Blog to Productivity – As you Wish

As You Wish

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So many of us are working from home now. Does that mean we have more time? Absolutely not! That’s why I use Intuit’s Online cloud accounting. Read why, written by the motleyfool.

Time to Downsize the paperwork in your office?
Or have you finished 2014 taxes and it’s time to shred documents from 2006? Here is where it’s at!

Saturday, August 1 at Sound Credit Union

BURIEN: 9 am – 1 pm
Sound Credit Union 14647 Ambaum Boulevard SW. Shredding provided courtesy of Shred-It (5 box limit). Free for members and community.

OLYMPIA: 9 am – 1 pm
Sound Credit Union 3600 Martin Way. Shredding provided courtesy of Shred-It (5 box limit). Free for members and community.

SHORELINE: 9 am – 1 pm
Sound Credit Union, 16330 Aurora Avenue N. Shredding provided courtesy of Shred-It (5 box limit). Free for members and community.

TACOMA: 9 am – 1 pm
Sound Credit Union, 3633 Pacific Avenue. Shredding provided courtesy of Shred-It (5 box limit). Free for members and community.

* Unless otherwise specified, please do not bring stiff metal, plastic bags, DVDs or other items that will jam the shredder.

October 10th at BECU’s Annual Shred Event

BECU Locations & Hours

9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Tukwila Financial Center: 12770 Gateway Dr Tukwila, WA 98168

Everett Financial Center: 11127 Evergreen Way S Everett, WA 98204

Federal Way Pavilions Neighborhood Financial Center: 31411 Pacific Hwy S, Federal Way, WA 98003

*E-Waste, LLC, will be onsite to recycle unwanted TVs, computers, computer monitors, laptops and cell phones. Plus, we’ll be collecting non-perishable items for local food bank donations.
Bring up to three grocery bags or two banker boxes filled with paper;
Bring to recycle: TVs, CPUs, computer monitors, laptops and cell phones Fee – A fee may be charged for additional quantity or items not listed

What are you doing this summer? Hopefully using the latest information to grow your business.

So what does being captain of the boat really mean to you? Click the phrase to find out the latest details on running a business during the summer months.

Shredding sensitive documents is one way to reduce your risk of becoming an identity theft victim. Attend one of these free community shred events to keep your personal information out of the hands of crooks. I will keep this list updating with additional times and locations. If you don’t see your location please contact us directly to see if there may be one coming to your neighborhood soon!

Saturday, March 29
SEATTLE – QUEEN ANNE: 11 am – 2 pm
Top of Queen Anne Safeway, 2100 Queen Anne Avenue N . Shredding provided by Seadrunar Recycling Services.

Sunday, April 6
SEATTLE – GREEN LAKE: 1 pm – 5 pm
Green Lake Branch of the Seattle Public Library, 7364 East Green Lake Drive N. Shredding provided by Confidential Data Disposal, Inc.

Saturday, April 19
EVERETT: 10 am – 1 pm
BECU Everett Financial Center, 11127 Evergreen Way S. Shredding provided by Db Secure Shred.

**Please bring up to two file boxes or three grocery bags of documents, no metal or plastic.

Email, Projects, Contacts and To-Do Lists: Which is Your Priority?

To-do lists have been around ever since someone had more than 3 things to-do. Then email came along and took over, everything from letter writing, pony express, postcards, to-do lists, to phone calls. But now we have mobile offices with projects, contacts, client meetings and errands… how can it be maintained?

Read about the 4 apps you could use…

In the News

CHECK OUT the newest iPhone accessory the eyn iPhone case that looks like a case but really acts like a wallet. It’s made with a hinged back where you can store your money, credit card and ID. Always looking for a way to carry less? This is a great solution, especially for those who don’t want to carry their huge everyday bag or even an evening purse. Tuck this away in a pocket and never worry about leaving your wallet or phone behind again!

As You Wish professional organizing joins the Flip-Flop Brigade

Read more to see how you can help us!
The more flip-flops you collect and send, the greater your impact on the environment and the more coupons you can earn.
Follow these steps to participate:
1. Collect your used or ugly flip-flops to turn in to As You Wish
2. Contact As You Wish for flip-flop pick-up
3. Remember for every 25 pairs we collect you get a coupon to Old Navy

As You Wish professional organizing for Earth Day

We will be participating in a local project with Rebuild Together Seattle the week of April 23rd.

Besides reduce, reuse and recyle, here are a few tips for your home.
Choose to do errands in order. Don’t go out of your way to do small things like pick up the drycleaning. Then put them in a circular order, start from home and end up back at home

Pick up perishable groceries on your way home from work. Don’t come home only to leave again because you don’t have all your ingredients.
Choose to not turn on the air-conditioning until June.
Shut-off the heat at the breaker for the summer.
Follow instructions on clothing when washing. You will actually use less water waiting until you have a full load to wash as opposed to washing just a few items at a time.

Being organized helps preserve our home and lessen our impact on it. RTS provides donated repair services for homeowners in need so they can continue to live independently in warmth and safety. Show your support this month by donating to Rebuild Together Seattle.

Have Your Electronics Surged Lately?

Re-evaluating our electronics use at home or at work is a forgotten task. Many just continue to buy new products and don’t realize the impact it has on our environment.

One of the ways we show we are responsible electronics consumers is by evaluting our use of energy. A very important facet is a UPS. An Uninterruptible Power Supply device — or UPS — protects computers, modems and fax machines by “cleaning up” and regulating voltage, guarding against surges, spikes, voltage sags and power failures that can cause your equipment to fail.

In the event of a power outage or power surge a UPS automatically provides temporary emergency back-up power from a battery. Think of it as an extra safety cushion against power surges. And if there’s a power outage, it allows time for the automatic network shutdown software to go to work; the software will automatically save your work, close files and shut down your equipment properly — even if you’re not there. No corrupted files or lost data!

To make sure you get the right UPS, check with TriCity Computers. They can help you with choosing the proper UPS for your home or office and also show you how easy it is to save energy and make a smaller impact on our environment.

Ready to Shred April!

For those who love to shred and dispose, I’ve got the cure! This is the time of year when we start clearing out that paperwork we kept for the last year and really deciding if we need to keep it or not. For most of us Tax Time is the impetus, but afterwards we feel so much better. So check out this link to upcoming shredding and electronic recycling events, to cure you for one more year.

6 More Daily Office Organizing Tips

7) Use a variety of desktop organizers or trays to organize papers that come across your desk.
8) Filing system should be simple easy and manageable.
9) Do not over stuff folders. It may be time to toss some of the information in the folder.
10) Return calls in batches. Leave specific messages and the time you called if the person you’re trying to reach isn’t available.
11) Empty workspace of everything but the project you’re working on to cut down on distractions.
12) Straighten desk at the end of the day and especially at the end of the week so that you can start each morning with a clear desk.

6 Daily Office Organizing Tips

1) Clean out each desk drawer, to free up even more valuable storage space.
2) Clear off the top of your desk, then wipe off the surface of the desktop.
3) Keep essential items on your desktop (computer, phone, fax, card file).
4) Have a master to-do list for each day at your desk.
5) Pre-Sort the mail. To-File, To-Read, To-Contact (write or call).
6) Use a variety of containers to organize office supplies, paper clips and pens.

Get Linked with your clients, keep in touch via LinkedIn

Many people don’t understand how to stay in front of past, current and future contacts. Linkedin has made it easy to do, as you can see in this James Potter video. Don’t know who he is? A productivity expert who focuses clients on social media savvy, known as the Linked in Man.

Promotion from Securita

Valentines Day is a day to show people that we care which is often done by sending cards, making a phone call, giving a hug or believe it or not by organizing your important documents because it makes life so much easier for your loved ones. We have a special Valentines Day discount of 15% see the link on our site here, and we can include a personalized gift card with your order.

4 Tips to Make Working from Home More Productive by As You Wish organizing

1- Establish a work schedule and stick to it. Don’t allow miscellaneous household or other activities interrup your day. If you need regular time for doctors appointments or volunteer activites schedule them outside of the working hours. Equally important is to not “stay late” at the office.
2- Ensure your workspace is appropriate to your activities and free of “family fun”. That means the family doesn’t use your business computer for games, children don’t use your office supplies and the space doesn’t double for hobbies or entertainment. As well as a day care provider when necessary. Yes a plan B is invaluable.
3- Time Management. Make sure all other household members realize just because you work from home doesn’t mean you don’t have a job. You cannot be voluteered last-minute for errands or care for the neighbors sick child. Make appointments with yourself frequently to review how you are doing.
4- Make the workspace function. Do you have the supplies you need such as a desk, proper chair, lighting, file storage and computer equipment. If you don’t you won’t stay there long because you will be searching the rest of the house for what you need. Not to mention the time you will waste. If you will be spending full-days in the space make it aestetically pleasing so you wan’t to be in the room.

Strategic Planning, have you started for 2012? Click here to read 9 simple steps how to…

The NAPO Challenge is a world wide program developed between Soules4Souls and NAPO members

To encourage our communities and clients to clean out their closets and donate gently worn footwear for a good cause. Participants can collect as many shoes as possible between June 1, 2011 to January 31, 2012. Footwear is a first step in helping people in impoverished areas live healthy, productive lives. Footwear can help eliminate the spreading of diseases through the foot as well as help children obtain an education, as many schools have footwear requirements to attend.

See the best checklist for 2012 business finances at…

Purchase “Get Organized Today” – Small Business Day Special $15 (plus shipping)

This book includes topics such as:
Capturing the Vision, Creating a Space You’ll Love
The Organizing Triangle, Three Essential Points to Get and Stay Organized
Create a Productive Environment in Five Steps
Organizing for High Performance Families
Win at Organizing, Overcoming Chronic Disorganization
How to Choose Your Professional Organizer
Staging Your Home, Transforming Your Space to Eliminate Clutter and Fit Your Lifestyle
Organizing from the Heart
Conquering Kitchen Chaos
Building Your Perfect Closet
Wardrobe and Closet Bliss, Your Key to a Happier, More Effective, More Organized You
I Love My Office, Creating a Home Office that Works for You
Conquering Your Paper Piles
Full and Busy Family Lives, Helping Your Child Learn to Organize
Is Your Garage a Storage Nightmare? Learn How to Clean It, Clear It or Cash in on It
Relocation and Downsizing, Ideas to Make It Easy
Celebrations in Your Home, Planning with Ease and Enjoyment
Get Organized for the Planet, Eliminating Your Clutter in an Eco-Friendly Way
Disasters Happen—Organize for Action Now

Small Business Saturday: According to the 2011 Small Business Saturday Consumer Spend Survey, 89 million people said they plan to Shop Small on Small Business Saturday. Will you be one of them? Tell us where you will Shop Small on Facebook!! http://t.co/9rTMUjJ1

See what’s going on around Seattle! Also get ahead of the curve by creating your 2012 marketing plan now….read the details at http://fb.me/1cfReJSj5

4 of My Favorite Online Resources by As You Wish organizing
Do you ever think, there could be a better resource for a project or piece you are working on? Well here are some of my favorites that speed up the process and don’t waste natural resources, like paper and ink.
1- For small businesses regular contact with your clientele is very important, that’s why a service like icontact.com and the survey feature are key to success. If you don’t want an account with icontact or the like, try www.polldaddy.com– it a free service for referrals or feedback.
2- Another action that brings clients to you are free classes or info sessions. For this I like audioacrobat.com. Record it and save it so you can still send it or link it on your website.
3- Then there are all the documents you must keep, invoices, estimates, notes…. solution: google docs. Free again and I love it!
4- Got stuff you just want gone? Sign up for your local freecycle.org community. Someone will come and get it!

How a vacation can effect your work …. ? Seems simple enough by As You Wish organizing
That’s what I figured. There are pluses and minuses to going on vacation and a good percentage of those on vacation take their laptop, smartphone and more. When I started my business the majority of the work for my first client was done while I was on vacation. It worked out and I saw the sense of working while away to grow my business and be there for my client. Now almost 5 years into it, do my clients feel I should take their work on the road? Is is possible? Truth be told, it wasn’t a necessity on my most recent trip. Most of the work I do now is hands-on or in-office so it wasn’t a viable option. Do my clients feel neglected? Not that I’ve heard.
So next time you are getting ready for vacation, consider deeply if you really need to take work with you. Will you really impress your clients by doing so? Is what you do so unique that no one else can cover for you or can it wait?
In today’s business world the go, go and go some more feelings are strong, but most of us can leave it behind for a few restfull days and enjoy a bit of slow, slow and slow.
Come back to things re-energized and ready to take on the world. Your clients will not only appreciate that you are back, but they will love your envigorating attitude as a result.

Frequently asked question #1 How do we decide how much time an organizing project will take? by As You Wish organizing
How do we decide how much time an organizing project will take?
Simple answer: very carefully!

Detailed response: Although the degrees of sorting, time to recycle and re-sale of items does vary the main part of the process comes down to how willing is the client to work with us on the project and what are their expectations.
One of the most common questions we ask at the assessment appointment is: On a scale of 1-10 how badly do you want this project completed? A follow up question is: What does your vision of a completed project look like?
The answers to these questions help us formulate the equation that will determine how much time it will take but also which package to recommend to the client.
This is also why we offer the 3 different organizing packages. We have found that rarely does a complete project take less than 15 hours and more and more people are just too busy to make time to do it by themselves.
For example I recommend the ‘up to 15 hours’ package as a minimum to clients who want their garage cleaned out and organized. There could be layer upon layer of categories of items, many of which we can’t see till we dig it out. Does the client want to be able to use their garage for parking 1 or more cars? Then less storage space is available and more re-sale, consigment and recycling will be part of our process.
Another example, client who will be moving soon. Maybe they are not ready to pack yet, but they want to downsize and not move clutter with them to the new home. The recommended package would give them up to 35 hours of assistance. Some shopping allowance in case they need small storage supplies, on-going communication during the process and a discounted rate for any future organizing needs they may want.
So there really are a lot of factors that go into creating the perfect solution for each individual client.

Frequently Asked Questions #2: Why should I pay you when I could do it myself? by As You Wish organizing
Well unfortunately this one is easier to answer than it appears. We get calls because of this exact thought process. The purpose of our business is to help you, so it is possible we are going to do something you could have done yourself. But do you really want to spend the extra time it takes to figure out the details that we already know? If we could cut the time in half or less to get a room organized, sort and discard or other organizing feature- the question becomes, why wouldn’t you use our service?
Case in point we have some clients who are very busy people and we save them not only time but money by taking care of them.

Do you wish you had 25 hours in a day? by As You Wish organizing
Uh yeah!! Did I just hit the “duh factor”? Yes well I had to get your attention somehow. Now that I’ve got it, finish reading how you are just fine and can finish the to-do list in the time you have.

7 Reasons to be okay with only 24 hours:
1- Be Accountable: otherwise known as responsible for what you have agreed to do. Don’t want to do it? Just say no.
2- Set realistic goals and achievements. Decide what you know you can accomplish and stick to it. Don’t try to do 15 things when you know only 7 really count today.
3- Be Productive: Do what you hate first thing in the morning and reward yourself with the easy stuff later in the day. I know we are all supposed to love every facet of our profession but that’s just not realistic. P.S. This applies at home too.
4- Spend less time talking about what you are going to do and just do it. Put priorities into action and feel awesome!
5- Choose people over things. All the gadgets in the world won’t love you, care, give you feedback or counsel. Spend time with them.
6- Get enough sleep! Nobody likes your grouchy side. Read “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, and it’s all Small Stuff”. This will shorten your to-do list real quick.
7- When all else fails, Laugh!

Just do it! and other catchy phrases…. by As You Wish organizing
I’m very often impressed by the tag lines and intro lines other professionals have used. But have you wondered what is it that makes it work? Why does it draw looks, laughs or better yet actual business? For those of us who are home based business we need to be sharp about what we say to a potential client so these are valid questions.
Not everyone majored in Marketing 303 in college and certainly not just anyone can come up with a line like Nike did. To begin getting into the thought process, go back over the commercials you know from Super Bowl times. Yeah! What do the actual ads have to do with the business? True not all have a direct correlation, however who do you remember? That is when you know you’ve got the upper-hand on your new line.
Sure an intro line tells the essence of what your business is about, but don’t be tempted to give the whole enchilada in one sentence. Entice your
audience to ask questions. Move them to laugh, inspire them to remember you and you too will have a Super Bowl ad one day.

Cloud Computing and More!!!! by As You Wish organizing
Just read a very informative article about the pros and cons of cloud-computing. By Sue Smythe of CMIT Solutions in Everett. She points out 2 main points to discuss about your potential move to the cloud.

“Where does my data live, and how is it stored? Where your data is physically stored has several implications. You’ll want to know not only where the servers upon which your data resides are geographically located, but whether multiple copies
of your data exist in case one of the provider’s data centers goes down. In the case of the Amazon Cloud outages that occurred a few weeks ago, clients who had data mirrored outside of the north Virginia facility were much less affected
than those who didn’t. Data that isn’t replicated across multiple geographical locations is vulnerable to total loss.
Recovery. In the event of a prolonged cloud outage or data loss, what measures does the provider have in place to restore your data to you, how long will it take, and what safeguards are in place to minimize the risk of human or system errors? A
permanent data loss could have severe consequences for your business, and having fail-safes in place to prevent such an occurrence are vital. Another important question to ask is, in the event that data restoration needs to take place, in what format will your provider return your data to you? Will it be in a format compatible with widely available software, or in some sort of proprietary format specific to the provider?
Data security is a complex issue with cloud computing, and having a trusted adviser to help you navigate the airspace, so to speak, is vital.”

I totally agree and hope that you will consider these points thoroughly with a knowledgable party before making the move. If you already have moved, “kudos!”. It’s the cheapest backup policy a business or person can have as far as it goes. And if you are looking for a recommendation check out Dropbox. They are on the top rung when it comes to this subject.

File Management or Disorganization…. by As You Wish organizing
OfficeDrop
is a piece-of-mind system that lets you sleep at night knowing that you have both paper and electronic document management covered. With 3 options they give everyone a solution to file management.
1 -Cloud Filing System
OfficeDrop’s digital filing system makes it easy for you to get scans and over 25 file types stored in the cloud. Access your files anywhere – from
your Windows computers’ desktops, your iPad, your Android Phone or tablet, from your OfficeDrop web account or even from Google Docs and Evernote. Full text search files, invite coworkers and partners to collaborate and share.
2- Document Mail-In Scanning
Mail-in your documents in Tyvek, prepaid USPS Envelopes every month with our subscription scanning service. OfficeDrop scans your documents into text searchable PDFs that can be downloaded anytime from the web or from our desktop software. OfficeDrop also offers our subscription customers bulk document scanning services. No expensive scanning equipment, no gruntwork, and no more paper-cuts.
3- Scan-Drop Scanner Software
ScanDrop scanner software is the easiest way to get your paper into the world’s leading cloud storage services: Google Docs, Evernote or OfficeDrop
Online. Press Scan, then Upload and your paper is now available your online account! You can even select the folder/notebook you’d like your document to upload into, add labels/tags, delete pages and more. You can now also scan to your PC’s hard drive, and Mac users can also scan to Dropbox and Gmail.
Secure, trusted and award-winning service. Feel secure and confident that your documents are processed by a service that has been designed from the ground up to provide customers with state-of-the-art security through every step of the process. They do everything practical to ensure that the documents are scanned and stored in a digital filing system that is secure and kept strictly confidential.