Back in
day, when I was Lori “Computer Babe” Davis, I managed Microsoft and Novell LANs and WANs. I was constantly surrounded by high-level technologies and loved it! These days, my home office is on a much smaller scale and yet, I fully employ technology to make me happy and to make my life easier.Submitted for your reading pleasure are Lori’s Top 10 I’m Trapped on a Deserted Island and I Do Have Electricity Must Haves. **
Microsoft Outlook
I L-O-V-E Outlook – one of most important secrets of my success. I’m using 2002 version while I contemplate 2003 upgrade.
Outlook gives me all tools I need and three features I use most are e-mail, calendar and tasks. I manage e-mail accounts for numerous clients and Outlook makes it easy to setup and manage new accounts. In addition, Microsoft’s Signature facility is superb.
I use a third-party tool (see below) to help me manage calendars for my clients. Imagine having ability to manage a client’s calendar who’s three time zones away. Trust me, it can be done!
Outlook’s Tasks folder helps me everyday, letting me know what’s due for that day and what I need to focus on in future.
I use Outlook to manage my professional and personal lives, and schedules for my clients.
Tools for Home Team
Holy remote access, campers! 4Team has a great offering of products (http://shareoutlook.4team.biz/) that let you share Outlook with your clients.
I use Calendar4Outlook for a number of my clients and they’re amazed, and pleased, with software’s functionality. Calendar updates are sent via e-mail and are applied automatically. No “click here to update” hassles. I see client’s Calendar in real-time and book their appointments without having to call them to verify their schedule.
Invaluable tools which I encourage you to demo.
Believe Skype Hype
Skype’s tagline says it all, “Skype is free Internet telephony that just works.” Checkout their site at http://www.skype.com. Skype is free (cool), easy to setup and even easier to use. Skype is internet telephony and an instant messaging package all in one.
I used Skype last year when I was recruiting Santas for Desktop Santa project. I interviewed hundreds of Santas, some of whom were located in Canada and United Kingdom. Could you imagine my phone bill if I had used a conventional telephone service to call U.K. and Canada? I can and it’s a bill I’m not willing to pay! I used Skype to stay in touch with my Santas who were outside of CONUS (the continental United States).
If you’d like to test Skype, I’m more than happy to help! Feel free to contact me and we’ll test Skype together.
The Tank
I snub my nose at today’s keyboards -- they’re too small and they have no bounce-back. I’m sure there’s a technical term for “bounce-back,” I just don’t know what it is!
To rescue comes my IBM keyboard, which I affectionately refer to as The Tank. The Tank is 20” wide, 8.5” in depth and jet black. The Tank is hefty -- I estimate it weighs approximately 10 pounds. The Tank’s claim to fame is that perfect bounce-back and tactile feel of keys. I type very fast (120 WPM) and The Tank allows me maintain a fast typing speed.
