Holiday SingUp

Together with a few of my lovely colleagues we have made this video to wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season and a Prosperous 2011.

VAs for the Holidays

Glitter Graphics by missyemory

Take a Break from your busy schedule - some of my favourite music

Today's blog post is nothing more than a list of my very favourite music. My favourite ever ever ever must be Herman Brood's Saturday Night. But I like a lot of different music, Gene Pitney, Frank Sinatra, (old) BeeGees, Small Faces, TheThe and wonderful, wonderful Kenny Werner. I picked out a few of my favourites to share with you.

Herman Brood - Saturday Night

TheThe - Uncertain Smile - unfortunately no video, just the music

BeeGees - To Love Somebody

Rod Stewart & Stereophonics - Handbags + Gladrags

Gene Pitney + Marc Almond - Something's Gotten Hold of my Heart 

ABC - All of my Heart

Who can resist a bit of Abba

Rollng Stones - Midnight Rambler

Kenny Werner Trio

Miles Davis - Tutu

JJ Cale - Cocaine

George Michael - Freedom - because of Linda, Christy, Tatiana, Cindy and Naomi

Tom Jones - Sex Bomb

Blondie - Rapture

Chi Coltrane - Go like Elijah

Now, back to work!

Is the internet pushing us back in time?

Many of you know I live in Spain. I have written about it many times.

Many people I meet on the web and in real life think Spain is very old fashioned. The way to do business here is completely dependent on your network. You need family, relations and a strong network to find a job, or customers or anything to earn money. It is often called nepotism. This is the way it has been done for centuries. It seems to work, by the way.

But, since a few months I've had to rely on the internet for finding work. And after a few months I find that I am completely dependent on my network. I need family, relations and my network to find clients. Exactly the way it is done in Spain. And it seems to work.

I think about this a lot. Is the internet pushing us back in time, or is this the way things work in general? Is it that the world is now so big without boundaries that we fall back on things that served us well in the past to give us a sense of security.

Whatever it is, it is a different way of working and a challenge which I much enjoy.

How to Manage your Inbox Effectively

In my attempt to share some of my knowledge with others, I have made a short videoclip about managing inboxes. It is one of the issues I know many people struggle with. There are tools on the market that are supposed to help with managing the inbox, such as categories and flags, but I find they are lacking in effectiveness. Rather, they make reading the inbox even more complicated. I use a system which is based on scheduling and actioning. If done right, it means an empty inbox and does away with the need to remember things. Below is a short instruction video which explains the principles of the system.

This should give you a lot to work with. If executed well, it will help you manage your email. This way of working can be transferred to other areas such as tasks lists or snail mail. If you are interested, but feel that this video hasn't given you enough, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Twitter, tweet, tweet, tweet

I tweet, of course I tweet. If only to find out what Twitter is about and not to become a person who doesn't understand new media.
But what is it about? I do get useful information via Twitter, it has given me a chance to connect with people in my new country. It gives me news alerts and that's great. But still, what am I doing on Twitter?

Without doing anything my followers are up to a 137 (5 November at 09.38), and they just keep on coming in - I do have to block some of them. But, why do they follow me? They don't seem to read my tweets, or are they just not interested. And if they are not interested, why do they follow me? Is it just to get to a certain number of followers/following, and if so, why?

Yesterday when I reached a 100 followers I decided to ask them why they follow me. And the best answer (IMO) would get two hours of my time. Only one person answered. And if she remains the only one, she very deservedly gets 2 hours of my time.

As much as I'm trying to find parallels with the real world, I haven't managed to find one yet. Any comments much appreciated - don't hesitate to tweet.

What is the difference between an office and a home office

More and more do I get convinced that although there are advantages to being a business owner rather than an employee, the world doesn't really change.

In my home office I am completely reliant on my internet networking skills. Through the net I get in touch with many people in many different environments.
Just like I when I used to have colleagues. I met a few this week in a virtual meeting. And I meet them on forums.

And just like when I used to have colleagues, some of them are great and some of them just simply annoying. People you need and people you really don't need. People who know what they're talking about and people who just don't have a clue. The coffee lady has been replaced by the fun website which brings a little light entertainment during the day. The boss has been replaced by the client. The IT department hasn't been replaced at all, just different people.

The other thing I find is that I need my regular breaks. I need to have structure, very similar to when I was in the office. Work from 09.00-12.00, have a short break, work form 12.30-15.00, have lunch.

So what is the difference between an office and a home office: not much really. And that's an eye opener for me.

Fact checking and how the internet can fool you..................

Generally, whenever we said "it must be true, I read it in the newspaper" or "I heard it on the television" is now easily replaced by "I read it on the internet".

So, when we were in Seville yesterday - lovely city where we met with a friend - we went in search of the Apple store. We had read about it on the internet and even seen a picture. It was supposed to be near the Cathedral which was exctly where we met our friend.

Completely against my normal way of working, we had not written down the address. It wasn't necessary, we had seen it on the internet. We walked around and around, being pointed in this direction and that. Consulted the TomTom, but not an Apple store in sight.

When we got home later that evening (we did enjoy Seville for a while longer, since the weather was so beautiful), we looked it up again and found our page: Apple store in Seville **

So, just like when hearing it on the television or reading it in the newspaper, fact check whatever you read on the Internet.

                          Oiseau by Karel Appel
                              

** For those not speaking Spanish, the page says: My creation to show how nice an Apple Store would look in Seville.