The 6 Must-Have Tools to Start Your Business - Part 1

When you start a business, it feels like there are a million moving pieces to keep track of to ensure your venture gets off the ground properly, and just when the myriads of documents, fees, permits, and information filing are under control, you need to start thinking about your website, email address, and other software setup. It feels like the quest never ends.

Today's post distills the software part down to a manageable checklist to alleviate the overwhelm.

Over the coming weeks, we'll do a deeper dive into each and talk about some additional optional tools that you may want to use.

As you know, my focus is on the Google Workspace cloud-based IT system, because it's easy to manage even if you have zero experience in IT, and it provides you an all-in-one solution for a low monthly cost, starting at $6/month.

So let's see what IT software tools you will need as you get started on your business journey:

1. Domain (yearly cost)

2. Business email address (included in Google Workspace)

3. Calendar (included in Google Workspace)

4. Website (easy-to-use building tool included in Google Workspace; whether this fits your needs depends a bit on the type of business you have and how you want to use your website)

5. Office software (included in Google Workspace)

6. Video conferencing (included in Google Workspace)

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

Contact me: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

Make Your Downloads Uploads with Google Drive for Desktop (formerly File Stream)

"Make your downloads uploads? Huh??"

Hear me out; it's actually not as complicated as it sounds, and learning this trick will save you a lot of time.

So, you have decided to use Google Workspace; you like the idea of storing your files in Google Drive where they always remain accessible, and safe from a poorly timed computer hard drive crash.

Great. But what about those files that you download from the web? What do you do with those? Those will have to sit on your hard drive until you can carve out enough time to upload them into a folder in Google Drive that you haven't yet created… And so these downloads accumulate.

Well, not if you have downloaded Google Drive for desktop. This is a small program from Google that creates a bridge to Google Drive and allows you to save your downloaded file directly to Google Drive.

Here is how it goes:

Install Google Drive for desktop:

1. Download and install Google Drive for desktop from here (ignore the other tools mentioned on the page).

Set your Chrome Settings in a way that Chrome will always ask you where you want to save your downloads:

2. To make it easy finding that setting, copy-paste the below into your Chrome address bar, and it will take you right to that setting:

chrome://settings/downloads

3. Turn on the toggle Ask where to save each file before downloading. This ensures that you get a prompt to decide where to save each file you download.

At the time you start a download:

4. When you get that prompt to choose a location for a file you are downloading, navigate to your Google Drive and select the folder (or create one) in the Google Drive location of your choice.

5. When you hit Save, your file will automatically upload itself to the Google Drive folder location you chose; no extra action required.

How cool is that? Two birds with one stone. Such a great time saver!

Other Google Drive for desktop (aka. File Stream) posts you may be interested in:

https://blog.kloudgem.com/2020/05/file-stream-bridge-between-google-microsoft.html 

https://blog.kloudgem.com/2021/02/seamless-bridge-google-drive-for-desktop.html 

Need a Google Workspace expert for your organization's digital transformation and change management? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

Changes Are Changing (??)

Towards the end of last year, we heard about storage changes coming to Google Drive and Google Photos. At that time, these changes were slated for June 1, 2021. Well, these changes are… ah, uhm… changing:

For Google Workspace accounts:

From Google's latest announcement, we learn that while they will be moving forward with the plans for Google Photos on June 1, 2021, the changes to storage for native Google Drive files will not be rolled out until February 1, 2022. 

Google Photos:

High-quality photos will count towards your Drive quota beginning June 1, 2021. 

Google Drive:

Newly created Google files will count towards your storage starting February 1, 2022. Existing Google files will not count towards your storage, unless they get modified on or after February 1, 2022.

The details are here:

https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2021/04/changes-to-google-workspace-storage.html

For personal Google Accounts:

No changes will come to the changes already announced for personal Google Accounts, so what is outlined here still holds true:

https://blog.google/products/photos/storage-policy-update/ 

(I think I couldn't have used the word "change" more times if I tried in this post… What do you think, have I maxed out all the possibilities or could I fit a few more in? :))

Need a Google Workspace expert for your organization's digital transformation and change management? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

Not a Techie? Not a Problem!

Let me get on my soap box for a minute... 

Today, we are lucky to live in an age when you don't need to be born a techie or have a degree in rocket science to run your own company's IT systems.

However, I've met several small business owners and solopreneurs who pay big bucks monthly to have someone (or multiple someones) set up, run, and oversee their email, calendar, office suite, and website. Not only do they have that significant ongoing financial overhead, they also sometimes need to wait 3-5 weeks for any small changes that need to be made, like adjusting copy or images on their websites.

The reason I started my business is to show entrepreneurs that IT doesn't have to be like this, and empower them to set up and manage their own systems. Your website and other IT systems are yours. You should be able to come and go and make changes as you please, as you do in your own home. Google Workspace and the tools it comprises of provide that. 

It is my passion to enable anyone to run their own IT system and website. I don't do it for them, but teach them how to do it for themselves, as the saying goes, I teach them how to fish.

The added benefit of using Google Workspace for your IT infrastructure is that it covers most of your software needs at a low cost. For small businesses, costs add up quickly, and there is no reason for you to pay extra unless you have to. Most small businesses can use the $6/user/month or the $12/user/month Google Workspace package, slashing their operations overhead significantly. 

So what's included in this cost? Many, many tools: Google Workspace core tools and other Google tools. These are the most popular ones for small businesses: 

💎 Communication tools

• Business email on your domain
• Calendar
• Business-grade video conferencing tool (with optional recording)
• Whiteboarding tool

💎 Office software and file storage

• Google's office tools: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and more
• Seamless bridge with Microsoft Office and your computer's hard drive

💎 Marketing tools

• Website builder
• Blog
• Analytics on website/blog traffic
• Survey tool
• Other marketing tools

Ready to explore Google Workspace? I am here to teach you how to fish. Feel free to reach out: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

Need a Google Workspace expert for your organization's digital transformation and change management? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

Pick Up Your Virtual Laundry in 2 Steps Before You Present

Remember in the pre-COVID days when we used to invite people over? We’d tidy the house and pick up the dirty laundry before the guests arrived. We should do the same thing in our Chrome browsers before sharing our Google Workspace screens on video calls -- especially if the presentation will be recorded or if presenting to a client or prospect. It just looks more professional and more inviting.

You can do it in 2 steps:

💎 KloudGem 1: Do you tend to have a gazillion tabs open in your Chrome window(s)? (Yup, me too.) To avoid distraction, make sure you close all tabs that are not needed for your presentation. (See below about how to re-open them afterwards.)

💎 KloudGem 2: Do you bookmark any page that you ever want to return to? (So do I.) As handy as that can be, it will also make your bookmarks bar look like a laundry line above your presentation. While I don't have anything against laundry lines (I grew up with them and I love the smell of fresh, air-dried laundry), I like to hide that bookmarks bar, because that, too, can be distracting from the content of the presentation. Go to the 3 dots in Chrome, click Bookmarks and select Hide bookmarks bar.

These steps will not only make your presentation look more professional, they will also keep your private info private.

Two simple steps and your virtual guests will never have to see your laundry -- and your presentations and recordings will look totally professional.

Bonus 💎 KloudGem: Need to open the tabs back up after the presentation? Simply go to your Chrome history from 3 dots > History, and you will see the recently closed tabs. (If you closed an entire window with several tabs, those are represented by a number. Click on it and all the tabs will open back up.)

Bonus 💎 KloudGem: Need to unhide your trusty Bookmarks bar? From the 3 dots in the top right corner of Chrome, go to Bookmarks, and choose to Show bookmarks bar.

Need a Google Workspace expert for your organization's digital transformation and change management? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

A Whiteboard That Can Time-Travel? - Whaaat?!

Virtual whiteboards have become a necessity for collaboration and training thanks to our new reality with remote and hybrid work and learning. Google's Jamboard provides a no-fuss, easy-to use whiteboard surface to teach or collaborate on, and it has just gotten better: it now has Version history!

Now, that's like a whiteboard being able to time-travel! 

Tips for end-users and small businesses:

You set up a whiteboard for a meeting: carefully craft a table to fill with rows of colorful, virtual sticky notes, and at the end of your wildly successful and lively meeting, you come to the realization as a team that you would like to revert back to the version from the middle of the session.

OR 

You realize that tomorrow, you have to conduct the same session with a different group, and you need to reuse that same original, clean table structure that you started with. 

What now?

💎KloudGem 1: You are in luck! Just click the 3 dots in the top right-hand corner and access the Version history: restore or make a copy of a version as you need to. You can look through the time-stamped versions to find the one you were looking for or jump to a version you may have named in the past for easy reference.

💎KloudGem 2: Jamboard whiteboarding files can be created just like any other Google file, in Google Drive:

💎KloudGem 3: To use Jamboard, all you need is a Google Account.

Tips for mid-size companies and large enterprises:

💎KloudGem 4: You can leverage Jamboard in many different ways to support your remote and hybrid working models:

• Through laptop or desktop computers in the Chrome browser and Google Drive,

• Through tablets' iPad or Android apps,

• Through phones' iPhone or Android apps,

• Through physical Jamboard kiosks that allow you to scribble on them just like an old-fashioned physical whiteboard -- except this whiteboard allows for remote collaboration. (The physical board option has extra cost involved for the device and is not a must-have to leverage the power of Jamboard.)

A Jamboard file, also called a Jam, is a whiteboard that can continue to be used  past the meeting, either asynchronously or from where you left off, the next time you meet.

Do you use Jamboard? I'd love to hear how you best leverage them for your meetings, collaboration, or teaching.

Need a Google Workspace expert for your organization's digital transformation and change management? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

Google Slides' Hidden Tools

I was very excited about the latest changes in Google Slides. Even though they sound simple, they make a huge difference.

As easy as it is to present in Google Slides, the presenter's toolbar that used to show up in black at the bottom of the screen seemed to have a life of its own: as you moved your mouse, it would pop up to obstruct the presentation at the worst times. Well, not anymore: Google has significantly reduced the size of the bar and made it translucent so it's more subtle, keeping the non-essential functionality tucked away in the More (3 dots) menu.

Here is the small bar that shows up:

This new arrangement will ensure that less of your presentation is obstructed if you move your mouse to the lower left corner of your screen. It also seems to be quicker to disappear once you move your mouse away again.

And here is the expanded view available with all the bells and whistles when you click the More (3 dots) menu:

The various tools available to you when you expand the More (3 dots) menu (pointer, Q&A, captions, etc.) are still available to help you engage with your audience.

If you’ve tried this new view, I'm curious about whether you’ve found it more comfortable to use. Let me know in the comments.

Need a Google Workspace expert for your organization's digital transformation and change management? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com