Since I’m new around these parts, I thought this would be a better way than any other to give you some insight about who I am as an entrepreneur (or “entreprenewbie” as I like to call it) and new media specialist.
I’m really forgetful.
No really. I forget everything. I’m so engrossed in what I have going on with my business, clients, and content creation, that I really do forget about the rest of the planet sometimes. And the biggest fault of my forgetfulness is that I hardly ever remember my schedule and never look at my calendar.
I mean never. Like clockwork (heh). I just don’t check it.
Oh, unless of course I’m scheduling appointments. Which I do All. The. TIME. I’m always looking for an open spot to schedule something. So naturally you can imagine where constantly scheduling but never checking is going to come to a head, right?
After countless missed coffee appointments, conference calls, and spin classes (that last one might be from other underlying issues), I knew I had to find an outside solution.
Maybe you’ve heard about a pretty little site called IFTTT? It stands for If This Then That and it allows you to create task “recipes” to be more efficient with your online services. For instance, if I take an Instagram photo, then IFTTT automatically updates it to my Tumblr blog. Also, if I post a new entry on Savvy Sexy Social, then IFTTT automatically updates my LinkedIn status with a link.
There are 21 channels to choose from ranging from your email to your RSS feeds to your Twitter account, from which you can create almost 2,000 recipes to help you streamline actions among these different networks.
So naturally, with my inability to make good on any appointments, I knew there had to be an IFTTT recipe that would save my rear. And it turned out that if I let IFTTT communicate with my calendar and post a new appointment, then it can automatically send me a text message 15 minutes before to alert me that I need to be somewhere. Perfect!
You can thank IFTTT for alerting me of my Tech Cocktail deadline today, and you should also check out how it can make your life a little more efficient, as well.