Get Stuff into WORKetc Faster with Evernote

I have a lot of ideas … all the time.  The more coffee I drink, the more ideas I have.

And they come at the most inopportune times; In the shower, trying to get off to sleep, waiting for the next wave and again in the shower (that seems to happen a lot).

I also come across a lot of seemingly important information.  And again mostly at the most inopportune times; when I’m trying to focus on getting a task done and I stumble across something that could be the magic bullet I’ve been looking for,  but completely irrelevant to right now.

In fact in the back of my mind I always have a feeling I’ve missed something really important.  I might be about to start a task and there was a crucial piece of information I know I’ve seen somewhere, but where?

I know I’m not alone in this. 

Business owners, entrepreneurs, project leaders, sales people and really anyone involved in running a business face this challenge every day, all the time:

This is where Evernote comes in.   Evernote is a tool that is available on every major smart phone, every current web browser and for your Mac or PC.  It is now even shipping as standard in many scanners and digital cameras.
The guys at Evernote say it best:

Chances are, if you can see it or think of it, Evernote can help you remember it. Type a text note. Clip a web page. Snap a photo. Grab a screenshot. Evernote will keep it all safe.

And of course no matter where you captured something, it all syncs back to the single account.

Evernote now also syncs with WORK[etc] (and vice versa).

That’s right.  You can now use your Evernote account to capture “stuff” on the go and sync up to WORK[etc].

<pstyle=”font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;”>What’s even better is that you can use the Evernote Android and iPhone apps, right now, to push “stuff” into your WORK[etc] account.

Here’s a few scenarios describing how Evernote + WORK[etc] combo is so incredibly useful:

• Select copy from a web site, clip to Evernote (using the Evernote browser Add-on) and sync up to WORK[etc].   For example, if you were conducting research as part of a WORK[etc] project, you would use Evernote to clip text from an online publication and then create as a comment against your project (all from within Evernote).
• Use the Evernote mobile app to snap a picture of a receipt then sync up to WORK[etc] as an expense attached to a client or a project.  For example, lets say you have just finished up a lunch “meeting” with a client.  Using the Evernote app you could take a picture of the receipt, create as a note within Evernote using the #WORK[etc] tags and with the next sync WORK[etc] will know to create that as expense against your client.
• Capture a new sales opportunity in the Evernote mobile app and have it auto update a contact’s activity history.  For example, lets say you are out at a café with the daily newspaper and you’ve read one of your clients is expanding into a new industry.  You can quickly create a comment and using the #Client_Name tag, sync the new sales insight up to WORK[etc].  You could even assign this sales lead to another WORK[etc] team member using the #Employee_Name tag.
• Use the Evernote mobile app to rapidly create and assign a bunch of ToDos to your team members.  For example, lets say you are working on location at a building site and have noticed a number of defects.  Using Evernote mobile app you could capture a picture of the defect, write out the suggested remedy, attach to a WORK[etc] project and assign to your team member with a deadline for completion.
• Using an Evernote plugin called Voice2Note, you can record voice notes or even a meeting, have them tagged and the first 30 seconds translated, then synced up to WORK[etc] and saved against a project, client or sales lead.
• Create an event (ie meeting) inside of Evernote, complete with date, time, location, agenda and attendees.

How It Works

Turning on Evernote for your WORK[etc] account is simple; go to Settings -> Manage My Account -> Apps Integration and then hit the Enable button for Evernote.  And of course you’ll need an Evernote account already.

Now – on the very first sync, WORK[etc] takes the liberty of putting a note into your Evernote account called “Getting Started: WORK[etc] Evernote Sync“.  It is very important that you read this as it describes all the tags you must use in order to ensure a trouble-free syncing experience between the two applications.

Two important things to remember:

1. Always use a #Tags listed under your WORK[etc] Tags folder to denote the type of thing you want to create and sync to WORK[etc]. WORK[etc] will only ever sync Evernote notes that include a #Tag.

This way you get to choose what you share with your WORK[etc] team and what you want to keep private on Evernote.

2. WORK[etc] understands three groups of tags it receives from Evernote:

1. Any type of WORK[etc] activity (ie ToDo) prefaced with a hash tag (#ToDo) will be used by WORK[etc] to create that activity as a new item inside of WORK[etc].
2. Any company name, person name or employee name prefaced with a hash tag (ie #John Smith) will be used as the recipient of an activity. For example, create a ToDo (#ToDo) and assign it to the employee John Smith (#John Smith).
3. Any date and time prefaced with a hash tag (ie #1-Jan-2011 11:00) will create a deadline (or timestamp) for an activity. For example, create a ToDo (#ToDo), assign it to John Smith (#John Smith) and have it due on the 1st January, 2011 at 11am (#1-Jan-2011 11:00)

And that is pretty much all there is to it.  Once you are comfortable punching in #Tags to create WORK[etc] objects whilst inside of Evernote, you can’t really go wrong.

Here’s a visual explanation of how it works…

Create a new WORK[etc] project inside of Evernote:

Using the Evernote iPhone App to create a new sales lead:

You can also send an existing WORK[etc] project to Evernote.  That project then appears as a Notebook inside of Evernote, to which you can create notes and have them sync back up to that WORK[etc] project:

Coming up…

1. Mobile-optimized WORK[etc]
2. Sales & CRM Overview Pt II  (Pt 1 is here)
3. Recurring Tasks and Support Case Deadlines
4. Google Docs Integration