I’ve been buying up big on Indiegogo and Kickstarter to help with my productivity. Lately, I’ve been having a hard time keeping up with meeting notes, ideas, phone calls and to-do lists. Usually, I’m on top of things with Evernote and other apps I use. Excuses aside running a business and working on multiple projects you need a system to help with productivity. That’s where Rocketbook and Butterflyboard come into it.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve bought a lot of technology (some garbage) from Indiegogo and Kickstarter. Lessons learnt I’ve also bought some awesome ideas and technology to help with the office and my personal life. These two items have changed how I work, where I work and how I store my information to be used later.
Rocketbook by Everlast Notebook
I never thought I would go back to writing on a notepad. For the past few years I’ve been typing and writing into Google Drive, Evernote and Google Keep. The Rocketbook looks like a normal notebook with a normal pen. As the creators mention a “classic pen and paper experience”. You simply write on the notebook. After writing, you can scan the page and send it to your favourite cloud service. Now here’s the beauty of the product. Instead of buying a new notebook, simply erase the pages by adding water. That’s right! Never buy another notebook.
Create your content, scan the content then erase it. Another handy tip is that you can use a normal pen. No Stylus or magic pen. You use a Pilot FriXion line which can be purchased and replaced easily from your stationary store. Using the Rocketbook App, you can take it further by scanning the QR code for page numbering and ordering. There are 7 symbols on each page where you can programme the app to automatically send it to your favourite cloud services such as Evernote, Dropbox and Google Drive. *I use my current Apps for Evernote to send the notes and do not use the Rocketbook App.
This is now my go-to choice for note taking and writing. It’s small and easy to carry inside a laptop bag or even my hiking bag. More information can be found on the company page as well as free sample sheets on Indiegogo to try for free.
ButterflyBoard the Portable Freestyle Whiteboard
I carry this product EVERYWHERE! The Butterflyboard is a basically a portable whiteboard with multiple pages. Magnets between the pages keep them together so you can flip it like a book. You can work on an A4 page or scalable to an A3 page. Just love this tool for brainstorming ideas, creating a diagram, workflow, or just trying to solve problems. This portable whiteboard helps me to be creative where ever I am. Package includes a selection of 4 whiteboard markers ranging in diameter and colours. After sketching and drawing on the whiteboard, you guessed it; you can scan it with your favourite app and send it to the cloud with additional notes. I generally combine Butterflyboard drawings with my writing from the Rocketbook. More information can be found here on Indiegogo.
These two products are just some simple inventions that have made a big impact on how I do business, take notes, recall meetings and capitalise on spontaneous ideas. This is the best way I have found to stay updated, organised and in control with the all the information coming my way.
My Top 7 Organisational and Brainstorming Tips
- Use folders and subfolders for projects – as many as you like
- Place related notes, sketches, jot points into one folder
- Use tags for your writing and drawings – easier to search later
- Found a Youtube video or Website? Press the share button and straight into your project folder
- Got an idea? Think it’s silly or unrelated? Write it down or draw a diagram. Your mind will recall it later when you least expect it
- Short dot points is the key – elaborate later when you get time
- Silly and crazy ideas are always the good ones!
* Check out Bendigo Aerial. The entire project from start to finish completed on Rocketbook and Butterflyboard!
Do you use these products? What tips or suggestions do you have? Let me know!