Ilios Digital Organizing Blog

14 March 2019

To Boldly Go

Technology Coaching

Woman achieving goal, success

I had an ulterior motive for starting my business.

Ilios Digital Organizing was first conceived because organizing is my passion. I organized toy rooms when I babysat, the books when I worked at the bookstore, and even the gift cards when I wait in line at Target.

I’ve been blessed to be able to start a business doing what I love. There’s just something satisfying about helping someone put their digital world in order so they can live an easier, more productive life.

But I have a hidden agenda.

A secret reason why I do what I do.

I love to see people’s confidence around tech increase.

Tech can be scary. You know how it feels. Something isn’t working with your tech and maybe there is a solution but you can’t find it online. Or you do find a solution but aren’t really sure you should be pushing those buttons.

What if you mess something up? What if you break something you can’t fix?

What if you crash your computer?

Yeah, that feeling.

My clients feel that anxiety too, and it’s part of my job to help ease it. It’s why I’m not afraid to search Google in front of them. Or try something different to solve a new problem. Or admit that no, I’ve never seen that before but, hey, let’s try to figure out an answer.

I make my clients ‘drive’ the mouse when we’re working on their computers. Not because I’m lazy, but because I want them to experience how to troubleshoot while still having a safety net. It builds their belief that yes, they can do this.

Nobody voluntarily says ‘Hey, April, I feel more confident around tech now, thanks.’ but when I mentioned my hidden agenda to a former client she paused, thought for a moment, then nodded and said, ‘you know, I do feel more confident when I’m working with my computer than I used to.’

And that feeling is one of the reasons I do what I do.

But how about you?

How confident do you feel when it comes to managing your tech?

Would you like to be more self-assured when you’re working on your computer? More courageous when it comes time to troubleshoot? Give me a call and let’s talk about how to make that feeling happen.

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Ilios Digital Organizing Blog

16 May 2019

The ART of Email Management – Action Items

Digital Organizing, Productivity

If you’ve been hanging out with me for any amount of time you’ve probably heard me talk about the A.R.T of Email management. It’s my key to putting out inbox fires. Kind of like stop, drop, and roll is for regular fires! 

The A.R.T. theory can be explained as such: all email is either an Action item, a Reference item, or a Trash item. When you open up your inbox and its full of messages, take a quick moment to decide – what type of message is this? The answer will tell you what to do with it. 

Let’s start with Action Emails. These are the most important emails you receive because they’re the ones that require you to follow up. You have to do something because of that email. Maybe it’s read and respond, maybe it’s forward to someone else, or maybe you have to research a question. Either way, the next step is on you. 

So move those Action emails over to a Take Action folder where you know there are, and where they can’t get lost among the other emails you receive. But don’t forget about them! Out of sight requires you to check the folder regularly to make sure the follow up is not forgotten. You could also send the emails to your task list so they’re front and center.

Next time? Reference emails!

Need one on one help with your email? Ilios Digital Organizing can help!

Schedule your Discovery Call today!

Prefer video? Check out this info on Facebook!

9 May 2019

Are you ready to find your joy?

Digital Organizing

I was challenged to ‘find my joy’ the other day. I’ve been struggling with separating my self-worth from my work, trying to find reasons to get excited that weren’t tied to what I do for a living.

My marketing coach asked me what makes me happy, what brings me joy, and for a moment I was stumped. Organizing, obviously. Cats, of course. My family, sure. But what else? When I kept hemming and hawing, she challenged me to come up with 50 things that bring me joy.

So far I’m up to 18.

Work-life balance. Maybe not as great as I want it to be. 

But I’m working on it. 

It’s hard, though, to separate myself from my work. Organizing isn’t just what I do for a living, it’s what I do for fun in my personal time. So I’m having to find other things that also make me happy. And I’m trying to make sure I set aside time every day to do something – other than organizing – that brings me joy.

How about you? Are you taking time for yourself every day? Time to do something that brings you joy? Would getting more organized help you reclaim that time you need to pursue what makes you happy? If the answer is yes, schedule your Discovery Call today to get started.

Meanwhile, I’m going to go pet my cats and stream more Bosch Season 3.

Schedule Your Discovery Call!
18 April 2019

The Embarrassment of Too Many Photos

Digital Organizing

Way back in the day, we used to keep photos of our loved ones in our purse. When the time was right (or just when we wanted to brag), we’d pull out the little plastic holder and show off our family. Today we have cell phones with hundreds of photos. Photos of our loved ones, our breakfast, that funny looking cloud we saw last week above the water tower. Photos and photos and photos. 

Now when we want to brag about our loved ones we have to scroll and scroll, and scroll some more, to find that one picture you’re talking about. Meanwhile the other person is waiting, usually with that ‘any day now’ fake smile, for you to locate the photo of little Jimmy with the cat on his head.

Wouldn’t it be great if you had those photos organized so you could show off the photo you wanted, right when you wanted to? Imagine the time you would save, time you could spend reconnecting with your friend instead of scrolling and scrolling and scrolling.

I can make that happen!

When you’re done making excuses for why you can’t find the photo you want, and ready to access your photos ‘on demand’, let me know and we’ll talk about how.

Schedule your Discovery Call!
11 April 2019

What are your reasons?

Digital Organizing, Productivity

We’ve all been there. Even those of us who are usually organized get to the point where we stare at our jumbled files and computers and think, I need to do something about this.

But the question is why? Why do I need to do something about this?

In order to be more productive with our business, we get organized.
In order to find more time in our day, we get organized. 
In order to lower our stress levels, we get organized. 

And that’s what Ilios means. Ili is a Swahili word that means ‘ in order to’. Os stands for organizing solutions. Together they create Ilios – a company focused on getting you organized so you can have more time, less stress, and greater productivity.

What about you?

Why do you want to get organized? 

Let’s get together and talk about your ‘in order to’.

Schedule your Discovery Call today!
4 April 2019

App Review – Canva

Digital Organizing

Purpose: Canva offers individuals a way to design graphics and publish them. Designs range from Instagram post graphics to magazine covers, to desktop wallpaper and more.

Benefits: Canva provides a wide variety of designs you can build on or use as a jumping off point for your own creation. Even the free version has a lot of options to work with. The site also is a great source of design knowledge for beginners.

Cost: There is a free version; Canva for Work is $12.95/mo

Opinion: I’m not great at graphic design, and Canva lets me produce more professional looking graphics and images that I can then use for social media and other marketing material. I’ve used Canva for creating tip sheets, Instagram posts, and a lot of desktop wallpaper : ) So far, I have stuck with the free version, but there are benefits to the paid version, specifically the option to resize one graphic to meet other guidelines – taking an Instagram post and resizing it/optimizing it for Facebook. 

Ready to explore ways to increase your productivity?

Schedule your Discovery Call today!
28 March 2019

App Review – Dropbox

Digital Organizing

Dropbox logo

Purpose: Dropbox brings your files together, in one central place, syncing them across devices so you can access them anytime, anywhere. They also provide file sharing.

Benefits: Having a remote file management system like Dropbox is like having your own personal server – you can access your documents regardless of what device you are on. This is great for anyone using multiple devices or anyone who needs access to their documents outside the office. 

Cost: $0, $10, $20/mo

Opinion: Dropbox is great as a file sharing platform. Although they do offer some sharing, they don’t allow document collaboration in the same way Google Drive does. This is okay because it allows Dropbox to be pure file management and sharing.

I use Dropbox as a personal server, and its an immense boost to my productivity to be able to access my documents regardless of which computer or digital device I am on. I prefer Dropbox over Google Drive if you are just using it to store/manage files, although Google Drive does have the collaboration advantage. 

Interested in learning more about how Dropbox can work for you? Contact me!

Schedule Your Discovery Call Today!

Ilios Digital Organizing Blog

16 May 2019

The ART of Email Management – Action Items

Digital Organizing, Productivity

If you’ve been hanging out with me for any amount of time you’ve probably heard me talk about the A.R.T of Email management. It’s my key to putting out inbox fires. Kind of like stop, drop, and roll is for regular fires! 

The A.R.T. theory can be explained as such: all email is either an Action item, a Reference item, or a Trash item. When you open up your inbox and its full of messages, take a quick moment to decide – what type of message is this? The answer will tell you what to do with it. 

Let’s start with Action Emails. These are the most important emails you receive because they’re the ones that require you to follow up. You have to do something because of that email. Maybe it’s read and respond, maybe it’s forward to someone else, or maybe you have to research a question. Either way, the next step is on you. 

So move those Action emails over to a Take Action folder where you know there are, and where they can’t get lost among the other emails you receive. But don’t forget about them! Out of sight requires you to check the folder regularly to make sure the follow up is not forgotten. You could also send the emails to your task list so they’re front and center.

Next time? Reference emails!

Need one on one help with your email? Ilios Digital Organizing can help!

Schedule your Discovery Call today!

Prefer video? Check out this info on Facebook!

9 May 2019

Are you ready to find your joy?

Digital Organizing

I was challenged to ‘find my joy’ the other day. I’ve been struggling with separating my self-worth from my work, trying to find reasons to get excited that weren’t tied to what I do for a living.

My marketing coach asked me what makes me happy, what brings me joy, and for a moment I was stumped. Organizing, obviously. Cats, of course. My family, sure. But what else? When I kept hemming and hawing, she challenged me to come up with 50 things that bring me joy.

So far I’m up to 18.

Work-life balance. Maybe not as great as I want it to be. 

But I’m working on it. 

It’s hard, though, to separate myself from my work. Organizing isn’t just what I do for a living, it’s what I do for fun in my personal time. So I’m having to find other things that also make me happy. And I’m trying to make sure I set aside time every day to do something – other than organizing – that brings me joy.

How about you? Are you taking time for yourself every day? Time to do something that brings you joy? Would getting more organized help you reclaim that time you need to pursue what makes you happy? If the answer is yes, schedule your Discovery Call today to get started.

Meanwhile, I’m going to go pet my cats and stream more Bosch Season 3.

Schedule Your Discovery Call!

18 April 2019

The Embarrassment of Too Many Photos

Digital Organizing

Way back in the day, we used to keep photos of our loved ones in our purse. When the time was right (or just when we wanted to brag), we’d pull out the little plastic holder and show off our family. Today we have cell phones with hundreds of photos. Photos of our loved ones, our breakfast, that funny looking cloud we saw last week above the water tower. Photos and photos and photos. 

Now when we want to brag about our loved ones we have to scroll and scroll, and scroll some more, to find that one picture you’re talking about. Meanwhile the other person is waiting, usually with that ‘any day now’ fake smile, for you to locate the photo of little Jimmy with the cat on his head.

Wouldn’t it be great if you had those photos organized so you could show off the photo you wanted, right when you wanted to? Imagine the time you would save, time you could spend reconnecting with your friend instead of scrolling and scrolling and scrolling.

I can make that happen!

When you’re done making excuses for why you can’t find the photo you want, and ready to access your photos ‘on demand’, let me know and we’ll talk about how.

Schedule your Discovery Call!

11 April 2019

What are your reasons?

Digital Organizing, Productivity

We’ve all been there. Even those of us who are usually organized get to the point where we stare at our jumbled files and computers and think, I need to do something about this.

But the question is why? Why do I need to do something about this?

In order to be more productive with our business, we get organized.
In order to find more time in our day, we get organized. 
In order to lower our stress levels, we get organized. 

And that’s what Ilios means. Ili is a Swahili word that means ‘ in order to’. Os stands for organizing solutions. Together they create Ilios – a company focused on getting you organized so you can have more time, less stress, and greater productivity.

What about you?

Why do you want to get organized? 

Let’s get together and talk about your ‘in order to’.

Schedule your Discovery Call today!

4 April 2019

App Review – Canva

Digital Organizing

Purpose: Canva offers individuals a way to design graphics and publish them. Designs range from Instagram post graphics to magazine covers, to desktop wallpaper and more.

Benefits: Canva provides a wide variety of designs you can build on or use as a jumping off point for your own creation. Even the free version has a lot of options to work with. The site also is a great source of design knowledge for beginners.

Cost: There is a free version; Canva for Work is $12.95/mo

Opinion: I’m not great at graphic design, and Canva lets me produce more professional looking graphics and images that I can then use for social media and other marketing material. I’ve used Canva for creating tip sheets, Instagram posts, and a lot of desktop wallpaper : ) So far, I have stuck with the free version, but there are benefits to the paid version, specifically the option to resize one graphic to meet other guidelines – taking an Instagram post and resizing it/optimizing it for Facebook. 

Ready to explore ways to increase your productivity?

Schedule your Discovery Call today!

28 March 2019

App Review – Dropbox

Digital Organizing

Dropbox logo

Purpose: Dropbox brings your files together, in one central place, syncing them across devices so you can access them anytime, anywhere. They also provide file sharing.

Benefits: Having a remote file management system like Dropbox is like having your own personal server – you can access your documents regardless of what device you are on. This is great for anyone using multiple devices or anyone who needs access to their documents outside the office. 

Cost: $0, $10, $20/mo

Opinion: Dropbox is great as a file sharing platform. Although they do offer some sharing, they don’t allow document collaboration in the same way Google Drive does. This is okay because it allows Dropbox to be pure file management and sharing.

I use Dropbox as a personal server, and its an immense boost to my productivity to be able to access my documents regardless of which computer or digital device I am on. I prefer Dropbox over Google Drive if you are just using it to store/manage files, although Google Drive does have the collaboration advantage. 

Interested in learning more about how Dropbox can work for you? Contact me!

Schedule Your Discovery Call Today!