Running a media company – productivity tools we use:

A couple of my friends have asked how we manage time inside our company and how I personally manage my time. To be a successful web entrepreneur managing your time wisely is not an option–it is a prerequisite. You better have a good system in place for managing your remote departments, be social on- and off-line and still have time for strategic development. What I’ve learned through trying many different set-ups is whatever system you use, make sure it provides value and is easy for everyone to use. There is no point in complicated software if nobody checks it or updates it regularly.
My own system is heavily influenced by Getting Things Done and my occasional readings of Lifehacker.com.
Principles I find helpful:
- You must have a trusted Inbox where you can upload everything from your mind You must commit to make this Inbox comprehensive and check it every single day I follow Inbox Zero philosophy: Move quickly without rushing
Process:
My process pretty much follows the GTD philosophy:
- Every morning I start by looking at my Gmail. I am looking first at messages that were not sorted automatically through my filters. I then decide if it is trash, resource, or an actionable item and add an appropriate Gmail label to it.
- I then look through the actionable items and sort them into: scheduled events – schedualed in Google Calendar, context to-do – logged in right away to RMT or full-on projects that need to be logged into Zoho Projects.
- I then look at my “Waiting” label in Gmail and see if I need to follow up with anybody.
- I go throught the list of open projects in Zoho and see what tasks are pending.
- I then brainstorm on what else needs to be done.
- After that process, which takes anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes, the list of tasks is born and logged into Remember the Milk to be synced with my Blackberry that by now has the list of all my apointments, new contacts and urgent task.
Tools:
Microsoft Outlook :
I use it as a Desktop Calendar that gives me reminders when I am at my computer. I also use it as a backup to all of the emails in Gmail.
Google Sync:
I have Sync installed on my desktop, laptop, and Blackberry. This allows me to wirelessly sync all my appointments and contacts between all the devices, so if I put something in my Blackberry it will show up on my Google Calendar and on desktop in my Outlook. For a person that works from any location this service is invaluable. My only pet peeve with it is that it will only sync to your primary calendar.
Google Calendar:
I use this for many reasons: 1) A hub between desktop and Blackberry 2)Ability to quickly share my events with employees and family 3) Ability to see my schedule from anywhere with internet access
Google Docs:
There is a great reason to use Google Docs – portability. There are thousands of ways to sync your documents, but I’ve found that Docs are the easiest way to have your documents wherever you are. With Docs being constantly improved I rarely use Office these days at all. Another reason to use Docs is collobaration. When working with more than 1 person on the same Doc this feature becomes a life saver as you don’t email document back and forth.
Gmail:
For me this is the best email management tools. Portability, labels and filters make it the best tool for me. If for some reason you are new to Gmail read how to become a Gmail Ninja and use filters and labels effectively.
Remember the Milk:
Simply the best task management tool I have ever used. It is very easy to capture and organize your tasks with this tool. You can access your task from anywhere with internet access and my favorite feature is it syncs with my Blackberry. I use it as a gadget to see my Gmail window. Too bad there is no official product that syncs RTM with Outlook.
Blackberry Bold:
After many trials I still prefer Blackberry over Iphone ( I didn’t check the 3GS version yet). I can write a long post on why I still prefer Blackberry, but I won’t. In summary–it is fast and has a keyboard. Due to the awesome aforementioned sync tools my Blackberry contains all of my appointments, tasks, emails and I don’t have to even plug in any cables. Applications I use: Google Maps, TwitterBerry, WeatherEye, Gmail, Gtalk, Fleshlight, FlyCast and of course Facebook
Zoho Projects:
This is where the management of the company happens. While Zoho projects are not the most sophisticated project management system, it is easy to use, economical, and people actually use it. Not only do we schedule all the milestones, deliverables, and documents related to a project, but we also use the forums for communication. That way we eliminate missed emails, and all the communication related to the project is within reach
Pros and Cons
Things I love about my set-up is comprehensivness and portability. The most annoying thing about my set-up is that it has three Inboxes: Gmail, Zoho and RTM. Hence the reason I keep on hoping that RTM, Zoho and Google will include task synching in their products.
I might write a follow up to this post on how I plan and schedule projects in Zoho Projects.
SEO Video by Matt Cuts – Highlights
This video is very good video as it search engines are always developing to combat spammer and help users to find the most relevant information. This video is more an hour long, but I watched it all and here are some highlights if you don’t have time to watch.
Highlights:
- If you have fancy navigation (in flash) make sure that your page is accessible in many ways. Static htmls are the easiest for search engine to crawl
- Alt text on the images is very important. This also correlates with Whiteboard Friday video @ seomoz.org
- Do your keyword research in AdWords you might rank high for a certain word, but there might be a very popular search term in your industry that you are completely missing out on
- Don’t use too much bolding, people can’t read it very well and crawlers might think it is a spam
- Make sure your thumbnails lead to bigger pictures. Google tries to index bigger pictures as this is what users are searching for
- Basic, but make sure your loading time is appropriate. Especially if you want people to access your website from cell phones
- ALWAYS backup your website. Everybody gets hacked, timely back-ups will allow you to quickly restore your website.
- My favourite: best $20 you can spend is by taking a random person, tying your hands behind your back and ask them to use your website
- Before buying a website make sure you check its history. Some urls were owned by spammers, burned to the ground and then put up for sale
Overall great video. It is almost like going for class session on SEO.
Life Equals Risks
It’s been awhile since I wrote. Running a real life business is demanding both emotionally and time wise. Most of the time at the end of the day, after all the battles, I just wanna watch a movie and hit the pillow. The internet business is like anything else in life, if you want to succeed it is not going to be a bed of roses; you will have to work hard and some days you will hate what you are doing.
This time I wanted to write about the emotional part of running any business. After almost a full year of running a business I can say that no business school in the world can teach how to deal with the emotional aspect of starting up the business. Even working in a big corporation and being responsible for bunch of people won’t give an idea what is like to fight for your idea, be responsible for other people’s lives, have fun, make money, and stay sane while doing it.
I think that no matter what business you are starting it won’t go as smoothly as planned and you are likely to run into obstacles that can bring you down. In an internet business like mine where you sell ads you don’t even have a product to sell in the beginning (no page views no sales). We’ve been doing a lot of seeding work and you won’t see the fruits of our labour immediately. We’ve been screwed over by our web company that effectively prevented us for close to a year to start making any money on the website. So how do I personally and the company as a result keep going?
As “Good to Great” states we face the brutal facts and then we still have unconditional belief that with hard work we shall reach our goal no matter what. This is simple advice, but sometimes it is hard to continue believing in yourself when nobody else does, when you family/friends tell you to get a real job and you start doubting yourself. Guess what? This why running a business is not for everybody. This is what separates fighters from wanna-bes. Your ability to not let the emotion take over you, to believe in yourself and continue to push hard is what makes a winner. In anything there is a breaking point where 90% of people will give up and 10% will continue to push, people who push become extraordinary in whatever they do.
We only live once, so I think it is worth figuring out are you a fighter or not? So NEVER and I mean NEVER stop believing in yourself.
