Well, its just about summer again, which always has me wondering for a few minutes if I should have been a teacher so that I could take the next 3 months off. Then I remember what teachers have to do for the rest of the year and I’m content with my job.
But I do think breaks are important. There are two types I’d like to mention which are important for your business (whether you are an owner or an employee).
The Full-Day Work Break
This kind of break lets you escape the normal routine and confines of the workday, just for a day, and can help your company tremendously. The idea here is to get out of the office, away from your tasks and phone calls, but to still let your mind drift to work-related thoughts.
Getting out of your normal environment can help your brain do the same thing. Not bringing email or a phone with you helps keep you distraction free. Now you can have time to think of bigger-picture problems in a different way, and hopefully see new solutions.
Some sort of exercise helps stimulate thought as well. As your body is engaged let your mind drift to work-related issues and you may see complicated problems begin to simplify and bound up topics begin to unravel.
Take along a piece of paper or a journal and record the solutions you think of during this full-day work break. Make it like a brainstorming session for the general direction of your company – no answer is wrong. Later you can go back and find the ideas that were completely off-the-wall and the ones that have break-inspired genius.
The No-Work Vacation
Sometimes the full-out vacation is the best medicine for both you and your business. Take a huge break, get away from everything work-related both physically and mentally. Get out of the office, out of the city, out of the state. Read More »
Remember when i said that people notice when you’re bad? But that people notice when you’re good too?
Well, some people have been noticing Apt’s new websites are pretty good. The new site I finished up for Leavenworth Summer Theater has been featured on some showcases of great web design, including:
And the new E3 website I created showed up here:
Read More »
Why be good?
Why be good at what you do? One reason is because people notice when you’re bad.
I was reading this article about Design Drop-Down menus and thought about how horrible it would be to have your website listed in the section of “Poorly Constructed Menus.” Or, even worse, to have your logo show up on Your Logo Makes Me Barf.
In today’s world of people being able to instantly post reviews of your company on the internet for the world to see, word-of-mouth is more important than ever. And though the two examples above are from the design industry there are certainly people writing about the bad in your industry as well. Read More »
On April 9th Apt Design is co-sponsoring an event hosted by the Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce, the 90-Minute Marketing Seminar. The presenters are Bill Hoke & Patty Graf-Hoke from Washington State. They will be talking about how businesses and non-profits can continue to market in a continuing hard economy by using cost-effective techniques.
From their materials:
More than 5000 people from Wasilla to Walla Walla, have attended the 90 Minute Marketing Workshops and walked away with practical, common sense strategies to help grow their business or organization. In just 90 minutes (that’s a promise) you will learn the basics for writing your own easy-to-use marketing plan and dozens of proven tactics you can take back and put to work immediately. This fast paced, real-world, hands-on workshop was created especially for small, local businesses and nonprofit organizations that are the backbone of our local economies and communties. For more information and testimonials, please visit www.90minutemarketing.com.
Staying on top of your company’s marketing is more critical now than in times of a booming economy (though you should remember to continue marketing even when things are going well). With many years in the marketing industry under their belts, the Hokes are sure to present a program to help you find the best ways to promote your company or organization. You can find more registration information on the Chamber’s website. I hope to see you at the seminar!
from The Office – “The Fire”
Ryan: Ok. Is it cheaper to sign a new customer or keep an existing customer?
Dwight: Existing
Michael: Shut it, can I just do it please? Um, its equal.
Ryan: It is 10x more expensive to sign a new customer.
Michael: Yeah, ok. Yes. It was a trick question.
Customer service can potentially be the most important thing that you offer your clients, and there is grave danger in not paying attention to your customer.
Not responding to communication, not helping customers to solve their problems, not listening to what they want, or downright ignoring them can be disastrous. Not only may they decide to stop using your services, they may decide to move over to the competition.
Getting new clients and projects is always great and exciting, but remembering to keep your current clients happy can help your business stay stable in the long run.
I haven’t had a copy of Microsoft Office installed on my computer since, well, ever. Many other people besides myself have found freedom in the vast array of alternatives to Office, including Google Docs, OpenOffice, and more.
However, I still had problems when people would send me Publisher files to work with. Especially since Publisher is a layout program and layout is a big part of my job. Unfortuanately no other programs can open .pub files!
Well, now that last piece of the puzzle has been solved. This week I found www.pdfonline.com which allows you to upload .pub files and then converts the file to .pdf for you.
Sweet mama. Thanks PDFOnline!
I spent the day today reviewing Apt Design’s 2008 business year. While I exceeded many of the goals I set at the beginning of the year, there are others I still need to work on. I have revised many of my 2008 goals based on how last year went, and have tried to set realistic yet challenging business goals for 2009.
This year I am also trying to be much more specific in my goals and make actionable to-do items for each one. A few things from my 2009 Goals are:
- Start putting money into a retirement account
- Get better at checking email only twice/day
- Plan specific “Apt Design time” for creative projects, working on the business, brainstorming, etc.
- Enter at least 2 design competitions
- Live more in the moment (got this one from Leo)
How about you? Have you given yourself ample time to review your business and life from last year and create some goals for the new year? Care to share any?
Although December seems like it should certainly be winter we’ve had no snow around here and it still feels very much like fall. On a recent trip around the orchard near my office I grabbed this picture of some apples starting to die on the tree.
In this time of fall and economic deterioration, what kind of business plans are you making for the birth of a new year? Have you marked out time to take a good look at your past year and prepare for the next?
And, have you had your daily walk yet?
My job involves two of my favorite things – music and flow.
What is flow? Flow is getting in the groove, flow is zoning in, flow is tuning out, flow is dropping into your own world and working single-mindedly. While the idea has been around for awhile, flow has recently been showing up on the radar again as an answer to the flaws of multitasking. Here is an excellent article about getting into flow. Once you’re in you will probably find you work better and faster, and get frustrated and overwhelmed less.
And for me an important part of getting into and staying in the flow is having the right music playing. While I love to experience new music, having on songs I’ve never heard before distracts part of my brain into trying to listen and evaluate them. What I look for in flow music are songs that I know and that keep my heartrate up, which helps me stay excited about what I’m doing.
With that in mind I’ve compiled an iTunes playlist of some of my more recent favorite songs for getting into flow. These songs are mostly techno/dance/rock inspired, and should help speed you along as you drop into your own world for a few hours. Here’s the iMix.
How do you get into the flow?
