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.

Guilt is a funny thing. It's amazing how quickly that nagging voice can kick in, leading us to question our actions or feel that we have fallen short of some kind of accepted standard. Workshifting comes with its own set of guilty feelings.

First off, there's that little thing of the commute. My husband and I live in Chicago, a city that is renowned for its gridlocked highways and nightmarish commutes. While most days I have a commute of about 1.5 seconds - the time it takes me to walk from our bedroom to my office - my husband spends anywhere from an hour and a half to more than two hours commuting from our home just north of the city to his office out in the suburbs.

On most days I get up later than him and still start my work day a good 45-60 minutes before he even reaches his desk. While I jokingly tell people that he's commuting "for the both of us," there's not a day that goes by when I'm not marred with guilt about our huge discrepancies in commuting time.

Working from home can also lead to a pretty interesting mix of feelings of guilt. On the one hand, I often feel guilty about focusing exclusively on work when there are things to be done around the house. On the other hand, if I'm doing laundry or running errands, I often feel guilty about not working. 

I still find it hard to step away from my desk during the work day - even if it's for something like running to the bank or picking up milk. I know this probably doesn't make much sense. After all, I'm not taking advantage of the very things that attracts so many people to Workshifting. I guess there's just something about the 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday that is so ingrained in my system.

Finally, I also often feel guilty when I feel I'm not working "hard" enough. This is especially the case when my workload is low. There's just something about sitting alone, without deadlines and pressing projects that makes me feel extremely uncomfortable and almost "worthless." It's completely different than when you're in an office and everyone around you is having a slow day.

I wonder if these things will change the longer I work outside of a traditional office environment. What about you guys? Do you share similar feelings of guilt?


Photo Credit: Music2Work2

Just recently, I found myself lying in bed at 1:30 am with my iPhone in hand answering emails and responding to people who I missed on twitter and Facebook that day. After switching off the device I realized that I was then spending another hour laying there thinking about the next day and how I might be able to work on the issues, problems or ideas presented in the emails. This sounds somewhat absurd doesn't it? I mean it wasn't more than a few years ago that you shut down the computer and that was the end of your day. Now we have mobile devices following us around and I know that I am not the only one perpetuating this issue!

I suppose you think that the rest of the article is going to be tips on how to find balance. Well, maybe a bit of it will be but I would really love to poll the readers of the workshifting blog on how you find balance! As remote workers and workshifters it feels second nature to pick up your phone during dinner to check your email. It feels natural to want to check the status on a project when you're really supposed to be focused on your kids school play. So what gives? Do we need to start setting up rules for ourselves? Here are two things that I am trying to reclaim a bit of sanity and hopefully make me more efficient with the time I am spending working.

1. Morning and Evening Email Redux - I remember hearing advice years ago saying that the worst thing you can do to yourself is watch the news first thing in the morning and just before you turn in at night. After all there is rarely anything good or uplifting on the news so why inundate yourself with that energy to start and end your day. I am going to apply this advise to email and social networks for now on. My advise would be to spend 15 minutes in silence each morning. Maybe visualize your day and set your wheels on the right track to move forward. Maybe it is talking a brisk walk before the morning shower. Either way I recommend clearing the mind every morning to get aligned. For those evening email and social media stints I recommend a good book. Read something enjoyable that settles the mind and leaves you with positive feelings. If you find yourself grumbling about the world forces around you each day, change the forces!

2. Reclaim the Weekend - Ok, so not all of us can afford to ignore our work life all weekend and maybe some of us are even scheduled to be actively working on the weekends. For those of you in that situation this should be called Reclaim a Day. I love my job and I love what I do. That being said it's important to disconnect and recharge for a day a week. I find this helps me immensely. Every Sunday i turn off the computers and leave the mobile devices to play sweet tunes in my ears rather than being a email machine or work device. I can't give you specific to do's here as we are all different but after chatting with a friend recently about this topic I told him to rekindle a passion. We grew up together golfing and fishing on the weekends as kids. Why not revisit some of those things? There is always time for yard work and chores. Go rekindle a passion.

These are two of the things I am doing to keep me fresh and creative. I would love to hear your thoughts. Are you able to put away the technology for a bit or are you checking your email at 1:30 am each night? What rules or habits have you created to help you stay fresh?


Photo Credit: Jorge Quinteros

I came across this thought-provoking article on BNET the other day about the impact of gender on how men's brains and women's brains function--and the impact this has on how we work.

The article cites Sally Helgesen, co-author of The Female Vision: Women's Real Power at Work, who says that women are more skilled multitaskers while men are great at single-mindedly focusing on one thing for a long period of time. According to Helgesen, this tendency to multitask well is one reason women often over-commit.

Another difference:

One major difference between the sexes that really impacts managers is that women are (in general) more likely to speak up if they're unhappy about their immediate circumstances and environment, while men tend to suffer in silence. (Helgesen's term for it is "men will suck it up and tolerate a lot more for a lot longer.")

As a longtime workshifter, I've never really thought about the question of how gender might impact workshifting - who is likely to take to it, and what that means for teams of workshifters and those who manage them. But as more people shift out of office settings, it seems that figuring out some of this stuff will be very useful.

So I turn it to you. What's been your experience? Have you noticed any differences in work styles or approaches between the men and women you workshift with? If yes, what's your takeaway?


Photo Credit: OtisArchives2

A friend of mine started workshifting full-time about eight months after I took the plunge myself. I was still basking in the glow of my own good fortune at being able to workshift 2,000 miles away from HQ and was, of course, thrilled for my friend who, as it turned out, was a tad apprehensive about working day in and day out by himself.

In an effort to ease himself into his new workshifting routine, he invited me to work in tandem at a local coffeehouse called the Black Dog, a great workshifting venue with generously sized library tables, ample outlets and a tomato-basil pizza that makes my knees buckle. We made a few attempts to coordinate work schedules, but things never came together.

His craving for a larger group of colleagues led him to poll other workshifters he knew in the area to see if there might be any interest in working regularly from his home as a group. He discovered that there was actually a mighty big demand for this type of arrangement.

Soon after (and perhaps to the chagrin of his tolerant wife), the dining room table was recast as a permanent conference table. A post-it note went up on the front door inviting the crew to "Come In." A larger coffee pot was procured and a band of workshifting regulars poured through the front door of his home in the heart of a residential neighborhood to work independently, together.

My friend has since converted the master bedroom suite, which occupies the entire second floor, into a much larger collaborative workspace. (Like I said, his wife is a tolerant woman.) The setup looks less haphazard than the dining room table with its nest of cords underneath and allows the living space of the house to flow more naturally. The new office digs look incredibly professional and polished--just as you would expect any other office out in the world to look. It's less "home office" and more "office within the home."

The first time I saw the suite workspace, I said, "Hmm, I could see myself working here. Are you hiring?" Though I didn't land a permanent placement, I was invited to observe the collection of workshifters on a typical workday and interview a few folks to see how things looked from their side of the multi-workstation table.

I'll share my observations of the collaborative workday and my conversations with some of the regular crew next time.

Would this type of arrangement work for you?

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

Many of you who read this blog are probably users of social technologies like Facebook, Twitter, or Flickr. I know I am! The interesting thing is the way people use the technologies. For business for personal or combining the two you'll never see the same usage pattern twice!

I'd love to share a story with you that I wrote about some time ago but felt was a great story to revisit. It's called, "How Twitter Search changed the Life of a man in a coffee Shop"  Enjoy!

The Coffee Shop Chronicles
About a year ago now, I visited a great little coffee shop and lunch destination in a small town just outside of mine. I began to work away on the computer as usual when a very well dressed gentleman sat next to me presumably stopping for lunch. After I finished banging out an email he seemed to get transfixed by my laptop screen as I opened up tweetdeck and asked me if that was twitter. I told him that it was a third party application but for all intents and purposes, "Yes it is Twitter". He went on to say that he had heard a lot about the service, but really had no idea why he would want to use it. And that my friends was the beginning of his love affair with twitter.

The Job
I went on to ask this gentleman what type of work he did. He told me that he was an independent pharmaceutical sales rep and that he was trying to get established with some local doctors. He had been at it for about six months and had regular calls, but most of his accounts were on the smallish side. I decided to do an experiment with him and run a twitter search on the name of some of the companies he repped for as well as names of some of the key drugs he was selling. So we went forth and created a real time conversational search using my tweetdeck client and he was amazed at what he saw.

The Search
The search immediately revealed that one of the drugs that he was told to push by his distributor was possibly going to be pulled from the shelves by the government due to complications of taking the drug. He was flabbergasted and honestly didn't believe what he was reading. I mean you can't believe everything you read on twitter....right? Well, like any other source you must look into the facts deeper. We clicked a few links and checked a few websites and sure enough this drug was in danger of being pulled. At that point this guys mind was completely blown and he left the coffee shop in a bit of a daze.

The Follow-Up
Two days after our first encounter I saw this gentleman again at the coffee shop and he approached me with a glow on his face that had not been there two days before. He proceeded to tell me that he called on a doctor the afternoon after we had spoken and that he was going to be making a fairly large purchase of the drug that we found was in question. He mentioned to the doctor that he might want to hold off and that he had done some research during lunch that indicated problems with this drug and that it may get pulled. The doctor thanked him and he went on to his next customer. The real magic came the next day when the doctor called him back and thanked him for alerting him to the news before it officially broke. The drug did get pulled from the shelves and the doctor was thankful for his insights. On his next visit to that doctor he was not only given a larger chunk of his daily orders, but was given three referrals of whom that doctor called personally in front of him.

A Month Later
About a month has passed and I have seen this salesman since. He is a regular user of twitter for it's search and monitoring capabilities and he told me that his income has increased significantly due to the referrals that stemmed from this early information. He bought me lunch last time I saw him and I was happy to let him.

How have you seen social media tools change someone perspective? Are you using social media in your daily work flow?

The motivation for this topic comes from a recent post over at Inc.com about Perfecting Email Etiquette.  It got me thinking about how email is used by workshifters.

Other than emails obvious attributes, it's also a very effective hand raising tool.  However, we have a litany of electronic hand raising tools at our disposal.  So when we can't reach across the aisle and tap someone on the shoulder, how do we get their attention?  If I'm workshifting and I need to reach a co-worker, here are the tools at my disposal:



The first thing I do, in most cases, is check to see if they are "online" using Meebo, or if they have updated their status on Facebook, Twitter, or Foursquare.  If I get a sense that they are online I'll send an Instant Message (IM), or Direct Message (DM) via Twitter.  In my experience, Facebook is least likely to result in a response because most people are not checking their Facebook in-box very frequently.  Foursquare will be able to tell me if they have checked-in, but it's not a good tool for actually locating someone.

The next steps I take depend on how badly I need to reach them.  Since it's a coworker I can check their Outlook calendar or shared Google Calendar and see if they have a meeting.  If their time is blocked I can wait until their meeting is over or I can send a Text Message.  Knowing me, i'll send a text and then wait for a reply.  I've found that calling someone typically does not result in a response if they have not responded to the other methods.  

If electronic hand-raising is the embodiment of a real person, it would be the obnoxious guy in the back of the room raising his hand, jumping up and down, and screaming "pay attention to me!"  This is where the etiquette lesson comes in.

Since these are coworkers that I know personally, I know how to push all the electronic buttons in a way that is least offensive, and culturally appropriate.  If I were reaching out the CEO or a Customer, my tactics would be adjusted accordingly.  With that said, my coworkers don't want me carpet bombing them with "pay attention to me" messages.  All they have to do to avoid the annoyance is go offline, or appear to go offline.

Depending on how urgent the matter is, I think that an IM or Text is the best form of electronic hand-raising.  Remember, I'm just trying to get their attention and for whatever reason I need to reach them quickly.  In my organization most people have IM and they Text.  So if I need to reach them fast, that's the path to getting noticed.  The reason texting is effective is because most people don't move five feet from their cell phone.  The odds are good that I can get them.  Further, it's not good to assume that they are at their office computer.  They may be workshifting, in a meeting, traveling, etc.  In those cases, texting is the universal shoulder tap.

The key is to not get a reputation as a bell ringer.  If you're constantly operating in a state of chaos, you can't expect others to be doing the same.  Manage your expectations and set reasonable expectations with your team members.

There are different, unspoken rules about electronic hand raising.  What are yours?

This blog was designed to serve the Workshifting community with relevant information contributed by the community, and when appropriate mention our services.  However, every now and again a really interesting and useful fact lands on my desk that I feel compelled to share.

The graph represents Citrix Online's internal use of GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar compared to our Average Travel Spend per Head Count.  The reduction in our Average Travel Spend is significant as our use of online meeting tools has increased (special thanks to Scott Allen).

I thought it would be useful to pull back the kimono and show internal data that demonstrates the value of online meeting tools.  I feel like I should add the disclaimer, "...individual results may vary".  However, I don't believe that to be true.  There are many choices as it pertains to Workshifting tools, and plenty is being written about adoption.  Once put into practice, whatever your tool of choice, the impact can be significant.

However, ROI for online meeting services is not always measured by a reduction in travel expenses.  In many cases your travel may increase because your use of the tools has allowed you to interact with an even greater number of clients and potential clients.  If you're that person, ROI could be measured in terms of an increase in Leads, Gross Revenue or Bookings.  For many others, ROI is defined by Productivity and Family Time.

The point is not to pigeonhole yourself into one or the other.  Select the tools that best serve your needs and the needs of your team.  It's your adoption of the tools into your life that makes them effective, not vice versa.  

How do you measure the effectiveness of your Workshifting tools?