10 Ways To Use Evernote More Effectively
I’ve been a premium user of Evernote since the day I learnt how to use it effectively. Although 1 in 5 Singaporeans have Evernote, it is surprising how underused it is. I understand, because for a year or so, I had no idea how to use it. Now, I use it every day.
Here are the various uses I have:
1. Planning the renovation for my new home. Since we applied to buy our HDB flat 3 years ago, my wife and I have been on the lookout for ideas on how best to decorate our new home. These ideas often come when we are out on dates or window-shopping on weekends. Whenever we see something we’d like, I would take a photo of it and save it in a shared notebook with my wife. We’d give it a specific tag, which made it easy to find all these ideas when it came to budgeting and actually shopping for the items we needed.
2. With Evernote, I remember everything that I discuss with a client. It used to be in my memory, but the human mind is fickle and sometimes forgets things at inconvenient times. Evernote doesn’t.
3. Not only does Evernote tell me what I’ve discussed with a client, it also tells me what I next need to bring up with the client, *and* pings me when it’s time.
4. This works both ways. Just as Evernote helps me recall at my fingertips what I’ve discussed with a client, it also makes this information readily available to my client with shared notebooks. Ever been asked the question, “How much insurance do you have?” and being able to give all the essential details without having to call your adviser? My clients can.
5. I wrote a book with someone and Evernote came in very handy after I shared a notebook with my co-author. Here, we put down ideas for our book, the copy for our manuscript, chapter by chapter, and even the audio recordings of our interviews. Click here to pre-order the book.
6. I shared a notebook with my assistant containing step-by-step documentation of the work processes that I’ve outsourced to her. The rationale behind this is that, if ever she ever forgets how to do something, she can refer to the relevant process in the notebook.
7. By making certain notes public and creating a shortlink (such as bit.ly), I can provide similar guides to clients which teach them how to obtain some of their own financial information (such as credit statement, income tax statement, CPF statement, etc)
8. I use Evernote to scan business cards. It has excellent optical character recognition (OCR) and integrates with LinkedIn, allowing me to connect with the person immediately (if I choose to), or to send them my contact info.
9. Evernote Presentation is a simple way to make beautiful and clean presentations that can be easily edited on the fly. I use it both for client presentations on my laptop, and as speech notes on my phone.
10. Sometimes there are great newsletters with ideas that I want to keep and refer to in future. In such cases, I subscribe to these newsletters using my Evernote email address and have them delivered straight to my account instead of clogging up my email.
Evernote is one of those tools which is so powerful that when you first install the app, you just have no idea how to use it. That’s why I’m sharing these 10 ways I use the app, because I’ve learnt these from others in the Evernote community and I believe it paying it forward.
