of being unromantic, I don’t believe in the concept of soulmates. I just don’t think that there is one person out there with whom we are destined to spend our lives. Rather, I feel that there are a number of people out there who could make us happy.

It’s the same thing with careers. Far too often, I see people putting unimaginable pressure on themselves as they struggle to find their one true passion. But in fact, it’s likely that they could be satisfied doing a variety of jobs. A better solution is often to love what you do instead of endlessly striving to do what you love.

Marty Nemko is a friend of mine and a pioneer in the advice space. I have been reading his work for years, and I’ll never forget one article he wrote for Kiplinger.com. In the piece, Nemko agrees with me that finding career contentment is often a matter of diving in wholeheartedly into the job you have, or the best job that’s available to you. He suggests that the best path for most people is to pick a practical career with the following characteristics:

• Moderately challenging
• Meaningful work
• A kind, competent boss
• Pleasant co-workers
• Learning opportunities
• Reasonable pay
• Reasonable work hours
• A short commute

Nemko says that a job with even half of these will make you more likely to love your job than if you had pursued a long shot career. He illustrates the idea with the story of Gary, a mentee who recently graduated from Michigan State with no clue what he wanted to do. His cousin told him that a job was open in a dashboard manufacturing plant. Gary wasn’t passionate about dashboards; who is? But he was tired of living on his parents’ sofa, so he took the job.

Because Gary was bright and curious, he asked lots of questions and soon became the go-to guy on the factory floor. Soon after that, Gary got a promotion and a raise and felt genuinely excited about his future in the industry.

Apparently, feeling expert at something – even something as mundane as dashboards – and being recognized for that expertise, is more likely to create career passion than going after a pipe-dream career.Here are some tips for loving what you do and creating a more meaningful work experience where you are.

Jumpstart your engagement

Imagine you are one of the hundreds of people who apply for jobs with your organization every day. What is going through these candidates’ minds? What do they view about your job as desirable? Think back to when you first started your job. Pretend it’s your first day and echo your initial enthusiasm for your work. -

For more tips, check out the full post at Intuit's Fast Track blog.

Flexible Job Pitfalls to Avoid

If you are lucky enough to have a flexible work arrangement while raising a family, starting your own business, etc., you really have it made. The last thing you want to do is unwittingly put your job in jeopardy because you start to get too comfortable. Here five flexible job pitfalls to watch out for:

Taking Your Situation for Granted

If you’ve had a flexible job for a year or more, it’s easy to forget exactly how desirable your arrangement is. Because the grass is always greener, you’re envious of other people and lose sight of the fact that 90% of employees would kill for your set-up. You stop expressing gratitude and appreciation to your employer, and start complaining more.

Getting Lazy

Because you don’t have a boss watching your every move, and because no one will notice if one little deadline slips, you stop working as hard as you usually do. You don’t put as much energy and thought into your assignments, and the quality of your work suffers. Don’t let your flexible job turn you into a lazy professional.

For more pitfalls, have a look at the full post at the FlexJobs blog.

The Coolest New Trend in Office Space

The pond is cool and still. The trees sway gently. The walking paths curve invitingly over rolling green hills. Every now and then, some form of wildlife peaks out to catch some sun.

No, it’s not a nature preserve. It’s the grounds of your average suburban corporate headquarters. And chances are, there are no people milling about. The place is completely deserted because the employees are hiding out in the sterile, overly air-conditioned office buildings. What is wrong here?

At NeoCon, the annual contract furniture industry exposition in Chicago, someone recently dared to ask: Why don’t developers make better use of the premium outdoor space that surrounds their properties?

As Elijah Brumback, a reporter for Michigan Business, writes, “Over the years, companies have concentrated on how work is accomplished within an office. But while they’ve provided new office designs to accommodate the mobile workforce, they haven’t paid the same attention to spaces outside the office buildings.”

Furniture and industrial designers, however, are now illustrating the value of outdoor office space. Instead of treating it as an afterthought, they are considering what kind of work can be done outdoors and how products can meet the needs of a workforce that is increasingly diverse, digitized and on-the-go.

Well Design’s Workaway outdoor pod, for instance, offers an alternative to the cramped cubicle with a cut-out cubic design that can be positioned in parks, plazas and anywhere in between. It features a built-in seat, a work surface and shade, is equipped with WiFi, and can be reserved ahead of time by checking in on a smartphone app.

Outdoor workspace offers the fresh air and change of scenery known for helping humans be more productive. It sounds appealing, but is it right for your company?

Before hopping on this latest trend, think through the pros and cons as discussed over at the AMEX Open Forum.

Why You SHOULD Pull An All-Nighter

My editor at Penguin just sent me a new book she worked on called The 24-Hour Genius: Unlocking Your Brain’s Potential with Strategic All-Nighters, by Eric Epstein. The title and the cover of the book are very effective in that I understood the central premise as soon as I picked it up. And I immediately thought: “oh no they didn’t.”

How can this be good advice?

I have never pulled an all-nighter. Yes, you read that correctly. Never. Not in high school, not in college, and certainly not at work. The closest I came was working the press room at an annual tech user conference until 3AM, after which I sped back to the hotel and promptly slept five hours.

Because I’m pathologically organized and an extreme advance planner, I’ve never had to stay up all night to finish a project or meet a deadline. And until reading Epstein’s book, it never occurred to me that I should choose to. Epstein doesn’t advocate a lifetime of sleep deprivation, but he does suggest that a strategically timed all-nighter every now and then can lift your career to new heights.

For more on this point of view as well as my take, check out the full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog.

Why You Should Keep Your Personal Life Out of the Office

Only nearly 10 years later am I ready to admit how much work time I spent planning my wedding. It was just so easy to procrastinate by surfing the Web for flower ideas and bridesmaid dresses. And the caterer could only chat with me during business hours, so…

The biggest time suck is…your life

Although work/life boundaries are more blurred than ever, spending too much work time on personal tasks will lead you to be much less productive. Here is where I expect you’re ready to quibble with me. Since we now check work email at home and finish work-related tasks after our kids go to sleep, shouldn’t we be able to borrow some time back at the office?

The short answer is yes, except it’s a slippery slope because we do not limit the time we borrow back. At all. From what I’ve seen, many people will spend exactly as much work life on personal tasks as they can get away with and others will simply not pay attention. From chatting away to a spouse and scheduling a doctor’s appointment to researching a vacation and buying a new grill for the weekend barbecue, it’s easy to use upwards of a quarter of work time engaged in tasks that have nothing to do with the job.

For advice on how to achieve the right balance, check out the full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog.

7 Ways to Maximize Commuting Time

The average American professional spends over an hour a day commuting. For most, that time involves listening to music, reading the paper, staring out the window, or sleeping. However, whether you drive or take public transportation to the office, your goal should be to leverage your commuting time so that you can spend fewer hours working. Here are some recommendations to that effect.

1. Listen to industry podcasts or webinars. There’s no end to the professional development options available online for instant download, and many are low-cost or free. Instead of taking time out of the office to attend a course or workshop, fire up an audio recording on your smartphone, iPod, or tablet and learn about a new skill or trend while you travel.

2. Replace your entertainment or daily newspaper with a relevant trade. Reading about celebrities is fun, and it’s certainly useful to keep up with the news in your area. But how about taking along one of those industry-related publications that has been sitting on your desk for weeks? If it’s the only piece of reading material in your bag, you’ll be more likely to at least peruse it, and a hard copy won’t hurt your eyes, like squinting at the type on your phone or tablet can. However, we do think The Fast Track looks pretty nice on a mobile device.

3. Hold on-the-go conference calls. If you are in a situation where talking aloud won’t disturb fellow passengers, schedule calls during your commute so that you don’t have to do them at the office. Just be careful that you aren’t too distracted by the conversation to drive responsibly.

Like what you've read so far?  Check out the full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog.

How to Be Happy Working Alone

Many would-be solopreneurs look forward to the day they can kiss their company’s bureaucratic (or dysfunctional, oppressive, frenetic) culture goodbye. They look forward to the day when they can sit in a home office in their pajamas all day and be completely divorced from any type of culture. 

The only problem is, culture is always there—even when it’s you and nobody else but you. And if you want to be happy working alone, there are steps you must take to ensure that you’re creating a culture conducive to your success. 

The first step is to recall the enjoyable aspects of prior workplace cultures and try to incorporate them into your routine. As an example, my favorite part of going into a large corporation every day was lunch out. I liked the way it broke up the day and encouraged me to develop more meaningful relationships with my co-workers. 

So, when I started my own business in 2008, I began scheduling weekly lunches in downtown Chicago with various networking contacts, and I also signed up for one educational conference per quarter. My culture-of-one continually exposed me to new people and ideas that energized me and kept me from becoming too isolated. Here are some other ways to create a rewarding solopreneur culture:

Create Your Own Mission Statement 

The worst mistake you can make is to set off on your own without a plan. An important mentor of mine, Stephen Covey, taught me to be purposeful about my work and to think hard about what I wanted to be (character), what I wanted to do (contributions), and the values I held dear. Make sure you’ve formalized your thoughts on paper so they will always guide your business’ direction. Share your mission statement with partners and clients and solicit their feedback.

Set Concrete Deadlines Every Week

Succeeding as a solopreneur requires a tremendous amount of discipline, and creating and sticking to a weekly to-do list will help you maintain a stable and productive culture. I take it a step further and assign days of the week to accomplish various tasks. For instance, Mondays are my writing days, Tuesdays are my marketing days and Fridays are my administrative and finance days.

For more tips, check out my Culture Beat column on the AMEX Open Forum.