I am going completely digital, no more paper anywhere.   I am going to save as many as 60-80 hours a month as well.   How much is your time worth?

Here are some solutions worth considering:

Mail to text by Earth Class Mail:

Earth Class Mail

I can even mail all my important documents here for safe keeping (and) if I wanted have an address on Park Avenue.

Voicemail to quick text by Phone Tag:

Put all your documents in the cloud:

I also scanned everything on a Canon Scanner in my house: pictures, CD’s, documents, video’s (DVD’s) and put them into a cloud that I can access from anywhere.   All is this can be accessed on my iPhone.  I even have a SlingBox, where I can access my DirecTV on the road.   Yet, Hulu is gaining my attention to watch TV.   All of this is environmentally friendly and smart business, keeps me tidy and focused.  No wasted time.  I’m living like I have a team of 10 behind me, team BARE.    Finally, I also have my personal assistant at GetFriday.   They access my schedule, obtain business appointments, create proposals, research leads, organize all incoming communications including email, voicemails (PhoneTag), mail (Earth Class Mail), buy tickets, act as my concierge, count my calories, remember birthdays, send out Thank You cards, manage my house keeping, buy groceries online and have them delivered.   So just about anything that takes time can be done my team of assistants overseas.   Other things that have changed my life, online banking and debit cards – budgeting and organizing my purchases is great for month end financial analysis (all on my iPhone) and then there is LifeLock, which is protecting my credit and guaranteeing it.

All of these services combined are less than $500 a month and make my life easy.   I can focus on the important task.   Many people ask how I get it all done.   Now you know.   I can literally work from anywhere and get 3-4 times accomplished.   Now if someone could do my Thunderbird MBA homework for me.

we created an office with lots of buzz and collaboration

high unfinished ceilings with fans
lots of natural sunlight, no florescence
white board walls, write anywhere you want
beach front for lunch time surfing, natural water noise
wood floors and counters, always clean and crisp, sweep sand out
laptops and wifi everywhere, projectors in every room
surface in entry way
open kitchen and bar
showers for both the boys and girls
collaboration everywhere
beach cruisers for eco friendly lunches
an office for a leading strategic product management firm…

This explains a lot to me, since I am left handed.  I was never meant to get a A in Finance.

http://www.youtube.com/experiencewii

Here is an innovative advertisement.    Pay close attention to YouTube.

Here is a cool picture I captured of my family as I am now on a trip to Geneva.  Even my dog is participating in our discussion.   Whoever says technology is not bridging the gap to the world, has never used Skype.  

Here is a environmental way to save a ton of money.   More to come in future blogs.   I will share how to put a Solar Panel on your home to immediately lower your energy burn.

Yet, for now the cost of a owning a car keeps climbing each year. So here are some stats that may help you decide if Zipcar is right for you.    Turn the lease in and do not get another. 

Car Ownership   Car: Something similar to a Chevy Impala or Ford Fusion. Car payment  (including depreciation) $283 Finance charges $62 Insurance $80 Gas $78 License, registration, taxes $45 Maintenance and tires $46 Parking on (or near) campus (estimated by Zipcar) $50 Total: $644/mo* $644/mo is a lot of money! That’s about 81 hours or 11 days of Zipcar driving. Zipcar   Car: Whatever your whim – a hybrid one day, a truck the next. If you drive a lot $366/mo Several trips each week and a weekend trek off campus  (10 two-hour, 2 three-hour and  2 daily/24-hour reservations) If you drive a fair amount $180/mo A couple trips each week  (6 two-hour and 2 four-hour reservations) If you don’t drive much $36/mo About one trip a week  (4 one-hour reservations)

Forty percent of Zipcar members have told us they either sold their car or decided not to buy a car because of Zipcar. With each Zipcar taking 20+ personally-owned cars off the road, think of all the good that’s doing for the environment and community.

Members also tell us they save over $435 a month using Zipcar! They appreciate the low rates, living without the hassle of car maintenance and that we pay for gas, parking and insurance. Oh, the fun new cars don’t hurt either.

*Numbers based on a 2007 AAA study of average driving costs.

For me this would save, over $700 a month on our second car, even if we use it daily.   Crazy to think about, that is over $20 a day in savings.   Now, Zipcar just needs to expand to more neighborhoods than ASU in Arizona.

Here is an interesting series that can be found on each coffee cup at Starbucks or all here at “The Way I See It.”  

Also, Starbuck’s just launched their own invitation only social network here.   

You can also see their corporate video at CareerTours.

Do you want FREE Wifi at every Starbucks?   Register a Starbucks card here.

Learn how Ethos had helped Children here.

Less features
Less options/preferences
Less people and corporate structure
Less meetings and abstractions
Less promises

This is the way 37 Signals develops very intuitive software and webware.

At CareerTours we have taken the same approach towards a job board, yet added video…often this takes more programming than building something complex. Yet, that is the fun of it.

CareerTours has a few features and options. We will not meet with you nor promise anything. We’ll take your emails and talk to you. We do have lots of happy clients and great service. No sales people, just a great product and service.

We have:

VIDEO Career Postings
Simple and Embedded Company Profiles
Career Video Ditribution
Employment Websites
An Employee Referral Tool

We are very cool in the world of recruiting. It is only a matter of time before our secret sauce is shared with the world. Jump on the bandwagon and reap the rewards…

Months of planning are not necessary.
Months of writing specs are not necessary — specs should have the foundations nailed and details figured out and refined during the development phase. Don’t try to close all open issues and nail every single detail before development starts.

Ship less features, but quality features.
You don’t need a big bang approach with a whole new release and bunch of features. Give the users byte-size pieces that they can digest.

If there are minor bugs, ship it as soon you have the core scenarios nailed and ship the bug fixes to web gradually after that. The faster you get the user feedback the better. Ideas can sound great on paper but in practice turn out to be suboptimal. The sooner you find out about fundamental issues that are wrong with an idea, the better.

Once you iterate quickly and react on customer feedback, you will establish a customer connection. Remember the goal is to win the customer by building what they want.

—Sanaz Ahari, Program Manager of Start.com, Microsoft