Guest Post: I Love Technology!

Guest post by: Professional Organizer Brandie Kajino

On Valentine’s Day last year, my husband took me to a Big Box store. He led me to the laptop section, and said, “Pick out a netbook you like.”

I love that man! You see, I’m a geek and a professional organizer, and I love a useful techie gadget, whether it’s something I can log in to or just touch.

So, allow me to sing the praises of the techie things I love:

1. Tablets (i.e., iPad). Ok, so let’s face it, this year it will be an iSomething. These little electronic tablets come in a few different sizes, but generally the size of a medium- to large-sized paperback book. What I like most about them is the portability. You can take them anywhere!It’s also pretty easy to find an app for almost any need (organizing or otherwise).Tablets are also feeling so “space movie-ish” to me, as well. Who knew years ago that we would one day have these devices that we would simply touch to check e-mail, edit photos, read a book or manage calendars. Love it!
2. e-Readers (Nook, Kindle). My mother had e-mail (and a computer) before I did. Now, she has an e-reader. Yes, I’m jealous. While you may not need an e-reader if you have a tablet (see above), this little device is really good for people who: a) are bookworms and b) are on the go or travel a lot.E-readers give you immediate access to thousands of books in one little device that’s  as small as one thin book. Increasingly, you can lend (or borrow) books from libraries or friends and also retrieve many classics free of charge. Portability, enlightenment, and who doesn’t love a good book?
3. Smartphones (iPhone, Samsung and too many to count…). I got my first smartphone more than five years ago. I don’t know what I would do without it. Two years ago I got an iPhone. I felt like I had stepped into another dimension of awesome future-ness.Why do I love it? Here are a few reasons:
   • I can find coffee just by asking: I have an app that will find the nearest coffee shop with wifi, using a simple voice command.
   • I find directions on the go: I no longer have to print directions. I just pull them up, and the satellite shows me where to go and how close I am in real time.
   • I always know when it’s going to rain: I can check the weather 40 times a day, wherever I am. (It rains a lot where I am, so I need to know when the downpour starts.)
   • Shopping is a breeze: My shopping list is always with me.

   My smartphone is my personal assistant and my brain, on a 3G network. I don’t know what I did without it.

4. Evernote. Even though I love paper (ironic, since I am a die-hard techie), I don’t like it to be disorganized. I am a professional organizer, and I know the value of finding things when I need them.Evernote helps me put bits and pieces of information in one place, and I can search (with a search box) for this information in many different ways. I have Evernote on my laptop, my smartphone, and I can access it online.

   I keep all kinds of things like recipes, client notes, code for Web sites, project notes, things I need to ask my accountant about and pictures of my printer ink cartridges so I know what to look for in the store. This is just a fraction of what this product can do. The more I use it, the more uses I find for it. My love grows every day for Evernote!

5. Google. I had a Gmail account when they were only inviting people, before you could just go and sign up for an account.I loved it so much that when I started my business, I decided to use Google Apps for business. I manage all my e-mail in one inbox. I share documents and collaborate with other people in other cities on projects we create together.I survey my customers, create presentations and manage my entire contact database in conjunction with Google. I also have a business line that rings when I tell it to, where I tell it to, and it sends me a transcribed e-mail of my voice-mail messages.

   Google makes things easier for me. Are they perfect? No. But using their products has made managing my business a lot less stressful for me. What’s not to love about that?

Brandie Kajino, is a small business technology expert, consultant, author, dynamic speaker and owner of SOHO Solutionist. Empowering and educating women entrepreneurs with information, technology and simple solutions is her specialty.