Where do workshifters come from?  Obviously, they're dropped off by a stork. But, are they born workshifters or do they have to become workshifters?

Most workshifters were at one time or another sedentary office workers, before they took the leap to working independently.  Recently, I was preparing to make the shift from occasional workshifter to permanent workshifter.  It occurred to me when making the transition, that despite the fact that I had been working outside the office for several days at a time, the move to permanent workshifting required a lot of preparation.

And so, to help others who are just about to take the plunge, here are some tips for how to effectively prepare yourself.

Tip 1: Start preparing early.  If you stop reading here, that's fine, as long as you take this piece of advice.  It will shock you just how much prep work you have to do to transition to workshifting, especially if you hadn't been conscious of the fact that you might eventually need to.  Because you'll likely be doing this prep work at the same time as your day job, you'll need time to get it done, so start early.

Physical Documents

Tip 2: Develop digital habits. Physical documents are just a given when you work in an office, but as a workshifter, they're a pain in the neck.  No one wants to carry around manilla folders, take the risk of spilling coffee over them, having them get crumpled in your bag, or risk bringing the wrong folder to a meeting.  Instead, workshifters need to go digital, and so that means that while you're still an office worker, you should start developing digital habits: take notes with software, keep a digital calendar, scan documents, opt for electronic versions whenever possible, etc.

Tip 3: Take stock of all your hard copy files. So, all those manilla folders that you've stowed in your filing cabinets over the years, it's time to go through them and decide why you're really keeping them.  Chances are, you will find documents that you recall why you wanted to keep them in the first place.  Trash as much as you can at this point.  It's about streamlining.

Tip 4: Scan everything you need to keep. Now that you've gotten rid of the excess, get access to a scanner and scan all the documents you've decided are important.  Once you've digitized (and backed them up), you will go ahead and shred these paper documents.  They will no longer weigh you down.

Tip 5: Store everything else with colleagues. If you're leaving the office worker role, but remaining with the same company, there may be files that you don't quite need, but that you think others might, or that it would be a good idea if someone had them.  Lean on your colleagues, or your successor to take this stuff from you.  Make sure to explain what it is, and why they might need it, otherwise it will land at the bottom of a filing cabinet, never to be seen again.

Tip 6: Digitize notebooks. As much as I like to think of myself as a digital native, I still take notes in notebooks, on notepads, and on post-its.  When I went back through these notes, I found that most of the stuff was no longer useful, but was surprised to see that some notes I had taken over a year ago could still be useful today.  So, I went through my notebooks and recycled or shredded that which was unnecessary, but added all my notes that were still relevant to a text file, that I could keep at my disposal.

Tip 7: Keep your notes as simple as possible.  In the previous tip, I said put the notes in a text file.  Over the years, colleagues have laughed at me for my staunch devotion to Notepad, the hyper-basic pre-installed Windows text editor (actually I've upgraded to Notepad++, but still find myself opening Notepad out of habit).  While they laugh, I continue to use text editors for many reasons.  They are lightweight, and so I can have a ton of windows open at once and not experience any additional drag on my hardware (and for those who've worked with corporate PC's, you know this can be crucial).  They're also universally readable.  I don't need to worry about the compatibility of my text file if I move it from my office desktop, to my Macbook or to my Linux laptop.  In a pinch, I can even read my text file from a command prompt.  This flexibility will come in handy as a workshifter.

E-mail

Now that you've cleared your physical world of clutter, it's time to do the same for your electronic world, and where better to start than with every knowledge worker's biggest time suck: e-mail. Note that this is really only going to be important if, like me, you're transitioning from a local e-mail client (a la MS Outlook or Lotus Notes) on a company machine to a web-based client, or using an exchange server.  If your email has always been cloud-based, then things should be business as usual for you.

Tip 8: Pick a system and stick to it. There are as many e-mail organization systems as there are people.  I have a colleague who is the neatest most organized person I have ever met.  The consequence of this is that you need a blueprint in order to figure out the folder structure of his Outlook mailbox.  Tracking down an archived e-mail is like navigating a labyrinth.  I am a Gmail fanboy, and my e-mail classification of using only 3 folders spills over from that experience.  This can sometimes be slightly problematic because Outlook's search functionality is not as great as Gmail's, but overall, I still find I have an easier time searching for an e-mail than I do retrieving it from a labyrinth of folders.  In the end, though, which system you use, doesn't matter, as long as it's consistent.

Tip 9: E-mails that you think will be important, save on your company Exchange server. Remember that when you archive e-mails, by definition they're coming off your company's server and being saved elsewhere (by default, that's on your PC).  If you're leaving behind your old machine when you turn workshifter, saving those important e-mails to its hard drive won't be helpful, so instead, make sure important e-mails stay on the server, so that they can be accessed from webmail, your Blackberry, or other e-mail client.

Tip 10: Locally archive things that you probably won't ever need. Like with physical documents, there are many e-mails you will likely never need.  If you are sure you'll never need them, delete them.  If you doubt that you'll ever need them, but aren't sure, archive them.  After all, most companies give you limited space to save e-mail on the server and require you to archive.

Tip 11: Create a copy of your archive. Now, if you're leaving your old computer behind, archiving files that you think you might possibly need some day isn't going to do you any good, so go ahead and create a copy of your archive.  In fact, create multiple copies, because data can easily be lost on something as fragile as a CD/DVD or a web server.

Tip 12: Get used to using webmail services.  I actually spent my last month as an office worker accessing e-mail through webmail.  Partially by necessity (I'll get to that later), but also because it was a good habit to create for when i would be accessing e-mail this way all the time.

Electronic Files

Tip 13: Organize your files. Are you starting to see a theme here?  When making the switch from office worker to workshifter, organizing yourself is a great way to make sure nothing gets missed.  In terms of organizing your files, there are actually software programs that will do this for you (Belvedere for PC, Hazel for Mac).  Or, you can do what I did and take this opportunity to go through your hard drive and see just what all the files that you've saved since you started working for your current employer are.  You can then triage, organize, and delete to your heart's cotent.

Tip 14: Store everything in a specific folder.  For ease of back-up, and to make the next step painless, it's a good idea to save all the files that you will want to keep to the same folder.  That folder can have as many subfolders as you'd like, but it's important that everything be in one place.

Tip 15: Sync that folder to the cloud using Dropbox. As a workshifter, there are tons of applications out there that will promise to make your life easier.  For me, Dropbox wins the crown of favourite workshifting app.  Its potential uses are nearly limitless, but in this case, you'll be doing something very simple.  You'll install Dropbox (Dropbox referral link) on your machine that you're about to abandon (if you follow the above link, you'll get an additional 250 megs on top of the basic 2 gigs - I will also get an additional 250 megs - win win!).  Once that's done, you will take your folder that you've organized all of your files in and move it into your Dropbox folder.  Now, you can do two things with this folder.  First, you can install Dropbox on the machine you will be using from here on out so that you have access to those files indefinitely.  Second, you can share this folder with another user, so that if you want to leave your boss all your old files so he's not lost without you in the office, he'll have access to them too!

Tip 16: Backup to an external hard drive.  Honestly, this tip is mainly for those who work with large files that may be too large for Dropbox's free basic 2 gig limit.  In my case, the vast majority of my files were excel reports, databases, power point presentations and word documents.  Nothing too heavy.  But if you do video editing, or heavy design work, you may want to invest in an external hard drive to bring your old files with you.

Software & Hardware

Tip 17: Make a list of what kinds of files you use. As mentioned above, in my case, the majority of my files were spreadsheets, databases, power point presentations, word documents (and of course text files).  By doing this exercise, I know exactly what medium I spend my time working in.  That's important for the next tip.

Tip 18: Determine what the ideal tools for you would be. Here's where you get to have some fun and create your wishlist of tools you want.  Based on the file types you saw that you used, what tools would you ideally like to have?  Word?  Excel?  MS Project?  Photoshop?  Adobe Premiere?  Write this list down.

Tip 19:  Determine what on that list will be provided for you.  If you're workshifting, but are still an employee of a company, you may still get all the tools and comforts you're used to having at the office on the road, and it's just a matter of asking.  So, see what you can get your workshifting laptop set up with from your IT department.

Tip 20: Find open source alternatives.  If you're not workshifting on the company dime, or you prefer to use your own tools, shelling out for things like corporate editions of MS Office and Photoshop may be cost prohibitive, so find alternatives.  For starters, open source software is awesome.  I have been running Open Office on my home PC for years, and NeoOffice on my MacBook Pro with great success.  To find other open source alternatives for traditioinal software, check out osalt.com.  

Tip 21: Find cloud-based alternatives. Cloud-based software has come a long way in the past year or two, and many cloud-based apps are more than enough for most people.   Cloud-based alternatives can even be more convenient than traditional software because for a workshifter, it allows you to work from any machine with internet access.  Good starting points for cloud-based software are Google Docs, Zoho Docs, and the 37Signals suite of collaboration applications. There are tons more with price tags varying from free to pricey. Explore them all.

Tip 22: Determine your hardware needs.  I firmly believe that it is only once you've decided what software you need that you should decide on what hardware to purchase.  If every piece of software you need is Windows-based, buying a Mac is nonsensical, even if you can dual boot Windows on it.  (Although, it should be said that since having made the switch to Mac, the only file I have had issues with is MS Visio .vsd files, so perhaps I'm overstating the importance of picking the right hardware.)

Now, install your software, access your dropbox and your webmail, and it's like you never left the office!  The transition from office desktop to mobile workstation is complete.  If you've gone with cloud-based apps and webmail, your freedom is virtually unlimited.

Habits to Keep

Tip 23: Take digital notes. I'm horrible at following my own advice on taking notes one way.  In addition to text files, I use Evernote, moleskines, sticky notes and voice memos on my phone.  Don't be me.

Tip 24: Keep all your files in the cloud.  Whether you use Dropbox to keep all your files in the cloud, or Google Docs so that they're just cloud-based documents to begin with, keeping this habit means that you could drop your laptop in a river, and never miss a beat.

Tip 25: Save things in standard file formats. This is especially important if you start using some of the open source software I mentioned earlier.  Open source software generally allows you to save files in about 1,000 different formats.  Always pick the format that most closely resembles the standard file format for industries.  So, while I use Open Office and Neo Office, both of which have a .odf standard file extension, I save everything in MS Office XP format.  That way, I know just about anyone can open my file.

Bonus

Not so much a tip, but an anecdote that illustrates a bonus that comes with this kind of preparedness. I started preparing to transition to full-time workshifter about one month before my planned transition.  About two weeks before the move, my company laptop (an IBM Thinkpad T43 - a tank of a machine) died.  Had this happened to me two weeks earlier, I would have lost about two years worth of work that had been saved on my local hard drive, and that I had not been very diligent about backing up to company servers.  Because of my preparation to move to full-time workshifter, I lost nothing. All my most important files were already in my Dropbox, and ready and waiting for me when I booted up my MacBook Pro.

Being a workshifter is all about planning for eventualities, so planning to become one, has the fortunate byproduct of just plain making you better prepared.

What do you think?


Photo Credit: Matthileo

As a sales engineer at Citrix I spend a good deal of my time working with customers as they investigate our desktop virtualization technologies.This means I rarely work from the same location for more than a day or two at a time. I definitely consider my home office my primary workplace, but I could just as easily be at our local corporate office, a customer's office, one of our partners' offices, or camped out at the nearest Panera or Starbucks in between meetings. It's pretty obvious I'm a workshifter and I love the lifestyle, but even better is that I get to work with some of the best technologies for enabling workshifting.

I'm regularly brought into meetings to discuss topics like device mobility, desktops and applications that roam with the user and secure remote access solutions. Most of the time my customers are trying to target a specific problem area like disaster recovery, supporting their branch office desktops ordealing with the increase inlaptop usage across the enterprise, but lately I've heard more and more questions about supporting mobile devices like smartphones or tablets. It probably doesn't hurt that I'm a heavy user of my iPadin meetings, but when you're dealing with hospitals, media companies, law firms, or accounting firms - to name just a few - it's no surprise to hear these types of devices are already showing up in their user communities. What's great is that I can show them how I leverage my iPad in conjunction with our internal implementation of desktop virtualization to work from anywhere. It's just as easy for them to implement a similar solution for their users.

They may not realize it, but the organizations that implement desktop virtualization are paving the way for workshifting to become a more widespread and accepted practice. They may be looking to solve a specific business problem, but in the process they're changing the very nature of how their users interact with and consume their desktops and applications for the better. Don't get me wrong, I'm in no way implying that desktop virtualization begets workshifting, but I honestly believe that as desktop virtualization usage expands within the enterprise, the rate of workshifting will also increase.

If you work for an organization that's implemented desktop virtualization, do you use it on a regular basis? Do you have secure remote access to your desktop or is it only used internally? I'd love to hear if you've been able to use it to workshift and how your experience went. I think the two are a perfect fit, but I want your feedback.


Photo Credit: Aranath

Gear. It's an essential part of workshifting. While you don't want to be that guy or gal, you do need to carry a few things with you when you're working away from the office. And I don't just mean a laptop or netbook or tablet, either.

Whether you carry a little or a lot when you workshift, a good bag for all of that gear is essential. Here are a few pointers for choosing the bag that's right for you.

Size matters

Up to a point, anyway. You're probably not carrying everything and a microwave oven. But you're also probably carrying more than just your smartphone and wallet.

Look for a bag that has enough room to carry the tools of your workshifting day. At the very minimum, the bag you choose should have space for a notebook or netbook computer, your phone and MP3 player, some physical files, a paper notebook and pens, and a USB flash drive or two. You might also want to make sure that the bag has space for a book (or an ebook reader), your wallet, a bottle of water or travel mug, and some snacks.

The bag itself should have as slim a profile as possible, though. I've lugged bulky bags around and they've been an inconvenience to me and to people on transit. Duffle bags are out, as a some backpacks - way too bulky. A good messenger or courier bag is a worth holding on to. More about this in a little while.

Accessibility

I don't know about you, but I usually need to get to the things in my bag in a hurry. Whether it's pulling out my wallet to pay for a hot chocolate at a cafe, putting away my netbook, whipping out a USB flash drive, or getting to my Moleskine and pen to jot down a note, I don't want to struggle with too many zippers or clasps.

A usable gear bag should have enough easy-to-access pouches of varying sizes - small for things like your wallet and phone, and larger for ... well, for larger items. Velcro covers or straps for those pouches make getting to what's in them easier.

Durability

No one like a bag (or anything else) that doesn't last. It's more than annoying; it adds another expense to your balance sheet. Over the years, I've owned a few bags that didn't last 12 months. Straps frayed and broke. The outer shell tore. Pockets wore out. And I'm careful (almost paranoid) when it comes to my stuff!

You're going to pay a premium for a durable bag. Even then, you're not always assured of getting one that will last. There are a few things to look at when choosing the right bag.
First, make sure that the fabric is thick but not heavy. Thin nylon doesn't cut it. In fact, it's easy cut. Heavier nylon is good, and it's lighter than canvas. Canvas, on the other hand, is tough and it's a lot more resistant to water than nylon.

Next, look at the zippers. Are they thin or thick? Plastic or metal? And how strongly are they stitched to the bag?

Versatility

Chances are you won't just use your gear bag for ... well, just lugging your gear. If that's the case, then the venerable laptop bag just doesn't cut it.

My gear bag (more on this in a moment) is also my carry on when I fly. And I use it as an overnight bag when taking short trips. So I need something that can carry my gear and my travel items. That means a bag that's big, but not too big, and durable.

A few choices

There are a lot of bags on the market. Here are a few that I recommend, based on all of the factors I discussed earlier.

My favorite, and the bag I use daily is the Carry On Travel Pack from Mountain Equipment Co-Op (a Canadian outdoor and gear retailer). I've used that bag daily for over five years, and it's been everywhere with me from around town, throughout Canada and the United States, and to China. Best of all, whenever I need to I can turn the Carry On into a backpack.

The Tom Bihn ID, while pricey ($140 USD), is well worth the price. If I wasn't so attached to my Carry On I'd seriously consider one of these. The ID big enough for a laptop and your other gear. It also has enough pouches for any and all of your accessories. The main portion of the bag is also well reinforced with foam, which will protect your laptop.

While the design isn't quite to my liking, I'm impressed with the Ogio Hip-Hop. Once again, it's a bag that has more than enough space for your gear and offers quick access to your phone, MP3 player, and even your laptop's AC adapter. There are also a pair of pockets on either side of the Hip-Hop for bottles of water or a travel mug.

What gear bag do you use? Share your favorites by leaving a comment.

Photo credit: fotolia © 2happy

Today's post is from Rebecca Morgan, CSP, CMC, an internationally sought-after management consultant, speaker and bestselling author specializing in creating innovative solutions for workplace effectiveness challenges. She's appeared on 60 Minutes, Oprah, the Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio and USA Today. She's authored twenty books and co- authored five more.


I wrote my first book, "Professional Selling: Practical Secrets for Successful Sales" on a Toshiba laptop in airports, airplanes and hotel rooms -- in 1988. I've worked from a small island in Indonesia to an Indian city where the electricity went off every day from 1-4 p.m.  I've created seminars, sent client proposals, updated blog postings, and written over 20 books from Brunei beaches to a ship in the mid- Atlantic, to Canadian forests, to an Italian villa.

While "workshifting" may be a new buzz word, some of us have just called it "work," no matter where our bodies happened to be. It's allowed us to integrate our personal and business lives seamlessly, so we put in a load of laundry while we finish that important presentation from our bedroom. Or clear our heads from that gnarly proposal by gardening or taking a bike ride before returning to our work with a new insight.

What I've seen change in the last few years is the enthusiasm for workshifting. Not only have entrepreneurs embraced it, but employers have too. As a result, old paradigms are being busted about how we perform nearly every element of work life.

I've seen dramatic changes in my specialty of helping companies grow their key talent. In my first 25 years in business, nearly all of my services were delivered face-to-face via speaking at managers meetings, conferences, retreats or trainings. However, around 10 years ago I started conducting teleseminars and Webinars to provide my services to clients with remote employees or preferred to save costs by having attendees sit at their desks instead of traveling.

This remote delivery of information and training has rattled the people-development field to their core. Fewer and fewer companies are engaging speakers and trainers to do stand-up training. Some have cancelled all but a few in-person training courses and have gone to nearly all virtual training.

Of course, there are many reasons to still have in-person events. 

There is no substitute for interacting face-to-face. However, the benefits of place-shifting and in many cases time-shifting one's learning has its advantages. Unfortunately, most training providers have no idea how to use this "new" format effectively and most drone on narrating to boring PowerPoint slides, just as they did in person.

Learning to provide stimulating presentations -- whether in person or virtually -- takes rethinking how you can best provide your service. I once had a training with 10 people in the room, 4 people together in another room at a distant location joining us via video conference, and another 6 dialed into a phone-only conference. I had to creatively design how to engage all attendees in dyads and small group exercises. If I'd just lectured the whole time nearly everyone would have zoned out and the interactivity would have been lost

Distance learning is not the wave of the future; it is very much the present. If one has not embraced how to get their own development needs met through virtual presentations, they will be left in the dust.  And if you offer any training, you must learn how to use the technology -- and how to present engagingly through it.

For an in-depth look at Workshifting trends, view Rebecca's recent Citrix Webinar, "Workshifting Trends from a 20-Year Veteran."


What do you think?

Photo Credit: Jace

Today's guest post is by Phil Montero the founder of YouCanWorkFromAnywhere.com and an evangelist for distributed work. For more than a decade he's been teaching how to work effectively from a home office, the road, or practically anywhere. On his blog, TheAnywhereOffice.com, he shares tips and articles about living a digital lifestyle and navigating the changing world of work.


As a reader of this blog, you know that business as usual no longer involves working in a traditional workplace at set hours. Today's professionals are working from virtual offices, client sites, home offices, coffee shops, airports, hotels, and any number of remote workplaces.

International Data Corporation (IDC), in a forecast released in February 2010, Worldwide Mobile Worker Population 2009-2013 Forecast, projects that the world's mobile worker population will pass the one billion mark this year and grow to nearly 1.2 billion people - more than a third of the world's workforce - by 2013. The global economy and increasing speed with which we conduct business makes the rise of distributed work and virtual teamwork inevitable. What is more, the benefits of workshifting are real.

The biggest problem is that most organizations take an ad-hoc approach to workshifing, which has been thrust upon them. The business landscape began to change; they increasingly found themselves working across time and distance with team mates, remote offices, clients, vendors, and other outsourced professionals. And they mostly left individual employees, project teams, and offices to decide for themselves how best to conduct business. Virtual teamwork was not deliberate, and not undertaken with any real strategy.

The key to success with distributed work is getting a handle on how you interact. In order to help with this process I have developed what I call the Information, Communication, Collaboration (ICC) Workflow Audit™. It's a way to wrap your mind around the methods of your distributed teamwork and determine how to best use your technology, regardless of specific field or industry. Choosing the right tools and thoughtfully applying them to your business processes can turn your office into The Anywhere Office®: allowing you to work with people around the world as if they were across the hall.

Regardless of what stage of workshifting you're in, or which flavor your individual remote work comes in, you can benefit from this simple exercise to organize your thinking. Look at your workflow and workstyle, and separate all of your tasks and responsibilities - the day-to-day functions of your job - into 3 categories: information, communication, and collaboration.

Then, with those lists in front of you, consider what tools and technology you are using and how; think about what types of strategies and guidelines you have in place or need to institute; and think about how to better manage your process and solicit feedback from your team members and distributed employees.

I will briefly outline below the thought process and the key questions and consideration involved in performing your own ICC Workflow Audit™. It is intended to allow you to take a step back and get a perspective on your workflow process and the mobility of your work.

INFORMATION
When it comes to your information needs, your primary concern is access to files, data, and research. How it will be synchronized, updated, and exchanged. If you are someone who works from the road or remote locations often, the challenge is how to access your files or take your data with you when you are away from the office.

QUESTIONS

• What does your team need?
• Documents
• Contact management
• Shared calendars
• Research
• Reports
• Are special programs or data needed?
• Should data be centrally located?

Your primary goal is to determine if the data that your group needs is as current and easy to find as possible.

COMMUNICATION
Choosing the right tools is only part of communicating well. It's also important to discuss certain communication guidelines within your organization or team.

Setting up these simple guidelines will make sure there is no miscommunication and that everyone has a clear understanding of expectations.

QUESTIONS

• Methods/Tools
• Phone
• Instant Message
• Text Message
• Email
• Discussion Board
• Online Meetings
• Timeliness
• Presence
• Clarity
• Synchronous vs. asynchronous

I often say it's important to "communicate about how you are going to communicate." This will help you develop clear guidelines and create an environment that supports an open and free exchange of ideas.


COLLABORATION
Look at synchronous vs. asynchronous methods of collaboration and try to incorporate both. It is also important to determine if decisions are often made as a group during meetings. If so, you'll want to consider tools that support live polling or other features that support rapid decision-making.

QUESTIONS

• Asynchronous or synchronous?
• Are decisions made as a group during meetings?
• With what style or tool does your team seem to be most comfortable?
• Do project teams work as unified groups? Or do teams tend to get broken down into smaller groups that work in tandem?

For many teams, collaboration is enhanced by developing more structured policies. Look for things the group is doing successfully and use these as models and ideas for future development and best practices.

You can conduct the ICC Workflow Audit™ for yourself, but if you're managing a team you will want to get your people involved in answering these questions. This will ensure that you have an accurate picture of how work gets done and what tools can best help improve productivity and communication flow.

Once you've chosen the best tools for your workstyle, learn to really use and manage them: Get some training or coaching to help you master the features and maximize your efficiency.
Also, remember that technology changes daily and new tools are cropping up all the time, so it is important to make this assessment part of your ongoing process.

For more information on how to implement the ICC Workflow Audit™, read my white paper or attend this recent Webinar.


If you have any ideas on how you can use this workflow to better your organization, please share!


Photo Credit: the_tartanpodcast

Today's post is an interview with Todd Mera of AwardWallet.com, a very useful website that can track your award points and remind you of their impending expiration. Launched in 2004, Award Wallet it is gaining a following of dedicated users

So tell us a bit about your background, AwardWallet, and what motivated you to start it?
AwardWallet was started out of a need for me and my business partner to track our miles more efficiently. There were a couple apps out there that helped with this but they did not meet our needs. I was looking for something that was easy to use and available from anywhere, anytime. More and more people were using web based application and it made sense to build AwardWallet as a web application.

Sounds like you're a jetsetter. Do you workshift a lot? What are your necessary gadgets?
I like to think of myself as 'An Office of One'.  Meetings in a hotel lobby connected to the Wi-Fi doing a web demonstration with a global audience is not uncommon. My newest favorite gadget is my new Sony eReader.  I used to carry about 10 lbs of books with me everywhere I traveled.  I also remember ripping out the first 100 or so pages of a large technical book to read on a flight.  I just couldn't bring that 1500 page technical magna carta with me.  Now, I carry 1000s of digital books with me all the time.

What's the largest benefit you see AwardWallet offering workshifters?
If you are a workshifter, you are probably on the road a bit. AwardWallet will help you track and take advantage of the miles you are accumulating.  AwardWallet will allow you to see all of your frequent flyer miles, hotel points, car rental points and many more from a single screen.  AwardWallet will automatically update the balances and let you view all of your travel equity from a single screen.

Another great feature...AutoLogin.  From AwardWallet.com click on the program name, ie Delta, and we will take you to their site and automatically log you in allowing you to check in for you flight and do any other necessary business. All in all - Huge time saver!

What do you think is the single most important thing for the workshifter to keep in mind when using their award points?
DON'T LET THEM EXPIRE.  Frequent Flyer miles can expire in 12-18 month of no activity depending on the program.  You spent all this time earning those miles flying from here to there.  Don't waste them. AwardWallet will let you know if any of your miles are due to expire. With this info the workshifter can now create some activity on the account where the miles are about to expire and reset the clock.

What advice can you offer workshifters on account management?
Know what you have Get points for everything.  Example, I only buy stuff with credit cards that allow me to earn points.  I then pay off the credit card every month.  I even buy all of my groceries with a credit card.

Use them. You earned them. Take a trip. They do not earn interest and they are not getting more valuable.  So go have some fun.


Photo Credit: Bob the Lomond

Sitting on the train, riding in a plane, laying in bed, sipping a coffee. Wherever you are. Whatever you are doing. You need to have a way to record your moments of inspiration.  


What do you use to jot down your ideas? 

There are thousands of books to choose from about what makes a successful entrepreneur; how to become a master at time management and so on.  Each of these books come with many nuggets of wisdom to be gleaned from them.  But as a workshifter, you probably just don't have the time to read all of these books, let alone put into place what you learn from them.

The fact is, solopreneurs are supreme jugglers, but even the most accomplished jugglers drop a ball at some point!
 
Over almost seven years of coaching people to run profitable businesses without running themselves ragged, the top five complaints I hear most often are:
 

1. "I feel overwhelmed and exhausted with too much to do and too little time."
2. "I know that I need to work ON the business, but I'm so busy working IN the business."
3. "I know what I need to do to grow this business, but there is never enough time to do it all."
4. "The business is doing ok, but it feels as if I can't quite make that leap to the next level."
5. "I feel like I'm just not planning my time effectively as I could.  I'm constantly fighting fires."
   

It's not hard to spot the pattern here - lack of time!  Solopreneurs tend to berate themselves for not having completed all of their gargantuan "to do" list at the end of each day.  But most of the time they have simply set themselves 12 hours of tasks to complete within a 6 hour day!  I know this because, while I'm superb at getting my clients focused and helping them to set up project plans to make their own businesses more efficient, I often forget to "take my own medicine"!
 
Solopreneurs are notoriously bad at setting themselves impossible targets and beating themselves up for not having achieved "the impossible".  The following tips are nothing new and you won't be bowled over with a magic formula for getting it all done.  There is no clever solution here, just time-tested stuff that you have no doubt heard before.  But whether they are old news or cutting edge to you, those who cultivate the following seven habits will find that they are more in control of their time, have less episodes of overwhelm and build sustainable businesses.

Seven Habits for Time Pressed Solopreneurs





Habit No. 1 - Learn to Prioritize


It is a truism that time is our most precious commodity and we just don't have enough of it. It's ironic that when you're doing something that you don't enjoy, the minutes seem to drag relentlessly.  On the other hand, when we are busy, time appears to fly and unless we grasp that time management is fundamentally about managing priorities rather than time, we are likely to feel overwhelmed.  

Professional coaching experts will tell you that time management is rule number one, but as we all know, time cannot be managed:  We each have 24 hours in the day, seven days in the week and no amount of wishing will give us that extra two hours a day!
 
Try this exercise for a week:  Evaluate all that you have to do for the week and take time to jot it all down in a list. You will need to allocate a priority to each activity and collate them into a realistic timetable. When you embark on this exercise,  it can seem daunting!  However, if you persevere, this can really pay dividends as you will start to grasp how you under-estimate and the importance of prioritization.   

Habit No. 2 - Don't Forget About You!



Remember to think about yourself.  Without rewarding yourself and enjoying valuable "me" time you will quickly burn yourself out and be far less productive.  The buck really does stop with you when you are self-employed.  Most solopreneurs are running micro-businesses where they are the chief bottle washer and cook!

So make personal time a priority and understand that this is not about being selfish, but is in fact a vital investment in your business and your life.

Habit No. 3 - Make Friends with a Little Routine in Your Life


Setting up a routine is one of the best habits you can practice. They say that it takes a minimum of 14 attempts at something before a habit becomes ingrained, and we all seem to work better if we adopt a routine.

While you might not like to be too structured, I would be surprised if you do not benefit from incorporating some routine into part of your daily business management.
 

Habit No. 4 - Block Out Time without Distractions


Don't let the myriad of communication methods become the enemy of efficiency.  You have to block out time when you can turn off not only your phone, but perhaps all those time-depleting social networking sites.  Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, IM... the list goes on and on.  All of these new social media tools can be great networking and business generation tools, but more often than not, they can be great excuses for not doing the stuff that brings in the business.
 
So make use of time blocking or "do not disturb" time to focus on larger projects.  You can then allocate time to return calls once you've completed the tasks and projects that are essential to grow your business.

Habit No. 5  - Create Sacred Space to Work


Habit number five is about creating your own special and protected area. Many solopreneurs  run a business from their home. If you are a work at home entrepreneur, don't try balancing a laptop on the kitchen table and putting your file cabinet in your bedroom!
 
Wherever it is in your home, make your workspace sacred and ideally place it in its own room, off-limits to the kids when you are working. Design this room with efficiency and ergonomics in mind and don't use it for leisure purposes. If possible, have another computer set up elsewhere for personal use.

Habit No. 6 - Healthy Body, Healthy Business


If you don't look after your health, all the other habits will be difficult to maintain. Exercise and fitness must become a habit and you should plan on getting at least three exercise sessions in per week.
 
Do whatever is easiest for you to take on as a new exercise habit.  So if you don't live near a gym, it's unrealistic to plan to go to a gym three times a week, as you'll find that you don't have the time to travel to and fro.   Keep it simple - walking, running, cycling or dancing in front of an exercise DVD are all examples of keeping your body moving that are easy to adopt into your life as a mum.  And do what you enjoy - if you're not a sporty person, it's unlikely that you'll stick to a new habit of playing tennis each week.  One of my clients who hates the gym and all form of sports exercises keeps trim with her Wii each evening. 

Think laterally and do what works for you!  It doesn't matter what form of exercise you choose, providing you just get your body moving!

Habit No. 7 - Build a Superstar Success Team



You've heard the expression "no man is an island"?  None of us can run a business alone and we all need support in various guises.  Ask yourself what sort of support you need to become a highly successful solopreneurs and start to look for ways of building your "superstar success team".

But however you choose to build your team, don't try to do everything on your own as there is so much to be gained from seeking the wisdom of good friends, confidants, associates and professional experts. They can be superb sounding posts and linchpins to your business success!

Having read these seven habits, it's likely that you will go away and forget most of them!   So,  rather than trying to adopt all seven at once, thus dooming yourself to failure, choose just one habit, focus on it and practice and practice it until it truly does indeed become a habit (i.e something you do without even thinking).  Then, once you have adopted one habit, choose a second and so on.   


Easy does it - and remember to acknowledge each little achievement along the way!

About the author:

Amanda Alexander is a Professional Certified Coach who helps work at home professionals who long for more hours in the day.  Through her coaching programs and online coaching courses, Amanda helps people to create fulfilling and successful businesses.  Learn  more at www.amandaalexander.com

Photo Credit: derekGavey
 

I was asked recently by a good friend on mine what was in my bag.  It was part of a blog post she wrote, What's in Yo' Bag, and I have decided to respond in a video.  My bag consists of many things to keep me inspired, connected and able to be on the go.



What's in your workshifting gear bag?  Empty out your workshifiting bag, take a picture, upload it to Flickr, tag it "workshifting" and link it up in the comments below.  We'll gather all of the photos and blog posts together for a future post.

While sitting on the tarmac at Dubai International Airport I wanted to check in and share some of my inflight workshifting tips.  With all of the international travel that I've been doing lately, it has become essential to develop a method for working from the tiny confines of an airplane seat.

If you have trouble viewing this video, you can also catch it over on my Vimeo channel.




Do you fly a lot?  Make sure you check about these tips from Chris Brogan about what you can do pre-flight, inflight and once you land to help for smoother travels.

What are some of your inflight workshifting tips?