At the Tech Minimalist, and MacJunky, my job to help coaches and consultants simplify their tech stack, so that they’re not swimming is ‘friction frustration’.
However, that is easier said than done.
Not because they don’t need it but because the current system they’ve used has become a habit they can’t be changed easily.
I too had that problem. Just take a look at the picture above…
I made a automation (oh how I hate that word) workflow to auto publish my posts from this site to my Telegram community channel.
Make, the automation platform, makes it easy to pull an RSS feed then post directly to Telegram via a Bot I created.
It makes my life a little easier now that I’ve moved away from social media and purely concentrating on my own platform and community.
So how do I do it? How do I stay focused on a project when working with a client on their project while working remotely?
Being a nomad, you can’t lug around a 27" screen everywhere, so you have to improvise. And I do that with my 13" MacBook Pro.
I’ve been using a single 13" screen for as long as I care to remember. I find it very portable and can do anything and everything on it.
I start by creating a client profile in Brave. That way I can keep every client separate, and remove distractions from my own environment.
The browser tabs are organised for the tools, website and services I only need for that client project. And my Basecamp and HEY apps are always in pole position.
Time tracking is not something I worry about too much, as my fee is always fixed as I never need to supply my hours.
But I just keep track of the hours inn HEY for myself, that way I can optimise my day and future projects.
Basecamp does have an add-on for time tacking, but I don’t require the vast feature set it has, so I can’t justify the cost.
Again, for me the 13" screen is perfect. It’s small, nimble and I’m able to adjust my workspace to whatever project I’m working on.
How do you organise your digital workspace?
The new Hilltop view for Basecamp is here, and it’s going to make the top-down-view of all your project tasks so much easier.
The Hill Chart is a tool that helps you manually keep track of task lists so you know what’s going on with a glance.
You also have the ability to leave notes when updating the Hill Chart so everyone in the team can know how the tasks are progressing.
So now with the Hilltop view, I can check all my project task progression in one view to help me assess my workload and any sticking points, if any.
It’s kinda like The Needle feature, but for tasks.
…but many make the mistake of complicating the simple and make it hard for themselves.
Here’s a preview of my Basecamp template just before I onboard my clients for a large project we’re collaboration on.
Don’t have everything all over the place, have it all in one place, that way you’ll never have things fall through the gaps!
How do you start your projects?
Kia.
Today is the day I onboard my clients into Basecamp for a project I’m extremely excited to get start on!
The screenshot is my Basecamp template before the work begins. I have a some client data in there to get started, but it’s pretty much a blank sheet right now.
This client hasn’t used Basecamp in the past, so I have to ease them into it.
But while in the discovery and negotiation stage, we agreed on using it for the project to make sure everything was in one place, and not all over the place!
All design assets, communications, doors to external tools, milestones, calendars events, everything, will be here.
So no emails, messages, pigeons or any other form of communications will be elsewhere. It will all be within Basecamp.
I’m not a communist, if there are urgent matters we will obviously use other tools like video calls etc.
But if everything is in one place and documented correctly, there are no reasons to have things go astray.
Right?
Often we complicate the most basic of things. Presenting a proposal used to be as simple as a phone call, an email, a chat message.
But they’ve became as convoluted as all the three examples above plus documents, PDFs, external services and I’m sure someone as some point has even sent a carrier pigeon!
I’ve been guilty of some of the exsamples above, but I wanted a way to cut through the crap and just get on with the project.
As soon as I simplified my proposals, and the way there were presented, I got busier. So I made them shorter and shared them as simply as I could.
How? Well, I already had the app!
I started using Basecamp and its ability to share the proposal via a public link.
I find this easier than email, as it can be shared internally with the client’s departments, if needed, before I get the go-ahead.
And I’ll even accept the reply via a carrier pigeon!
P.S. This proposal was approved within a few hours, and the invoice was paid the following day!
I recently made a video about using Basecamp as a CRM. So here’s the demo project, with notes below, to show what’s possible.
As you can see, it’s quite simple.
Triage = Leads
Not now = Lost
Done = Won
However, I wouldn’t recommend using this method if you’re a sales team with multiple members.
Hope that helps.
I wanted to find a way to perform a search with Alfred for emails in HEY. The issue was when doing a search, in HEY, there didn’t seem to be a URL change.
After posting what I wanted on the 37Signals forum, I found that the link I posted actually worked! So apparently there as a page/query you can use.
Here’s the working link: app.hey.com/search
So I created a shortcut in Alfred, tested it, and it works perfectly! I’m sure you’ll be able to do this in Raycast or similar app.
Now I can search without opening HEY first. Just bring up Alfred, type my search query, and hey presto!
Having an OS for your business is probably one of the first things you should probably think about when you decide on the tech when running a team.
Want me to help you with Basecamp? Click here!
There are many apps that try to help you be more productive. But I’ve found they often make you busier than you need to be and actually hurt your productivity.
Want to simplify your workflow? Click here!
Letting go of things is one of my biggest vices. I’m not a hoarder, but it takes me time to get rid of stuff as I get attached to them.
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Inbox zero is great, but if you’re only doing it for aesthetics, you do not understand the whole issue. My mistake has been not explaining what it means when I post screenshots of my email window on 𝕏.
They say you should always be listening to your body. That way, you can be proactive before getting sick.
The same thing is valid for listening to your gut feeling when doing something in/for your business.
Not knowing what you need is annoying. But even worse is to get something you want. Why? Mainly because it’s probably not going to work for you.
Just because you see someone with something you ‘want’, doesn’t mean it will be right for you.
When I talk to small businesses about their Apple tech and how it’s used, they often say they have problems with keeping track of things. My response is always: Having a solid tech foundation will help.
Want to simplify your tech? Click here!
When I say I use no tags in my task manager, I really do mean no tags whatsoever! You don’t need tags to get stuff done. You only need the right system and app to help you achieve anything you need.
It’s not hard to have a clean and clutter-free workspace. You just need to de-clutter and squash bad habits. This is my desktop and Spaces.
I was one of the first people on the list when Basecamp announced HEY. I was intrigued, and excited and couldn’t wait to get my hand on a simpler email workflow.
Paid for the first year, got a fantastic alias and there I was using Hey for the year. But, the year wasn’t without issues, but I persevered and it worked out fine.
Yet, after the year was almost done, I found that I wasn’t using the features as intended. And if you know me, I love email, and the simplicity of the technology as well as being accessible to all.
So I didn’t renew my subscription and went back to my trusted Apple Mail app.
Over the following year, I found that it was becoming more reliable. And the features were getting better. So at the beginning of the year, I signed up for it again hoping that my workflow would get with said new features.
But alas, no. I found myself struggling with too many clicks to do the simplest of things. Also, I know how to use email.
Heck, I even get hired to help those in need of email simplicity!
So after a month or so, I gave up.
It’s not you HEY/Basecamp, it’s me. I prefer simplicity over complicated/over-engineered tools.
As business professionals and humans, we always have the urge to help someone, and that’s never a bad thing. However, there’s a reason why on planes, they tell you to put on your own mask first before helping someone else.
Want to simplify your workflow? Click here!
