Today's post is from Maren Kate, an entrepreneur who blogs about starting a small business, living extraordinarily and escaping the 9 to 5.

I always hear the stand by "You shouldn't live to work, instead work to live". It's true, I guess, but it always confused me because I truly love what I do, so I have no interest in just working to live, instead I love to work. Now to some this is a sign of workaholicism - but I disagree. I feel like calling productivity a disease is kind of silly in the first place - I mean if you love what you do, are happy and not only aren't hurting anyone but you're adding to the world - how can that be wrong? It's like saying that Mother Teresa was a compassionaholic or that someone who loves to write day in and day out is a proseaholic. So loving-work-aholics, unite, it's our time to shine and to show the world that work doesn't always have to be tedious and with a little creativity & persistence it can actually be one of the best parts of your life.

How to Love What You Do

1. Do you do what you love?

It's a basic concept. If you hate numbers and you work as an accountant you're going to hate your job and most probably your life. If you love writing and you work as a blogger you're going to enjoy life and feel as if you're job adds value to your overall existence. So ask yourself, if I could do anything in the world & get paid a decent wage for it - what would I do? Then figure out a way, come hell or high water, to do just that.

2. Don't get mired in the things you hate within your business.

Too often entrepreneurs start a business based around what they love, but within a few months are hating their lives. The problem is that instead of doing what they love in their business they've tried to become everything to everyone. Thus the artist starts balancing the books, making sales calls and learning HTML when all she wanted to do was paint. Make sure that when you start a business you either A. love the admin side of things or B. find someone who can do that for you while you focus on what you love and are great at.

3. Love where you work.

I had a job as a receptionist over summer break when I was 18. It wasn't a hard job and for the most part I liked the answering phones and filing a bit, but I went home every night crying. Why? Because I hated (with a capital H) where I worked. It was a window-less, cubicle, cell of death, nothing but white walls surrounded me and the horrible lights above me made me literally ill. If I had been doing that same job next to a bright open window, with warm wood walls and a cool summer breeze blowing in - I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have minded it at all. Loving where you work is incredibly important, especially when you are work shifting from a typical 9 to 5 into a career or business where you have freedom of location. Choose wisely, pay attention to your inner aesthetic needs and you'll find yourself 100 times more productive and happy at work.

Making the shift

Shifting from living to work to loving to work isn't an easy one, that's why so few people do it. Most people won't leave their comfort zones or force themselves to truly consider what they would be happy doing. Call it fear, call it negative self image, call it whatever you want - the point is that it's prevalent in our society. So to be different, will be difficult. But the pay off is oh, so worth it. Think of it this way - if you love to work you'll be 5 to 10 times more productive, easily. So you could cut your 8 hour work day into a few hours and still have the same results when you start loving your work vs. when you live to work you'll try to put off your work as long as possible. So you can slave away in a 9 to 5 for the next 30 years, living to work and not be very happy - or you could take a year to figure out what would really make you love to work and do that for a fraction of the time for probably the same, or more financial reward. When you love your work your whole world gets better!

Today's post is from Josiane Feigon, author of the bestselling book Smart Selling on the Phone and Online, the sourcebook for inside sales. Her Cubicle Chronicles blog is voted among the top 25 sales blogs. She is founder and CEO of TeleSmart Communications, a 20-year veteran and thought leader of the industry, Josiane is recognized as one of the world's leading experts on inside sales team and manager talent, providing consulting, coaching, and training solutions for hundreds of Fortune 1000 companies. Visit Josiane's website: www.tele-smart.com to read her blog, purchase her book, and download her latest e-books and white papers.

Today's post is by Tracey Webb, a 25-year business veteran with a depth of experience in high-tech, health care, software, and financial services segments. Having worked for global enterprises like Xerox, IBM, as well as some of the largest international learning and development organizations, Tracey has a long track record of producing success for her clients. Currently, she serves as the Director of Consulting Services for Cox eLearning Consultants.

For those of us who have spent years pouring over training manuals, being master-trained, or serving as master trainers, the advent of the virtual classroom can present a horse of another color (to quote that wonderful line from The Wizard of Oz).  We spent countless hours making notes and creating visuals (flip charts and PowerPoints) to use with our students.  Our goal:  to keep our students engaged and to make certain that they learned the material.  

What are the parallels between teaching in the virtual classroom and delivering training in a brick and mortar setting?  There are an abundance of skills that transfer between both mediums.  First of all, instructors have to know the material "cold" as we use to say in the training medium.  There is nothing worse than listening to an instructor who is obviously reading from the training manual.  The same is true in the world of the virtual classroom:  it is obvious when a facilitator is reading from a script, even if there is no visual.

The key to avoiding the boring "talking head" syndrome is to become extremely familiar with the material by making the contextual connections that make sense to us as trainers.  We might not use this color commentary in the deliver, but it helps us make the material "our own" so that the delivery is more natural.  

The Post-it technique works wonders in the live classroom as well as in the virtual "room".  As you are reviewing the instructor's training manual, PowerPoints, or other medium, you use no more than three Post-its per page to summarize the three key points that you must convey from that section.  This forces the brain to synthesize the material.

The next skill that is equally useful in both the virtual and the non-virtual classroom is the art of building in points of interaction.  Where do you ask a question?  How can the question be phrased in a provocative manner to illicit interest, responses, and discussion.  No one wants to listen to a talking head without some variation in the delivery.  Involving the audience is one of the easiest means of breaking up the delivery modality.  

Modern virtual platforms allow for a great deal of interaction between the instructor and the student and among the students themselves, such as in separate chats or break out groups.  These are the same tools that instructors use in a live classroom when they ask the group to break up into smaller sub-segments and to report back to the group at large.   This skill is very useful in the virtual classroom as long as the instructor becomes very familiar with the technological attributes of the selected e-learning platform.

There are two major differences between facilitating an on-line session and teaching in a virtual classroom.  

1.    Voice pitch, tone, and diction become even more critical in an on-line delivery session.  We have to test our voices and delivery through recorded medium to ensure that we are varying our tone.  In fact, one very useful technique is to use Post-it notes of a different color than those used for summary points as described above.  This other note color is used sparingly to make notes about tone (indicated where to emphasize a point by raising or lowering our voice for example) and about verbal content ("tell a short story" here or "make an analogy here").  This "coding" helps us remember that we have to be verbally interesting otherwise the delivery will fail.

2.    Pause a bit more to allow transmission of the data so that you are not verbally "running into yourself."  There is nothing more distracting than an instructor who is moving too fast through on-line material--faster than the students can absorb it.  Remember, in the on-line world, when you put up a slide, people really do try and read it--or at least most of it because the visual distraction of the live presenter is absent.  They focus on the material.  

The key to successful on-line delivery and facilitation of training content is to be mindful of the benefits and the challenges with technology.  The successful instructor understands that presenting in cyber-space requires that their voice, word choice, and intonation carry the weight of the delivery.  In other words, their voice is a very important vehicle for influencing the outcome of the training.  They also have to spend considerable time melding the content with the technology to ensure that interaction, engagement, and interest are maximized.

What do you think?


Photo Credit: Mr Flip

Hello workshifters! We rarely ask for your help, but this is a pretty special opportunity. We're asking for it particularly as this will continue to spread the word on workshifting. It's also for our amazing friends at Citrix Online, co-founders and power behind Workshifting.com. So please help us keep the lights on around here, and consider voting.

Enterprise 2.0 is the leading conference and expo for organizations using collaborative technologies to accelerate information flow and drive revenue.  This forum is for key decision makers to see the range of technology available to add to their business but, often times, learning how to integrate technology effectively is a piece left out of the puzzle. With a new generation of workforce coming up, primarily made up of Millennials, organizations are now in a position to shift their structures to support the new generation's approach to work. There is a real need for educating companies on how to harness new technologies for this workforce, understanding that many of them are embracing the idea of workshifting.  

So what's next?  

Citrix Online's VP and CTO, Bernd Christiansen has been nominated to speak on how to drive adoption and organizational change in a way that encourages a more efficient, agile and highly productive workforce. He hopes to share the company's views on how technology can be leveraged to enable the next generation workforce, understanding and adapting to Gen Ys and Millennials' different work styles and approaches to work.  He will discuss how behaviors beyond the office are impacting the way the next generation workforce likes to operate: less hierarchy, more collaboration, less process and more results. Bernd's session will look at new work styles and how smart companies can support this change through technology and figure out how it can be leveraged to enable, as opposed to distract, employees -- the key to succeeding as a 'Next Gen Enterprise."

Your vote will help put Bernd's speakership entry and workshifting in front of the official voting committee. Please register and vote for Bernd.


Photo Credit: Lakeandlocal

This afternoon's post is from Tracey Webb, a 25-year business veteran with a depth of experience in high-tech, health care, software, and financial services segments.   Having worked for global enterprises like Xerox, IBM, as well as some of the largest international learning and development organizations, Tracey has a long track record of producing success for her clients.  Currently, she serves as the Director of Consulting Services for Cox eLearning Consultants

I can remember the first formal training session that I attended at Xerox over 20 years ago.  Xerox was and still is a big proponent of training its people.  There was a huge complex in Leesburg, Virginia which rested like a monolith hidden in the woods, which included a veritable army of people in Xerox's training division.  The firm poured untold resources into sending its people to the training mecca for an in-person deep dive into various forms of skill and knowledge transfer.

The trek to Leesburg began from all over the country.  There were personnel involved in scheduling at the local branch level and at the training center in Leesburg.  Room assignments, airplane tickets, ground transportation, and of course the famous cafeteria!  The gravy budget alone must have been in the thousands of dollars.  It was northern Virginia and they put gravy on everything!  The cafeteria was huge, the selection large and varied.  The logistics and the budget to train the employees was a very large endeavor to manage and to fund.

Now it would be hard to imagine an organization flying all of its huge salesforce to one central location to train twice per year.  Training has evolved to the point where employees would probably balk at a learning and development solution that only centered on classroom training.  Today, employees expect to be fully engaged by at least a blend of modern technology and some version of classroom training.  

The technology employed had best reflect the tone, look, and feel of modern social networks with a beguiling user interface.  The days of participants sitting enthralled in classrooms by the dynamic instructor are over.  In fact, they probably never happened.  This is not to say that there aren't some fabulous instructors and facilitators out there, but the expectation of adult learners has changed.  Also, research has shown that repetitive learning in targeted doses after a training event reinforces and accelerates learning.

So what do adult learners in a more tech savvy environment expect now from training?  Well, given the scrutiny over budgets, bailouts, and layoffs, any firm that spends the kinds of funds in both human capital and actual training dollars that most of the major corporations did 20 years ago would be considered a pariah, even by its own employees.  Especially if those costs were associated with travel, given the myriad of distributed learning technologies available today.

Additionally, today's training populations expects to be given material to digest in "bytes."  This requirement is all about time and performance pressure:  the need is to be able to translate the skills and/or knowledge into useful information almost immediately.  Even the reinforcement must be easily digestible and applicable instantaneously.

So how do we develop the collective brain of the organization in a manner that has a reasonable return on investment in terms of time expended, dollars expended, and knowledge applied that results in concrete improvements?  We create a blended learning platform that includes classroom training only where necessary and cost-efficient (all of the targeted employees in one location with corporate real estate readily available for training sites).  

The e-learning portion of the platform must be carefully constructed and integrated with the brick and mortar learning methods.  The electronic methodologies must be easy to use without excessive links that must be clicked on and activated.  The user interface must have that sleek and modern appeal so common to the social media market now.  

Many of the modern electronic platforms have interfaces that replicate live human interaction in an on-line environment.  While one of the benefits of e-learning is the mobility of self-pace lessons and learning individually, there is also the crucial element of group on-line learning which provides a virtual classroom and encourages collaboration and additive learning between all students in the on-line session simultaneously.  

Technology now allows for student polls, chats, and hand-raising to facilitate discussion.  Instructional designers need to carefully consider how this technology can be leveraged in the integrated learning engagement to accelerate adoption of new skills and behaviors that produce business results.

The organizational training landscape has morphed tremendously in the last few decades, but even more so in the last five years with the advent and adoption of social media.  Participants don't quite expect to be entertained, but they certainly expect to be engaged.  They also expect that their organizations will optimize resource allocation, given the concerns about financial stability.  Integrated and blended e-learning solutions can help ensure that the organizational training metamorphosis continues on a positive trajectory that engages the learners and produces targeted results.

How has technology changed the way you learn in the past couple of years?


Photo Credit: Sir Watkyn

This morning's post is from San Sharma, online community manager at Enterprise Nation, the homeworking website, as well as the voice of @e_nation on Twitter.


I live in London, where - at this time of year - the daily commute usually involves travelling at temperatures officially too high to transport cattle. Luckily for me, I work athome. So, while commuters cram into stuffed carriages, I'm keeping cool in my home office - one of the many benefits of working from home. But the downside, for some, is the feeling of isolation that comes with working alone. Here are some ways to overcome that.

1. Close the door
   Working and living in the same space can lead to cabin fever, which is why it's important to make a distinction between your work space and your personal space. If possible, set aside dedicated space for your work - a study, a spare room, a garden shed, even! - somewhere you can close a door on at the end of the day.


2. Walk to work
   One of the best pieces of advice I've heard about working from home is this: trick your brain into thinking it's "going to work" by leaving your house in the morning, walking around the block and returning to your home office. It helps set up a routine, get into a mindset and kick-start a creative thinking cycle!


3. Always have an excuse to leave the house
   Another benefit of working from home is not having to shop at peak times. Do your grocery shopping when everyone else is at work and beat the checkout lines! But don't do all your shopping at once. I used to do a weekly shop when I worked in an office, but now I pop out when I need something, as it gives me the excuse to get out of the house.


4. A homeworker's best friend
   Keeping a pet is a great way to overcome isolation when you work from home. I talk things through with my cat, which doesn't make me feel as crazy as talking to myself! Dog owners have the perfect excuse to get out the house and get a little exercise and are, statistically,more likely to make friends.


5. Don't miss out on water cooler moments!
   Homeworking website Enterprise Nation uses its Twitter account to bring "an office vibe into your home (without all the annoying bits)". That includes a virtual 'water cooler moment', which it organises every day between 11am and 12pm BST. Homeworking 'tweeps' are invited to discuss non-work topics, like TV, cooking and, recently, "the best Bond" - and use the hashtag #watercoolermoment in their tweets. It's a great excuse for homeworkers to take a break and chat socially to others who work the same way.

If you work from home and don't already use Twitter, you really must! It's great for camaraderie and for sharing ideas - two things you might not associate with working from home.

What do you think?


Photo credit: Giampaolo Macorig

As a workshifter, I work everywhere. I work at home, I work in the car, at a shopping mall, and even in the office. After arriving home from the office recently I realized I left my precious blackberry sitting on my desk. The office is 24 miles from my house.  That's not a quick, turn around and get what I forgot. And it was such a long Monday... I couldn't even face the possibility of driving all the way back just to get my phone. So I buckled down for a night of withdrawal.


Phase 1: Panic
I do admit, I panicked when I realized I didn't have my BlackBerry. It doubled when I realized that if I were to choose sanity, I would not have my phone for the evening. Commence deep breathing techniques. In.... Out. In.... Out. I. Can. Do. This. But what if there's an emergency?

Phase 2: Denial
No one calls me. No really. I never pick up my phone. I don't need my phone. It's just a phone for goodness' sake, Erica!

Phase 3: Depression
I do need it. I don't exist without it. No really. I don't exist. What if someone needs to reach me immediately? What if in my travels tomorrow my car breaks down? What else will I do when stopped in gridlock, how will I get my fix in the Dunkin Donuts parking lot? What will I use to tell the time? I need my BlackBerry. I am nothing without it.

Phase 4: Acceptance
Wait a second... Erica, you still have your laptop. And access to email. The best way to get in touch with you. It'll be a short 13 hours and then my BlackBerry and I will be reunited. And for now, I'll relax with a nice glass of wine and watch mindless television without, for once, my BlackBerry interrupting. I'll just be using my laptop instead ;)

Do you have any withdrawal stories?

Today's post is by David Romm, a writer, blogger and thinker from Watertown, MA.

There is a really interesting new app that I enjoy using on my Blackberry called Note2Self.
 
Let me preface this review by stating that I would recommend this application to people who use Blackberry's Voice Notes on a regular basis. But to the people who have yet to use voice notes, I have a few reasons to switch over. 

There are too many places on one's Blackberry to enter notes and deciding whether to use MemoPad, the Calendar, or The Inbox, can be a daunting task. Writing extended messages can be tricky and frustrating on the small blackberry device.

Note2Self solves these problems. Like VoiceNotes, Note2Self is a voice recording device, but rather than simply saving the file, it asks you who you want to email it to, and allows you to enter a new email address or pick one from the contacts list.
 
There are times when a written email is insufficient to communicate a message and a phone call is necessary. But what if you want to leave someone a detailed instruction for accomplishing a task without clogging up that person's voicemail? Notes2Self would allow you to record your message (without restriction on note size) and email the message to up to 3 recipients. My coworkers have used this app to communicate project instructions to me; my brother has left me messages that keep my voicemail from getting full; and I can send all my grandparents a single message to brighten their day without making 4 individual phone calls. Note2Self is a simple device with a lot of uses. My only recommendation is that the developers change the name to independent voice messaging, to more accurately describe its capabilities. Definitely worth $4.95 in the Blackberry App Store.

Photo Credit: BlackBerry App Store

Today's post is from Jennifer Marcus Newton, a freelance writer located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She routinely works from all the usual workshifting haunts--cafes, park benches, airports--and also maintains a tidy writing studio and messy home office. Her most remote work location was among the yaks in Shangri-La. Work/life balance for her means using both a Mac and fountain pen. Contact her at fidhlear@gmail.com.

Did you know that since 1963, the U.S. President has declared an official National Small Business Week every year? This special designation is a way to "recognize the contributions of small businesses to the economic well-being of America," as stated on the National Small Business Week Web site.

Contributing to the economic well-being of America is a tall order and, quite frankly, an extremely critical task. From Boston to Berkeley, an estimated 27.2 million SMBs in the U.S. conduct business, create products and provide jobs and services every single day. It's difficult to fully appreciate the enormity of a number like 27.2 million.

While we're talking numbers, consider this:
 

• "More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business. They also create 60 - 80 percent of new jobs in the country. Small businesses drive innovation, create 21st century jobs and increase U.S. competitiveness."
  

• "Small businesses are major contributors to the strength of the American economy."

  http://www.nationalsmallbusinessweek.com
  

As the 2010 National Small Business Week kicks off, Citrix Online is abuzz with the topic of SMB mobility and productivity. In a recent survey, Citrix Online polled SMB employees on their work habits. Survey findings paint an intriguing disparity between mobility and access to productivity-enhancing tools. In the last 5 years, the majority (54 percent) of survey respondents have become more mobile. Yet, 60 percent of those surveyed report that their current employers do not provide mobile tools and resources to increase productivity.

That's kind of appalling, especially when you consider IDC's predictions about the mobile workforce: "The U.S. is expected to remain the most highly concentrated market for mobile workers, with 75.5 percent of the workforce mobile by 2013." Mobility has certainly taken root in the U.S. workforce, and the demand for greater mobility will only continue to grow in the near future. So, too, will the demand for productivity-enhancing tools.

This week is an ideal time for SMB organizations to think about how to strategically address the mobility and productivity needs of their current and future employees. There's no denying that the economy is showing signs of recovery. Companies of all sizes - including SMBs - will be looking to hire top talent in the coming months. In the candidate pool, there will be plenty of Gen Y workers, a group increasingly identified by its attraction to workshifting.

Indeed, SMBs (all 27.2 million of them) play a critical role in the economic recovery. And to make the greatest possible contribution to the well-being of America, mobile SMB employees need the right tools to be as productive as possible.

What do you think?


Photo Credit: ThinkPanama