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Five Tips to Being Productive While You’re on the Road

January 20, 2011 By
Paul Lorinczi, president of Professional Blog Service

I’ve been traveling a lot lately, with speaking gigs and client meetings, and I’m finding it harder to be productive, especially when these are all day trips, and the time I would normally spend in a hotel or a coffee shop is instead spent driving to or from my events. I’m also a regular entre-commuter, carrying my office in my backpack and working wherever I can find a coffee shop with free wifi.

While days like this mean a lot of evening, night, and weekend work (and a lot less sleep), there are some ways I have found I can still be productive while I’m out and about.

  • Get someone else to drive. When Paul and I drive anywhere, we take turns driving, so the other can get some work done. Get a friend or colleague to drive you to an appointment, or once you’re a big shot making a few thousand bucks for a speech, hire a driver. Do some work while the other person drives, and don’t be afraid to say “I can’t talk right now, I have to get this done.”
  • Keep projects “in the cloud” on your laptop. When we’re driving, I can tether my mobile phone to my laptop and get some very slow, basic wifi. This means that loading websites, answering emails, and writing blog posts is painful and I just give up. Instead, I write email responses and blog posts on my laptop and upload them when I get to a coffee shop or my destination. Since our writers turn in their submissions via Google Docs, I download them before I ever leave, make the changes, and upload them when we get to our next stop.
    • Paul Lorinczi, president of Professional Blog Service

    Paul's working on our new monthly email newsletter.

  • Plan for work breaks. I’m sitting in a coffee shop in Columbus, Indiana, on the way back from giving a talk in Lexington, KY, to write this post, because we had some client work to take care of. Yes, we could just keep going, but we’re about to head north into Indianapolis’ rush hour traffic, and by delaying now, we’ll miss the bulk of the 5:00 rush. It also lets us get some work done so we don’t have to deal with it when we get home. Why slog through rush hour traffic only to do some more work when we just want to relax? Normally, we try to plan a 30 minute break in our longer trips so we can stop off and handle any surprise client requests — publishing a blog post, sending a Facebook message, responding to a tweet — that come in while we’re in the car.
  • Make phone calls instead of emails. My efficiency-expert friends say to stay off the phone and send emails, because I can write a note in two minutes, but a phone call can take 10. But when I’m driving, I’ve got 2 – 3 hours before I get to my location, so why not kill some time on the phone? I get to make that personal touch with people I do business with, and I avoid the 10-email-exchange that we try to do to get a task out of our inbox and into the other person’s. In some cases, a phone call even lets us finish a project completely.
  • Plug your laptop in whenever possible. I’m watching my laptop slowly drain its battery to below 50%, and I remember that I didn’t plug in earlier when I had the chance. Whenever you stop for a quick break (#3), your time and productivity may be limited by the fact that your battery wasn’t charged previously. This also cuts your productivity in the car — if your battery dies, you and your companion are forced to talk about your feelings any topic that randomly comes to mind. One way to avoid this is to get a DC converter for your car, like the truckers use. Get a decent one at your local hardware store or a truck stop, and plug it into your car’s cigarette lighter, then plug your laptop into it. Some really good ones even have a USB charger so you can charge your mobile phone with your USB cable.

What are your tips? How do you keep productive while you’re in the car? Leave a comment and share your wisdom.

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    Headline : Five Tips to Being Productive While You're on the Road  •  Keywords : productivity, public speaking, mobile office, entre-commuter  •  Author :  •  Content Location : Indianapolis, IN  •  Copyright Year : 2011  •  Creator : Erik Deckers  •  Version : 2.0  • 
    Filed Under: Blog Writing, Networking, Productivity, Speaking, Writing Tagged With: , , , ,

    Random Thoughts on Writing a Book

    January 14, 2011 By

    I’ve finished my second book, Branding Yourself, with my good friend, Kyle Lacy, and am working on a third book on networking with Jeremy Dearringer, CEO of Slingshot SEO, an SEO company here in Indianapolis. I also have a couple other writing projects in the works, although those are still under wraps. I hope to have some news about those by Springtime.

    But I’ve learned a few things about becoming a book author, things that I thought were easy, and things that I learned are hard.

    • Writing a book isn’t really that hard, if you write on a regular basis. I used to think the advice “write every day” was stupid. “Who has time for that?” I thought. “I have work to do.” Turns out the work I was doing was writing anyway, and when I decided to write intentionally — to focus on new aspects of writing and become better at them — my writing improved.
    • Have a good editor. I learned a long time ago that while I’m a stickler about grammar and punctuation, I make a crapload of mistakes. Even though I catch them on second and third edits, I still usually find one or two that has to be fixed. Pearson just sent Kyle and me the “gathers” of the book. Individual chapters that we need to read over and mark any errors before the second printing. Believe it or not, with two writers and four editors, I found a couple errors. (What’s worse, they were mine!)
    • The hard part isn’t writing the book, it’s marketing it. In order to support the book, and sell copies, I’m starting to travel more to promote it during talks. Next week, I’ll be in Northern Indiana one night and Lexington, Kentucky the next day. I’m trying to do some paid speaking gigs, but am thinking about adopting Scott Stratten’s idea when he was promoting UnMarketing (affiliate link). Scott made an offer to any group: buy 100 of my books, and I’ll travel out to you. I’m thinking about doing that for anyone who buys 50 of my books, as long as you’re within driving distance. But compare that to writing. I could write at home, spend three hours, and knock out about 6,000 words, or almost an entire chapter. It’ll take me that long to drive to most of my speaking gigs.
    • Know your subject matter. Writing teachers love to say “write what you know” (which presents a problem for science fiction or fantasy writers). But this makes life so much easier when you’re writing a book. I remember struggling with a couple of chapters on Twitter Marketing for Dummies because I didn’t use some of the tools we were writing about. I had to spend a lot of time using them before I could write about them, which threw a huge monkey wrench into my writing schedule.
    • Have a writing schedule, and stick with it. John Grisham’s writing schedule, when he first started out, was to write from 7 am to 8 am, before he opened his law office. Christopher Moore’s schedule involves a lot of screwing around all day before he settles down after lunch and writes for 4 or 5 hours. Mine is to write at night, after the kids are in bed, and go for about 4 hours. Ignore the people who tell you to wake up early because mornings are more productive, or the people who tell you to stay up late because no one is awake then. Do what’s best for your body and your schedule. If you’re a night owl, stay up late. If you’re an early bird, get up and get that worm. But create a schedule and stick to it.
    • Shut off distractions. I love my Twitter network, and love chatting. But they are also the biggest interruption of my day, because they’re always more interesting than whatever I’m doing (even as I’ve written this post, I’ve sent 4 tweets). So when I’m writing, and have the willpower to do so, I shut off TweetDeck, close my Gmail, turn off the notifiers, and get to work. I can save myself 30 minutes of writing when I do that. My wife once asked me why I didn’t do that more, and I told her to “rephrase your question in the form of a tweet.”

    Writing styles and processes are different for everyone. What are yours? Do you do anything special to get your writing done, to be more efficient and effective, or even to avoid distractions? Leave a comment and let me know.

    My book, Branding Yourself: How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself (affiliate link), is available on Amazon.com, as well as at Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores. I wrote it with my good friend, Kyle Lacy.

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      Author :  •  Content Location : Indianapolis, IN  •  Headline : Random Thoughts on Writing a Book  •  Keywords : book writing, Branding Yourself, Marketing, public speaking, speaking, writing, writing process, writing style  • 
      Filed Under: Marketing, Speaking, Writing Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

      Five Superrific Lessons I Learned From Scott Stratten at Social Media Club Chicago

      November 4, 2010 By
      Scott Stratten, author of UnMarketing, speaks at Social Media Club Chicago

      To tell you the truth, I still don’t know what UnMarketing is. I have Scott Stratten’s book, UnMarketing
      (affiliate link), in my possession. I have read the first chapter. I even read the intro where he explains what unmarketing is, and I still can’t tell you what it is.Scott Stratten, author of UnMarketing, speaks at Social Media Club Chicago

      That’s because it seems so obvious that I’m suspicious there’s not a deeper secret to it. I can’t wrap my brain around the fact that it’s so frigging easy. There’s got to be more to it, right?

      That’s mostly because it’s common sense, it’s stuff we should already be doing as businesspeople. It’s relationship building with your customers, and it’s providing good customer service. Don’t we already do that?

      No. No, we don’t, says Scott.

      I’m disappointed, but not too surprised, to be reminded that relationship building, providing basic customer service, and providing value are the keys to business success. It’s not lowest price. It’s not being a jerk to the customers who piss you off. It’s not shrugging your shoulders and saying, “oops, sorry.”

      I heard Scott speak at Social Media Club Chicago last night (we drove up from Indy, and I’m actually writing this in the car on the way back; don’t worry, Paul is driving), and he told us about UnMarketing and how it relates to providing good customer service. Here are the five most important lessons I took away from the evening.

      1. People spread awesome.

      People don’t spread mediocrity. They don’t tell their friends to read that 10 point link bait article that sounds like all the other ones just like it. But people share things that are exciting, valuable, and, well, awesome.

      If you want a lot of people to read your stuff, then write good stuff. Don’t rehash someone else’s arguments (said the guy writing about five things another guy said 18 hours ago). Come up with something creative and interesting, something valuable and useful. If you do a good job, people will spread it for you. (Although Scott said he would retweet any blog post that contained “superrific” in the title.)

      2. Voltaire Rules!

      Okay, he didn’t say that. What he said was “common sense is not so common,” which Voltaire actually said in 1765. But Scott added, “if it were common, I wouldn’t have a business.” What seems like common sense to us isn’t really that common at all. That’s why people hire consultants like us to teach it to them.

      3. Average customer service can win.

      “To be awesome at customer service, you just have to be average. Because everyone else sucks at it.” How sad is it that we have lowered our expectations that much that average customer service is something we think is awesome.

      We tell our friends about the restaurant manager who comped our meal because we found a hair in our food, because we were so impressed by their willingness to make it right. Because our level of “acceptable” customer service has been lowered by indifferent managers and surly servers. So we’re impressed by the person who does the decent thing, because we accept mediocrity as being good enough.

      4. “I’m Not the Jackass Whisperer.”

      There will be trolls and haters in your life. People who want to call you names, insult you, and denigrate you. These are jackals who cower behind the skirts of anonymity, and you don’t need to pay attention to them. You don’t need to appease them, reason with them, or show them that you’re actually a nice person and that they’ve just got you all wrong.

      Screw ‘em! You’re not the jackass whisperer. You’ve got work to do, and placating jackasses is not one of your responsibilities.

      5. Practice good personal branding.

      What he actually said was “do not do anything you don’t want to see on a billboard with your boss, your mom, and your client driving by.” I’ve spent the last four months writing Branding Yourself (affiliate link) with Kyle Lacy, and we both give talks to college students and people looking for jobs.

      “Don’t put stupid stuff online,” we tell people. And we invariably get a look from someone like we just explained the magical healing benefits of penicillin. (“Seriously? You mean the photos of me in my bikini holding two giant umbrella drinks might keep me from getting a job? Wow.”)

      So there are the five superriffic things I learned from Scott Stratten. Have you read his book or heard him speak? What was the big takeaway for you? What did you get from it and how will/did you use it?

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        Author :  •  Content Location : Indianapolis, IN  •  Headline : Five Superrific Lessons I Learned From Scott Stratten at Social Media Club Chicago  •  Keywords : common sense, customer service, public speaking, Scott Stratten, unmarketing  • 
        Filed Under: Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Experts Tagged With: , , , ,

        I’m Speaking at BarCamp Nashville, October 16 at Cadillac Ranch

        September 14, 2010 By

        I managed to get myself on the schedule at BarCamp Nashville in downtown Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday, October 16. I’ll be speaking on 11 Pro Secrets to Make Your Blog a Smashing Success.

        These are secrets that blogging agencies and professional bloggers use to gain readers, win search, and make their blogs stand out in an ever-growing field. I will be talking about 6 writing techniques that bring readers back over and over, 4 secrets to winning search for your keywords, and a bonus secret or two about how to reach more readers through social media promotion.

        Nashville is about 5 hours south of Indianapolis on I-65, and the Cadillac Ranch is in downtown Nashville. I’m trying to raise a contingent of social media Hoosiers to take the one-day trip with me. I’ll be leaving around 4, getting back that night, unless someone wants to sponsor a couple hotel rooms.

        BarCamp Nashville 2010 hashtag, #BCN10, spelled in bacon

        BCN10 spelled in bacon.

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          Author :  •  Content Location : Indianapolis, IN  •  Headline : I'm Speaking at BarCamp Nashville, October 16 at Cadillac Ranch  •  Keywords : barcamp nashville, bcn10, blogging, public speaking, Social Media  • 
          Filed Under: Blogging, Presentations Tagged With: , , , ,

          3 Common Social Media Mistakes Companies Make

          April 27, 2010 By

          We are sponsors of At The Top Networking, an Indianapolis-based networking group for people who are, or want to be, at the top of their career ladder, the top of their game.

          Every month we have a strategy session before the general networking session, and this month was “Common Marketing Mistakes Companies Make.” Each of us had 10 minutes to speak on our topic, and each of us was supposed to talk about 3 mistakes. Mine was “Common Social Media Mistakes Companies Make.”

          I have to thank — because I totally stole these points from them — the following people:

          1. Ignoring Social Media: Gary Vaynerchuk, author of ” (affiliate link)
          2. Broadcasting, Not Conversing: Tara Hunt, author of “ (affiliate link)
          3. Abandoning Your Campaign: Kyle Lacy, author of “> (affiliate link, plus I helped write it).

          Also on the panel:

          We have one more At The Top event on May 20, at the Skyline Club in Indianapolis. We hope to have more events in the future, and we’ll have more information on that in the coming weeks.

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            Filed Under: Communication, Marketing, Networking, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , ,

            Top 5 Presentation Blunders

            March 31, 2009 By

            Just imagine your audience naked. Practice in front of the mirror. Don’t wear brand new shoes on presentation day.

            Sound familiar? We’ve all heard our profs and bosses utter these classic bits of advice on public speaking. Even if they do have our best interests at heart, no gem of advice—or mirror or comfortable shoes—can prepare us for the unexpected. And the unexpected is bound to happen when it’s least convenient…say, in front of all the company’s VPs or during that six-figure project pitch.

            Recently, I asked LinkedIn LinkingIndiana members about the worst presentation blunders they’d witnessed. We’ve all experienced some public speaking catastrophes, no matter which side of the mic we’re on. The stories that make us laugh or cringe (mostly cringe). We can use these stories to stay just ahead of the unexpected curve.

            5. Was that supposed to be funny? Ken S. advised hiring a comedian to present the keynote address at a company’s formal awards banquet. Instead of letting everyone in on the joke, the company president made no mention of the jester’s real intent, leaving his audience wondering whether they should laugh or start implementing his bizarre business advice on Monday. Ken S. said the company spent the next week trying to explain the gaffe to 600 employees. The moral: Tell people who the speaker is. Don’t keep big surprises when you don’t need to.

            4. Your presentation got me all choked up. Gilles D. remembered a highly competitive interview process when one job candidate took a big gulp from his mug, choked, and then showered the hiring panel’s thousand-dollar suits with a mouthful of coffee spray. After a stunned moment, the panel just asked the next candidate to begin, abandoning Mr. Coffee to leave without a word.The moral: Take only small sips. Drink only water. Better yet, don’t drink anything.

            3. No hablo Maltese? Rebecca M. was new in her supervisor job when she went out on a limb to get approval for an expensive training video. During her first presentation of the video to the senior team, the lights dimmed, the screen flickered, and then…none of the actors spoke in English. Rebecca says the only valuable information her audience took from the presentation was a long chat about which language it was.The moral: Screen your video before you buy it. Screen it again before you show it.

            2. Do as I say, not as I do. IT issues are the playground of Murphy’s Law when it comes to presentations, but maybe a faulty LCD connection would have benefited Tom A. He remembers setting up to do some training for internal regional staff when a file he’d left open on his laptop flashed clearly onto the screen. The document his colleagues saw was his recently updated résumé.The moral: Spend 30 minutes going over your computer and making it presentation-ready –- close everything, put desktop files into a folder.

            1. Getting intimate with your audience. It may sound like the urban legend of the conference circuit, but the response from a number of LinkedIn witnesses brings truth to the stories. I’ll flesh this one out with three simple words: wireless mic, bathroom.The moral: Remove your mic before you head to the bathroom.

            The lessons here are pretty clear: be prepared and always remember to remove your mic. The real benefit of these stories is the connection they’ve fostered among the two dozen LinkedIn users who’ve responded.

            Thanks to an off-the-wall question, we now have something in common: we like to laugh at others’ misfortune.

            Or more accurately, we like to laugh at our own more.

            Many of us pointed the finger at our own personal presentation gaffes. What links us is a common experience, but not one that we’d be likely to find on each other’s résumés or professional histories. By asking an off-topic question, we open ourselves to new groups. We can make genuine connections and grow our network by going beyond the standard, expected inquiries.

            This idea is something I’ll keep in mind next time I’m in front of a group—whether we’re live and in person at that conference hall or swimming in a sea of social network profiles.

            Anybody out there know how to break in a pair of new shoes before my presentation on Friday?

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              Filed Under: Opinion, Presentations Tagged With: , , ,