The early Friday

It starts Friday morning, with the knowledge that unlike the rest of the week today's different. Perhaps it's because you can wear jeans, perhaps it's because today is "Hawaiian shirt day" or because today they bring in the cake to celebrate the birthdays for the month. Maybe it's just the underlying feeling that after you finish work you can start the best part of your week: the weekend. 

There's only one thing standing between you and that coveted break from the cycle: choosing the right time to leave. 

Everyone feels a little guilty about ducking out early on Friday, but they still look for every opportunity to do it. Some come in early so they can feel justified in leaving early, others check email throughout the rest of the day and into the evening to ensure that any last-minute fires get squelched. Some will announce to everyone "I plan on leaving early today" followed by the qualifier: "as long as I can get everything done." 

In my experience, if you leave early on Friday you need to do it by 1 o'clock, if not then a mountain of work will find its way onto your desk. It seems that no matter how domai day has been, how many projects I might've already completed, there's always something that seems to come up at 3 PM on Friday. That project will take you into the evening to finish, and possibly longer. 

My advice to you: get out now!  Leave before that 3 o'clock project shows up, check your email later that evening and respond "sorry, didn't see this until after I left. I will get to it first thing on Monday" 

If you don't, you're going to regret it…

Make Friday the best it can be by playing pranks on your coworkers

It's Friday, Friday, Friday. All the lovely Rebecca Black. Her voice resonates through my ears every Friday morning as I drive to work. I picture her wide frog like smile grinning from the top of her friends parents convertible, excited for the weekend and all that it brings, you know like listening to one direction, getting together with the girls to talk about boys, and going to the mall to buy a new set of earrings from Claire's. 

But Friday is an all fun and games, at least not for your victims today. It is your duty as an employee to lighten the mood of the office by finding someone to become the butt of The best prank you've pulled this week. What will it be I wonder?  Will you go "the office season one" style and put someone's stapler into a jello mold, or will you be more traditional, and stand in the hallway for the next victim who decides to leave the building for lunch?  Perhaps you will saran wrap the toilet in the men's room, or turn all the office furniture upside down while everyone is a lunch. 

Whatever you choose to do, make it epic. It's what Rebecca Black would want. 

iPhone, BookBook, and Coin may prevent back problems

Do you remember that Seinfeld episode where George pulls out his wallet and there is literally 4 inches of cards, cash, and other things jammed inside the tight leather?  I know a lot of people who have a similar problem, but not me.  

When I was in elementary school my teacher told me "in the future we won't use cash or checks, we will all carry little cards that will have our money on it." I remember wondering how we would get money inside our cards and what would happen if I lost my card. Today credit cards and debit cards are so commonplace that the few times I stumble across a business that only accepts cash or check I not only refuse to make a purchase but vocalize my disdain for their ironfisted grip on the past.  "I don't carry cash" I say loudly, "and it's about time you cater to customers like me because there's more of us but there are of them," and I point at the other people in line who look simply appalled to be associated with a dying breed. 

A few years ago I purchased an amazing wallet made by twelvesouth.com called BookBook for iPhone. This amazing hunk of leather is made to look like a book but holds my phone on one side and up to five cards on the other. In the process of transitioning to this compact little delight I took photographs of anything without a magnetic stripe and saved them in my photo vault app. Insurance cards, membership cards, and other forms of ID are now all stored safely in a digital wallet on my device. 

I still found myself carrying gift cards, store credit, and of course my credit and debit cards in my wallet next to my driver's license. I couldn't simply take photographs of these because they hold a magnetic strip with the data I need on it. 

Then I saw a post on Facebook for coin.  A digital device that holds all of my magnetic strip cards? Yes please! This amazing little device boasts the ability to remove those last few cards from my wallet leaving me with a drivers license and a single digital card that can be transitioned from card to card with the press of a button, and stays secure, connected to my smartphone. 

I now wait with anticipation for the launch of this amazing little device. I believe it will be the perfect transition between plastic cards and digital transactions and will change the way we make purchases forever. 

It's not here yet, but I hope to receive it soon, just as I hope this will become the perfect segue for those who wish to eliminate carrying a wallet at all.  

While Android users can already use services like Google wallet and Isis, and who knows if Apple's iPhone 6 will include the right hardware and software to tap into this tech. Until that time iPhone users can pick up onlycoin.com's amazing new product and have, as Tolkein would say, "one card to rule them all." 

Making business social media posts more personal

I hate the phrase "it's just business" because it implies that you are doing something cold and calculated, potentially even selfish with the excuse that it benefits the company, but hurts a person. 

The most successful salespeople and businessmen know that success in business is absolutely personal. Networking and getting to know people on an individual level yields better results than almost any email campaign, and any good salesperson will tell you that they sell themselves, not the product.  

This is also true of social media posts as a business.  The more personal you can make your posts, the more interaction you will get, and the better the response will be. 

Here's a few ways you can make business social media posts personal today:

1- create personalized posts. Social media yet so often the posts we share are not necessarily reboot representative of a moment of our time, but an effort to get attention or share something we think is cool. Rather then think about "which song will get me the most likes" Focus instead on creating a unique post that absolutely defines you.  this is more than just your song selection, but is in the picture or video clip you attach, the hashtags you include, and the other aspects of the post that you can customize.  Make your post and absolutely genuine one, whether you are posting for yourself or for the company, and you will see you're following grow and our active users increase. 

2- genuine interaction. If you are tasked with the responsibility to interact with your users and fans on a daily basis, be sure that this interaction is genuine and interesting. The old adage "if you can't say nothing nice don't say nothing at all" is absolutely true in this case.  That's not just limited to saying inappropriate or mean things however, a bland boring response to a post is just as stupid as saying something nasty. If you do not feel that the comment are reading inspires you to make a genuine reply, limit your interaction to simply "liking" the post. 

3- take your time to create great content. You've heard "content is king" right?  A great post can get a great reaction, but you need to take full advantage of your real estate. Add pictures, video, hashtags, links, etc. Make your post one worth commenting on, one that you would be willing to comment on personally. 

What are your thoughts on being personal? How do you apply this principle in your work here? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Jeremy McLerran

Jeremy@gigg.com

801.787.5232 iPhone

Sent from my iPhone 5

No such thing as a sick day

With today's rapid advancement in technology it's almost impossible to take time off work. Smart phones get signal almost everywhere, and cloud-based libraries allow you to keep documents and projects within a few clicks. 

Today I'm sitting in bed, still wearing my pajama pants, eating a warm bowl of SpaghettiOs in an attempt to get over the strep throat my wife decided to pass along to me. A decade ago I would've used this as an excuse to stay home and watch movies all day, but with video chat, a long task list, and a thick broadband pipe, I've done three conference calls and completed two projects propped up against a stack of pillows that just simply don't seem to be comfortable no matter how much I punch them. 

After leaning over my laptop for a few hours I'm beginning to yearn for the stability of my office chair in the comfort of the desk in front of me. Consolidating to a single screen rather than the triple display at the office only adds insult to injury, and I find myself spending half of my time minimizing and maximizing windows as I copy, paste, reply, and create. 

My wife being a stay-at-home mom actually makes things even more difficult. When she saw me watching a YouTube video (I was doing research for a project, I promise) she immediately assumed that I was just goofing around and could help out. Plop! Went our nine month old daughter into my lap, and I heard my wife say as she left the room "would you hold Katy for a second while I get a couple things done?" As a dad I am always thrilled to hold one of my girls, but this little one seemed determined to type out her memoirs on my keyboard, and I spent the next 10 minutes repeatedly pulling her back like I was reeling in a 15 pound trout. 

I must be getting old, because I find myself thinking things like "when I was younger we didn't have these fancy lap dance computers or intelli-phones. When we got sick we stayed home from work so we could walk to the doctor in the snow, uphill both ways..." 

Tips for startups: Using available resources

It's easy, especially in a start up, to think about all the things you don't have or will be able to do some day. It's even easier to use that as an excuse as to why you cannot perform your job today. Many of us have worked in other organizations with vast resources or large facilities. We've enjoyed amenities such as expansive break rooms, capable technical support departments, benefits packages and even company provided computers. 

While all of these advantages are nice and will hopefully be provided someday, we cannot let these become excuses as to why we don't perform our duties today. 

Look around at the resources available to you, be creative, and above all, take initiative. Don't wait around to have the perfect set of circumstances to allow you to be successful. 

Take graphic design for example. It would be wonderful to have a full-time graphic designer on your payroll who will make your dreams become a visual reality. Perhaps he or she would be versatile and create webpages and design promotional gear. They'll make sure that your company looks and feels as legitimate as you hope it will become one day.  But right now it's just you and your computer. You can still create great things using the software that comes with your computer or a few simple websites out there. It might not look as professional as a graphic designer's work, but something is better than nothing. 

I personally use pages, part of the iWork suite on my Mac. It's not much more than glorified word processing software, but after watching a few tutorials online, and attending a free workshop at the Apple store, I was able to take the pictures in my imagination and bring them to life on my computer. Ideally I would have a graphic designer with extensive experience using Adobe's full creative suite to build everything I want to do, but until then the $25 program available on the Mac App Store is working just great. 

You don't need expensive resources in order to be successful.  With these advanced tools make your job easier? It May, but it will also require advanced training to use them properly or the extra salary of someone who already knows how.  

If you are an employee within one of these small companies remember that success breeds priority. The more successful you are, the more priority your role or department will have in the organization. Business owners and managers naturally put resources where it will help them the most, and limited success will whet their appetite for more. Prove that you deserve additional resources, time, etc. by getting done what you can with the resources you have today. 

Whatever business you're in, remember that the ability to use the resources available to you makes you a very valuable employee, and can help you take on for the responsibility as you receive recognition for this important skill. 

Keep an organized to-do list

You have a lot to do, and it's not always organized in the best ways, especially when your company is new and growing rapidly. This is compounded by the "hats" you have to wear. 

Sort it by category 

Creating one long list can be difficult to stay organized, so instead make several lists. Perhaps you have a "personal" or "family" list. Maybe one for "school" and a few different ones for work like "Boss requests" or "misc"

Prioritize your tasks. Whether you re-sort the list, put numbers or stars next to items, or simply mentally prioritize, it's important to do the most important things first. If you're only able to accomplish a few things on your list at a time, you want to make sure it's the important stuff. 

Track what's been done

As you mark things off your list you will find a sense of satisfaction as well as know what you've accomplished. This is especially important if your boss comes to ask "what have you been up to this week?" Rather than stutter and try and remember, you could simply show the list. 

Proactively report progress.  Whether daily or weekly, every boss loves a status report. "Here's what I've done today" followed by what you plan to accomplish tomorrow. It's an easy way to get recognition, feedback on progress, and ensure your prioritization is accurate. 

Never forget something important. There's nothing more embarrassing than having your boss say "Did you get that project done I asked for last week?" and realizing you forgot the entire thing. As soon as someone asks you to do something, add it to your list in the proper category. It may not "make the cut" as you prioritize, but at least you'll be aware of it. 

Other lists you might create: 

-Gift list

-Wish list

-Aspirations list

-Bucket list