Our first expert for this Q & A segment is sixty4media co-founder, Rebecca Bollwitt. Rebecca has been named one of the Top Ten Women in Vancouver Technology to Watch and one of Canada’s Top Ten Most Influential Individuals in Social Media.

What is your biggest challenge when it comes to staying organized?
Trying not to let things fall through the cracks such as unread emails, which are time sensitive.

How do you define work-life balance?
It’s hard when you work from home but I make it my goal to disconnect as much as possible on the weekends. This means not opening the laptop or logging onto my computer. Things have changed though since I got an iPhone.

Can you think of a time when being organized helped you seize an opportunity?
Usually it’s a matter of catching online conversations at the right time. If I notice something on Twitter and follow up right away, it can lead to a business connection, a contract, or a larger conversation.

How important are deadlines?
Deadlines help keep me organized, although I do have a tendency to leave things last-minute. The rush and crunch helps me focus.

How do you manage and organize yourself on your computer or online?
I would be nowhere without Gmail or Google Calendar. Gmail sorts my incoming email into folders (labels) right away so I can see exactly where the communications are coming from. I also manage all appointments, meetings and speaking engagements on Google Calendar. I have a calendar for business, personal, and one that I share with my husband for family events.

Do you use paper or a digital organizer (Daytimer vs Blackberry/iPhone) and why?
My iPhone helps me run a business from my home or anywhere else. We’re also a Mac-only home office so we had to go Apple with our communications. Favourite apps include the Google App (of course, see my previous response) as well as Tweetie for Twitter. Since I cannot be blogging all the time, posting images and updates on Twitter helps keep the content flowing.

Q. How is social media good for business when people are Tweeting, Facebooking and updating their status about what they just had for lunch? A. Filtering the information is the key to making it useful. You select the RSS streams, Twitter profiles and Facebook friends that you want to follow. If someone is always Tweeting about their lunch, the solution is simple – you would never follow that person in the first place. It’s the same idea as when you watch TV, in that you choose the channel you want to watch – except that you can probably get far more targeted information from scanning relevant status updates online for 10 minutes than from any TV show.

Q. Which tools do you use?

A. I manage several blogs to establish a presence in my chosen fields and build connections with others. I also guest blog on other websites. I use Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. These are the big sites. All of my social networks include both personal and professional connections. Often, there’s overlap, as colleagues become friends.

Q. But which tools are better for business?

A. All of them can be used for business. For instance, anyone can have a Facebook fan page for their business. LinkedIn is handy for building professional connections and finding professional associations. And Twitter is a convenient tool for finding influencers, connecting with them and broadcasting your message.

Q. Maintaining all those networks must be a lot of work. How do you manage your time?

A. Especially for those using social networks for business, the amount of time you use them will depend largely on how you want to use them. For passive connection-list building, a few minutes a day is probably all you need. If you’re using social networks for marketing campaigns, keep a strict schedule.

Social networks often include tools that automate functions, reducing the amount of time you need to spend maintaining them. For instance, you can set up your blog RSS feed (a summary of your most recent posts) to auto-Tweet whenever you publish, and then use Ping.fm to update all of your social networks at once.

Q. How do I de-clutter my social networking profiles?

A. Facebook and LinkedIn both let you customize the look of your profiles. You can select the applications you want and get rid of the rest. For instance, I organize my Facebook profile to show very minimal contact information, some links to my business and articles I’ve written. I keep it minimal to make an easier scanning experience for myself and others.

Social networking, just like email, can get out of control and consume what little time you have. Set your priorities and make social networking a part of your marketing plan, just as you would a face to face meeting or networking event.

Emails demand to be read. Refrigerator doors and bulletin boards become graveyards for lost and forgotten sticky notes. And that million-dollar idea you had during the morning commute? Forgotten in the hectic drama of the first fifteen minutes at the office.

Ballantrae Solutions President Jocelyn Coverdale suggests tech solutions for all of these problems that are easy and inexpensive (or free!) to improve your information’s “findability”.

GTDMail
Imagine that a postal worker comes to your door to deliver your mail. You decide you don’t like most of what he’s got for you, throw most of it at the door and leave it there. You repeat this process every day and soon you’ve got hundreds of unopened letters cluttering your entrance. It sounds ridiculous, but that’s how many people deal (or rather, don’t deal) with their email.

This simple-to-use application is a snap for organizing your email. Create categories like Follow Up, Read and Action for various types of responses you might require. Or create a Snooze folder and just have the email re-delivered to you when it’s convenient or as a reminder. Achieve inbox zero.

Jott
Imagine if you could have a private secretary following you around 24/7 taking dictation from your thoughts. Turn your cellphone into a dedicated personal assistant with Jott. Register for free at Jott.com. Next, record a message for yourself or a reminder for someone else. The message can now be played back as a voice recording in Outlook, or can be automatically transcribed for you to read the note in your email.

Did I mention it’s free to sign up?

Sticky Notes
There’s something awfully strange about putting actual sticky notes on a keyboard or computer monitor. Haven’t we entered the paperless Information Age? There are a wide range of applications offering digital sticky notes that you can put on your desktop without actually adding to your paper clutter. They’re actually better than the real thing, because you can insert functioning hyperlinks and program them to pop up when you think you’ll need them.

A Wired World in Need of Organization
At the office and at home, we’re overwhelmed with information.

• 70 per cent of households have Internet access. Almost half have high-speed Internet connections.
• 51 per cent of adults think computers are now a necessity, not a luxury.
• 51 per cent of adults send and use email every day. About 30 per cent of it is “worthless”, such as junk mail or spam.
• 25 per cent of a professional’s day can be spent reading email.
• 63 million Americans do banking online.
• Almost three quarters of adults use cellphones.

Information courtesy of the Pew Internet & American Life Project

Have you ever gone to a friend’s house or a meeting and thought, I have this great picture I should send you, or I saw this great link last week, it’s in my favorites on my home computer. Remind me to send it to you. Of course you go home, forget the whole thing and never send the email. Wouldn’t it better if you could always get to your stuff online? Here are three FREE tools which I use all the time and allow me to stay focus and organized.

Ma.gnolia
Ma.gnolia is an online bookmarking service. All you need to do is set up your free account, find a website you find worthy of bookmarking and add it to your list. Once you’ve added to your list, you can give it a name or “tag” which makes sense to you. For example if you find a great restaurant in San Francisco, you may want to use the tags, restaurant, food, San Francisco. Next time you are out with friends and someone says, “What’s that fancy restaurant you went to in San Fran?” a quick search of your tags will reveal the url.

Ta-da Lists
Making lists is a great way to get stuff out of your head and onto paper. This not only prompts you to do something, but actually de-clutters your mind from all those tasks. The problem with lists is that those pieces of paper or post-it notes get lost and are hard to update. Using ta-da keeps things much simpler and fun. Setting up a free account takes a few seconds. What better way to keep organized?

Flickr
There are many online tools that allow you to organize your photos and share them with friends and family. I have to admit that I haven’t used all of them and only ever use Flickr. The reason I’ve never been tempted to try any other tool is because Flickr is amazing. With Yahoo behind the company, I also feel confident that they will be there for a while. The basic Flickr account is free and allows you to upload 100MB worth of photos per month. Once you have your account set up you can organize your photos in sets. Instead of sending a bunch of emails with attachments that will clog people’s inbox, you can then just send them a link such as “check out my photos from my Berlin trip.” Best of all, once they are online, there is no need to keep them on your hardrive.

Our city recycling programs have come a long way in making it easier for us to recycle paper and plastics, but there are may items that do not go into the Blue Box.

If recycling or donating eases your conscience and allows you to let go of items cluttering your home and work spaces easer, you may want to consider the following alternatives.

Batteries
Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC)
recycling@rbrc.com
1.800.822.8837
Accepts common rechargeable batteries. Collection depots at A&B Sound,
Blacks Photography, Canadian Tire, Cell City Communications, Future Shop, London Drugs, Mountain Equipment Co-op. No Fee.

BC Digital Divide
info@bcdigitaldivide.org
A non-profit organization whose mission is to provide the opportunity to get a computer to those who are not able to afford one. Visit the website to apply for or to donate a computer.

Cell Phones
Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC)
recycling@rbrc.com
1.800.822.8837
Vancouver depots at London Drugs, Mountain Equipment Co-op, the Source By Circuit City, The Bay, Staples Canada/Business Depot outlets. No Fee.

Computers for Schools
mwaddington@cfsbc.ca
604.250.9936 or 1.877.250.9936

The Computer for Schools (CFS) program is a national, federal government-led program that operates in cooperation with all provinces and territories. The program collects surplus computers from government and private sector sources and distributes them to schools, libraries and non-profits throughout Canada. Computer workshops are staffed by volunteers who clean, refurbish and prepare computers for delivery. CFS has provided more than 750,000 computers since it was founded in 1993.

They are seeking equipment donations of PIII-800MHz CPU or better, with hard drive/memory intact, and CD-Roms. Working SVGA or flat panel monitors. Working printers (toner too!) Peripherals such as scanners, speakers, projectors, servers, etc.

Recycling Council of British Columbia
rcbc@rcbc.bc.ca
604.732.9253 or 1.800.667.4321

A non-profit organization working towards waste avoidance. Supports waste management solutions by conducting research, facilitating the exchange of ideas and providing information services.

The Cinderella Project
info@thecinderellaproject.com
604.603.9155
The Cinderella Project provides underprivileged high school graduates – girls and boys (Cinderfellas) – from the Greater Vancouver area with formal attire so they can attend their graduation festivities with pride. School counsellors, teachers, principals or social services agencies throughout the Lower Mainland refer students to the organization. A Boutique Day is held each Spring where each grad selects a gown, suit or tuxedo, shoes, purse and accessories. Students also have their hair and makeup done.

Third World Eye Care Society
eyecare@twecs.ca
604-874-2733

The Third World Eye Care Society consists of eye care professionals and individuals who collect used eyeglasses from the public and travel to Third World countries providing free eye care and eyeglasses to the poor.

Many of these resources are drop off options and may not offer pick-up service. If time is what you are short of and space is what you crave, we are a believer of bringing in the experts to get the job done. Avoid the procrastination trap of deferring to ‘later’.

Thomas of Fresh Start Recycling and Disposal is our action partner in getting your piles to the right recycling or donation resource.

We are continually searching for local community recycling and donation resources. Please forward your favourite recycling or donation centre to Out of Chaos, as we are continually adding to our online Recycling and Donation Resources List.

For more resources, visit our website.

How many times does something come to mind that prompts you to not forget to send a message to someone tomorrow, or the next week about…?

With the use of the Message Options from your Outlook email, you can create an email message as it occurs to you and remove that nagging flag you have in your mind (a mental to-do list you do not need to start).

1. Create a new email, as you normally do.
2. Before selecting Send, from the toolbar, select the Options button.
3. The following Message Options dialogue box will appear:
   
4. From the third section Delivery Options you will have four check box options to choose from.
5. Click on the check box for Do not deliver before:.
6. Once you check off this box option, the two text boxes to the right become active.
7. Click the down arrow to the right of the first text box and a calendar drops down for you to select a date that your email can go out.
8. The next text box gives you the option of selecting a specific time for your email to go out on the date that you selected in step 7.
9. Click the Close command to finish.

Using the Do not deliver before Option gives you the option of sending out emails when you are not at your computer or even out of your office. You will notice that the emails that you delay sending are kept in your Outbox folder until the specified date and time. Keep in mind that your computer and Outlook program must be up and running in order for the email to be sent.

This is a simple step to introduce into your daily routine, which will allow you to create your emails as they occur to you, removing them from your mind, and deferring them to the appropriate date and/or time to send.

Stay tuned over the next couple of issues for hints on taming your paper mail and voice mail.

How would you feel coming home to this mounting pile at your door every day? A bit overwhelming, isn’t it? Where would you begin to organize?

Many of you face this scenario every day, but instead of your physical mail, it is in the form of your email. Consider adopting one of the following tips to help you clear out your Outlook email clutter.

1. Create folders under your Inbox to help sort your incoming mail into categories.

• Right click at your Inbox folder, select New Folder, in the text box of the Create New Folder command box – create a name for your new folder, click on the OK command.

2. Create rules so that Outlook can divert incoming email into designated folders according to who sent them or other criteria appropriate to a specific project or subject.

• Click the Tools option from your Outlook Toolbar, select Rules and Alerts, then E-mail Rules.
• Click New Rule, select ‘Start from a blank rule’, click ‘Check messages when they arrive’.
• Click Next and select an option from the list that is appropriate for the emails you want to divert.
• If an underlined value appears in the Step 2 window, click it to define that option (example – when selecting the option ‘From people or distribution list’, you can designate a specific email you receive messages from).
• After clicking Next, you can continue to define where you want these emails to be diverted to (example – diverted from your Inbox and directly into a specific Folder under your Inbox Folder).
• Give your rule a name in the final set-up window.
• Select ‘Turn on this rule’ and ‘Run this rule now on messages already in “Inbox”‘.
• Click Finish and watch as your Inbox gets cleaned out.

This option is handy for newsletters that you subscribe to and want to keep in a folder to read later and not leave in your Inbox.

3. Flag emails so that you do not forget to follow-up on actions.

• Right click on the email, select Follow up.
• Select Add Reminder and from the Flag to list, select an action like Follow up, Read, or Reply.
• From the Due by list – choose a date to complete this action.

An alarm will sound and a pop-up window will appear to flag you into action.

Note that instructions indicated here relate to Outlook 2003.

Chu’sing a Solution…
Naming conventions for your folders have you creating a word to describe your email contents, which in turn are then automatically sorted alphabetically from A to Z. What if you have a particular project folder that requires top priority and supersedes the traditional A to Z listing under your email Inbox? What if you wanted the folder named Important Project to be filed before the A and not after the H folders? (follow me?)

Name your folder by starting with a symbol like *, or a number. Notice how symbols and numbers are filed before the A to Z convention.

So, now you can create a folder like *Lead Follow-up and have this folder appear as the first folder, right under your email Inbox.

1. Use Shortcuts. For files that you use frequently, create a folder on your desktop that contains just the shortcut to that file. This will allow your computer to run quicker, because of not having the whole file on the desktop, but also cleans up and organizes your desktop screen.

2. Mouse and Keyboard. Use equipment that you enjoy using. You spend up to 8 hours per day on your computer. Lost productivity, increased stress, and physical discomfort are results of having the wrong keyboard and mouse for you and your working position. Use an ergonomic keyboard to prevent carpel tunnel syndrome. An optical mouse moves smoothly, and does not need cleaning. A foot rest will relieve stress to the spine and neck.

3. Use a Headset. If you are in a position where you use the phone for extended periods of time or receive many calls during the day, a headset will make you life better. Simple as that. Wireless or wired, it’s a small adjustment that has great benefits.

4. Be very selective about downloading and installing software. All software should be verified first with your systems administrator for compatibility and security. Even seemingly innocent free software can seriously compromise your system, resulting in downtime, and lost productivity. Incompatible software will negatively impact your computers performance.

5. Back up. Back up. Back up. There is a common expression amongst computer professionals, “It’s not if you will lose your data, it’s when you will lose your data”. A professional and reliable backup system is an absolute requirement for any business. Your system administrator should ensure that the backups are not only being made each night, but that they are tested regularly to insure their functionality when they are needed. The backups should ideally be kept offsite, or at the very least in a fire and water proof safe.