When it comes to note taking, planning out ideas, etc., I flip back and forth between old school (paper) and new school (digital). I have a very bad habit (that I am trying to kick) of take notes on anything that is within reach – notebooks, notepads, sticky notes, etc. With that method you must be super organized so you don’t misplace or accidentally throw something important away. Another downside to have a 100% paper system is that when you travel or hold a meeting in person you have to lug all of that stuff around with you. Then add a laptop and/or ipad to the mix and that can be a huge pain.
A few years ago I made it my goal to change all this. I wanted to be more mobile, carry less baggage especially while traveling to conferences. You collect a lot of goodies attending events and you need space to get all that stuff back home with or without paying the airlines an arm and a leg. So on the recommendation from an online friend who I got to met IRL (in real life) at a conference I looked into Evernote. It has been a godsend. I love the fact that I have access to it three difference ways – on the web, on my desktop via a download and on my mobile devices, all by using the basic plan.
With Evernote, you can do many things. You use it for your notes, save images, create lists, and more. Everything is organized into notebooks, which contains individual notes. So it’s like you are creating mini books. There are some limitations to the basic free version such as access to previous versions of your notes as well as accessing saved notes via mobile. However, if that and anything else is very important to you can try out one of their premiums plan starting at $24.99 a year.
There is also some apps you can use with your Evernote account. Such as Evernote Web Clipper that you can use to save web pages and Skitch, which I use to draw on images and screen shots. I can’t forget to mention their products – check out their moleskine notebooks.
- Beside the default notebook, I have separate ones for my business, my blog, side projects, etc. and any notes that are associated with them goes in that notebook.
- I have a note solely for anything bookkeeping related saved in a notebook for my Business.
- My random notes, information I find on scrap pieces of paper goes into the default notebook. When I have time I go in and move the notes to where they should be.
- I’ve also start taken snap shot of papers because sometimes I am too lazy to type it out. As well as my whiteboard when I am doing my brain dump. It’s faster to take a picture, erase and continue on.
Although, I love Evernote I do still take notes on paper because I have some much left to use up and don’t want to trash it. Every few days I organize and transfer everything then shred the paper. I still have my reservations about going 100% digital (yes, me a techie) but that is what backups are for. Since I’ve been a user I notice that when I travel either out of town or just to the library, I am doing so with less paper. I can’t wait until I am 100% location independent. If you’re looking to become mobile in your business or just organized, I would highly recommend you check out Evernote.