Productivity Zone

We’ve been gone for a bit of a holiday break. We thought we’d make up for it with our top ten apps; a “best of” compilation from a year’s worth of hands-on experiences with the apps and services. These are the tools we use every day and depend on to keep our sanity and keep our […]

Kimba digs into ways to be more effective with Instagram. Tips on captions, tags, searching – everything you could ask for. Rate us on iTunes Show Notes   Links from the Show Instagram (duh!) – https://www.instagram.com

Woohoo, it’s episode #50! To celebrate this landmark, we have a bonus for you today. Not only are we covering Whatagraph, a service to make gorgeous reports for your department or your clients, we’re also giving you details about AppSumo’s new service, Briefcase. We’ll pick on Google Analytics for a moment. Their reports provide tons of data, […]

There are lots of cloud storage services out there. The top players in the cloud storage arena are Microsoft OneDrive, Apple iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box. We’re doing a comparison of features and prices so you can make an educated choice which one is the right fit for your business. Rate us on iTunes […]

It’s no surprise that if you don’t ask for your money, you’re not going to get paid. That’s why this week we’re showing you some of the best invoicing tools we’ve used. Some are free, some aren’t, but you know that saying: you have to spend money to make money. Let me tell you, paying to […]

Not happy with conference calls? Tired of all the disembodied voices and no visual cues to see if Bob is attempting to be witty again or is just confused? Sounds like it’s time to consider video meetings. Kimba and Glen take a look at the current video conference offerings and try out a couple ones […]

PDFs. Everybody reads them, some apps give you a “Save as…” way to make a simple one. There’s a huge amount of flexibility in the Portable Document Format (PDF) that lets you create forms and other interactive documents. The question remains though: what tool can I use to make or edit a PDF? Give a […]

Virtual Assistants, or VAs, have been a growing part of the “gig economy” for several years. While the folks on eLance and Fiverr generally occupy the artistic or creative roles, VAs usually perform office-related tasks. Need someone to book your travel reservations, process forms and paperwork that you might think of as routine, make calls or do […]

Writing the next great American novel? Maybe it’s an academic or technical paper or even a screenplay. whatever it is you’re creating, save your sanity by using the right tools for the job. Scrivener lets you organize your thoughts, create a corkboard to pin your notes to, update your outline with drag and drop. Rate […]

Fast, Reliable, Cheap: pick any two. That’s the adage for lots of things, and website hosting is no exception. Today’s podcast looks at the pitfalls people make when choosing business website hosting. We’ll point out how to avoid those problems and give you alternatives that are affordable (because cheap isn’t an option if you want fast […]

What if you rolled your day planner, GTD system, and project manager into one app? You’d probably wind up with OmniFocus. Built for iOS, WatchOS and MacOS, this scheduling, organizing, project managing tool covers a myriad of use cases and lets you organize work and real life while keeping both separate. Kimba’s become dependent on […]

Facebook Live is getting a lot of traction these days. Leave it to Ken and Glen Aspeslagh of Ecamm Network to take a cool service and make an even better app around it. Ecamm Live is their newest piece of software for the Mac, and it has an amazing set of bells and whistles to move […]

Episode #40 seems like a good time to reflect on what we’ve learned over the past year or more that we’ve been recording. We’re airing our failures too because nobody ever seems to talk about their flops. All the main points come to mind – audio and other technical problems, sounding stiff and uncomfortable, not publicizing […]

We’re changing things up a bit. It was bothering us that we had to cram each topic into ten minutes, which meant going pretty quickly, overloading you with info, and just scratching the surface of our topic. Add to that the hassle of trying to get two subjects into the title, well, you get the […]

cc Cory Doctorow You know how your project files seem to wind up in different folders all the time? Original photos are in one spot, cropped and web-ready ones in another, logos in yet another, and your project documents and contracts are somewhere else. Add in cloud storage as a potential location and it becomes […]

Have you ever thought that a video showing how to do a task would be a far better solution than a bunch of written instructions telling how to do the task? The video platform Wistia recently released Soapbox, a Chrome browser plugin that gives you an easy to use way to record, edit and publish videos. Kimba explores dapulse, […]

At some point, as a business, you’re going to hold an event, and that means dealing with tickets or RSVPs. What’s different about Sparxo is it lets your attendees chat with one another – using voice. On the social side of the ‘net, Missing Lettr takes your blog posts and turns them into social media […]

Sometime, somewhere, you’re going to have a need to record a conversation over Skype. Maybe you’re interviewing a candidate for a job. Maybe you’re making a video podcast and are interviewing an author or performer. Maybe you’re recording a business meeting, so there’s an official record of what was discussed. Sooner or later, the need is […]

Twitter is still all the rage so let’s use it efficiently and effectively! Way back when, like pre-Y2K, a few credit card companies offered virtual card numbers, one-time-use cards that would allow us to “safely” buy things from that new thing called the Internet. Fast forward to 2009, and more companies like PayPal and some […]

This week we tackle taking credit card payments in-person. You’ve seen them at coffee shops, food trucks, boutique retailers and even craft fairs and farmers markets. Those little white square card readers are just that – Square. Rate us on iTunes Show Notes Taking Payments In-Person Square is the most prevalent and, from my experience, the […]

  There’s PayPal, which is the default for most people when they’re getting started, but there are horror stories all over the internet about PayPal and I have a few stories of my own. So what’s a person to do if they want to make it easier for their clients to pay them? We look […]

cc photo by stavos What is Hazel? If you don’t know, then this podcast is for you! Glen is going to give us the “wow” factor of Hazel and Kimba will cover part 2 of Evernote. Evernote is fabulous! Rate us on iTunes Show Notes Hazel Automatically organize your files and folder Rename files using […]

Kimba launches the first of a two-parter on all the goodness that is Evernote. It’s a great app with tons of features, and we still are just hitting the main abilities even with two parts. Meanwhile, Glen delves into how easy it is to create an ebook from your blog posts with a service/plugin called […]

Hard to believe, but Glen and Kimba actually agree on the best video apps available. They cover all devices and price ranges. Get their take on ScreenFlow, Capto, Camtasia and Filmic Pro. Rate us on iTunes Show Notes ScreenFlow (Mac) ScreenFlow is it! All the beans in one pot! Picture on-screen and so much more! Built-in […]

What if you could have any of over 2000 books reduced to a summary of key points you could read or listen to in 15 minutes? That’s Blinkist, and they’re a huge timesaver when it comes to learning new information. I like to think of them as CliffsNotes for books you actually want to read but […]

Announcements this week from Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat. Kimba discovers Venngage, an infographic creation tool. Glen looks at SignUpGenius for simplifying scheduling signups for tasks, event staffing, carpool schedules, you name it. Rate us on iTunes Show Notes SignUpGenius A bit like When I Work, a little like Eventbrite, SignUpGenius is a great solution for […]

Finally! Glen explains how Zapier can be used to tie together two or more web services/applications to automate your business workflow. Ever wanted to get an SMS when a client pays their bill? How about automatically adding new Freshbooks clients to your Hubspot CRM account? Zapier is the glue that connects these services. It integrates […]

So you have something to sell, either physical or digital. Where do you go to set up your online shop? This week, Glen gives you his top 5 ways to get your product out the door and money in your pocket. It’s a longer episode, but there’s a lot of info in it. Kimba offers […]

Instagram added the ability to include up to 10 photos in one share. Kimba explains how to do it. Cloud storage has been around for a while now, and Dropbox was one of the first players in this market. Lately, they’ve added some new features that bring even more value to their service. We give […]

Hemingway is nice, clean writing app that aims to provide “distraction free writing” and simplify some other aspects of crafting the written word. How does it measure up? Give a listen to this podcast for our take on it. Kimba delights us with insights into color theory and how it affects how we feel about stuff. […]

Ever been through the pain of staff scheduling, either employees or volunteers? Then there are the phone calls if someone calls in sick or wants to trade shifts with another staffer. Ugh. In this podcast, Glen takes a look at When I Work, a service that simplifies scheduling and saves you time and headaches. Kimba […]

Have you ever wanted to strangle the guy that leaves his phone on his desk while he’s getting coffee and you have to hear it ring over and over again? You know him, the one who still has Crazy Frog as his ringtone and his ringer is never muted. Don’t be like him. For that matter, […]

Yep, having fun with the title. But seriously, how many times have you needed to send or receive passwords, account logins, even credit card information and email was the best answer even though you knew you shouldn’t use it? You struggled to find a solution that’s easy for both you and your clients to use […]

If there’s anyone out there that isn’t plagued by robocalls, I beg you; tell us how you’ve avoided them this long. For the rest of us mere mortals, it’s gotten to the point that we don’t answer the phone at all unless we absolutely know who is on the other end. Is there any solution […]

Save your sanity and automate follow up emails with your clients. Need to get information or documents from them to keep your project moving? Get the client in your follow-up workflow and they’ll get friendly reminder emails until they send you what you need. Do I even have to point out how handy this would be […]

Lose/loose. Affect/effect. Lie/lay. And of course, there/they’re/their. Do I need a comma or not? Glen lets you in on a tool both he and Kimba use to fix pesky typos and grammar errors. Kimba’s world is in upheaval – she may have found a replacement for Buffer. See how it measures up. Rate us on […]

Kimba helps you with your quest to find the best tool to manage social media for your business. Glen revisits SumoMe and the changes in services and pricing since their rebranding as Sumo. Bottom line: all their apps are available for free, albeit with limits not found on their paid plan. Rate us on iTunes […]

Headlines matter. A lot. It’s your first, and often only chance to interest a reader in your topic. Kimba brings us six social media tips for effective headlines to attract your readers and rank higher without sounding scammy. Even though you might be a one-person company, you can still use a helpdesk to streamline your productivity […]

What the heck is a VPN, and what is it good for? It’s a Virtual Private Network; a private, encrypted connection over public internet. It’s also often referred to as a tunnel, which is a pretty good description. They’re used by government and corporate employees when doing remote work. It allows them to securely connect […]

Glen discovered a new company, Ekko, that takes your Facebook posts and automatically makes a website from them. What could be easier to keep up to date? Kimba found Grum, a service that allows you to schedule your posts on Instagram. She has a couple of other goodies too: Mashfeed lets you create or browse […]

Wrapping up our two-part podcast. Glen talks about scheduling tools for meetings, classes and events. Kimba talks about past social media predictions and their accuracy. Rate us on iTunes Show Notes ScheduleOnce No free level. The lowest paid tier offers Google calendar and iCloud support. Reminders and follow-ups via email and SMS. Bookings require you […]

Big topics this week. So big we had to make this a two-parter. Glen talks about scheduling tools for meetings, classes and events. Kimba talks about past social media predictions and their accuracy. Rate us on iTunes Show Notes There are a lot of scheduling apps out there. The ones we’re discussing are web-based tools to […]

Kimba goes first this time to talk about her own experience with rebranding herself. Glen is all about virtual phone services. Rate us on iTunes Show Notes What is involved in rebranding? Kimba goes through some of the things she has learned through her process. Being organized is key! Having the best apps for your […]

Glen doubles-down on video conferencing for free and Kimba once again is on the Facebook trail, this time talking about advertising. Rate us on iTunes Show Notes There are a number of apps out there that let you talk to your clients and share your screen for free. Glen tested Join.me and Appear.in to make sure […]

So much to talk about! Glen discusses an app that will help you to validate your product a great way to crowdsource! Kimba talks about the difference between Youtube vs Facebook native video. Rate us on iTunes Show Notes Do you want to see if your idea has value? Try Celery. It allows you to validate […]

If you aren’t using a “text shortcut” software you need to start. Glen will tell you how easy it will make your work day. Facebook Live is here and Kimba is all over it! Rate us on iTunes Show Notes Text shortcut software can save you a ton of time by auto-typing phrases you type […]

Glen gives us an education on landing pages and how we can easily make them. Kimba covers a little-used aspect of Facebook called Notes. Rate us on iTunes Show Notes Facebook Notes has been around although rarely used, but maybe you might want to revisit that. Facebook has improved upon the Notes section to make […]

Glen has some great task management apps to talk about and Kimba hits us with Blab vs Periscope. Rate us on iTunes Show Notes You can organize your world just by using the right project app that works for you. Trello is the easiest to use with nice organization options, and the free option pretty […]

Glen once again has done his research. This time, it is all about mileage tracking. Kimba can’t help herself but talk about more analytics! Rate us on iTunes Show Notes Finding a good mileage app can be a daunting task but Glen makes it easier since he tested the top picks. He always comes back […]

Glen talks about the exciting topic of website analytics. Kimba walks you right through Twitter analytics. Rate us on iTunes Show Notes What can you tell from analytics? Too much information to write up here! You’ll have to listen to get the skinny on what you can monitor and why that might help you. Update: […]

Glen talks about how heat maps can be used on your website and why you should have them. Kimba demystifies Insights on your Facebook business page. Rate us on iTunes Show Notes Crazy egg records heat maps and scroll maps. Confetti is also included as well as Overlay. Free trial. Summon heat maps to track […]