I’ve learned to love Google. Not just because I work there (that helps), but because they make great products that I used daily to help me run my business.

A few years ago I was trying to figure out a good workflow for my digital life. There are so many options. Which email provider would I use? How would I keep track of my files? Do I store my files on my computer or in the cloud? What’s the cloud? How could I collaborate with partners and clients more efficiently? When considering the right tools and resources for running the digital side of your  business the questions can continue forever.

However, Google has become a core component to the way I manage both my personal life and business. The products are ideal for anyone just launching themselves into business. Whether your business is brick and mortar or strictly online, Google has products to help you increase your efficiency. The question is which products do we use and for what purposes?

Here are 3 of many Google products I use to run my business:

Gmail

Most likely you use Gmail as well, and if you don’t you should. It’s time to put away the Hotmail, Verizon, and please don’t have an AOL email account. Unfortunately, these email providers are perceived as outdated. Gmail, in my opinion, is by far the best provider.  Some of my favorite features include:

• • Auto save, it saves me all the time and puts emails that are not complete in a draft folder.
  • Inline compose box allows you to search and refer to other emails while you’re writing a new one.
  • Labels allow you to organize, tag, and call out important emails.

Calendar

“If it’s not schedule it’s not real.” I use this product religiously. Both to manage my personal life and business. Not only do I find it easy to use but it syncs across all devices. So I’m able to keep up with my daily agendas while I’m on the go. Some of my favorite features of calendar include:

• • Multiple calendar, allow you to have both personal and business events in one calendar view or you can hide them as needed. You can also set up shared calendars for business partners or your spouse to use.
  • Reminders, not much more to say except that they keep me moving.
  • Color coding, allows you to attach a color to certain types of time blocks. For instance you can have consulting times in green, while workout times in red. And so on.

Google Voice

Google Voice it such a great product, and I can’t believe that it’s free. With Google Voice you’re able to setup a FREE phone number for your business. You can assign your Google Voice number to multiple cell phones, set specific time frames for each and take calls no matter where in the world you are. You can even download the app. Here are some of the cool things it offers:

• • Call from you computer. I do this all the time. My cell phone reception isn’t the most reliable, however as long as I have wifi available I can make calls without a problem.
  • More than just voicemail.  Not only do you get the generic voicemail experience that you’re use to. Google Voice also can transcribe the voice call into a text message or email. It also keeps a history of your voicemails that you can always refer back to.
  • Do not disturb. You can set up specific office hours for this phone number.

Next I’ll cover critical and more strategic Google products that are a MUST have for your business.

In the meantime if you haven’t use these products closely I suggest you give them a try. Like anything else there’s always a learning curve, but if you need to figure something out you can always Google it!

Whether we’re shopping for eye-liner, concert tickets or a vacation in Paris, the Internet has changed how we decide what to buy.  Brands have to provide useful, relevant information fast if they hope to be useful to consumers. A sluggish mobile site is a huge road block in achieving your goal of being the preferred brand customers select.

The research:

A study by Google on Micro-Moments found out that 29% of smart phone users will immediately switch to a different app or mobile site if the one they are on does not satisfy their need i.e.

1. If it loads too slowly or;

2. If it does not have the information they need or;

3. If it takes too many steps to get the desired information or perform a certain task.

Of those who switch, 70% will leave an app or site because speed related issues like slow load times or too many steps to achieve their desired goal.

So how can brands optimize their mobile sites and apps in order to satisfy this consumer need for speed?

1. Eliminating steps:

The more steps customers have to take in order to achieve their goal, the more likely they will be to leave your site early. Start by thinking what the goal of your site is and customize it in order to reduce the number of steps a user must take in order to reach this goal. You can easily achieve this by incorporating the following features on your site:

1. Click to call buttons.

2. Offering GPS powered directions to your location.

3. Using one-click functionalities to streamline in-app registrations or sales.

2. Think ahead and anticipate your customer’s needs:

Being fast often means knowing what your customer wants before they ask for it. You need to know what users are doing on your site so as to figure out what to prioritize when optimizing your site and then do the following:

1. Ensure you include the calls-to-action for the prioritized activities on your homepage, with those with less priority being hidden under menus.

2. It is a good idea to have customized information about your location on your site. Google found that 61% of mobile users are more inclined to buy from sites and apps which have customized location information.

3. Improve your load time:

Load time is probably the most important factor in getting customers to stay on your site. Truth is, even the most well thought out mobile site will still fail if it takes forever to load. Google learned that it takes the average mobile user no more than three seconds of waiting for a page to load before they leave a site.  Have a technical team look through your site in order to get it optimized for speed.

1. This checklist will help you identify the areas in which you need to improve on.

2. What main tasks do you want users to perform on your site and how long does it take to perform these tasks?

3. What features on your site are essential to your customer and how can you use these to anticipate their needs?

4. How long do pages take to load on your site?

Today, most consumers turn to their mobile devices and expect brands to be there in those mobile micro-moments when they are researching a product, seeking to learn how to do something new or when they are looking for local businesses. A sluggish mobile site is a huge road block in achieving your goal of being the preferred brand customers select. Optimizing your site for mobile will give you an edge in reaching your customers in the moments that matter.

In 2011, Google released an e-book titled winning the zero moment of truth (ZMOT). In this research, Google discussed the Zero moment, which basically refers to the point when a consumer decides to research a certain product. Usually, this happens long before the seller knows about the consumer’s existence.

With the advancement of mobile tech and the constant connectivity which has resulted, people are now making decisions on the go because they can easily look up anything online on their mobile devices. As a result of this shift to mobile, Google has now broken down the zero moment into 4 new micro moments which are described as follows:

I-want–to-know Moments

Google learned that 66% of people turn to their mobile phones to gain more information about something they saw on a TV. In these want-to-know moments, the potential customer is just exploring, learning more about something that aroused their curiosity. They are looking for useful information, not a sales pitch.

I-want-to-go Moments

‘Near-me’ searches are increasing rapidly as more people look to the internet for business locations which are closest to them and where they can get the best value for money.  Over the past year, these kinds of searches have more than doubled.

I-want-to-do Moments

More people are also going online when they want to learn how to do something new as opposed to reading a book or paying someone to teach them. According to Google, ‘how to’ searches increase by 70% annually.

I-want-to-buy Moments.

Google discovered that 82% of customers will look up products online while they are in a store. Marketers have to be ready the consumer who is ready to buy and is searching for the best seller to buy from or is comparing two similar products from two different sellers.

So what do Marketers have to do in order to win the customer’s decision in each of these moments?

1. Be there: As more and more people go mobile in their information searches, companies need to be there for their consumers on these mobile platforms in terms of presence. When you conduct a search of your own brand on a mobile phone, are you there? Do you like what you see?  Failure by companies to be there is simply handing over all your online opportunities to your competitors.

2. Be useful: Today’s consumer is a master at tuning out information which is not relevant and useful to them. Consider these facts from Google which show why being useful works:

3. 51% of smart phone users have bought from companies that they did not initially set out to buy from because they provided useful information.

4.  71% of consumers select a brand based on how much useful information they get from it on a regular basis.

5. Only 9% of users who land on a mobile site will stay on it if it does not satisfy their needs.

6. 28% of users will be less inclined to buy from the company in future.

7. Be quick: Optimizing your mobile site to be quick is very important if you want to offer customers a good mobile experience.  Consider these 3 areas in which you can achieve this:

8. Reduce and/or eliminate steps: Reduce the number of steps it takes a user to achieve his or her goal. For example, help customers fill forms by using drop down menus.

9. Anticipate needs: Being quick means that you can provide what a customer wants before they ask for it. Find out what customers are doing on your site them optimize to offer them the best experience.

10. Load pages quickly: Remember that even the most perfect mobile site will still fail if it takes too long to load its pages.

Mobile has forever changed the way we live, fracturing the consumer journey into hundreds of real-time, intent-driven micro-moments. With mobile smartphones, we can take immediate action whenever we want to learn, find, do or buy something.

These is-it-worth-it mobile micro-moments are the new battleground for brands. Each one is a critical opportunity for brands to shape our decisions and preferences. In these micro-moments, consumers demand  quality, relevance, and usefulness of marketing because when we are in-the-moment, our expectations are high and our patience is low. Ultimately, the brands that do the best job of addressing needs in each moment will win consumer loyalty.

Yesterday ended at midnight. Today is a brand new day. And it’s yours and mine.

So I’ve decided to be delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start. I’ve decided to believe that perhaps there’s a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning. Join me. If yesterday your back was against the wall, and you wanted to cry, scream, stomp your feet and shout, believe me I’ve been there. If yesterday you were ready to call it quits and stop caring, when you go to bed and wake up, pick yourself back up again. It’s a brand new day.

Today brings with it a promise – a blessing or a lesson.

Today you may meet someone who changes your life completely. If someone hurt you yesterday, betrayed you, or broke your heart, forgive them. Lose the heartache and the anger, keep the lesson.

Make everyday count.

Appreciate the moment. The present is a gift. Celebrate this new day which has been granted you. Talk to people that you have never talked to before, and actually listen. Let yourself fall in love with life, break free of the lethal restrictions that are fueled by societal norms and your limiting beliefs. You were made to be more. Set your sights high. Today you get a new chance to create the life you love. Believe in yourself. Be limitless.

We are all going to die, all of us. That alone should make us work together, love each other – seek to make each other’s time here on earth just a little more fun, pleasant and bearable but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities. We are eaten up by nothing.

Life is too short to wait!

Life wasn’t always glamorous.

Somewhere splattered throughout the cosmos are a lot of broken hearts, lost dreams, crushed hopes, flat tires, scraped knees and late night buckets of ice cream.

Tear-stained t-shirts mark the track of time where “Dear John” letters, cards offering condolences and a heckuva lot of chocolate bar wrappers have been sprinkled along for good measure.

If you sometimes get the feeling you’re stuck in a rut and simply not feeling as “you” as you could be, then consider the possibility that a big part of your attention may still be being held hostage by your own personal history of pain, loss, sadness, disappointment and well, ice cream buckets!

The good news is that since it’s your attention, guess who is the most qualified for getting it back? 😉

Yup! You are.

No matter how many dimples, pimples, wrinkles, spots, stains, veins and tear-stained t-shirts you have…

No matter how many times you tripped, slipped or were slapped around by Life…

…you still have dreams worth dreaming and hopes worth holding on to, and we are here to keep on reminding you to get out there and make them happen!

The value of Life and living will never be measured by the brand of clothing or car you own. It won’t be measured in the square ft of your palatial home nor the inches on your hips, bust, waist and thighs.

Nope.

That’s all worth a hiccup in the wind compared to the value of your dreams, your hopes for tomorrow and the possibility those have to create a life worth living for.

Here’s what you can do about it:

1. Gather up all the bits and pieces of attention you may have scattered across your chocolate-coated cosmos and bring it right up here into the present moment.

2. Wriggle your gorgeous derriere to the closest park, hill, mountain, lake, field, forest or tree.

3. Look Life in the eyes and tell her you’re here now and you mean business!

4. Become heartily invested in the creation of tomorrow and know that doing so is the best hope humanity has of creating a life worth living. Decide that what’s done is gone. What’s here for the taking is all you decide to create and make right in the world.

You’re here because you’ve got a bit more punch in your pocket and a bit more spark in your sparkle than the rest of the world! So, we are counting on you to use it and get busy creating a world we can all believe in!

I found this quite inspiring and I hope you like it.

Life is like a journey on a train, with its stations, changes of routes, starts and stops!

At birth we boarded the train and met our parents. We blieve they will always travel on our side.

However, at some station our parents alight leaving us on this journey alone.

As time goes by, other people board the train. Some will be passing, some acquintances, some significant – our siblings, friends, children, the love of our life.

Some depart and leave a permanent vacuum. Others go unnoticed.

This train ride will be full of joy, sorrow,fantasy, expectations, hellos, good-byes, and farewells.

Success consists of having a good relationship with all passengers… requiring that we give the best of ourselves.

The biggest difference in the train of life is the mystery of departure. We do not know at which station we ourselves will alight. So, we must live, love, forgive, and offer the best of who we are.

It is important to do this because when the time comes for us to depart and leave our seat empty, we should leave behind beautiful memories for those who will continue to travel on the train of life.

Thank you for being one of the passengers on my train!

Have a very pleasant journey of life!

Today is a brand new day. A fresh start. An opportunity to replace any negativity with positivity, think happy thoughts, exercise, go for a run or do some sit ups, drink lots of water, fill the body with fuel.

Today is a day to inspire, create, laugh, love, play… give someone a compliment, make a new friend, tell yourself you are beautiful, spread a smile, be kind, create good karma, take chances, savor, experience life, live.

Bad news isn’t wine. It doesn’t improve with age.”

Selling ideas is an important part of getting things done. However often we skim over important details particularly bad news or negative insight we think will sully the positive.

American Express OPEN Forum has a handful of tips to consider.

Here’s one worth considering:

Deliver bad news upfront.

If you are delivering bad news to an executive audience, don’t waste time in preambles. As Colin Powell put it: “Bad news isn’t wine. It doesn’t improve with age.” When an audience hears bad news in midstream, it can have a negative emotional effect: The audience can feel that they have been set up, and no one likes to be caught by surprise. Get to the point quickly. Follow up with a recommended solution.