I wanted to share three things today that are making my work life better. (Besides coffee, obviously.)
A monthly one hour chat | for the past three months, Tiffany Han and I have been meeting over a video skype call for an hour and talking about what’s going on in our businesses. We just go back and forth, no agenda at all, and share what we’re working on, what we’re struggling with and where our current successes seem to be. We bounce things off each other, answer questions and give suggestions. And it’s awesome. I think it works because what we do is in no way competitive with each other and we genuinely respect and want the other person to succeed. At the end of each call, we pick a date and time for the next call. And then a month later (which comes really quick) we do it all again. HIGHLY recommend. If you have another entrepreneur friend or someone you’ve developed a mutual respect with via instagram, reach out! This could be a great thing for you too. I think the one-on-one is ideal. Originally we talked about a group of 4 or so but I don't think I'd get quite as much out of it.
Breeze Order Manager | my one little word this year is SHAKE. But my one little word for my business this fall? AUTOMATE. How can I streamline every single thing I do? That is one of the only things I’m thinking about as I head into a very hectic season. I’ll be shipping the 2016 GTWBs out my house again these next few months and I desperately needed a better system to keep on top of my orders, especially this time around when there are extra items to add to the cart. On Saturday, I was in tears, trying to figure out how I could gracefully bow out of this endeavor.* On Sunday, I was in tears, relieved beyond measure to have a plan in place. (What happened between those two days is I tossed and turned and in a panic googled to find Breeze) I’ll do a full review of the system after I’ve been using it for a few months and am actually shipping out pre-orders but HOLY COW, did it just save my life.** (Heads up: it’s Windows based and not mac compatible, so I’m currently trying it on Paul’s old laptop.)
Canned responses | I talked about this in the email podcast, but you guys. Canned responses. Canned responses. Canned responses. Type up what you need to say (and find yourself saying over and over and over again) and save it to your email account (in gmail it's called a canned response and you can do it by clicking the little arrow in the bottom right of any email window). Send it out as needed. I am editing here thanks to some comment feedback: I don't think "canned responses" are a customer service inhibitor. I think they help me provide BETTER customer service by delivering the proper message faster. But I made a joke and it was in poor taste so I've edited. As I originally said: plenty of emails need a personalized reply. But plenty of emails just need a quick and informative response. This is an awesome tool for the latter.
*mild exaggeration. **extreme under-exaggeration.
enJOY it 
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