Leanne Nelson+ by | May 15, 2012 | Gallery, Websites
Websites have become the new contact point and advertising medium of our time. It’s important even for small local businesses to have a presence on the web as more and more people make Google their first port of call when looking for goods and services. Of course, not every business requires a whizz bang website with member portals, ecommerce functionality and huge back end databases. Sometimes what is required is something simple. I like to think of these types of websites as dynamic, expandable business cards. They can start off small and be added to as the business needs. This is an example of one such site I designed. It provides a run down of what the business provides, some information about their products and a contact details. Simple doesn’t mean bland and boring. Simple means it has what it needs for now and nothing more. If you’d like to learn more about getting your business online, I’d love to help! Check my contact page for how to get in touch, or connect via Twitter, Facebook or...
Leanne Nelson+ by | Apr 5, 2012 | Time management
This is one of my favourite TED talks. It’s by Jason Fried, co-founder of Basecamp (online collaborative software) and author of the book Rework. Here, Jason talks about something we’ve probably all experienced – why it is sometimes so difficult to get any work done at...
Leanne Nelson+ by | Mar 29, 2012 | Information Systems
Do you have reminder notes in 10 different places, web clips for research somewhere else and that great idea that you had last Friday … what was that again? Evernote is here to save the day. Their tagline of “Remember everything” really is a possibility. Features Evernote stores individual pieces of information as notes. Notes can be sorted into notebooks (think folders), which in turn can be grouped into notebook stacks. Individual notes can be tagged. This means, no matter what your organising preference, the note you’re looking is easy to find. Notes are fully searchable, even scanned documents and photographs. Each account is allocated an Evernote email address, where you can email notes – a great way to tame your inbox or get notes into the software on the rare occasion you can’t access it directly. Evernote can also record audio notes, although I’m yet to try that feature. Notes and notebooks can also be shared, making collaboration easier. Your Evernote notes are accessible almost anywhere. There are desktop versions (Mac and Windows), mobile apps and a web app, all staying in sync so your data is up to date all the time. There is a large community of developers making apps that integrate beautifully with Evernote to increase its functionality, such as Skitch (which I created the screenshop above with), JotNot for scanning with your smartphone and LiveScribe. A comprehensive list of hardware and apps is available on The Trunk. Evernote uses the freemium model. All the Evernote software and apps are free to download. Up to 60Mb of data per month can be uploaded using the...
Leanne Nelson+ by | Mar 22, 2012 | Information Systems
Cloud computing has been with us in one form or another for a long time. Google’s mail and calendar were possibly the what many first used and considered as cloud services. Now the cloud is the new buzz term for business. So what does it mean for you? Should you take the plunge? There are a huge variety of services now available in the cloud. As I mentioned, Gmail has been with us for quite some time now. Services such as Dropbox allow you to store files in the cloud and share or access them from virtually anywhere. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), where software is accessed via the cloud, is an alternative popular with many small businesses. Group collaboration tools, accounting software, customer relationship management and content management software are all examples of SaaS. The advantages of SaaS to the small business are: that usually access is charged on a per user basis (sometimes free for single-user or low transaction accounts); the software isn’t actually installed on your computer reducing technical expertise requirements security (including backup and redundancy) are handled by the provider and the software is generally customisable; quite often SaaS applications are updated much more regularly than “boxed” software. Like all technology, cloud computing has advantages and disadvantages. It’s important to consider the benefits a service offers before leaping in a moving everything over to the cloud. Firstly ask whether moving to the cloud will improve your business processes or solve an issue? The security risks must also be considered. Although most cloud services would provide better security and backup systems than many businesses currently have, you still need...
Leanne Nelson+ by | Mar 22, 2012 | Business
You’re probably familiar with working with contractors in other parts of your business, but have you ever considered using an independent contractor for your administration work? Outsourcing administration tasks to a virtual assistant (VA) is a smart business decision that can free your time to focus on the areas of your business that you enjoy. Working with a Tacit Business Services will enable you to make better use of your existing resources: time, space and money. I work from my own office and only charge you for the time and expenses related to your project – no payroll expenses or hassles, no strain on your office resources and no wasted hours chatting around the water cooler. Perhaps more importantly, I’m a small business owner too. I understand business pressures and can suggest solutions that will add to your business success. Contact me to discuss how I can give your business a Tacit...
