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Okay gang, here is the absolute BEST video out there detailing the more than 200 new features in IOS 13. Be prepared, it's 45 minutes long, but not because this guy wastes time...there are just THAT many new features!! Grab a cup of coffee ☕️ and enjoy!  Okay, guys, we all know running a business can be stressful. And we've talked about before how taking the time for self-care is SOOOOO important. Well, have I got something for you!!!
For the past month or so, I’ve been doing this FREE 30-Day Yoga challenge, and it has been AMAZING. IMPORTANT NOTE: Prior to this journey, I had only taken a few beginning classes here and there, and I still consider myself a newbie, so please don't be scared at the thought of trying this out if you have never done yoga before. Here's how it works...it doesn’t cost anything to sign up, and every day you get an email with a link to a brand new Yoga video, taught by this incredible instructor named Adriene. Most days the video is somewhere between 20-30 min long (first couple of days are a little longer because there is a lot of explaining and teaching going on), but the instructor is SO kind and gentle and truly a God-send. Some days are a bit more challenging (I found I had to take a few extra breaks and just spend a little more time in child’s pose), and some are easier. But after only 30 days, I already feel SO much stronger, so much more connected, so much more calm. I have a tendency to be a bit of a workaholic, and a people-pleaser, and (as discussed earlier) I’m FINALLY figuring out how important it is that I make time for MYSELF...and this has been a good excuse/way/means to do so. I have no choice but to concentrate on ME during this special time each day. It has been SO incredibly helpful. I highly recommend checking it out. And like I said, it’s totally free!!! Ya can’t beat that! 😁❤️🧘🏼♀️ Here is the link: https://do.yogawithadriene.com/dedicate  Today I thought I would share one of the absolute BEST things being delivered to my inbox right now...and it's called I AM Mantra! It's a simple email containing a DAILY MANTRA, designed to "support you & your awakening," delivered straight to your inbox. I subscribed a couple of months ago, and I absolutely LOVE it!! It's crazy how much I actually look forward to finding it in my inbox each morning. :-) As far as what to do with it after you receive it each morning, that's up to you. There really is no right or wrong way to "do" a mantra. But here are some suggestions from their website:
So what do I do with MY daily mantra? I copy and paste it into my OmniFocus as a daily task/reminder, and each time I go to OmniFocus to check my tasks for the day, I read it and repeat it, out loud (unless I'm with other people, then I do it silently so they don't think I'm completely off my rocker). I also repeat it a few more times just before I go to bed each night. It's really been a comfort to me, and it helps me keep things in perspective and stay focused on what's "important" throughout my day...especially when I start to get stressed or I am feeling particularly overwhelmed.
And guess what....not only is it a fabulous service, it's FREE!! Yep, that's right. Totally free. Since I have now been using a couple of months, and I have seen firsthand the immense benefits, I did decide to make a small donation on their website (which helps them keep doing what they are doing), but it is not required. Click HERE, or on the button below, to go to their website and sign up today! I came across Spark Mail while searching for a replacement for Newton (my previous email service which suddenly went belly-up this past year); and OMG, I am so, SOOOOO happy that I found it!!  Spark is AMAZING! It does everything my old service did (except for read receipts, which does bum me out…I am really hoping they add it in the future???), but it also does so much more!
First of all, I absolutely LOVE how intuitive it is, and the features they do have are simply incredible! In addition to Geek Girls in Vegas, I manage several other business (my solo jazz career, Dangerous Curves vocal trio, the Shades of Sinatra show, and all the performing I do with my husband), as well as a couple of different websites/groups (Gluten Free in Las Vegas website and the Las Vegas Celiac Support Group), which all had out-of-control email counts. But now, with a little help from Spark Mail, I have somehow managed to organize it all and actually get to INBOX ZERO for the first time in years!! They make it so easy to file away emails (even moving messages to other email accounts from right within the app), respond quickly and easily with helpful shortcuts, add messages to Omnifocus so I can respond later and file away, write a response and schedule for later sending, create templates for responses I write often, etc, etc. I particularly LOVE the layout and the "Smart Mail" feature, which makes it incredibly easy to know what's important and what isn't with just a glance. A few other features I love:
And here’s the kicker…all of those features are FREE! No subscription. Can I get a “what-what??” I seriously, I love, love, LOVE this email service! I have it on my Mac, my phone and my iPad, and it all syncs seamlessly!! Thank you Spark Mail...PLEASE don't ever, EVER go away!!! SOOOOOOOO incredibly honored to have been chosen & featured as a “success story” by Wave Apps in a series of articles, blog posts & press releases announcing their recent rebranding and milestone growth!! WAVE APPS is the #1 invoicing and accounting software for entrepreneurs & small business owners everywhere, and we absolutely ADORE them. Thank you so much, Wave HQ!!!!! Here is a copy of just ONE of the articles!!! How cool is this?!?! 😁👏🏻 Geek Girls in Vegas + Wave: Technology meets TransparencyOne of the hardest parts of running a business isn’t bringing that big idea to life. It’s all the stuff you have to do well on top of the thing you love in order for your dream to thrive. Lisa Smith knows this well. Not only is she an entrepreneur herself, she built a successful consulting business serving artists and performers who struggle with technology and marketing. It’s no surprise that Lisa looks for tools to help make the financial side of her business easier so she can focus on what she does best—just like she does for her clients. There’s no business like show businessLisa got the idea for Geek Girls in Vegas after seeing a gap in the market for agencies specializing in serving artists. In today’s day and age, it’s increasingly important for singers, dancers, and other types of artists and performers, to market themselves online. Having a website and social media presence helps them find new clients and build their personal brand. That’s something Lisa understands well. After all, she herself has been a Las Vegas jazz singer and entrepreneur since leaving Delaware at the age of 18 to pursue her dreams. Her background as a performer combined with her tech skills put her in the perfect position to help other artists, as she already understood their needs and pain points from her own experience. Along with her friend, freelancer Karen Michaels, her company helps artists with website building, graphic design, online marketing, and social media. "In addition to being performers, we're also geeks—we love technology,” Lisa says. “[It] started from being a performer and creating my own website and promotional materials. And then friends just started asking me if I could do it for them as well." What you see is what you getWhile Lisa loves to geek out on technology, she’s not so keen on doing her accounting. That’s where Wave came in and helped her build an efficient bookkeeping process for her business, while making everything easier. One of the biggest selling points for Lisa was the fact that Wave is truly free and there are no hidden fees. That’s a big deal because fair pricing is important to her. In fact, she loves how Wave’s invoicing tool is built in a way that lets her keep her pricing transparent for her clients, so they understand exactly what they’re paying for. “When I use the invoicing, I type everything out very clearly,” Lisa says. “They can see exactly what I'm going to do in the memo, exactly what I'm charging them for. There are no hidden fees. There's nothing that isn't easily understandable or seen.” Over time, Lisa’s main goal became being more efficient with running her business. Wave helps keep her organized, and that saves her a lot of time—especially when she thinks back to the days where she used a spreadsheet or a Word doc to track her finances. Another great point for Lisa is getting paid fast through Wave’s online payments system. “They can do it right from their phone,” Lisa says. “I’m collecting payments now a lot more quickly than I was before.” On the road again Lisa still performs, of course, and runs Beyond Talent Productions. She plans on hitting the road with her husband soon, travelling the country and wowing crowds along the way. And Wave has helped make that dream a possibility. With her business set up to run from the road, Lisa can take payments and send invoices via the mobile app, so she can do what she loves at the same time as, well, doing the other thing she loves! And that certainly sounds like something worth singing about. Article first published on 9/24/18 at https://blog.waveapps.com/geek-girls-in-vegas-wave-technology-meets-transparency/
 So, about a year ago, we decided to pull the plug on Cable in our house. It had just gotten WAY too expensive, and we already had more than enough shows to watch between Netflix, Hulu and Prime all streaming on our Apple TV. It was great...the answer to our prayers! And at first, I really enjoyed the fact that I no longer had access to the NEWS (which had, quite frankly, gotten even more annoying and depressing in the past 2 years than ever before). I finally felt free!!!
For a while, that is. Eventually, I just started feeling DUMB when the people in my life would start talking about something in the news because I honestly had no idea what they were talking about?? I was missing out on all the important stuff. But trying to sift through ALL the news out there just to discover that important stuff was WAY too time-consuming for me. Um, I've got a business to run...I've got a life to live! So, what to do? Enter, theSkimm! 😊👏🏻Founded by Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin (two gorgeous, 20-something gals who are seriously rockin' the whole media / entrepreneur thing!!!), theSkimm is basically a Newsletter that comes out each day (except on the weekends because, as their own welcome email states, “we're a company that respects brunch”) which summarizes all the big stories of the day for people - mostly women - who can't, or don't want to, be bothered with paying attention to the actual news. Like ME!!! THEY read all the news and break it down for you into a sort of "Daily Digest"...quick and easy. It's conversational, it's fun, it's a little quirky...and it's completely doable in just 10 minutes a day. Each summary is usually accompanied by a link to a full news article, for those who want more information (which, I usually do). And you can now get it as a mobile app too. And, of course, you can FOLLOW them on their Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram feeds...you name it, they've got it. The Daily Skimm is FREE, but you can also choose to subscribe to get extra features (like the app on your phone, having important dates and happenings around the world automatically added to your calendar, audio episodes you can listen to while driving, etc.). I opted to get theSkimm APP on my iPhone (as I already get way too much email) and I use it every day...just a few minutes and I have exactly what I need. It's REALLY cool, and I HIGHLY recommend you take a moment to check it out. Like I said, it's totally FREE unless you opt for the additional features. Have fun "Skimming" the news...and let me know what you think! Did you know we can create custom branded social media posts for you? Here are just a few we did for our friends over at the "50 Pounds From Stardom" show (by the way, we also designed their website). These ladies are super fabulous and truly SOOOOOOO much FUN to work with...you gotta check them out! @50PoundsShow   Just wanted to take a quick moment to say Merry Christmas (or maybe just a simple "Happy Holidays," depending on what you celebrate at this time of year), and to say THANK YOU for a truly INCREDIBLE 2017! I could not have even imagined how quickly our little business would grow this past year, or how blessed we would be to have so many new, wonderful clients!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for trusting us with your business and your vision. We are SOOO grateful for you. :-)
#Happiness is being surrounded by Apple products. 😉 Yep, my brand new 27-inch iMac just arrived and I am in absolute heaven...check out this gorgeous new workspace!!! Okay, gang, bring on the projects, ‘cause this Geek Girl is feelin’ inspired and ready to create!!!  Okay, if you are anything like me, you probably copy and paste a MILLION things each day...on your laptop, on your desktop, on your phone...wherever. Simple copy/paste can be a HUGE timesaver...that is, when I can be completely focused, and I always do things in the right order, and I don't ever get distracted when I'm working. HA!!!!! Yeah, right. ;-/ More often than not, I will copy something I want to paste, but the I forget and end up copying something else, like a link to go along with the text, then I have to go back and try to find the original text...and what if I want to copy more than one item, but I don't know the order I want to put them in yet? Or what if I copied something last week, but now I want to paste it again, but I can't remember where I found it...OMG, I am getting a headache!!! Well, no more worries. Enter, PASTE...a truly incredible, cloud-based clipboard manager that lives right on your desktop and works flawlessly!!!  Not only does it work on your desktop, but it works across all devices!!! I can actually copy something on my phone and, as long as I am on the same network, it will automatically add it to the clipboard manager on my desktop...um, so freakin' cool!! It has a search feature and tons of options/preferences to choose from. At only $9.99 from the Mac app store, it is absolutely WORTH IT!! You can read a great review from the website 9To5Mac HERE or you can visit the PASTE website by clicking the button below...
 According to a recent study, the average American spends somewhere around 3.5 hours of every 8-hour workday ACTUALLY being productive. Less than 4 hours a day...seriously?!?!?! Now, I consider myself to be a really dedicated person (it's truly hard for me to just sit and do nothing). And I really do feel like I work hard on my business every single day. But I'll admit that at the end of the day, I OFTEN feel like I barely made a dent in my to-do list. What about you...sound familiar? Then take a few moments to read this excellent article I found on Medium called "12 Productivity Hacks to Get Stuff Done." It has tons of great tips that I've already started implementing. Hey, if nothing else, it gave me something to post on the Geek Girls website for August and helped me get another thing off my to-do list! LOL
 Are you a Mac owner? Need a faster, easier way to check your calendar and add appointments while working on your computer? Then you gotta check out Itsycal by Mowglii. It sits, unobtrusively and beautifully, in the menu bar at the top of your desktop/laptop screen and is instantly accessible whenever you need it. Just a quick tap and you can see all your appointments, and even ADD appointments, right from the menu bar. And the best part? It's totally FREE!!!! I downloaded it a few days ago and absolutely love it...I promise, you will too. ;-)
 Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a SUCKER for productivity apps! I absolutely LOVE trying out new apps in the hope that they will somehow make me oh-so-much-more organized today than I was yesterday. Well, I gotta tell you, I am completely in LOVE with the all-new Things 3 app, for IOS and Mac!! It seriously does EVERYTHING I want it to...flawlessly...and it is absolutely gorgeous on top of that!! Check out this great review by Ryan Christoffel at MacStories.net...he does an excellent job of explaining the main features and reviewing all the pros and cons: Word of warning: the app is not cheap. At almost $10 for the iPhone app, $20 for the iPad, and $50 for the Mac version, you'd better be sure you love it as much as I do before you decide to invest. Fortunately, they have a FREE TRIAL for the desktop app, which you can get here: https://culturedcode.com/things/ But be prepared...you're gonna LOVE IT!
 Business at GEEK GIRLS has been booming lately...new clients and awesome new projects that have us really excited!! But along with all that "busyness" comes the need to stay super organized and on top of things so none of these fabulous new projects or clients accidentally slip through the cracks. ;-) And while searching for ways to automate and streamline some of our more mundane but necessary tasks, I came upon this awesome article from our friends at TRELLO...check it out!
Okay, we all know about Bitly, right? A quick, easy, FREE way to create a short link to just about anything. But did you know that you can now create CUSTOM links and save them in your own account?? So now, when I have a potential jazz gig and I need to send my songlist & bio to the client, instead of some random, confusing string of letters and numbers it can actually say something like: http://bit.ly/LisaSmithBioSonglist ... Pretty cool, huh? :-)  Visit bitly.com/ to find out more!
 Have you thought about what you'd like to accomplish in 2017...what are you business goals? Are you looking to garner a bunch of new clients, or go through a re-branding, or create a brand new website?? Or maybe you are even starting a whole new business!! Goal-setting and "resolutions" can be a tricky thing...too often we set these incredible, lofty goals, but we don't know how to go about achieving them...and then we get frustrated when we fall short, and we just give up. Here's a great article that can help get you pointed in the right direction... Then, when you've decided what you want, and you are ready to get started, get in touch with us here at Geek Girls...we're here to help!
 HAPPY HOLIDAYS from the gals at GEEK GIRLS! Wishing you a season filled with warm moments and cherished memories and a New Year filled with hope and joy!!
XOXO, Lisa Smith & Karen Michaels Think you can't afford to market your business? Think again... :-) Check out these 5 do-it-yourself digital marketing tips from SurveyMonkey that don't require all your valuable time and money!  So the internet is all aflutter, or a-Twitter (get it? flutter...Twitter....see what we did there...okay, never mind), about the newest iPhone being released this Friday! Even with all the controversy surrounding the soon-to-be-axed headphone jacks, a lot of people are super-duper excited about Apple's latest release. So, what's the buzz? Head on over to TechCrunch.com to read Matthew Panzarino's AWESOME and very comprehensive review, and then let us know what YOU think! :-)  Do you have a lot of contacts on your phone? Got duplicates, missing info?? THIS Geek Girl recommends checking out CircleBack app to help organize them all...works wonders!!  |
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