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Why I Don’t Recommend One Project Management Software

Why I Don’t Recommend One Project Management Software

Michele Duwe from Miss Task | Why I Don’t Recommend One Project Management Software

Managing your time and energy effectively is essential for online entrepreneurs. We're juggling so many things that it's easy to let things drop unless you have a good system in place. So, are you using project management software in your business to help manage all these things you have going on? Personally, I use Asana in my business. Do I love it? Dang, right, I do. But do I recommend it to everyone? Nope. You might be wondering why I don't recommend one project management software to all of my clients.

Why I Don’t Recommend One Project Management Software

Well, we're going to talk about why I don’t recommend one project management system to all my clients. There's a reason we have so many choices when it comes to project management software. Heck, that's just software in general. There are always so many options to choose from. As entrepreneurs, we have different needs and different goals for our lives and our businesses, and not everybody is going to want all the bells and whistles that some project management software offers. Those bells and whistles may be downright overwhelming.​

How do you get stuff done?

Now, this is important: the question you need to ask yourself is, how do you work best? Somewhere in your life, you get things done. Right. I know you do because things are happening.

How do you do that? How do you stay consistent with it? What process do you actually use? Is it pen and paper? Do you schedule time on your calendar? Or do you set aside dedicated days or blocks of time to get those items done that are necessary for you? We all have systems for getting things done. I promise you do, even if you don't realize it. You're likely doing things in the same order from point A to point D.

Our brains like that repetition. They also like to know what to expect and what is coming up next. If you did know how you get things done, what would that be? Let your mind chew on that for a little while to come up with an answer.

 A switch from Clickup to Asana

Last year, I switched from ClickUp to Asana. ClickUp worked for me. Didn't have a problem with it. However, it was hard for members of my team to use. They found it confusing. The flow of it did not make sense to them. As a whole, we were not effectively using our time with this software.

Was I sad to let it go? Yes, I was. But I had to make a decision on what was right for my team, not necessarily what was right just for me. I was spending a lot of time and energy trying to create systems in ClickUp that worked well for them. In the end, switching was the best use of my time. If I was going to rework the system, why not get input from my team? You see, I'm adaptable. I asked them what would work better, and they came back with Asana.

It was a software they used in the past, and they understood it. It was perfect. We moved everything over, and the time it took for them to complete tasks dramatically decreased because they were using software that did not overwhelm them, and it felt easy.

Michele Duwe from Miss Task | Why I Don’t Recommend One Project Management Software

Is it a good fit?

When selecting your software, don't be afraid to kick the tires a little bit. Pick a couple and try them out for a small bit of time. Does it work for you? How do you feel when you're using it? Start small. Don't go crazy by adding all the things until they feel like, oh, yeah.

This is a good fit for me. I can handle it, and it doesn't feel overwhelming at all.

 

Consider Your Goals

What are your goals as a business owner? This is an important piece of the puzzle. Do you want to get to the point where you have an Online Business Manager (OBM) who directs you and your team with all the tasks that need to get done?

Are you more interested in just having a small and mighty team? These things also play an important part in your decision-making. When you're an entrepreneur balancing a family and a work-from-home business, it is critical to focus on the features that aid in your efficiency, flexibility, and clarity.

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Three Things to Consider When Picking Your Project Management Software

Here are three things that I want you to consider when you're picking your project management tool. Yes, there's a wide range of different things that come into factor, but just think about these three things right now.

First Thing to Consider: Do you think it is user-friendly?

Is it intuitive and user-friendly for you? Remember, the key question always is for you. When you're juggling multiple roles, you need software that's easy for you to use, and does it make you feel overwhelmed at the thought of using it? If that is the case, it's the wrong software for you.

Is it easy to check those items off your task list? There is a reason why so many options exist.

You want project management software that has the ability to be flexible with task management and scheduling. Unless you need things to be rigid, then you don't want flexibility, but 9 out of 10 times, you're going to want a system that's flexible for you. A big benefit of using project management software is the actual task management capabilities. Am I right with that? The software must be easy for you to create tasks, set your deadlines, and assign responsibilities if you have a team member who's in there doing tasks as well.

Michele Duwe from Miss Task | Why I Don’t Recommend One Project Management Software

Second Thing to Consider: How do you need to look at your task?

Do you need to limit what you see from your tasks, or do you want to know everything that's coming down the pike for you? You want to have flexibility that works for you and your team members. Does the software have the ability to view tasks on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis? This helps in planning and prioritizing effectively.

How do you need to look at your task? This is something you need to answer for yourself that is not overwhelming for you. Do you need to have that Kanban board style, like in Trello, where it has the columns with the boards and the cards that you can move around? Do you need a Gantt chart where it has like the little lines with all the tasks that are on a calendar view? Or, do you need a simple to-do list that you can check things off as you go?

Third Thing to Consider: Collaboration and Communication Features

Finally, the third one is, does it have collaboration and communication features? This one, again, is going to be important for those entrepreneurs who work with teams or want to work with teams in the future. Software should have a way to easily communicate and collaborate with your team. Do not overlook this.

I was an OBM for an entrepreneur that assigned all tasks through either email or Slack. It was overwhelming for me. It was overwhelming for the team, and too many things were missed in this manner. Plus, I spent a lot of my time and resources looking through emails and Slack, to figure out if there was a task we were missing. Don't do that to your team.

The project management tool should include the ability to communicate in that project or task when you're working together as a team. Think comments, attaching files, adding your links. This keeps everybody on the same page and working in the same direction, which adds up to efficiency for everyone.

Okay, friends. It's time to wrap this up.

A single project management system does not work for everyone. It's essential to find the system that's easy for you. If you're still unsure about which tool is right for you, consider booking a content creation simplified session. Together, we can figure out your right tool and a content plan and system that works for you. I'll put a link to book a session in the show notes down below.

And if you're curious what this actually is, be sure to tune in next week when I take you behind the scenes in a content creation simplified session so that you can hear firsthand the things that we talk about. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you, and I hope you have a wonderful week.

Michele Duwe from Miss Task | Why I Don’t Recommend One Project Management Software

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Is Trello the right project management software for you?

Is Trello the right project management software for you?

Michele Duwe from Miss Task | Is Trello the right project management software for you?

When it comes to organic content creation, are you all over the place? Is your content strategy laughable and not a true asset to your small business? Are tasks slipping through the cracks and getting missed? Have you attempted to solve this with project management software in the past and failed? Was it the right one? Is Trello the right project management software for you? Here are 3 questions to ask yourself.

Are you all over the place with content consistency?

There are a number of podcasts I follow that haven't released an episode for months, and I find that surprising. It piques my curiosity if they had a good checklist in a project a management tool, would that keep them from feeling overwhelmed with creating consistent content?

If I’ve learned anything in all my experience with working with online coaches and course creation, every one of them is triggered by overwhelm differently. 

I’m sure this will come as a shocker, each one of us has our own threshold for overwhelm. We all think in different ways; some project management software can overwhelm one business owner while it clicks for another.

Is Trello the right PM software for you? Here are 3 questions to ask yourself to find out.

Simplicity and Ease

Trello is the right project management software for you; let’s find out with our first question.

Do I value simplicity and ease in a project management tool, or do I prefer more complex solutions?

One thing you know for sure is that you are busy. You are juggling a lot of schedules and people; you need a simple solution.

Even the thought of implementing project management software makes your palms sweaty.

Maybe you’re happy with a piece of paper or a Google doc.

I’m guessing if you’re listening to this, it is for a good reason.

When you sit down at your desk, do you find yourself wasting your time and energy? I certainly did when I started my business. See, I found that transitioning from employee to business owner was quite challenging.

The problem is managing a business can be overwhelming, especially when you wear many hats. A user-friendly project management software is essential.

Designed for simplicity, Trello makes it easy to use.

We can easily manage our content creation with its clean and clutter-free interface.

This leads up to question two as we explore: is Trello the right project management software for you?

Visual Layout

Is visual organization and layout crucial for helping me stay organized and focused on my tasks?

If the answer is yes, you’re a girl after my own heart! If flexibility in making your space beautiful and visually appealing is important to you.

Trello is for the business owner who needs to see the big picture in front of you.

If you define yourself as not naturally organized, Trello is the one you should consider.

Trello drag-and-drop feature to rearrange the content cards to go from idea to posting to repurposing.

Michele Duwe from Miss Task | Is Trello the right project management software for you?

Basic Planning and Tracking

Do I require basic planning and tracking capabilities to manage my content creation and business tasks effectively? This is the third and final question: is Trello the right project management software for you?

Have you ever described yourself as not being very good with technology? This is a key reason why you’ve been unsuccessful in the past with project management software.

Do you find yourself forgetting to do something? Content tasks somehow seem to slip through the cracks.

Trello is a great choice if you want a streamlined content creation process to make the most of your limited time.

You’re able to set up the cards with your to-do list. One way to set up your content Trello board is by the milestone steps in your workflow. If you are going to set up your board like this, your column heads could be

  • Idea Bank
  • Outline
  • Record
  • Write
  • Edit
  • Scheduled
  • Published
  • Promote
  • Metrics
  • Done

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Another option to set up your content Trello board would be by batch days. Instead of milestones, the columns on your board can be set up with your batch creation days.

What that could look like is:

  • Monday | Outline
  • Tuesday | Record
  • Wednesday | Keyword Research
  • Thursday | Write
  • Friday | Schedule

All you need to do is move your card from one column to the next in your batching days.

Still not sure if Trello is the right solution for you? Book a 1-hour content creation simplified virtual session, and we can figure out a project management software that will work for you. https://misstask.com/mini-session 

Here are the three questions to ask yourself to find out if Trello is the right project management software for you.

1. Do I value simplicity and ease in my project management tool, or do I prefer a more complex solution?
        a. Remember, Trello is designed with simplicity in mind. It's clean and clutter-free.

 

2. Is visual organization and layout critical for helping me stay organized and focused on my tasks?
        a. If you need to see the big picture in front of you, or you're not naturally organized, Trello may be the project management software for you.

 

3. Do I require basic planning and tracking capabilities to manage my content creation and business tasks effectively?
        a. So, if you've ever described yourself as a person who is not very good with technology.
        b. Or you find that you're forgetting to do things frequently with your busy schedule. Trello may be the task management or project management software for you.

 

Time To Wrap This Up

Whatever project management software you select, it must make your life easier, your business smoother, and your dreams of growing your business achievable in between your kids' drop off, pick up, and that busy carpooling schedule.

I'm very grateful that you've chosen to spend time with me today. Thank you so much for reading. I appreciate you, and I hope you have a wonderful week.

Maximize Your Profits: Efficiently Organize Your Content Workflow!

Maximize Your Profits: Efficiently Organize Your Content Workflow!

Efficient Content Workflow: Your Path to Higher Profits

Are you looking for a content workflow that will assist you in creating consistent content for your online business? If so, it's time to organize your content workflow to maximize your time. Give these five steps to efficiently organize your content workflow to maximize your profits. 

A workflow helps you create and promote content that draws your ideal leads and clients into your sales funnel. From brainstorming ideas to analyzing results, discover how a well-organized content workflow can lead to greater success and less stress.

Step One: Brainstorming Content Ideas

It's time for a little brainstorming for your content. First things first, let's chat about your ideal client.

When brainstorming content ideas for your business, it is important to understand your ideal client truly. I know, I know, you’ve more than likely heard this before. Think about the real struggles and challenges they're facing. What are they looking to solve? This is your key to either connecting with them or repealing them and sending them on their way. When you try and talk to everyone, what ends up happening is you talk to no one. 

Do you have a good understanding of the pain points and struggles they are actively looking to solve in their business? Put yourself in her shoes – what's troubling her these days? What are those little problems that keep showing up time and time again in her business? What is stressing her out? What is she hoping to solve in her business? What keeps her up at night? 

Are you stuck? No worries; one way to go about coming up with content ideas is to determine your content pillars or content buckets. Content pillars are the broader subjects that your content falls under. 

If you’re visual, think of the structure of an organizational chart in a business with the departments and people under each department. 

The core content topics sit at the top, and under those are very specific topics. Aim for about 4-6 of these pillars to keep things fresh and focused. 

Once you have your pillars or buckets, begin to brainstorm how, what, and why for each content pillar.

Content Pillar Example

Here’s an example of possible content pillars for a life coach specializing in weight loss for women who are focusing on shedding those last few pounds. 

You can brainstorm ideas more easily when you have well-defined core content pillars. It is important that these pillars address key areas of interest and concern for your ideal audience that are in line with your offer. 

Here are six content pillars for our life coach: 

  1. Healthy Eating Habits: Focus on nutrition and balanced eating. Discuss tips for making healthier food choices, understanding portion control, and debunking diet myths. Include simple, nutritious recipes and meal-planning ideas.
  2. Exercise and Fitness: Cover effective, manageable exercise routines suitable for busy schedules. Emphasize the importance of regular physical activity, different types of workouts (like HIIT, yoga, strength training), and how to stay motivated.
  3. Mindset and Motivation: Address the psychological aspects of weight loss. Topics could include setting realistic goals, overcoming mental barriers to weight loss, maintaining motivation, and cultivating a positive body image.
  4. Lifestyle Management: Explore how daily habits and routines impact weight loss. This could include sleep hygiene, stress management techniques, balancing work-life commitments, and creating a supportive environment for healthy living.
  5. Weight Loss Plateaus and Challenges: Provide advice and strategies for dealing with common weight loss challenges, including plateaus. Offer insights into why weight loss might slow down and how to overcome these hurdles effectively.
  6. Success Stories and Testimonials: Share inspiring stories and testimonials from clients who have successfully lost weight. This provides motivation and builds trust and credibility in your coaching methods.

Each of these pillars can be expanded into a variety of topics. These content buckets address the key areas of interest and concern for women looking to lose those last few pounds, providing a holistic approach to weight loss and healthy living.

Is that helpful? 

Step Two: SEO Researching Your Content Ideas

Researching our content ideas is step 2 in content workflow. You may have heard me say that in the first few years of my business, okay, maybe like the first five years of my business, SEO wasn’t a step in my content workflow. 

However, it is essential for a small business that wants to grow through organic content creation. Since my goal is to keep content creation easy, here are my two go-to tools that I use for keyword research.

Google Trends and Ubersuggest. Google Trends helps you find the keywords that are trending in your industry, and Ubersuggest helps you rank on page one of Google for those keywords.

With Google Trends, you can see the peak of when that keyword is searched. This is helpful when planning your content calendar.

Create a list of potential topics that appeal to your audience and rank well on search engines using these tools.

 

Ubersuggest provides search volume and SEO difficulty for questions, comparison, and related keyword research. 

One thing that I do is pay attention to common questions related to your topic – they're great for your next blog posts or to use as headlines in your current core content piece.

These magic words will help your content shine on search engine result pages (SERPs).

Let it be simple: SEO Research can be fun when you embrace it. Trust me, I know from experience.

053 | Efficiently Organize Your Content Workflow for Online Business Owners

Step Three: Creating the Content

Creating content for your online business can be daunting. Knowing how to structure and write effective content is key to success. I speak from the perspective of an overthinker when it comes to creating content.
The following steps are helpful to avoid spending 8 hours writing a single blog post. Yes, that is how long it would take me in the beginning. I anguished over each blog post.

Outline Your Content Structure:

To ensure all of the points you wish to make are included in the piece, it's important to outline what you want to cover before you begin writing.

Start by writing out an exhaustive list of all the points you want to make sure to cover. This can be done either on paper or my new favorite way: to use Mind Meister and move points around in the outline.

All of your main points will become the subheading or talking points within the content.

You need an outline to stay on track while creating content, whether it's for a blog post or a podcast. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself chasing squirrels. Or maybe that’s just me. 🤷‍♀️

In other words, it will help your reader decide if they want to read your blog post or move on with their day. If you've ever scrolled to the bottom or scanned the headlines on a page looking for the one that captured your attention, you know what I mean.

Once you have a clear outline, begin filling each section with all the knowledge you’d like to share.  Now, this is important: Write in an active voice and use natural language processing (NLP) to aid in your SEO and Readability score. Yoast has a real-time content analysis tool; check it out here: https://yoast.com/research/real-time-content-analysis/

You might be wondering what the heck NLP is, but it helps you improve search engine optimization (SEO), which increases organic traffic to your website or blog post.

After writing all of your content pieces, it is time to edit and proofread them before publishing. You can do this easily by using a screen reader to have it read to you. I do this, and my husband does this with everything he writes.

Check for typos or grammar mistakes that may have been overlooked during the initial creation stages. That’s why Grammarly has been one of my favorite tools I use in my business since it was founded in 2016.

Additionally, take some time looking over each sentence, making sure there isn't any unnecessary fluff added anywhere. I’m guessing you’ve noticed that while I try for simple, clear, concise, yet informative sentences, I tend to over-explain. One other point about sentences: the length should be under 20 words to help with your readability score.

 

Optimizing for search engines can help increase visibility to potential clients, which is essential for maximizing profits. By strategically incorporating keywords, utilizing internal and external links, and optimizing images with alt text and videos for SEO purposes, you will be able to maximize the effectiveness of your content workflow.

Step Four: Publishing and Promoting Your Content

If you want your organic content to be seen, you'll need a workflow in place to enable you to share it consistently.

Do you know the go-to platforms for your ideal client? Do they sit and binge-watch YouTube videos? Or do they always have a podcast playing while they are running the kiddos around from activity to activity?

You’ll want your go-to platform to be the place where your ideal client goes to consume information or content.

To prevent content creation burnout, consider one main platform, such as a podcast or YouTube, that can be repurposed into an SEO-optimized blog post for discoverability. 

Send an email to your list the day your content goes live to encourage them to visit your corresponding blog post, which contains links to either the podcast or YouTube. Experience with different forms of content to your list to see what receives the best open and click-through rates.

Pick one social media platform to promote your content. What will be your social platform of choice?

Again, this must be the one that your ideal client hangs out on. I’m sure you already know, but these are social media sites like Pinterest, Facebook, X, Threads, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Utilize social media platforms to advertise your content by leveraging their influence and reach. Take advantage of what the social media algorithm is promoting at the moment, which is probably some sort of short-form video.

Each platform has different organic promotion techniques; ensure you’re using the right one.

Post engaging articles with links back directly to new content so readers can easily access it without having to search online too much. Adding a QR Code to your image that users can scan is a simple way to do this.

For all my fellow Pinterest users out there, make sure you use keywords in your headline and pin description to help optimize your visibility and reach more people with your message.

By leveraging your primary platform and repurposing this content to social media, you can effectively organize your content workflow to maximize profits.

Step Five: Analyzing Results and Refining Workflow Processes

An essential aspect of improving workflow processes is analyzing the performance metrics of published content. All too often, this is a piece that is overlooked.

By keeping track of metrics such as views, clicks, and user interaction, we can identify improvement areas. By studying these analytics, small online business owners can adjust their strategies accordingly to optimize their workflow for maximum efficiency.

When tracking performance metrics, it’s important to consider all aspects of a successful content marketing campaign—from creating high-quality content that resonates with ideal clients to managing social media posts and email marketing efficiently.

Tracking your metrics will give you a road map on what content to expand upon when creating your next content calendar.

Efficiently organize your content workflow to maximize profits by scheduling time to look at your results. Once you have this valuable information, invest time into updating your workflow processes for easy content creation—from idea generation to post-production.

Ask yourself: “What can I do to improve the efficiency of my workflow?”

What is working? What is not working? Is anything in the workflow causing a bottleneck?

After you’ve gone through the workflow, look at all the tasks you have to finish. After that, figure out which can be automated to make your workflow more efficient. Automating certain processes can save time and effort in the long run. 

Additionally, break down large projects into small tasks and prioritize them according to importance. This will help you focus on completing the most important tasks first while delegating or outsourcing less essential tasks as needed. 

Finally, take advantage of tools such as project management software to streamline communication between team members and ensure due dates are met efficiently.

What is the key purpose of organizing workflow?

The key purpose of organizing workflow is to ensure that tasks are completed efficiently and effectively. An organized process can lead to better utilization of resources, greater teamwork among remote team members, and smoother communication through the implementation of a system of steps. 

Organizing workflow can help reduce mistakes by making clear the tasks that need to be accomplished and how they should be done. Record yourself as the task is done and save it in our workflow template.

Ultimately, an organized workflow can lead to increased productivity and success for any small business owner.

What is content workflow management?

Content workflow management is the process of planning, organizing, and optimizing content creation. Identifying the necessary content, its creator, and how it should be distributed are all part of content workflow management. 

Content workflow management also includes tracking progress against goals and measuring performance over time to ensure that objectives are being met efficiently. By managing workflows for content creation, businesses can streamline their processes and improve overall productivity.

It’s Time To Wrap This Up

By efficiently organizing your content workflow, you can maximize profits and ensure that all of your time and energy are put to good use. Creating a system for brainstorming ideas, creating content, optimizing it for search engines, publishing and promoting the work, and analyzing results will help streamline the process while ensuring quality output. 

Friend, having an organized approach helps in staying focused on what matters most – producing valuable information that resonates with readers and drives conversions.

Take control of your content workflow and maximize profits by creating simple, efficient workflows. Implement the right strategies to ensure success in managing your content creation process.

Thank you for reading, I appreciate you and I hope you have a wonderful week!

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