The more I use Evernote, the more I grow to love it. If you're not familiar with Evernote, it's a system that enables users to capture information and store it in one place. I use Evernote on my laptop and on my iPhone, and when I enter information in the app on one device, it syncs and is available on *all* my devices. (There is also an Evernote website that you can sign into, so you can access your information anywhere you have a web connection, too.)
According to the developers, “Our goal at Evernote is to give everyone the ability to easily capture any moment, idea, inspiration, or experience whenever they want using whichever device or platform they find most convenient, and then to make all of that information easy to find.”
You can capture web pages, photos, handwritten notes, old resumes – just about anything you can imagine, you can collect in Evernote.
One thing I use Evernote for is content planning. When I'm putting together information for future blog posts, public speaking opportunities, teleseminars, special reports, and Pass-Along Materials, I start an Evernote "Note" for each project.
You can also use Evernote to create a monthly content plan for marketing your resume writing business. A content plan is an organized list of the articles, blog posts, newsletters, emails and other business content you’re going to publish each month. It includes keywords, publication date, purpose/goal, and audience information. You can do an Evernote "note" for each month.
Using Evernote
Evernote allows you to create Notebooks and to tag each note with searchable keywords. This makes content planning, creation, and research extremely efficient. With Evernote you can:
- Store content ideas – blog posts and headlines that you read online can be stored. You can also take notes on each idea and store them with the link. For example, maybe you’re planning a series of blog posts on using LinkedIn in your job search. You might add various articles and tips to your notepad labeled “LinkedIn blog content” or “July 2012 blog post content.” You can also add your notes to each article.
- Store keyword research – you can also add your keyword research to each month’s content plan. All your relevant ideas and keywords in one key location.
- Content – have you ever been out and about and had an idea for a blog post or article? You sit right down, grab your notebook or smartphone, and start writing. Then what? With Evernote you can add it to your content file and you’re good to go.
- Content research – in addition to content ideas, you can store your content research, including sources and references in the same location you store your content. It makes it very easy to find everything you need. When I'm researching a new topic, I copy-and-paste links to articles I'm using as research, screen shots, PDFs, and my own notes and thoughts.
Evernote also lets you store images. If you’re collecting images for your blog posts, then you can keep them in the same folder with your content. (I recommend Fotolia for inexpensive graphics to illustrate your blog posts.)
Another unique use of Evernote (not business-related) is to store health notes for family members. I know I'm not the only resume writer who is part of the "sandwich generation" -- taking care of our parents and our kids. I use Evernote to keep track of my dad's doctor's visits, my mother-in-law's cancer treatment, and my aunt's health information. I can take notes on my laptop at doctor visits, and then reference the information anytime on my iPhone. (Note: Evernote does require a password for access, but it is not an encrypted site, so don't include sensitive information like social security numbers, passwords, or insurance information.)
Getting Started on Evernote
Evernote is free. They also offer a premium version that allows users to add others to their account. It also provides more storage space, the ability to use your info offline and many other beneficial features. It’s just $45 a year or $5/month. If you struggle to consistently plan your content or you haven’t found a good organization system, consider Evernote. It also works on mobile devices so you can always have it with you.
I'm just starting to use Evernote Hello ... I may blog about it later. If you're using Evernote, I'd love to know how you're using it in your resume writing business! Leave a comment below!
