There is a lot of information out there on the web for small business owners and entrepreneurs. Lots of good video, audio and pdfs to download and mostly they are free. But it’s a matter of being organised to collect – and make use of – these resources. Here are my top ten tips for collecting and using this information:
1. Use the RSS feed on a site to keep you up-to-date with what’s happening so you don’t miss their next teleseminar or free call. Use a reader such as Google Reader or one of the many others around so you can ‘surf’ quickly through all the sites you are interested in and if a headline catches your eye you can read more or sign up.
2. Free calls: often you will be able to download the call recording after the live call has gone out. Make a new folder in iTunes (or whatever program you use to listen to audio) called “to listen to” or something similar. Put the call recordings in there and download them to your ipod. Then you can listen to them in the car, while walking the dog or doing the ironing. Once you have listened to the call, file it in a different folder or delete it.
3. Free document downloads. Don’t let these linger about on your desktop. Create a folder called Library. (In fact mine is called RGLibrary, as there are often library folders associated with your computer system). And have a folder in there called ‘to read’. Take all your downloaded documents and file them in there. Then take the first one in the list and make a shortcut on the desktop. Read that one, then file it* (NB see point 6) and move onto the next one.
4. Email newsletters. Again, make an email folder called ‘to read’ and file all newsletters in there to read when you are ready. Scan them quickly when they first come in though to make sure you are not missing any time sensitive information.
5. Organise your bookmarks on your web browser to have a folder of things you want to watch, e.g. YouTube videos. Bookmark them all there and then watch them in a bit of “down time” during the day.
6. Don’t make notes – take action! (Obviously not if you’re listening while driving, please!) Don’t make copious notes about a talk and then file them “for reference”. You won’t refer to them. Take action. If what you hear or see gives you an idea for a blog post, write the title of the post in your blog and save it as a draft. If its a new web directory to sign up to, then sign up now. If you really can’t take action immediately, write a note headed with the name of the talk and the date and file it in the appropriate place – e.g. if its something to do with your website, file it in the folder for things to discuss with your web designer.
7. File by subject: Generally I would say file audio and pdf files under a subject folder rather than the name of the person giving the talk. Chances are, the person giving the talk, talks about all sorts of things. Put the recording or file, once you have listened to or read it, in a folder that will mean something to you when you look at it again. e.g. “Organisation Tips” rather than “Jen Louden”. And ONLY file if you really will look at it again.
8. Rename audio: A short but quick and useful tip. Many audio recordings come through with numbers rather than names, when you download them that is. The link may be clear enough “Joe Bloggs tells you about ambition” but when you click the download link 34345439834857.mp4 appears. RENAME THE FILE before you put it in your ‘to listen to’ folder, otherwise you will have no idea what it is in two days time.
9. Thin ruthlessly and regularly. Be prepared to allow people to drift in and out of your consiousness – don’t try to “hold them” or follow them all the time. You will suffer severe overload and probably end up not reading or picking up any tips at all. Just follow a few people at a time and be prepared to let them go and pick up others. You will see things that are important. And because you have followed a person previously, their name is more likely to catch your eye if you are not actively following them at the time. You really won’t miss very much, honestly. And you will get more value from those you are following.
10. And finally, Delete. Life on the web moves very fast but conversely stuff you really need to know comes round fairly regularly. Don’t let your “to listen to” and “to read” files age. Every now and again go in and delete anything over six months old. Newer if you feel brave. Don’t let a huge backlog build up. You will never catch up with it.
Feeling creative? 