“Ramping Up” Instead Of “Winding Down”
Even though we’re hitting close to the holidays when most people think things are slow, we are ramping up our efforts to finish in big style. 

1. Important Due Soon -> Important Not Due Soon

We tend to work on ‘important due soon’ tasks first. Once we get those done there is a tendency to start working on the ‘not important due soon’ issues where in fact we should work on the ‘important not due soon’ ones. That’s the only way to get ahead on your timeline.

2. Schedule Time for Quadrant II activities

What we consider important is normally tasks where there is an action to be performed somehow (crises, pressing problems, deadlines, etc.). These are called the Quadrant I activities and what happens is that you end up never doing any strategic, planning (Quadrant II) activities. The strategic/planning stuff is the things that will “oil your windmill” or “sharpen the saw”. That’s why it’s a good idea to schedule some time every week to review your previous week, plan the week after and see how you are performing in accordance to your business plan or goals.

http://makaluinc.com/blog/2011/07/minimum-viable-product.html

There is one little thing I would like to suggest.

Say I get an email from a client A in New York to schedule a meeting at 9am followed by another client B in New Zealand for a meeting at 1pm. They are both scheduling a meeting at the same time because I’m sitting in Lisbon so I’ll have to reschedule at least one of them. It would be very practical if Yoomit could make the time conversion and eventually warn of overlapping meetings. Is it too much to ask? Maybe it is but anyway here is the suggestion. Anyone else feels this pain? :)

p.s. I’ve also sent a message to the guys at MuchBeta. Let’s see if they say something.

LX Factory, Alcântara,  starting at 144€ per month

http://liberdade229.com/

Av. da Liberdade, starting at 204€ per month

http://www.coworkpicoas.com/

Picoas, starting at 181€ per month

Note that coworking is not about the price, it’s an opportunity to socialize and work with other entrepreneurs and like-minded people.

If you’re on a Mac and looking for an easy and stylish to-do list software you might want to consider Things. It has a slick interface, allows you to keep items organized for different contexts (home, work, etc) and best of all (for me at least) you can very easily add tasks to it in one simple step using a keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+Space in my case).

With a version for the iPhone that syncs as well, this might be the productivity tool you’ve been looking for years now since you first read that wonderful (but hard to put into practice) book “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. The cons will probably be the price and it being a desktop app but maybe you can live it that?

I’ve been using it for over a month now and so far I’ve been happy with it. To be honest it hasn’t boost my productivity. These things are like buying news shoes for running: the shoes won’t do the running for you!

Para freelancers e pequenos negócios que precisem de um software para facturação, podem dar uma vista de olhos ao Invoic€xpress. Já suporta o formato SAFT-PT que desde 1 de Janeiro de 2010 é obrigatório e também facturas electrónicas, entre outras funcionalidades.

É um serviço totalmente web-based e tem um trial de 30 dias grátis para se experimentar. Após o periódo de trial, consoante o plano escolhido, paga-se uma pequena mensalidade por mês, mas é também possivel adquirir pacotes de facturas a vulso por um preço fixo (para quem não gostar de pagar mensalidades).

Fica a dica. Aproveitem e se experimentarem e gostarem digam qualquer coisa.

p.s. O Invoic€xpress é um produto da RUPEAL.

http://ineo.pt/2010/02/podcast-goncalo-quadros-critical/

Do outro lado do oceano, as histórias são bem diferentes mas também valem a pena ouvir :) Aqui fica um vídeo de um painel com 6 estudantes de Stanford que criaram empresas nos seus 20 e poucos anos.

“Six young Stanford grads and entrepreneurs — Steven Garrity, Clara Shih, Kimber Lockhart, Jeff Seibert, Josh Reeves, and Tristan Harris — share their experiences starting companies and raising capital. While being in their 20s may seem to be an obstacle to outsiders, they said they “flipped” this liability into an asset — focusing instead on their raw ability to bring innovative ideas to life. They advise all young entrepreneurs to be persistent, opportunistic, and scrappy. “

http://www.coworklisboa.pt/