Quickbooks online

The main reason members of both sexes fail to succeed at working remotely is they don’t recognise the neccesity of first rate organisation and solid self discipline.

I have been working remotely for nearly 8 yrs since I first unearthed Quickbooks online an ‘on demand’ small business accounting software service and was inspired by the fact that if you can perform accounting on the web then why shouldn’t it be workable to perform other important types of work at a distance?

Whilst working remotely has substantial gains there are numerous pitfalls which turn into issues that cause lower work output and reduced morale. The top reason for low work output from remote workers is distraction and it is a confirmed and well publicised fact that it can take a professional up to 20 mins to return to their original productivity level after experiencing a disturbance.

Studies also show that people who are regularly experience disruptions are more likely to suffer from lower memory capability and are prone to developing mental health trouble in old age. We exist in an over communicated society and it is critical that you recognise the problems this causes before you commence working remotely. When operating remotely you should do everything possible to mitigate the threat of being disturbed.

Here are things that really do work:

1, Get a routine, tell everyone about it and rigidly adhere to it!

Good examples are a regular time of day when you read or send mail and make or will accept phone conversatiions. Before I began working remotely I used to get in the region of a couple of hundred e-mails every 24 hours. Now I think I am unfortunate if I receive more than five. To ‘restart’ my e-mail experience I altered my e-mail address and obsessively took steps to defend the details being made available to anyone. I then educated everybody who I gave my e-mail address to, to use it wisely and sparingly. I also created an auto-responder that swiftly told anyone sending me mail my routine for processing mail and if something needed my immediate attention to mark it as ‘Urgent’.

2. Get rid of alerts.

Turn off every feature that can send you a interruption. This includes cell and
ordinary telephones and forms of alerts from e-mail such as on screen pop ups, beeps, display changes to your inbox list and of course facing a window. Get a door on your study and put up a ‘do not disturb’ sign on it.

In ‘Remote Working Part 3 – ‘Tools of the trade’’ I will reveal my favourite tools and software.

Quickbooks Login

Self discipline more….

Before I give you my list of great Internet tools that are sure to assist you to work remotely, I must bring to your attention one more pearl of wisdom connected with self discipline and specifically to do with maintaining your focus and levels of concentration

I’ve uncovered and confirmed a consistent habit in people who work on the web and I’ve been in contact with for over a long time line and I call this behavior the 50 minute rule. I uncovered these acquaintances who concentrate and work for 50 minutes and then kick back for a complete ten minute rest and are a significant order of magnitude more efficient and produce a significantly better quality of work than contacts who don’t have set working practises.

OK as promised I present you with my list of preferred remote working web applications:

Electronic Mail

Google Mail is free. But in my opinion the search & label (categories) features have no equal. Googlemail can be a little slow on aging PC’s

Phone calls

Skype used to infuriate me as the call performance was unacceptable, but a big pat on the back for the engineers at Skype now as they have substantially changed the quality of the service. For few dollars a month Skype lets me call and conference in any handset and Skype user in the world. The latest edition of Skype has an abundance of very useful features and there is an ever growing list of useful add ons.

Organising Content

Evernote has reached more than a million users in no time at all – it lets you to store, organise and annotate any type of digital content up on the Internet. Just go check it out…it’s free.

Invoicing, Time and Expenses capture, Accounting and CRM

You surely know that my ambition to work remotely was originally motivated by Quickbooks Online, a small business accounting software system. But it is easily beaten hands down by the free edition of salesorder.com – a lead to cash system that’s as easy to use as a pc mouse I looked at NetSuite whose pricing (and people) scared me off. My choice here is salesorder.com – Go check it out.

Quickbooks online

Obviously not everybody can work remotely as many types of employment require employees to be at their place of work or travel to undertake their duties in person. But for those of us given the opportunity to work remotely then I thought it would be useful to share my experiences and share some practical directions by distributing it on the web in the hope that I could give others useful advice for adapting to remote working or supervising remote workers.

I should warn you that there are groups of so called ’experts’ out there who will try and make you purchase courses for significant sums of money, believe me you don’t have to do this.

I am blessed to be able to work wherever I choose and just about everybody who asks me what job I do wants to know how I am able to work remotely. Don’t misinterpret me I am still learning about the science of remote working as all of the time I discover folks online who show me new methods and I am continually coming across new packages and processes that make my life easier and make me more effective.

During the past seven years I have steadily adapted my working methods to allow me to do all of my work remotely with a portfolio of online tools and robust self discipline. One afternoon whilst surfing the net I unearthed Quickbooks online and this brought to my attention what just might be possible. The discovery of ’hosted’ ‘on demand’ small business accounting software was a life changing event for me and the launch pad of my ‘remote working history.

I have to state up front that proficiently working remotely is as much about the software as it is about self discipline. Working remotely also means teaching your colleagues, supervisors and customers as to what they can expect and how they will communicate with you.

In ‘Remote Working Part 2 – Fundamental behaviours – Basic discipline’ I talk about how to focus.

The Apple I-Phone is primarily created for the mobile market – and carries a huge number bonus software meaning it is undoubtedly one of the most purchased handsets in store. Only available on the 02 network in Britain, many are bought on contract, and it is also available on a pay as you talk service for about £450.00.

The mobile is based on a touch display sensitive device, with the clear majority of operations actioned by by tapping and sliding across the display. Notably, it will show in excess of a quarter of a million colours. The touch screen is more advanced than many modern phones in that it is multi touch sensitive, so you can tap two or multiple items without risking malfunction with the phone as with some similar handsets.

The current i-phone release, the 3G-S includes built-in G.P.S. hardware, an upgrade over preceding triangulating systems used by previous i-phone handsets. Furthermore, the Iphone 3G-S will operate as a satellite navigation gadget as well as its telephony operation.

Free iPhone competition

Thats the tip of the iceberg however – as you might imagine, it’s too an MP3 player – a very popular music on the move gadget. With its impressive 16 gigabyte or 32 gigabyte memory (depending on version you choose), the mobile will hold massive quantities of trasferred tracks, downloaded podcasts, blockbuster films and tv programmes.

The iPhone gets its music from the i-tunes ecommerce store – the iphone’s bespoke ecommerce website which retrieves and transfers music and movies to ipods and iphones mobile phones encrypted by Apple’s own format. Despite controversy from supporters of free content and anti DRM groups, the iphone has been undeniably efficient with their links between iTunes and their MP3 products and their online store and their mobile phone.

Accessing the Apple Store, customers can make use of the support provided by the Iphone’s 3G connection, or wireless if they have access to a hotspot at the moment.

Obviously the handset market has taken a step closer towards becoming the all in one mobile multimedia centre by delivering not only mobile phone with audio, movies, gaming and programmes.

Motorola HS850 Bluetooth headset review

It never seems to fail. You are driving along and suddenly your cell phone rings. What do you do? If you know it is an important call for business or from a family member you probably pick up the phone and continue to drive. You may think you are driving safely with one hand on the wheel but in reality you are not. You are placing yourself and others in danger. The answer is remarkably simple. You need a Bluetooth headset and one that is making consumers sit up and take notice is the Motorola HS850 Bluetooth Headset.

One issue that has plagued many Bluetooth accessory and headset manufacturers is battery life. Many headsets on the market top off at four hours talk time but that is not the case with the Motorola HS850 Bluetooth Headset. These headsets offer eight hours of talk time and nearly double that on stand-by. You may not need that much battery life but it never hurts to have it just in case you do need it.

Another aspect that users find quite nice about the HS850 is the fact that it reduces background noise. So you can be driving with the window down and still be able to communicate back and forth with your caller. Motorola has also taken care of the on/off ability by creating a headset that turns on when you flip the microphone boom down and turns off when you flip it up. This helps conserve that battery life mentioned previously.

There is one technical detail that you definitely need to pay attention to though and that is the technology that it supports. The HS850 only supports Bluetooth 1.1 and 1.2 compliant devices. With so many new phones coming out on the market that are Bluetooth 2.0 capable, you might find yourself with a phone and a headset that are not compliant with each other. Before you buy the headset, make sure your phone can support it.

Price is another issue you may find with the Motorola HS850 Bluetooth Headset. On the website www.amazon.com, it is listed for $35.50 but another online retail store, www.antonline.com, has it listed for $89.49, so you will definitely want to shop around for the best price. All in all, most users are very happy with this Bluetooth headset and there are few complaints.

Hand Held Mobile Phones Can Drive You To The Grave!
Cold Hard Fact or Myth? (excuse the pun there)
What the heck do you believe these days?
Beneath are some comments from Wikipedia on “Hands Free“. I have interlaced them with my own opinion. See if you concur!

“Driving while using a hands-free device is not safer than using a hand held mobile phone, as concluded by case-crossover studies”.
Yeah Right! If you agree with this then you possess at least four arms furthermore you are bordering on being an octopus or octopussy depending on your sex.

“The increased “cognitive workload” involved in holding a conversation, not the use of hands, causes the amplified risk”.
At least I concur with half the proclamation. Kind of like seeing a ‘babe’ or ‘hunk’ on the walkway and trying not to be mentally side tracked.

“One significant omission to that conclusion is a review by headset maker Plantronics, which found 71 percent of the trial subjects steered more precisely, 100 percent had faster brake reaction times, and 92 percent maintained a more steady speed when using a headset opposed to handheld”.
Clearly! How can you quarrel with facts from a study by the producer of a hands free device! If you are a conspiracy thinker, prejudiced they may seem taking into account the source but actually I CONCUR! (in general).

“The consistency of increased accident danger between hands-free and hand held mobile phone use is at odds with legislation in loads of locations that prohibit hand held  cell phone use but allows hands-free”.
I believe I understand what they are saying!!!! 
Do I truly care! What happened to 
good old commonsense? Here’s a thought! Get a Hands Free Car Kit!

“Dialing a mobile phone is more off-putting than chatting 
on a cell phone, and hands-free devices that offer voice-dialing may 
diminish or get rid of that 
increased risk”.
Commonsense again I believe but isn’t it astonishing how millions of dollars 
worldwide are sunk into commissioned studies where a immense percentage of findings turn out to be founded on common sense.
Have you lost your marbles?”

The unfortunate realism is that, of all who have ventured without calamity in this domain, there will always be a sizeable number who will claim that their ability to multi-task will at all times permit them to utilize and control a cell phone devoid of any loss of cognitive or physical ability. What is more amusing is that of that number  I think at least 50% will be male! Male’s multi-tasking? (Might want the Mythbusters here)
You of the womanly gender take notice. “We will control the globe once again….. eventually! …..someday!”

Those of us who drive understand that there are loads of distractions and regrettably for some a minimal distraction has lead to catastrophe. Was it a mobile phone? Was it a visual distraction? Or was it a dropped CD into the passengers foot well that simply had to be retrieved and played ‘cos it had the choicest song in the world on it’?

If you are barreling down the road in a ton of shimmering metal on your own, no vehicles in sight, no lampposts, no girls in bikinis (this is typically a male thing),  then who cares what you do?

The reality is straightforward. In a world where we actually still state that we are concerned about our fellow man (aka person cos we need to be politically correct you know!) we ought to draw on what is normally recognized as commonsense. 
YES! at 5 km/hr maybe even 10km/hr we can handle practically anything (even us guys) but at normal speeds the majority of us are not uncommonly gifted. However, We will still fight for our rights to make our own decisions. We will not let ‘BIG BROTHER’ person (whatever) govern our lives. But in some cases we truly need to stand back and ask ourselves. Was I still in complete control when that s.o.b. veered into my path at speed on a jam packed motorway? Did I truly see that kid walking out from behind that vehicle now that I see her in my rear vision mirror?
Some legislation is commonsense even if it does strip away a small amount of our invincible shell.

If you still feel you are indestructible then have a thought for the rest of us. ‘GO HANDSFREE’ and save some one else’s grief!

Summing up: Mobile Phones (aka cell phones) are a brilliant technological DISTRACTION when driving. BUT! Now that that’s sorted let’s target the nastiest culprit of all ‘THE DRIVING TEXTER’

Hand Held Mobile Phones Can Drive You To The Grave!
Cold Hard Fact or Myth? (excuse the pun there)
What the heck do you believe these days?
Below are some comments from Wikipedia on “Hands Free“. I have interlaced them with my own opinion. See if you concur!

“Driving while using a hands-free device is not safer than using a hand held mobile phone, as concluded by case-crossover studies”.
Yeah Right! If you agree with this then you possess at least four arms furthermore you are bordering on being an octopus or octopussy depending on your gender.

“The amplified “cognitive workload” involved in holding a conversation, not the use of hands, causes the amplified risk”.
At least I agree with half the proclamation. Kind of like seeing a ‘babe’ or ‘hunk’ on the sidewalk and trying not to be mentally side tracked.

“One noteworthy omission to that conclusion is a study by headset manufacturer Plantronics, which found 71 percent of the test subjects steered more precisely, 100 percent had faster brake pedal reaction times, and 92 percent maintained a more steady speed when using a headset opposed to handheld”.
Clearly! How can you argue with data from a study by the producer of a hands free device! If you are a conspiracy thinker, biased they may look taking into consideration the origin but actually I AGREE! (in general).

“The consistency of increased accident risk between hands-free and hand held mobile phone use is at odds with legislation in lots of locations that prohibit hand held  mobile phone use but allows hands-free”.
I think I understand what they are saying!!!! 
Do I really care! What on earth happened to 
good old commonsense? Here’s a thought! Get a Hands Free Car Kit!

“Dialing a cell phone is more distracting than chatting 
on a mobile phone, and hands-free devices that offer voice-dialing may 
diminish or eliminate that 
amplified risk”.
Commonsense again I feel but isn’t it astounding how millions of dollars 
worldwide are sunk into commissioned studies where a huge percentage of findings turn out to be founded on common sense.
Have you lost your marbles?”

The stark reality is that, of all who have ventured without calamity in this domain, there will forever be a sizeable number who will claim that their ability to multi-task will always allow them to utilize and control a cell phone without any loss of cognitive or physical ability. What is more amusing is that of that number  I reckon at least 50% will be male! Male’s multi-tasking? (Might want the Mythbusters here)
You of the female gender take notice. “We will rule the globe once again….. eventually! …..one day!”

Those of us who drive understand that there are numerous distractions and sorry to say for some a simple distraction has lead to catastrophe. Was it a mobile phone? Was it a visual distraction? Or was it a dropped CD into the passengers foot well that simply had to be retrieved and played ‘cos it had the choicest song in the world on it’?

If you are barreling down the street in a ton of gleaming metal on your own, no cars in sight, no lampposts, no girls in bikinis (this is mostly a guy thing),  then who really cares what you do?

The reality is uncomplicated. In a world where we actually still claim that we are concerned about our fellow man (aka person cos we need to be politically correct you know!) we need to draw on what is usually known as commonsense. 
YES! at 5 km/hr maybe even 10km/hr we can handle almost anything (even us guys) but at regular speeds the majority of us are not uncommonly gifted. However, We will still battle for our rights to make our own decisions. We will not let ‘BIG BROTHER’ person (whatever) govern our lives. But unfortunately in some cases we actually need to stand back and ask ourselves. Was I still in complete control when that s.o.b. veered into my path at speed on a jam packed motorway? Did I really notice that young person walking out from behind that vehicle now that I see her in my rear vision mirror?
Some legislation is commonsense even if it does strip away a small amount of our invincible shell.

If you still believe you are invincible then have a thought for the rest of us. ‘GO HANDSFREE’ and save some one else’s misery!

Summary: Mobile Phones (aka cell phones) are a brilliant technological DISTRACTION when driving. BUT! Now that that’s sorted let’s target the most terrible culprit of all ‘THE DRIVING TEXTER’

Today, most cell phone shops are offering automated cash back on mobile phones. This may raise some questions.  Why would a mobile phone retailer give cash back, and how will they give it back automatically? When you purchase a mobile phone thru a retailer, you are essentially working with 2 companies, the network service supplier, and the retailer.

The retailer gets paid a commission by the network service supplier for making them money by selling contracts for their services. The retailers get customers by offering a range of mobile phone deals.  Depending on the retailer, they offer 11 months free line rental line rental, free phones, or free gifts. One of these deals is automatic money back.  The reason is because the retailer can not change the price of the monthly plan through the provider, but they can provide you with money to compensate for the money you may pay in the future.

Say a customer needed to barter for a 40% savings on their contract for 12 months.  With automatic money back, what would occur is the retailer would just give the customer whatever they want to save upfront in notes. A corresponding deal is named free or discounted line rental.  With discounted line rental {, however ,} the shopper pays all bills, full price upfront, then submits documentation and past bills to receive their money later on down the line. Automatic money back was invented as a substitute for this to avoid lots of the hassles associated with discounted line rental.  The rules in a number of cases were terribly stern, and unless a customer was extraordinarily organized and very vigilant, they wouldn’t receive their discount.

Having the customer be paid immediately is guarantee of being an error free exchange by both the retailer and the customer. The easiest way to find an automatic money back mobile phone deal is online.  Online stores have much less overhead, as a rule, than a physical shop.  phone comparison sites are the most beneficial for this. You can pick nearly any combination of phones and plans and see exactly how much you will save immediately. Then compare comparison sights, see which of them will give you the best deals and promotions.  Depending on who you go to in order to get your telephone, you could perhaps get a free telephone, free present, and automatic cash back.  The super thrifty could even use the money they saved and got through remission to pay their future bills.

With the time and cash saved by going thru a web retailer, in many cases it is possible for people to have phones they once thought that they couldn’t afford.

Sometimes people would like to run a reverse phone look up to get owner’s information associated with a phone number , such as name, address, etc. Of cause it is better to get this information for free. But, the actual situation is , sometimes you can get it for free, but sometimes you can’t.

In a reverse phone number look up , if the number belongs to a landline phone , then you may be very lucky to get the information without paying. If it belongs to a cell phone , then it is very likely you can’t get it for free . Why?

Because the landline phone owner’s information is public information. People can get those information by going to some phone number directories, such as white pages or some web sites. When you sign up for a landline phone (such as your home phone) , the phone company will always ask if you want to remove your information from the public directory by paying an extra fee. Most likely you will say “no” in order to save money . Therefore, your name and phone number will be listed in the public directory . When people run a reverse phone number search by entering your phone number into a phone directory, they will find it for free.

If you are signing up for a cell phone, the cell phone company will not release it to the public . But this doesn’t mean it will keep your information as a secret. It may sell your information to other reverse cell phone number lookup companies, which provide reverse phone number search services to the public by charging a certain fee . Your information is still listed in some directories. Others can’t find your information in the free public phone lists even if they have your cell phone number. They need to pay the fee to run a reverse cell phone number lookup in order to get the information .

This article discusses and reviews the soon to be released Samsung G400 mobile phone, a feature full medium to high end mobile telephone packed with modern features and a very electrifying 5 mega pixel camera.  This telephone is scheduled for release with ten months free line rental giving the opportunity to have one of these mobile phones fully free. 

The latest mobile phone to be offered with 12 months free line rental is the Samsung G400.  The Samsung G400 is a clamshell version of the popular Samsung Soul.  The Samsung Soul was ( is ) a very sleek and classy 3G phone which has a particularly giant external display screen.  The Samsung G400 is also equipped with a five mega pixel camera, which is a very electrifying resolution for a mobile phone.  The Samsung G400 is a real treat for flip telephone user’s ad it is bound to prove very popular, particularly on the twelve month free deals currently being offered. 

The camera is a 5 mega pixel camera fitted to the Samsung G400 includes vehicle focus and a flash.  The camera also has face recognition and image stabilization.  Additionally this mobile telephone contains a secondary camera for video capture.  At time of writing, Samsung have not stated the resolution of video capture for this phone.  Strangely, the main camera is fitted onto the hinge of the G400 ( the hinge of the flip part of the telephone ), so, when the telephone is opened for use it faces the user.  It is hard to see the advantage of this design feature, if anything it may cause a problem with ones fingers getting in the way of the camera lens. 

The most striking feature of the Samsung G400 is the outsized external display screen, which renders full colour at a formidable resolution of 320 x 240 pixels ( 2.2 inches ).  This is actually the same size and resolution as the internal display on this mobile telephone, and truly makes for a formidable looking mobile phone.  Having no buttons, the extra large exterior display is touch delicate and features haptic feedback for intuitive learning ( this handset will teach you how to operate it ).  The haptic feedback is similar to that employed in some of the more up to date Motorola phones

The Samsung G400 includes support for Bluetooth 2.0 and a browser with support for Gmail!  The Samsung G400 also has an expanding micro SD memory slot into which you can put your own memory cards.  In terms of size, the Samsung G400 is reasonably compact measuring 103 x 52 x 15mm.  At time of writing Samsung haven’t begun to divulge the weight and battery life for this mobile phone handset. 

The Samsung G400 is a tri band phone making superb for those that travel ( and need their phone ) in different nations.  This mobile phone also supports GPRS ; however, it doesn’t support WiFi, a real limitation compared to competing phones within this price bracket.  In my view, a mobile phone of this blueprint should have WiFi as standard.  However as the Samsung G400 is an an HSDPA ( High Speed Download Packet Access ) phone, you can still get download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps in areas covered by a 3.G network, but, unlike WiFi you will have to pay your network provider on a per MB basis. 

As expected with a phone of this calibre, the Samsung G400 is supplied with a multimedia player which supports all major media formats ( MP3, WAV, i-melody, WMA, e-AAC+ and MMF ) as well as video playback.  There’s an FM tuneable radio with RDS for those that like listening to the radio as well as your own downloaded tunes. 

Though not released, there are plans to offer the Samsung G400 with twelve months free line rental.  These 12 month free line rental deals offer the client the chance to make a claim cash back against their mobile phone bills meaning they can get a free Samsung G400 with free inclusive minutes and free inclusive texts without it costing them anything!  However, it should be spotted the twelve month free deals do create a few obstacles for customers attempting to claim their cash back, so are only suitable for the savviest and determined of bargain hunters!

Should you want to get a Samsung G400 after its release you can compare mobile phone costs and find a Samsung G400 with free line rental.