7 Tips for Working From Home on Snow Days

If you're in the northeast, like I am, you've probably had to work from home once a week for the past few weeks. Thanks, climate change!

For those of you whose job depends on being physically present, enjoy your snow day with reckless abandon.

But for those who need to work remotely while their friends day-drink and tumble into snowbanks, here are a few tips for staying focused and getting work done.

1. Wake Up At Your Usual Time

This helps your body recognize that it's a weekday so you can stick to your routine a little better. Personally, I could never follow the advice to wake up at the same time every day, since I love to sleep in on the weekends. So on a snow day, I compromise: I sleep in for the amount of time that I would have spent commuting, but I eat breakfast, shower, and start working at my usual time.

2. Wear Appropriate Clothing

I find I'm surprisingly productive in my fleece unicorn onesie. No joke.

When you get dressed for the day, wear whatever will make you feel most productive. Usually changing into your normal work attire is a good choice. Some people need to wear shoes in order to feel "on." Or maybe you need to compensate by dressing in a 3-piece suit. Generally, it's a good idea to change out of the PJs you wore to bed.


3. Claim Your Workspace

It's important to distinguish between work space and non-work space. If you usually sit at a desk at the office, sit at a desk or table at home. Again, when you recreate your physical routine of working, you'll work more effectively.

Conversely, if you usually lounge on the couch to unwind from work, don't work from your couch. Your subconscious will be very confused.


4. Block Out Distractions

Literally, there are free tools you can use to block distracting websites for a specific amount of time. In the morning, carve out blocks of time when you need to be productive, and make sure to block Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, or whatever other internet black hole sucks up your time.


5. Don't Have a Working Lunch -- Have a Cooking Lunch

If you usually eat at your desk or grab a bite at the office cafeteria, take advantage of your snow day and try something a little different. Cook a warm meal, maybe something you don't usually have time to cook at the end of the day. Crock pot meals, stews, gumbos, stir fries, or casseroles are a nice alternative than the usual sandwich, right? And since you're already home with all your ingredients (you stocked up before the storm, right?) and cookware, you have no excuse not to cook.

I find that cooking a meal injects a much-needed change of pace into a work-from-home day. Give your brain a chance to shift gears, and you'll be fresher when you return to your desk.

If you need to work during your lunch, try cooking while listening to an industry podcast or webinar. If you have a lot of email to catch up on, you can use an app to read it aloud for you while you're chopping vegetables.


6. Keep In Touch

If all else fails, hold yourself accountable to your coworkers. Check in with your team via email to review priorities and tasks for the day. Have a meeting via conference call -- or video conference if you're feeling fancy.

One tactic is to email your supervisor in the morning with your plan of action for the day, and indicate that you'll notify them at the end of the day if something didn't get done. That puts pressure on you to keep on task or else admit that you mismanaged your time.


7. Take An Afternoon Snow Break

When you hit your afternoon slump around 3pm, lace up your winter boots and take a snow break. The chilly air will perk you up, and a walk around the block -- or a quick snowball fight -- will get your blood pumping again. After a couple minutes, you'll be cured of stiff legs and cabin fever, eager to warm up with a mug of cocoa -- which you should promptly brew.

Enjoy your snow day, everyone!

12 Lessons from Free Marketing Events

I am hungry for knowledge. If that knowledge comes without a price, even better!

I attend as many free networking events, classes, or workshops as I can, if I think it will help me become a better marketer. I'd love to share some bits of wisdom I learned at recent events.

The first 6 lessons are from the 12 Essentials on the Future of Mobile Marketing event, organized by the team behind Sleek Marketing University and hosted by Impact Hub Boston on December 2, 2014. The speaker was Joseph Carrabis, neuroscientist-turned-marketer and founder of NextStage. His claim to fame is harnessing the brain's natural tendencies to guide customers along the marketing funnel.

1. Consumers connect to brands faster on mobile.

This has something to do with the fact that you're physically holding the device. Deep inside our lizard brains, we trust what we can touch. Therefore, by default we trust the messages we receive on our mobile devices.

2. We treat our mobile phones like weapons. 

A sociological study compared our relationship with our mobile devices to how we treated swords in the Middle Ages. Back then it was customary to carry a weapon on your person at all times, often with your hand resting on it idly. You'd feel naked without it. You'd pull it out when feeling defensive or threatened. There's a sentimental attachment to the item, it's a symbol of status, the comparisons go on and on.

3. To maximize conversion, order designs like so: maybe yes no. 

This is a fun little mind trick. Designers can capitalize on ternary logic to guide outcomes: offer 3 choices with the first option a 'maybe' commitment, the last one a 'no,' and the middle as the intended CTA. The brain defaults to the middle ground whenever possible. And since the brain can't conceive of a negative without first understanding the positive, you should order the options in 'maybe-yes-no.' 

4. Humans can only be happy or sad. There is no intermediate. 

At least in terms of your brand impression. Surveys reveal stark evidence that when someone interacts with your brand on their mobile device, it's either a positive or negative experience, but almost never neutral.

5. Mobile menu interfaces must be iconographic. 

A picture is worth 1000 words, so you'd best use images to get your point across on a small screen!

6. Branded apps with a social factor perform better than mobile sites. 

If your product is both digital and social, this stat should convince your CTO to invest in mobile app development.

Here are 6 more lessons from the 20 Million Visitors: Content Distribution Secrets from The Daily Beast event, hosted by Boston Content on December,  2014. The speaker here was Managing Director of The Daily Beast, Mike Dyer.

7. People read longer content on mobile devices (rather than on desktops).

Maybe people are catching up on their blogs and news stories while commuting?

8. Evergreen content is always more valuable than topical content. 

Makes sense: people search for evergreen topics for year-round, whereas seasonal topics get a bump once a year and then a long lull. Topical content thrives only if it goes viral.

9. It's better to produce fewer, better pieces of content than to pump stuff out constantly. 

This is such a relief to hear from an expert! Please, free us from the rat race of constant tweeting!

10. Headlines should be tailored for their medium. 

Think about it: it would be weird to see a headline on Facebook that abbreviates 'you' as 'u', but you'd be foolish NOT to do that on Twitter if you need to space.

11. One way to distinguish content from advertising: content solves the user's problem first, and the brand's problem second. 

This hammers home the fact that content is great at generating leads and inbound traffic because people are seeking a solution for themselves. Advertising is responsible for seeking out customers in an outbound fashion. Different tactics demand different priorities.

12. Don't chase social media engagement unless it drives web traffic. 

I've wondered if I should be counting and tracking metrics like number of Twitter follows, repins, or Facebook comments. At the end of the day none of that matters if it's not generating site traffic.

There you have it! If you've got any tips to add, please share in the comments.