Life In The Expanse

Effective business professionals work hard to focus on what’s important – spending time building the future of the organization. But “the devil is in the details”, and far too much time is spent keeping track of all the details along the way. Here are a few useful applications that reduce the amount of time you spend on details so you can focus more time on building your business.

#1 – Scheduling: Tungle.me

Ever get tired of the 5 emails it takes to schedule a meeting? First you’ll need a good calendar application to keep track of your schedule – I prefer Google Calendar (free), but paid applications like Microsoft Exchange and LotusLive work well too. But the problem of nailing down that exact meeting time with your meeting invitee remains. Tungle.me hooks onto your Calendar and allows share your availability and allow your invitees to select a meeting time. The advantage of Tungle is that it allows your meeting invitees to see when you are free and book a time without disclosing what you’re up to all day.

The following column I wrote was printed in the July 14, 2010 edition of “Sioux Falls Business Journal”:

Try to think of the last day you spent without your cell phone. That’s right: No calls, e-mails or texting.

If you are a typical American professional, chances are you will have a tough time remembering. Most professionals today are hooked mercilessly to their smartphones, and claim that without the device they would be out of touch almost immediately.

I would like to think my Blackberry exists to help me get more done. But is this really true?

To be clear, there is no doubt that mobile technology can drastically improve communication and real-time decision-making. But do business professionals become more productive by heavily using technology or do they just communicate more often?
In my career I have noticed that mobile technology does improve communication, but it also increases multitasking – sometimes severely.

Last week our district SBA held the awards banquet for National Small Business Week, and I was given the South Dakota Young Entrepreneur of the Year award – what an honor! Obviously this has been a really thrilling experience, and one I really didn’t expect. I’ve received so many encouraging notes in the past few weeks, thanks for your kind words!

For those of you who know me well, in my short career I have had serious ups and downs. Learning to run a business young in life is very difficult, and the experience has humbled and challenged me deeply. At times it has rattled me to my breaking point, and at other times I have felt the sweetness of conquering a challenging endeavor. Today is one of the screaming fun days!

I’m also aware of the source of any talent and wisdom I have been given. Deuteronomy 8:18 sums up how I feel: