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What to Consider Before You Upgrade

March 15, 2012 By 6 Comments

I’m always looking for a good deal on office equipment. Who isn’t?

Sometimes I find something for a low price and use the product for years with no problems. But other times a product that I bought at a ridiculously low price breaks constantly and reminds me daily of what a bad deal it was.

Before you spend any money on new equipment or modify your existing equipment, consider a few questions.

Will the new equipment help you save time?

Each month when I see my cell phone bill, I cringe. It’s more than I want to spend, but it’s worth the amount of time my iPhone saves me each month. When my clients need information or photos, or have any questions, I’m able to respond quickly. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Home office technology Tagged With: , , ,

Working Naked Home Office Gift Guide

December 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The holidays are only a few days away and you still don’t know what to buy your favorite home office professional or your own holiday list is still blank?

Whether you’re looking for the perfect gift for a friend, spouse or business associate who’s just started working from home or has worked from home for years, look no further. As a self-proclaimed home office product junkie, I’ve scoured stores — both in person and online — to find the 8 home office must-haves this holiday season.

Click here to see all 8 gift ideas in my guest post for genConnect.

 

 

Filed Under: Home office products, Home office technology, Working at home Tagged With: ,

Just Published: Organize Your Home Office for Success

October 19, 2011 By 9 Comments

Today I’m excited to announce that after spending way too much time at Starbucks, on planes, and locked in my home office working on Organize Your Home Office for Success, the new and improved 4th edition is now available.

This is the ideal e-book (it’s also available in paperback) for entrepreneurs, home-based corporate employees, telecommuters, and stay-at-home moms and dads who need a space to manage a business or run a busy household.

How it all started

Eighteen years ago, I wrote the first edition of this book because I started getting two types of phone calls: one from business owners who wanted individual home office consultations, and the other from people who wanted suggestions for books they could use to organize their home offices on their own.

When I looked for a home office book to recommend, I couldn’t find one. It didn’t exist. There were plenty of home organizing books, but nothing that focused specifically on home offices and the challenges of working from home. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Books by Lisa, Home office organizing, Home office setup, Home office technology, Time mgmt./Productivity, Working at home, Working with clients Tagged With:

How to Take Control Over Your Computer

September 12, 2011 By 8 Comments

Technology is supposed to help you save time and make it easier to keep your business on track.  For most of us, it does, but the reality is that anything with a screen or a power cord is only as effective as the person using it.

Of all of the equipment in my home office, my laptop is the one piece that makes it easier for me to run my business.  While the only problems I’ve had with my laptop have been self-imposed, a computer can offer a few challenges that are easy to overcome.

Challenge #1: Storing too much information on your computer

You can store more data on your computer than in your file cabinets…great. But that doesn’t mean that your hard drive won’t fill up as quickly as your cabinets, which makes it difficult to find the files you [Read more...]

Filed Under: Home office technology Tagged With: , ,

7 Stupid E-mail Mistakes to Avoid

August 11, 2011 By 11 Comments

Stupid e-mail mistakesLast night I decided to give up multi-tasking. I made that decision after I forwarded an e-mail without scrolling down completely and reading the last sentence. As I pushed send, I looked at the last line and let out a loud Nooooooooo!

The friend who had sent me the original e-mail, knowing I was going to forward it, included a smartass sentence at the end. Note to self: read entire e-mails before you forward them.

You’ve heard of what not to wear. There are a few things not to do when you send an e-mail.

Click “reply all”

When the e-mail should go only to the person who sent it, send it to that person only. If you [Read more...]

Filed Under: Home office technology, Working with clients Tagged With: ,

Virtual Backups…Another Way to Protect Your Info

June 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

SugarSync is one way to store you data virtually

You’d think that after I drowned my computer a few weeks ago, I would have moved on. For the most part, I have, but I still can’t help reminding everyone I know about how important it is to backup information often. In another guest blog post, Chelanie Israel shared tips for backing up data. Another way to back up data is through virtual drives. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Home office products, Home office technology Tagged With: , , ,

Save Your Data and Sanity by Backing Up Often

May 18, 2011 By 2 Comments

A few weeks ago when I accidentally drowned my computer with a fresh glass of Crystal Light grape drink, the first person I called was my Mac guru, Chelanie Israel. When I met with her so she could pronounce my laptop officially dead,  I asked her to write a guest post about how to back up data, especially data that’s too valuable to lose.

Guest Post By Chelanie Israel (aka Miss Mac)

Clients often come to me after their hard drive or archive drive has died and when I ask them if they have backup, they give me a “No, of course not…why do you think I came to you?” look.

I can’t stress back up enough.

How often do I backup? Every day, every week, and anytime I’m doing something I don’t want to lose. For me, that’s everything.

I keep three copies of everything and sometimes four if it’s something I just can’t live without (i.e. my client database, the things that help me do my job: passwords, settings, Quickbooks, and the projects I’m currently working on). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Home office technology, Time mgmt./Productivity Tagged With: , , ,

No Use Crying Over Spilled Drinks

May 9, 2011 By 5 Comments

A few days ago when I was finally on a roll and tearing through my To Do list, I reached over to grab something on my desk and knocked a full glass of Crystal Light grape drink into my laptop.

Crap!

A long list of “non-family-friendly” words flew out of my mouth as I grabbed my laptop and turned it on its side. The drink didn’t drip out, it gushed out. For the record, cussing does nothing to dry out your computer, but it may ease the pain a bit.

The next thing I did was to call my Mac guru, Chelanie Israel (“Miss Mac”). She gave me ideas for drying out my computer and told me to call in a few hours if it still didn’t turn on. A few hours later my computer was officially dead, so I scheduled an appointment to meet with Chelanie [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Home office organizing, Home office technology, Making money from home, Working at home Tagged With: , ,

Copyright Does Not Mean Copy RIght

April 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I’ve been using Google Alerts for a few years to keep up on the latest small business and home office news, to make sure I don’t miss any articles written about my business, and to track what’s going on in my clients’ industries.

What I didn’t realize is what a good detective Google Alerts can be.

Last week I opened a Google Alerts email and saw a link for a blog post with a title I’d seen before…on my site. When I clicked on the link I saw a site with several of my blog posts on it and someone else’s copyright at the bottom of the page.

If I were a cartoon character, you would have seen smoke coming out of my ears.

Apparently the owner of the site had no problem taking my hard work and calling it his own. My guess is that he didn’t think he’d get caught. He was wrong. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Home office technology Tagged With: ,

Could Your Web Site Use a Facelift?

April 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

My site has gone through a few transformations or what I like to call facelifts. The design is cleaner, it’s easier to read and is better organized than before.

The truth is that if a Web designer/friend with a keen eye hadn’t picked apart the old design and made me realize that while the site was good, it wasn’t completely functional, I would have kept it the same. I was so closely tied to my site that I didn’t recognize that it could be better.

Take a close look at your Web site and ask yourself a few questions. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Home office technology, Improving your web site, Working at home Tagged With: ,
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