SmallBizResource Blog -- Productivity

Lenovo Refreshes Notebooks, Preps Netbook

Posted by Gayle Kesten 11:18 AM ET | May 26, 2009

While the rest of us were flipping burgers on the grill, Lenovo has served up a laptop lineup with price points sure to make many a small-business owner's mouth water.

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Hardware | Mobility | Productivity | SmallBizResource

5 Free Tools That Find Your Deleted Data

Posted by Gayle Kesten 08:00 AM ET | May 11, 2009

You know that burning feeling deep in your belly when you realize you've misfired an inappropriate or scathing email (statement, not question). It's the same one that strikes when you realize some important data has gone missing from your computer.

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Productivity | Security | SmallBizResource | Software

BillFLO Takes The Tedium Out Of Invoice Entry

Posted by Gayle Kesten 01:54 PM ET | May 4, 2009

So many tasks, so little time. Aiming to automate one that small-business owners know all too well, a startup in San Francisco has introduced a hosted service that eliminates the need to manually enter invoices into your accounting system.

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Freelancing | Internet | Productivity | SmallBizResource | Software | Startups

Guy Kawasaki's 10 Twitter Tips

Posted by Janet Attard, Courtesy of Business Know-How 09:40 AM ET | Mar 26, 2009

If you ever go to a conference at which Guy Kawasaki is speaking, make sure you arrive early enough to get a good seat.

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Business Know-How | Marketing | Productivity | SmallBizResource | Startups

This Lawyer Loves Her Bento 2 Mac Database Software

Posted by Gayle Kesten 06:20 PM ET | Mar 3, 2009

When San Francisco attorney Grace Suarez decided life was too short to be vexed by Windows Vista, Apple's iMac became her lifeline. But no matter how much Suarez loved her new computer, finding easy-to-use database software to develop her case management system was more a matter of trial and error.

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Productivity | SmallBizResource | Software

AT&T's Digital Headset Goes The Distance

Posted by Janet Attard, Courtesy of Business Know-How 09:20 AM ET | Feb 13, 2009

One of the benefits of today's technology is that you can work with people who are located hundreds of miles away without leaving your office. Pick up your telephone, and you can consult with a customer in Oregon, conduct a conference call with team members in Tennessee, or lead a teleconference with 53 paying students.

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Business Know-How | Mobility | Productivity | SmallBizResource

Google Bolsters Gmail With Offline Accessibility

Posted by Gayle Kesten 09:43 AM ET | Jan 30, 2009

Google doesn't want a little detail like lack of an Internet connection stop you from using your e-mail.

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Internet | Mobility | Productivity | SmallBizResource | Software

Your Small Business In 2009

Posted by Gayle Kesten 12:40 PM ET | Jan 5, 2009

Like my entire family smushed into my parents' spare bedroom this time last week, so, too, can small businesses expect their space to crowd with more startups in the coming year.

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Economy | Hardware | Internet | Marketing | Mobility | Productivity | SmallBizResource | Software

Rounding Up The Year-End Roundups

Posted by Gayle Kesten 01:54 PM ET | Dec 23, 2008

Santa's not the only one who's making a list. The Web is overflowing with lists of best-ofs. I continue to be mindful of the ones I present here on Small Biz Resource -- my radar always on the lookout for quality over quantity.

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Economy | Hardware | Marketing | Productivity | SmallBizResource | Software

8 Ways To Ward Off Meeting Monotony

Posted by Gayle Kesten 02:37 PM ET | Nov 18, 2008

You don't have to be a math whiz to figure this one out: If time equals money, then how much moolah are we wasting sitting through endless meetings?

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Productivity | SmallBizResource

15 Inexpensive VoIP Options

Posted by Gayle Kesten 02:59 PM ET | Oct 28, 2008

I promised my folks I'd never (publicly) knock their limited know-how about technology, so let me say how EXTREMELY IMPRESSED I am that they're using a VoIP service to cut down on their long-distance phone bills.

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Economy | Mobility | Networking & Communications | Productivity | SmallBizResource | Software

It's Time To Float Your Business To The Cloud

Posted by Gayle Kesten 11:53 AM ET | Oct 24, 2008

If you're still purchasing new software to run your business, then you may want to stop, stop, and stop. A hosted alternative could save you a chunk of cash and make your life a whole lot easier.

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Hardware | Internet | Productivity | SmallBizResource | Software

Weary From Wall Street's Woes? Then Take A Power Nap With Pzizz

Posted by Gayle Kesten 05:21 PM ET | Oct 3, 2008

Did you know a 20-minute midday nap provides you with more rest than if you woke up 20 minutes later in the morning instead?

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Productivity

Mind Mapping: A New Way To Problem-Solve

Posted by Gayle Kesten 02:51 PM ET | Sep 22, 2008

I first read about "mind mapping" a few weeks ago. It's used as a means of visually breaking through creative blocks, where you write down your main concept in the center of a page and then surround it with all of your associated ideas. Freewheeling, indeed, and the diagram that accompanied the article was frighteningly intense.

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Productivity

Getting Through the Workday: Life Hacker to the Rescue

Posted by Naomi Grossman 09:02 AM ET | Aug 26, 2008

Anyone running a small business knows it's the seemingly "little" things -- the unintuitive spreadsheets, the complicated file storing system, the daily calendar that won't sync with anything -- that uses up so much of your precious time. But there is always a better way to do things -- and chances are Life Hacker knows what it is.

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Internet | Productivity | Software

Let Your Customers Make Their Own Appointments

Posted by Benjamin Tomkins 01:40 PM ET | Aug 25, 2008

Some types of business -- sales and service -- thrive on appointments regardless of the size of the company. In some cases, getting the appointment is the toughest step toward closing the deal or keeping the customer happy. Automated appointment setting may be yet another way for technology to streamline a longstanding, and often arduous, business process.

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Productivity

Owning Up to My E-Mail Madness

Posted by Gayle Kesten 01:56 PM ET | Aug 18, 2008

The only mess bigger than the one in my basement following four kids gone wild is the one staring me down from Outlook.

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Productivity

Delta Readies In-Flight Wi-Fi

Posted by Gayle Kesten 04:57 PM ET | Aug 5, 2008

The latest offering an airline wants to charge you for is, surprisingly enough, good news.

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Mobility | Productivity | SmallBizResource

Like Sands Through the Hourglass...

Posted by Gayle Kesten 02:58 PM ET | Jul 18, 2008

How many hours a week do you work?

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Productivity

No Hot Air: Telecommuting Saves At the Pump

Posted by Gayle Kesten 01:25 PM ET | Jun 23, 2008

Working from home, I like to joke that I'm going nowhere fast.

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Productivity | SmallBizResource

In Praise of Mozilla's New Firefox 3 Browser

Posted by Gayle Kesten 11:34 AM ET | Jun 17, 2008

Mozilla's Firefox 3 browser has entered the building. Could a place in the Guinness World Records book be next?

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Internet | Productivity | SmallBizResource

Scream and Run: 5 Google Products To Avoid

Posted by Gayle Kesten 01:06 PM ET | Jun 16, 2008

Just because Google is so pervasive that it has transformed to verb status doesn't mean you should drink every cup of Kool-Aid the search giant offers.

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Internet | Marketing | Productivity | SmallBizResource | Software

The Documentation Cure-All

Posted by Gayle Kesten 03:04 PM ET | May 5, 2008

I rarely delete my Sent mail, and here's why.

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Productivity

SerebraConnect: A Viable Outsourcing Option

Posted by Gayle Kesten 10:29 AM ET | Apr 21, 2008

Small-business owners have an incredible amount to juggle, but typically don't have the budget to hire even temporary help.

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Productivity

An Idea For Email That's Begging Invention

Posted by Gayle Kesten 12:34 PM ET | Mar 28, 2008

The crazy volume of email in my inbox used to freak me out. I couldn’t keep up with it, yet I couldn't pretend not to notice. So much of what I did as a managing editor of both print publications and Web sites depended on that channel of communication.

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Productivity