Expert Opinion – 5 Experts Share Some Tools and Techniques They Use to Enhance Their Work from Home Productivity

Since everyone is forced to work from home these days, finding some of the most-suited remote working tools and techniques has become a necessity for every business this year. From team collaboration and communication to finance and accounting, there is a software tool required for every business process.

To better understand which tool will be better to increase the overall team productivity of your remote workers, Ace Cloud Hosting reached out to a few industry experts who told us what tools and techniques they use to enhance their productivity.

Let’s find out:

1. Dock David Treece – Sustainability Coach, The Evergreenie

Dock David Treece is a writer, editor, and finance expert focused on helping individuals and small business owners make informed financial decisions. Dock draws from years of experience guiding individual clients and managing the finances of highly-regulated entities as a former FINRA-licensed investment advisor.

He is a serial entrepreneur whose expertise spans multiple industries, including investments, real estate, and writing about personal and small business finance.

Follow him on social media – LinkedIn, Twitter, or visit his website – The Evergreenie

This is what he has to say:

One of the quickest and easiest ways that employers can improve productivity while employees are working from home is to have them adjust the screen brightness on work devices. This helps avoid eye strain and allows employees to work for longer stretches. Plus, it saves money on electricity – all good things.

Another thing the employers can do to improve productivity is to use free Kanban and Pomodoro tools available online. These powerful management techniques can help employers keep employees focused and on task throughout the day, and make sure distributed teams are working toward common goals.

A third thing that employers can consider doing to help improve productivity for remote teams is to provide assistance for employees to sign up for meal delivery services. This simple step helps save employees time having to run to their local grocery store or having to take long breaks to prepare their own meals.

The total cost is really no higher than stocking an office break room, and it’s all tax-deductible for the employer.

2. Katie Biggs – SEO Strategist, FitSmallBusiness

Katie Biggs is a marketing professional with 5+ years of experience in the B2B digital marketing industry, with a critical eye for content and SEO strategy. Highly motivated and strong as a team leader or as a team member.

Follow her on social media – LinkedIn.

Let’s hear about her favorite tools:

This might sound like the most obvious and boring tool to endorse with all the fun productivity tools out there, but honestly, Google Calendar has been a lifesaver since I started working from home full-time, back in March.

One of my big worries, when I started working from home, was around my ability to set boundaries and not work late (since I no longer had to commute), while also wanting to maximise my own potential every day.

I took a pretty hard-line approach and started time blocking not only every meeting into my Google Calendar as I had been doing in the office but also all my tasks for the week on it too.

I even set a daily reminder to stop working 15 minutes before the end of the day so that I can set up my calendar for the following day, preparing to hit the ground running as soon as I sit down at my desk in the morning.

Google Calendar is effective, simple, and shareable. It’s also helpful to be able to look at the co-worker’s calendars to see when they’re free during the day, simulating the experience of walking over to someone’s desk in the office.

The other thing that’s kept me productive? Silly Putty! While it’s far from being the newest technology, this classic toy has helped combat Zoom fatigue for me in a big way.

I often find about 30 minutes into a Zoom meeting, particularly the ones that happen around the time of my afternoon slump, that my concentration begins to wane, and I struggle to remember the last (very important) point that a (very important) person made.

Enter Silly Putty! Doing something with my hands actively helps me combat Zoom fatigue and increases my productivity and participation in big group meetings throughout the day. Sometimes the most simple and classic technologies are the best.

3. Moira Alexander, Founder, Lead-Her-Ship Group

Moira has over 20 years of experience working in business, IT, finance, digital publishing, project management, and other areas. She specializes in writing content for top digital magazines and business blogs.

Follow her on social media – LinkedIn.

Here’s what she has to say:

Despite the chaos and increased complexity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, entrepreneurs and teams working remotely are still able to maintain or increase productivity. COVID has increased pressure on companies to do more with fewer resources.

The key to being successful is being able to, first, identify process, performance, and talent gaps, and then using web-based accounting, project management, collaboration, and other tools to fill in those gaps.

We use QuickBooks for accounting, G-Suite, and MS Teams for collaboration, and Trello and Wrike for project management.

Today, software-as-a-service tools act as an equalizer — helping companies to not only provide productivity gains but also continue to facilitate plans for continued growth.

4. Jasmine Glasheen

Jasmine is a retail writer, content marketer, speaker, and thought leader. As CEO of Jasmine Glasheen & Associates, she spearheads a millennial think tank that assists retailers in creating top-performing content and content strategy.

She’s a frequent contributor to prominent retail magazines, news sites, tech blogs, and numerous fashion and lifestyle trade shows. She also provides thought leadership for the retail industry for The Robin Report, IBM, Retail Minded, Sourcing Journal, and many more.

Find her on social media – LinkedIn and Twitter.

 Let’s find out some of her favorite tools:

Owning my own small content agency has been a blessing, but it’s not without challenges. One of the biggest is keeping track of outgoing invoices and payments. When you’re cranking out top-performing stuff all day and interfacing with clients, it’s easy to forget an invoice here and there.

I use QuickBooks Self Employed for the bulk of my invoicing. It makes it easier to track outgoing invoices, incoming payments, and business expenses with a single swipe.

Most people don’t realize how much shameless self-promotion it takes to make it in the content biz. You have to make sure you’re top of mind for clients when new opportunities come up and sharing any articles.

‘I write on social media’ is part of the value proposition we offer. I use Buffer to quickly share any articles that go live on all of my professional social media channels.

5. Diana Andreea Firican

Diana has been working as an entrepreneur for 2 years on two online businesses: a program for people who want to move abroad (www.mymoveguide.com) and relationship coaching (www.ahacommunity.com/dianafirican).

Find her on social media – LinkedIn

Let’s find out what apps she uses the most:

I am not tech-savvy, which is why what I choose needs to be very easy to use.

The platforms, programs, apps I use most are:

• Canva – It is a graphic design platform used to make creative presentations, social media graphics, and other visual content. Canva is a good tool, but sometimes you have to consider some Canva alternatives for having access to some features.
• Filmora – Wondershare Filmora is an easy-to-use video editor that empowers your videos. It is a great tool to create and edit short videos.
• WordPress – WordPress is the most used, free Content Management System (CMS). It offers numerous templates and plugins to include into our website.
• MailChimp – Used for its automated email marketing services, MailChimp is easy to use and grow your business.
• Social Media: FB, IG, LI, nothing else.

Thrive Themes is one of the most helpful resources for solopreneurs and small businesses out there.

To Conclude

When you work from home, there will be a lot of things to distract you, unnecessary notifications on your phone, the series you were binge-watching last night, or even your kids. Using the right technologies and techniques can help you survive through these tough times.