I’m a sucker for productivity software, so when I started using Evernote I was cautious about getting too hyped up about it. Now 6 months into my Evernote journey I’m more in love with it than ever. But like Quicksilver, it’s a little hard to describe what it is and why it’s valuable. Maybe by seeing how I use it you might see a way it could be helpful to you.

It’s a notebook.

If all I did with it was take notes it would be the bomb. It’s got a nice simple writing interface that lets me focus on what I’m writing. It has folders (Evernote calls them Notebooks) and tags that I can use to keep all my notes organized. Plus it has a terrific search engine for finding anything I need. So right away I’m miles ahead. If I just start taking meeting notes in Evernote I’m instantly more organized and effective.

But I can’t always whip a computer out and take notes in a meeting. No problem, write notes on paper, then snap a picture of your notes, or scan them in with your ScanSnap and presto. Your notes are in Evernote. The bonus? Evernote uses some kind of OCR magic and reads your handwritten notes so that the text in them is searchable! (You have to write somewhat neatly, your mileage may vary.) See how it’s making your notebook better?

The mobile app takes your notebook to a whole new level. With it you can easily record a voice memo, or snap a picture to get something into Evernote. See a book you want to order, snap it. Have trouble keeping track of receipts, business cards, or other scraps of paper, take a picture of the item and toss it! It’s all in your notebook now.

It’s a list machine.

I tried a bunch of fancy GTDish to-do apps, with little success. But Evernote got me back on the GTD bandwagon, with focus and productivity.

I keep four lists in my To-Do Notebook in Evernote, Today, Tomorrow, Later and Saturday. Each day I construct my Today list from the Tomorrow & Later lists so that I have a focused list of things that are urgent and important. I also measure what I put on the list based on how much time I have work on to-do’s that day. This means it’s likely I can actually accomplish my Today list today! This keeps me tons more focused on my tasks during the day. (Saturdays are different for me, that’s mostly errands, so those chores go right on the Saturday list.) I can easily cut and paste tasks from one list to another to make my lists. Once I complete a task I mark it off and move on.

Because the notes sync effortlessly to and from the mobile app to the desktop I can capture to-do’s anywhere, mark things off as soon as they are done, and easily remember what’s next on the list. It’s hard to screw up!

It’s a brain.

My hatred for (and frustration with) paper is legendary. I can lose, misfile or otherwise misplace any piece of paper no mater how important, or how little time I’ve held onto it.

By creating a list of things that I frequently forget, and dropping them into Evernote, I became a genius! I added:

The web clipper adds websites into my brain easily. Push one browser button to clip a webpage as a PDF and dump it into Evernote. I use it for two things, reference notes and recipes. When I’m doing research for a client or a project I will often clip some of the webpages I find that are helpful. It makes it nice and easy to reference them. It’s also easy to email those pages out of evernote if the client wants to see them. Cleaner and more convenient than emailing a bunch of links (and the email includes the URL if the recipient wants to visit). When I come across a recipe I want to keep, clip it! Then when I’m working on menu planning they are all there.

Pro Tips: I found Brett Kelly’s Evernote Essentials e-book enormously helpful. He helped me to think through how I wanted to use Evernote so that I would start as I intended to continue. He gave me some great hints including: He also has great tips for when to use notebooks and when to use tags, it’s really worth the small investment (if you are going to make Evernote a key piece of your workflow).

How do you use Evernote?

Photo Courtesy of a4gpa via Flickr

It’s ok. We all did it. When things got tough, our mindset got pretty tactical. We weren’t thinking about taking over the world anymore – we were thinking about making it through to lunchtime. Instead of looking for where we wanted to go, we started looking for how we could survive. Where once we were building our dream team, for the last year or so we’ve been holding onto whomever we can.

But the clouds are starting to break up, the wind is dying down and we are starting to feel a little better. It’s not all better – our bank balances are still a little lower than a comfortable level, customers are still pushing for better deals and demand is still uncertain–but it’s getting better, slowly.

The tactical work that we have been doing has made it possible for us to survive, but it’s not the work that’s going to help us to get healthy again – we need to start thinking some bigger thoughts, and dreaming again.

Tactical thinking is good for keeping things the same, for making small changes to keep us on a path – but during the “great recession” things have shifted, and unless we can step back from the day-to-day, assess the situation, and make a new plan we are going to miss the many opportunities out there. Whenever there are major shifts, opportunities are created. Change creates new market opportunities, and products and services have to be created that can meet those new opportunities. If we spend every day with our nose to the grindstone and our hand on the tiller, we are not going to do the THINKING that we need to do to find those opportunities.

Am I suggesting that you launch out in a new venture, or invest a ton of money in a new campaign? Not necessarily, but I do think it’s time to step back, do some review, and press the reset button on your strategy. That means taking some time away to review three key areas:

1. What does my competitive environment look like? What has changed for my clients and prospects? How is their mindset different than it was 18 months ago? What are they worrying about now that they weren’t worrying about then? Who else is in their ear?
2. How have we changed? What have we learned or developed while in survival mode? What have we jettisoned? How have our competitors and strategic partners changed? Where do our strengths lie now?
3. Based on our competitive environment, and our current situation, what things CAN we commit to that will start to move our business forward? What things can we try, experiment with, or test out that could be the next big move for our company?

Once you’ve answered these questions, you can dig in and make a plan – specific tactics that you can commit to that will make your dream into a reality.

Building a plan like this shouldn’t be work you do all by yourself, your team needs to start thinking big again too. I doubt that they joined your company to be a “survivor” or grow by 3% year on year.  They want to know that they are on a mission with you; and if they aren’t, they are going to start looking for someplace else to work.

What are you doing to think bigger?

There’s a lot of flux in the business world right now, people are changing jobs, customers may be renegotiating deals with suppliers, and the “way we’ve always done it” is pretty much out the window. As a result I’ve been in a lot of negotiations lately, and I’ve seen a few ways that we can make our deals stronger with good negotiation skills.

First get the Facts
There are always some facts in every deal, and we need to know the facts to be able to make a good deal.  There are facts that we know, but the other side doesn’t; facts that they know, but we don’t and facts that we both know.  The best deals are built by teams that have all the facts on the table, so sharing some of what you know (but they may not) can build trust and help us to reach a better agreement. We can’t share all our facts if they aren’t reciprocating, so try offering up one of yours and see if they will respond with one of theirs.

So for example, the longer lead-time in our proposal may be due to some turnover we’ve recently experienced. Sharing this could help alleviate concerns that we can’t deliver, or that this is a normal lead-time. It also could signal that we aren’t likely to drop the price because we have a good backlog right now. Of course it could create other concerns…

Next there’s the Story
Facts aren’t the only thing that influences our negotiation, there is also the story that we tell about the facts. Stories are about the emotions that the facts evoke. When we don’t have all the details (which is all the time in a negotiation) we tend to fill in the blanks with stories. The truth is that the stories are usually more about US than they are about your negotiating partner. So when someone doesn’t call back right away, we might worry that the deal is off, or that they are talking to someone else. These stories reflect our uncertainty and anxiety about the deal. It could just as easily be that they got distracted, or had a deadline on another project.

In our example our revelation that we’ve had turnover could initiate a story about whether our firm is stable. Why are so many people leaving? We may need to calm those fears before they run amok.

Lastly, there’s the Deal
We really have to get the facts on the table, and deal with the stories that we (and the other side) are telling about the facts to come to a compelling mutually beneficial deal. There’s lots of advice out there about how to perform the “horse trading” part of the negotiation. I have two tools that have really helped me. The first is a table that lists all the issues we are discussing (and yes, there is always more to discuss than just price) with a column for “their position” and another for “our position”.  It helps me to keep my eye on the big picture and understand where I can ask for them to give if I’m going to give in on an item that’s important to them.  It also helps me to keep track of how close we are to done; and how many items are left open.

The second tool is an intermediary. It’s so helpful to have someone who can help with the negotiation who won’t be around to service the account or work with the employee long-term. Sometimes you need someone who can deliver the harsh truth, or press hard for your advantage and in doing so they may ruffle a few feathers. That’s OK, once the deal’s done you can come in and play “good cop”, apologize, and go back to delivering exemplary client service, building a great team or otherwise creating good feelings for the life of the relationship.

So don’t let this time of flux catch you unawares. Find the facts, separate the facts from the story that’s being told and then get down to the business of making a deal.

How do you keep your head and get the deal done?

For over a decade I worked in a job where I traveled 9 – 12 days each month; 40% – 70% of my days were spent somewhere else.  It seemed normal to me, most of my peers were doing it. If I wanted my career to go anywhere it was clear that travel was a part of that.  My boss and all the executives at his level were “Platinum” frequent flyers, it was part of the job.

I have now gone nearly a decade where I have only had one assignment that I had to fly to perform.  I recently had lunch with one of my colleagues from those days of heavy travel. He’s still traveling a lot and despite the fact that he had a heart attack, he’s overweight, puffy, and his joints are stiff and sore. It got me thinking about the long-term health effects of business travel.

When I traveled for business I ate almost exclusively in restaurants, and often indulged in foods or drink that I wouldn’t have at home.  I exercised less, stayed up late.  That’s just the physical challenges.  There’s also isolation, loneliness, stress of performing at a high level in unfamiliar environments and with people you may not know. The isolation isn’t just on the road, being gone a lot puts a lot of strain on your relationships at home, and with friends in your home town too.  You are not part of the community in the same way that you could be if you were home. Not everyone who travels experiences all of these issues, but I would say that everyone experiences some of them.

Businesses are talking a lot more about their corporate responsibility; they are trying not to externalize the costs of their environmental impact, provide workers compensation to offset the cost of injuries, and try to engage our communities to “give back” to those who help enable our success. In that context maybe business travel isn’t the world’s greatest threat, but the cost of business travel is extremely high, and I’m not sure we are doing enough to avoid it.

I know there are times when you have to be there.  Yesterday I lamented the ability of people who work behind a computer screen all day to build relationships, I know there is nothing like sitting face-to-face.  But if people saw business travel for the health threat that it is, I think that some creative ways could be found to avoid it. I’m not saying we need to eliminate business travel, but I believe it can be reduced or limited.  What if there was a rule that an individual couldn’t travel more than 5 days a month, or 20 days a year?  We’d get really picky about when it was important enough to get on a plane.  Sometimes it would be worth it, but other times…

Study after study tells us that healthy workers are more productive, we know that one of the most influential factors in your health is the community of people you hang out with.  If business owners really care about the health and well being of their workers (and themselves) then making an effort to reduce business travel is essential.

I know there are healthy people who travel a lot.  There are also people who smoke and don’t get cancer, but when we see someone who smokes we want them to stop.  I think if we are honest with ourselves we don’t need a government funded research study to tell us that extensive business travel is unhealthy. It’s time to make a decision to do something different, to find different ways to work, and ways to diminish the impact that working has on our team’s health.

What do you think?  Is it time to get off the plane?

My College Computer

I’m of the first generation of college students who brought computers to college and when I started my first job I was the only one in my department who had a computer on my desk.  In fact I was hired because I knew what to do with one!  We had a fancy network too, it was called the sneaker net.  Yep, if I wanted to move a file from one computer to another I copied it onto a floppy and walked it over there.

Now I carry a computer in my pocket that’s so advanced it can’t even compare with the power of that college computer; and I can reach the Internet from anywhere. I can drive down the freeway and listen music streamed over the Internet on a  radio station created just for me (really, check out Pandora, it’s the bomb).

I’m a huge fan of technology and all that it enables us to do, I love being able to work from a park bench, or coffee shop if I want to, I love being able to have a great bookkeeper who lives in Austin, Tx, a writer in Springfield, IL, and clients across the country.

Still there are changes that technology has brought that are less charming.  When I started in business we knew that in order to make a sale, in order to build a relationship, we had to go meet someone.  Social Networking is great, email is very convenient, but I still believe that we do business with people we know and like.  There’s nothing like the 3D, real-life, meatspace to push that relationship forward.

When I started in business we used overhead projectors and slides to make a presentation.  They were a pain to make, and took a lot of time, so we only had a few.  Now presentation software is so easy we end up with presentations with 40 slides and 100 words per slide.  One of my favorite bosses would make us put our last slide up first, if he agreed with our conclusion he would tell us to sit down, he didn’t need to hear the rest of the presentation.  If not, then he’d listen and see if he was convinced.  With slides you had to think on your feet, rearrange things and respond to your audience. Presentation software seems to make everyone expect to sit and be entertained/informed, instead of participating in the presentation.  This is a big reason that I only speak with a flip-chart today, no projector, no slides.

The business leaders I learned from were a cautious lot, they wanted facts and not opinions.  They wanted to really understand something before approving it. Today that seems to be coming back into fashion.  We went through a decade where almost anything sold, and half-baked ideas were the norm.  But it seems that time has past, and the caution that I learned from my mentors is back in fashion again.

Yep, things have changed a lot in the last 20 years.  I wonder what the next 20 have in store?

The City of Chicago recently decided to move the annual fireworks display out of Grant Park and push back the date from July 3rd to July 4th.  This was in part to cut costs; but also an effort to scale back the event so that it’s not such a security concern. As a business owner, I applaud the efforts to cut costs, but was this a wise decision? My friends, co-workers and community are quite divided on this issue.

On the one hand the Chicago fireworks on July 3rd is a unique tradition.  Where else do they have a big fireworks display on the 3rd?  It allows everyone to stay out late to watch the fireworks and still get to work on the 5th.  It’s unique and part of what it means to celebrate in Chicago. It also meant that a lot of suburban folks could make it down and celebrate in the City on the 3rd and still be in their community on the 4th.  In our city neighborhood we traditionally have our block party on the 4th, but many of us would go downtown for the big display the night before.

Further, there is something powerful about community celebrations that bring us all together.  The lawn of Grant Park was nothing if not a spectacular melting pot of all that is Chicago, city and suburbs.

I’m sure the security is an issue for events like this.  The last several years have seen some violence and even shootings during or immediately after the fireworks.  Further, the huge crowds and press to get on the trains and busses must seem like an easy target for a terror attack.

How then could what is good about the event (the unique July 3rd date, the melting pot, a way to celebrate together) be preserved and still meet some of the city’s goals for cutting costs and reducing security risks?

Spreading out the celebration is the easiest way to reduce the security risk, but we lose the essence of all of us celebrating together.  While I don’t want to be arrogant and say, “We have to have this celebration, we need to just find a way to make it secure.” I’m also aware of the irony in canceling a celebration of our country’s founding out of fear of terrorist attacks.

When I mentioned this in my recent newsletter I received several comments about getting sponsors to reduce the cost.  People questioned the lost revenue for the downtown businesses and the effect that has on the overall budget equation.

Will Chicago’s decision be a case study for how slashing your budget can solve an immediate problem while creating a long-term problem at the same time? Or, will it be be heralded as one of the greatest cost-cutting moves/compromises of all time? What do you think?

In the last week I have attended two different economic forecast presentations (one at the Executive Club, the other with the Association for Strategic Planning), where I heard 4 different economists (Diane Swonk, and David Hale) and prognosticators (Bob Froehlich, and Andy Busch) describe what the see in the year ahead for the US and world economies. I am not an economist and so what I’ve written here is my interpretation of what they predicted, not predictions of my own.

The first observation is that the four predictions I heard had widely varying views. I don’t remember a time when I have seen more divergent opinions about what the future holds. This reflects significant uncertainty that exists in the marketplace, political uncertainty, uncertainty with global markets, and some uncertainty about how businesses and individuals are going to react to these forces.

The political uncertainty is perhaps most obvious. Massachusetts seems to have put a nail in the coffin of the healthcare reform bill (as it stands right now), but the administration needs to pass something, so changes in how the country handles healthcare (17% of the US economy) stand as a significant uncertainty in the short term. Once congress gets through the healthcare debate, they will move on to environmental reform (cap and trade) and questions about what to do with the expiring Bush tax cuts. Additionally of the $700B+ in stimulus money approved, only about $250B has been spent, so the government is also wielding further stimulus opportunities. Each of these has a huge impact on businesses of all sizes, but in concert they make it very hard for business leaders to have confidence in making decisions for the future.

With all this uncertainty it is difficult for businesses and individuals to spend money. In fact, both businesses and individuals have stopped spending money for most of 2009. Corporate profits are up, and corporate balance sheets are strong. In 2009 large companies saw net cash influxes of over $250B, five times what we would see in a normal year. Households have been paying off debt and the net household savings rate has gone from -1% to +4% or so. But with the economy improving and inventories growing that may change.

Still there are some pieces of good news. Everyone seems to agree that the economy grew in 4Q09, maybe as much as 4% – 5%. Some of that was stimulus related (Cash for Clunkers, etc.) but some if it was building inventory. This is a very positive sign and 3 out of the 4 economists that I heard felt like that trend would continue through the first half of 2010. Particularly strong sectors are healthcare (despite the reform bill) and exports. With another $500B of stimulus still to be spent, the economy should have a bit of a tail wind for two quarters or so.

The world economy has recovered much more quickly than the US and with record level deficits and near 0% interest rates we should see the dollar continue to weaken through the year making US goods highly competitive on the world market. This trend has a chance of pulling the US out of this funk. However, a weak dollar is not in the best interests of the rest of the world, and could eventually set the stage for strong inflationary pressures in 2011 and so the Fed is likely to issue a token (1/2 point or so) rate increase toward the end of the year.

China is now the largest consumer of commodities in the world, and their economy’s strong growth (over 10%) is holding the prices for metals, and oil, high. Can China keep up this growth pace without triggering inflation, or a currency revaluation?

So how do we know which of the forecasts is right? I’d suggest watching some key indicators. Now that the Obama administration has suffered some defeats, and have a better understanding of the constraints that they are under, do they shift back toward the center? If so, expect stronger second half growth. David Hale suggested that the Administration was floating the idea of extending the Bush tax cuts “as is” until 2012. This would have a horrible effect on the deficit, but would be stimulative in the short term. China needs to continue to tighten the reigns on their economy to control growth and keep commodity prices reasonable. Do they continue to raise interest rates, or go further and revalue their currency? Lastly, in the face of significant unemployment and uncertainty, do US households go back to spending some money, or do they continue their efforts to de-leverage and save? Any of these would increase the likelihood of expansion this year.

One other trend to watch; State and local governments need to raise money, in some cases a lot of it. They have a limited ability to raise taxes in this environment, so we will likely see a move toward selling more assets. Chicago is ahead of the curve on this trend with the parking meter sale, the Skyway sale and the attempted sale of Midway Airport. Arizona even tried to sell their statehouse last year. Outside the US the majority of airports are owned by for profit operators, the US should start to follow that trend in the next couple of years.

So what should you do now? If you sell to large companies, and particularly if you are selling goods or services that improve efficiency, you should hit those customers hard now. Large companies have cash and they have laid off a lot of people. They want to do more with less, if you can help them to do that they will spend right now. If you have customers who are exporters, their business is likely to pick up in the short term. We should see hiring and expanding inventories to support that growth. Healthcare has strong underlying fundamentals, and as long as the healthcare reform bill creates a straightforward path to get paid, these businesses should continue to grow effectively. If you are not positioned in one of those industries, look for the companies in your niche that do have exposure there and chase after them. There are always healthy companies in any economy, we just have to find them.

It’s going to be a wild ride in 2010, and there may still be a lot of pain, high unemployment and slow growth for the next 12 months or so, but the dark days are behind us and we should start to shift our focus forward. I urge you to move from a defensive stance and begin the process of aggressively expanding your sales and marketing efforts toward those sectors seeing growth. Get help from a professional sales coach, or create a more comprehensive marketing plan to capitalize on this window of positive momentum to grow your business while your competitors are still hiding in their caves.

Something is shifting and I think it’s just the current incarnation of the shift that’s been in progress for a long time, but it’s getting faster, and spreading wider.

9 years ago when I started Anchor Advisors, Ltd. I noticed how easy it has become to start a business.  You go to VistaPrint and choose a business card, find a template for a Web site that looks good with the card you choose and you are in business. Total cost, 10 hours of my time, $0.  The friction, or barriers to entry for creating credible collateral were very low.  Once the business got going, I eventually designed a card, and got a professional Web site, but why invest the money until you know it’s a going concern?  The production value of the templated solutions was “good enough” to get started with, and it took no time or money to execute.

Then came Blogs, and YouTube, then Facebook and now Twitter.  More and more of what we read and look at is created by amateurs.  The production value of most of the blogs that I read is low, they are produced by their owners with little or no help from “professionals”.  The production quality of the most popular videos on the Internet is basic.  We don’t have our blog posts edited by professional writers, we don’t have our tweets crafted by a copywriter.  More and more creative content is being made in some form of DIY manner.

And the tools to do that are expanding as well; the Flip camera makes video easy to shoot and even edit.  You can edit your photos using online tools without even buying expensive photo editing software.  OK, nothing makes writing easier, good writing is still hard, but at least Twitter has forced us to keep it short!

Phil Johnson posted an article on the AdAge Small Agency blog about this trend and how it’s forced him to create a whole new department in his agency that’s focused on lower budget, quicker turnaround, higher volume content to feed social media.

Is this the erosion of the creative class?  Have creatives lost their place as the crafters of communication and design?  No, there will always be a need for elegance, effective design and well written copy.  However, there is also a tolerance, even an appreciation for the unproduced, unvarnished, amateur production as well.  Lowering the bar has resulted in an explosion of content being created, and much of it is DIY.

The really excellent design is going to be reserved for only those projects with large impact and budget.  Company identities for successful going concerns, packaging for consumer products, annual reports, etc. will always deserve the value of a professional design.  It might even be valued more as it “stands out” from the crowd of amateur produced stuff we look at all day.

But there is also going to be more and more content created by amateurs, and the are going to want their stuff to look and sound good.  Teaching basic design and writing principals to the masses represents a huge opportunity.  Creating tools to enable easy, high quality DIY content is another.

It’s a brave new world and I don’t think the trend is going backwards any time soon.

How do you see this trend impacting your business?