Speaker 1: So staying productive and getting everything done as a content creator and in your business can be a real challenge, especially when you are working from home, working with a team that's remote, and working with virtual assistants. So in this video, we wanna share some of the best tips, lessons, and software that we use here at Think Media to not just stay productive, but to keep our business growing. Coming up. ♪ This, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this ♪ ♪ I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready ♪ What's up? Sean Cannell here.

Speaker 2: Heather Torres here.

Speaker 1: And this is Think Media. And if you've been a part of our journey, you might know that this team, this company, this YouTube channel started with me just recording videos in my bedroom.

Speaker 3: All right, so this is, I guess, the first Sean Thinks vlog. And I'm gonna try to vlog every single day. Now, this is definitely as real as it gets, so I'm not gonna try to be energetic or entertaining, though maybe sometimes I will.

Speaker 1: And man, and since I recorded that first video, things here at Think Media have just continued to grow and really get more complex. I mean, now we're doing up to six videos a week across multiple channels, a podcast, a live event, books, courses, which means HR, you know, customer service, and all kinds of things. And so I realized not only that I needed to build a team, but I needed someone like Heather Torres that could really clarify communication and help us with some systems. And now over the years, we've worked with a lot of different software trying to find something that would actually keep our team productive. And so that's why in this video, we're teaming up with monday.com. Man, it is our all-in-one solution for keeping our team productive, organized, getting things done in a way that helps us focus on the work that matters most and actually produces results for our business. And so Heather's gonna share how we use that software and some must-know tips for staying productive as creatives and entrepreneurs. So let's get into it.

Speaker 2: So throughout the years, we have tried a lot of different softwares, everything from simple Google spreadsheets all the way into complicated software. And really picking the right software matters because you wanna make sure that your team is staying productive. And there's three reasons why I love monday.com as our work operating system. The first reason I love it is because you can tell who does what by when. This is critical when you're working with remote teams or if you're just not in the office and working from home that day, you can stay connected to your deadlines and to your projects. For our team here at Think Media, this is critical because we usually have multiple videos in production at one time. We love to batch produce our videos. And when we do that, we have different videos at different stages of production. We also have different editors that are working on projects. And so we need them to know when those videos are due as well as where they are in the pipeline of production. So let me show you what this looks like here at Think Media. When we go into monday.com, we have different boards that are set up. We separate our projects out here at Think Media based on teams as well as the project they're working on. Our YouTube videos are obviously what we're doing here. What I love about this simple system is the visual. You can type in what the actual video is and you can customize different pieces that are important to your project. So for us here at Think Media, it's important for us to know who's in charge of the video as well as the editor. And we can take different people from our team and put them on that project. For us, it's important to have the release date of that video. And then we're able to show where it is in production. I love that there's so many ways that you can use this software to be able to know who does what by when and delegate projects rather than having to vocally tell people what they're responsible for. The second reason that we love monday.com is because of the clear communication and all of the abilities to communicate without having to jump on the phone with someone. I really think that when you get multiple people on a project, you start to break down sometimes in communication. And this can happen if it's just you and an editor or if it's an entire team working on a project. And so one of the things that we utilize here at Think Media is their automations. I love that you're able to set up different ways for people to be automatically notified when projects move through the pipeline, or you're able to integrate things with your Google Calendar or with your Slack if you use that, so that you're able to actually be communicating automatically. There are so many different pieces of software that you can connect with your monday.com. So if you're using things like Google Calendar or Zoom, you're able to actually integrate these different types of communications to notify your team when things happen. One of the integrations that we use is Slack. We love to be able to notify people on our Slack channels based on where the project is. Since we have multiple people working on the video creation process, when the status changes of that video, we need them to be notified that the next person can take that project on. By being clear on our communication, we're able to focus on team collaboration and workflow management. Being able to see things at a glance is really important on any project management tool. And what monday.com has in their dashboards allows for when you log on to be able to clearly see what you've been tagged on, what your countdown's on, where your projects are in the pipeline, and what you need to focus on that day. It's important when working with remote workers to be able to have a place to be capturing the content that you need, to be able to have a space for them to communicate, and to be able to have a space where everyone can see where projects are in the pipeline. This allows for your team to stay productive, stay focused, and get their projects done. The third reason I love working with monday.com is because of the ability to manage multiple types of different projects at one time. Here in boards, you can see that we have different folders set up for the different departments in Think Media. And with that, you're able to select certain boards that are specific to the project you're working on. This allows for your team to know what is happening when, as well as all the minor details as a project moves forward. For our company, we're balancing things like courses, and launches, and YouTube videos. And this might not be where you are at right now, but this software allows you to grow as your team grows. When getting started with any software, I love the ability to have templates already pre-done for you. Some of the key templates you can use for video production are already easily designed for you. Templates like video pre-production and video post-production. These templates come preloaded with detailed columns, so you never miss a step when creating your videos. And if you're a freelancer, there are templates for you too. You can track your progress, you can track your projects, you can track your hours, and a place to store your inspiration for future projects. Monday.com makes it so easy to start your creative projects with their well-designed and detailed options. As well as if you're running a company and you do have employees, there's HR board templates and sales and customer service boards. And all you need to do is start adding in your pieces. When working on different projects, maybe you already have things set up on spreadsheets. With Monday.com, you're able to integrate your spreadsheets right into boards, and it'll start to customize that for you. So those are three reasons why I love, as the operations manager here at Think Media, using a software like Monday.com. Working with creatives has been very interesting. Editors and videographers that don't necessarily meet in one place. And so by having a software like this, it allows our team to have peace of mind. You know, we can be on our phones anywhere and be able to check in and see where the projects are. We're able to communicate with each other on different pieces of those tasks, and we're able to keep ourselves on track. Because one of the things that can happen with not having a project management tool is procrastination. And what a software like this helps you do is to visually see where you are in the process. I think it's important that if you want to be creating YouTube videos, if you want to be creating a business, that you have a plan in place for how you're going to actually do that. And using software that supports you like Monday.com is a great way to get started. And if you click the link below in the description, sign up for your account, choose one of those templates, or import your current spreadsheets into the software and get started. From there, you can integrate your programs like Dropbox or Google Calendar, just like we do here at Think Media, so that you can stay organized, so that you can move your projects down the field and get more videos out. But hey, building a business online, it can be difficult. And there's a lot of pieces that aren't talked about. So we just created a brand new video podcast and YouTube channel called the Think Marketing Show. You can click or tap the screen to watch the latest episode or down in the description. Click like if you got value out of this and we'll see you in the next video. ♪ This,