CAPITAL QUESTION:
UPCOMING:
What tools have you used to increase productivity? Entrepreneurs discuss what helps them complete tasks more efficiently
JUNE
11
HR Breakfast Series: Compensation and Benefits A series on human resources, brought to you by Alberta Women Entrepreneurs and Juna Consulting Where: 10310 Jasper Ave., Unit 301 When: 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Admission: $39. Tickets at awebusiness.com/event
JUNE
Google Partners Digital Lunch
JUNE
AWE: Roadmap for Success
16
22
An exclusive Google event co-hosted by Adster to help entrepreneurs learn how to grow their businesses Where: Charbar (618 Confluence Way S.E., Calgary) When: 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission: Free. Tickets at adster.ca/blog
Business planning workshop to help increase your odds of success Where: 10310 Jasper Ave., Unit 301 When: 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Admission: $69. Tickets at awebusiness.com/event
For more great events, visit capitalideasedmonton.com/edmontonevents.
PH OTO S U PPL I E D BY: D E BBI E E NG E L
Debbie Engel, owner of Debbie L. Engel Professional Corporation (depc.ca), believes that satisfied employees are the key to increased productivity. “Satisfaction includes both the quantitative and qualitative factors. Providing an accommodating work environment is essential. Satisfied employees are better able to concentrate on the tasks at hand and are more productive.”
“Hootsuite allows me to keep all of my social media messages under control. The dashboard makes it easier to interact with followers and maintain all communications.” — Grecia Pacheco, marketing professional at the Alberta School of Business (linkedin.com/in/greciapacheco) “We make heavy use of Trello, which is a task-management web tool. With one quick glance, you can see what is getting worked on and who is working on it.” — Trent Oster, owner of Beamdog — beamdog.com “Freshbooks has increased our productivity tenfold. Gone are the days of wasting time tracking invoices and estimates in a series of unorganized word documents.” — David Bailey, director of Monolith Digital — mymonolith.com “Last year, I switched to Google business apps to run everything I need from all of my devices. Team members connect to the platform, making it easy to manage projects and communicate effectively.” — Natalie Harper, managing director at Harper PR — harperpr.com “There are a number of cloud-based tools that allow you to improve productivity. The key element is to ensure you have the most effective communications. Find a solution that allows you to track tasks and action items sent via email or other methods. Most problems can be solved through effective communication, and productivity increases when everyone is aware of what needs to get done, why it needs to get done and the impact if it doesn’t get done.” — Ashif Mawji, president of Trust Science — trustscience.com “I use Evernote for keeping track of pretty much everything; its business card scanning feature is the best I’ve come across, hands down. For my website, I use Squarespace, IFTTT, Google, Hootsuite, Buffer and various Chrome plugins. It’s complicated, but it works for me.” — Nikki Van Dusen, president of NikComm Inc. — nikcomm.ca
“We have invested heavily in software and equipment that allow our employees to work remotely. Our resources also allow for the capacity to monitor and coordinate with remote employees seamlessly. This affords our employees with a great deal of flexibility, and allows us to recruit and retain top talent.” — Josh Spurrell, president of Spurrell & Associates Chartered Accountant — spurrell.ca “I use a couple cloud-based apps, like Asana for project and task management and 15Five for reporting. Both of these apps are great for collaboration with my team, and move me away from using my Outlook Inbox.” — Sharleen Oborowsky, president of Fully Managed — fullymanaged.com “I was introduced to ShoutCMS and finally found the balance of professional appearance and ease of control. Now I am infinitely more productive with the ability to easily produce pages, sell products, process orders and manage clients in one place.” — Heidi Schurman, business analyst at Abinsi Solutions Group — abinsi.ca “Our organization wanted to improve how our employees use their time, so we’ve been generating interesting statistics with the Toggl time tracker. As a result, we’ve been able to support decisions to readjust priorities and reassign tasks to allow us to meet our goals more efficiently.” — Roch Labelle, director of sustainable development at CDÉA — lecdea.ca “One tool I use to tackle procrastination is the Pomodoro technique. I use it to get through tasks that I don’t particularly enjoy, like filing. I simply set a timer to go off in 25 minutes, do filing until the timer goes off, then I reward myself with a 5 minute break. If the dreaded filing is not complete, I will do it again. After two Pomodoros I usually have a lot done.” — Rachel Murray, business software training consultant at Think Productive — thinkproductive.ca
These answers are in response to a question posed by Wellington Holbrook, executive vice-president of ATB Business. Here’s his take: “Most entrepreneurs I have met are usually looking for the big idea that will help them dramatically solve productivity challenges or to gain big efficiency. And some of those tools are out there — software, technology, etc. But I have to admit, the most productive businesses I have seen are those that look past the technology and think about the basics. It might be said that the best productivity tool is the human mind and common sense. To engage those awesome tools, one just needs to ask the right questions, like: If I could start over, would I organize things differently? Where are my bottlenecks? How can I reduce waste? Start answering those questions using your most important tool (your mind), and you can solve many of your biggest productivity challenges.”
“As a web developer, I’ve probably tried every app and system out there that promises better workplace efficiency. While task management tools and time trackers definitely change how I work, I would have to say that the ‘tool’ that upped my output the most is asking myself the same question every morning: What’s the one thing I can do that will make everything else easier or unnecessary?” — Jacquelyn Cardinal, director of Cave Inc. — caveinc.ca “WhenIWork is an online scheduling tool that functions as a time clock. It’s amazing! It has saved us so much time and allows us to track hours more efficiently. Our staff can even check their schedules on their phones. I can’t believe I used to email out schedules every week.” — Brittany Anderson, owner of Edmonton Paintball Centre — edmontonpaintball.ca
COMMUNITY QUESTION: What converts online visitors into customers? Generating page views, likes and favourites is great, but if a business’s online presence doesn’t convert to revenue, it doesn’t mean much. That’s why David Forster, president of Adster Creative Inc., wants to hear from you: What converts online visitors into customers? You can answer the question in two ways: • Open today’s Capital Ideas email if you’re a member, or • Visit capitalideasedmonton.com We’ll publish the best answers, along with your business name and website address, on June 10. Adster is hosting a free lunch with Google’s Partners Team in Calgary on June 16. Interested Edmonton business owners can catch a ride with the Adster team on their tour bus. Learn more at adster.ca/blog.
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