Using Evernote or similar software for managing projects

[Robert Taylor]

So, looking into personal time management software for myself, I kept seeing people all over the web talking about Evernote, as if I should just already know all about it, simply by seeing the word "Evernote"! Of course, I had to look into it, found out how widely it is used and how it has achieved a near cult-like status! I also saw the "works across ALL platforms" part (smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop, pc, mac, iphone, android) and was sold, which was easy of course, since the basic download is free, downloaded it and have been hooked for the last few months. 

Fast forward to today and realizing the amazing amount of time I spend DAILY not only coordinating projects (which if you can't stand, this is not a career for you) but what is maddening in when I'm simply the conduit to pass very minor bits of info between contractors and as we all know, screwing up on some seemingly minor piece of that info that for instance may seem very minor to myself and lets say the carpenter and electrician, BUT causes a MAJOR hang up for the plumber (and assuming you're pulling permits as I do, toss in an additional delay for the inspector to be re-scheduled and now this formerly minor point has just hung up a big part of a project for days, maybe longer. 

After getting myself into a big backlog and mess where i had too much going on and that caused one very inefficient day after the next, I'm all about now remaking an efficient operation and I'm NOT dreaming of some "auto pilot" type deal, where I can work a couple of hours a day if that and magically have huge sue of money flow in regularly, I fully expect to continue working long hours, but want to eliminate being the relay service for these silly go betweens. 

I know there's various "house flipping" dedicated software out there, but I want to avoid it, as I don't know how long I'd be concentrated on this slice of the RE biz, I could be in a different part of RE in a few years, or in some unrelated biz and I like Evernote for that, but it requires going from the way I'm using it now, as a personal, one man organizer to getting more people involved in using it, but I also like it for the massive number of 3rd party tutorials, etc available to anyone needing to learn to use this software.

I'd greatly appreciate ANY thoughts or suggestions on how anyone else has used tech to streamline their operations, thanks!

[Kyle Cabral]

@Robert Taylor much like @Chris C. I use podio for my operations and LOVE it because how customized you can make it. If you truly want to work on your business and scaling it for future demands and success, definitely take some time to entertain the idea. You could also hire someone to work on it for what you need it to do.

I've come to realize it can automate just about any part of my business. I have separate workstations such as Accounting, Rental Portfolio, Marketing, Development, etc which are all tweaked different to satisfy needs and ultimately reduce waste so i'm not inefficient.

• Sample functinoality that I use
• Call comes in
• automatically parses out number, updates phone number field
• automatically sends me and email as well as  my partner and email with it auto on a "follow up needed" status.
• Creates task for us to do this within the day
• (at this point we've done 0 actual work, all automation)
• once we follow up, we move it to dead, possible lead, etc which then have a series of automated actions that require little or none of our time

I've found that podio can do this for all areas of your business and you have to set the standard with contractors and have them utilize what you tell them to. You can integrate contracts, have them sign things, send reminders, have them login to your workstation, etc etc. It's absolutely endless.

It's just about taking the time to construct the basis of the organization you envision.

Thanks,

Kyle