DAY 1 - Raymond Rahbar
Welcome to 31 Days of Blogging!
There is no better time than right now to bear down and dedicate yourself to your goals – both personal and professional.
As a coworking space, UberOffices plays a big part in the day-to-day life of its members and encourages each and every company to reach its potential.
Businesses operating out of UberOffices have access to mentors, pitch
rooms, an endless supply of caffeinated beverages, and industry networking events. The perks of growing a business in a diverse coworking environment are numerous and undeniable.
The success of UberOffices’ members proves that these benefits help
drive innovation. Companies operating out of UberOffices raised millions of dollars in 2013, and more promising startups and young businesses join weekly. The numbers speak for themselves – UberOffices is the place to be.
So, follow along reading one chapter per day from entrepreneurs, UberOffices members, founders, and managers alike. Use the hashtag #BetterBiz2014
on Twitter to share anything that stands out to you.
For Day #1, write down two goals for your business that you can achieve by the end of these 31 days.
DAY 2 - Brian Patterson
The OHIO Rule – Only Handle It Once
Email stresses me out. I’m an inbox zero kind
I started with the old standards – unsubscribing
of guy, so when I receive a new email, every
from useless mailing lists, setting up filters
ounce of me is compelled to act on it. While
for certain recurring emails, and disabling
this was a-okay when I received a smaller
social media notifications. While those
amount of daily email, a constant increase
helped, the one that really made a difference
in daily email has pushed me to implement
for email management (and my sanity) was
guidelines for myself so that I don’t lose control
implementing OHIO.
over my precious inbox.
The OHIO Rule is simple – when you open an email, you handle it right then and there with one of the following ‘Ds’:
1 Do it – Do whatever it is in the email
that needs to be done
Delegate it – Forward it on for someone
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else to do
3 Delete it – Get rid of it
image via Flickr/OzinOH
This eliminates that brain-drain that occurs
This has also helped me to not bury my face in
when you read an email and just say to
my phone at every waking moment. Because
yourself, “I’ll get to that later”. For me, that
of the rule, it means that I’m only going to look
always meant that it occupied some of my
at an email on my phone if I’m prepared to
mental cycles until I finally dealt with it. It also
act upon it. I’m not big on doing a lot of work
meant I had ‘email bloat’ – stuff I was aware of
on my phone, so I just don’t read email on my
but didn’t want deal with yet. OHIO meant I
phone as much. This is a big win in the ‘be
dealt with it.
more social’ department!
80/20 It
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t always
of the time, I promise email will stress you out
OHIO. Sometimes you simply have to leave
a lot less.
an email in your inbox, or you need to check
a new email on your phone even though you
Email still stresses me out, but a lot less than
know you won’t be able to act on it. But, if you
it did before.
simply do the 80/20 rule and use OHIO 80%
DAY 3 - Bill Slawski
Small Changes, Big Rewards
Let’s start with a story…
A few years ago, I was visiting a friend at his
about the different folding machines, and
office, and he tossed me a business supply
said, “Good idea.” He placed his order shortly
catalog and asked me if I had any ideas about
afterwards. I didn’t think about it for a few
what he should order for his business. I didn’t
weeks, and then he told me that he had
have a clue, but I leafed through the pages past
received his folder, and that it paid for itself
printers and desks and networking equipment,
within a couple of hours, and that the time it
and stopped on a page about electric letter
was saving him folding client invoices would
folders. I thought quickly about how useful
help him focus on more important ways to
the electric stapler I had was (I received a lot
grow his business.
of work-related mail at the time, and attaching
the envelopes to those letters was a good way
What small changes are you going to
to make sure that the return address was easily
make to your business this year that
findable.)
can help you focus more upon actu-
I jokingly suggested one of the electric folders,
ally doing business, or can help your
and laughed as I did so. Except, he took me
clients? Solutions are out there.
seriously. He took the book back, and read
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