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A new guide to setting up a high-performance virtual office

By Blog

Today i30 Media Corp., the publisher of In 30 Minutes guides, announces the release of a new book by award-winning author Melanie Pinola: The Successful Virtual Office In 30 Minutes: Best practices, tools, and setup tips for your home office, coworking space, or mobile office.

Virtual Office setup guideThis quick guide is intended to help virtual workers of all stripes (telecommuters, freelancers, independent professionals, entrepreneurs, etc.) set up and maintain a high-performance virtual office. Just as Pinola’s first book, LinkedIn In 30 Minutes, helped people supercharge their LinkedIn profiles and network more effectively, her new book about virtual offices makes it easy for everyone from newbies to experienced telecommuters to leverage new technologies and ways of working to achieve more.

Pinola is a true expert when it comes to this mode of work. Not only has she been working virtually since the 1990s, she’s written about it for Lifehacker and serves as the Mobile Office Expert for About.com. Jessica Lipnack, the author of Virtual Teams and The Age of the Network, calls The Successful Virtual Office In 30 Minutes a “thoroughly useful compendium of tips and tools” for working virtually.

“Once one virtual team member is remote, all members are,” Lipnack notes. “Very little work gets done today without virtual teaming, which means there’s a huge market for this helpful book.”

Why virtual offices are taking the world by storm

Virtual offices represent a huge shift in the way people get work done. If your job takes place in front of a computer screen, chances are you can work from practically anywhere, whether you’re on a beach in Bali, working out of a home office, or setting up shop in a downtown coworking space. According to one estimate published in the Journal of Labor Research, 65 percent of all jobs are amendable to at least part-time telework. In the United States alone, more than 30 million people are already working remotely on a part-time or full-time basis.

The Successful Virtual Office In 30 Minutes addresses everything from the mindset of working remotely to the practical tools and services virtual workers can leverage. Topics include:

Finding the best place to work and creating an efficient workspace (Chapter 1)

  • Recommendations for setting up the ideal virtual office, based on the latest research.
  • How to use alternative offices such as coffee shops and libraries to get more done.
  • Four elements of a productive office.
  • Ergonomics, or how to stay healthy at your desk.
  • Essential supplies for your mobile office.

Learning strategies to help you work more effectively on your own and as a virtual team member (Chapters 2 & 3)

  • How to ward off roommates, spouses, children, pets, phone calls, and other daily distractions.
  • Crucial time-management tips to start and end your day.
  • How to establish a rapport with virtual team members.
  • Best practices for effective communication.
  • Dealing with coworkers who don’t appreciate virtual work.
  • How to cope with isolation.

Using technology to help you stay productive and connected (Chapter 4)

  • The best apps for real-time communication and collaboration.
  • Software to keep distractions at bay.
  • The most important products for securing your digital life.

Chapter 4 is titled “Top Tech Tools to help you work smarter, not harder,” and includes more than 30 software programs, apps, and special services that Pinola recommends. They include everything from 1Password, a tool that stores passwords in an encrypted database, to Zapier, an application that automates repetitive tasks. You can see the full list here or check out some of the tools that are described in more detail on the blog, including MindMeister (sponsored post).

One of the most interesting sections of The Successful Virtual Office In 30 Minutes covers the social aspects of working remotely. It can be lonely and isolating. There are lots of online tools that can help with this. Pinola cites Slack, Webex, and LinkedIn Groups. Some remote workers and entrepreneurs turn to coworking spaces (the guide mentions Regus, WeWork, Desksnear.me, and a cool Wi-fi location app called Cubefree). But the author goes deep in her coverage of the social dynamic, with recommendations relating to family members, resentful colleagues, and managers of virtual teams.

The Successful Virtual Office In 30 Minutes is available today in a variety of formats. Buy the Kindle and paperback edition on Amazon, the iBooks edition for the iPad and iPhone, the Google Play edition for Android devices, and the Nook book. There is also a PDF edition.

For more information, be sure to visit the official website for the virtual office guide, or email info@in30minutes.com.

A new user guide for the new Google Drive and Google Docs

By News

Google Docs for dummies

This week, our top-selling guide received a facelift and a major content update. Google Drive & Docs In 30 Minutes (2nd Edition) is now available for the Kindle, iPad, Nook, and Android devices, along with PDF and paperback versions (ISBN: 9781939924315). We hired a professional book designer to handle the layout for the new edition, but even more importantly, I made some critical updates to the contents of the book, which had become out of sync with new features and improvements to Google’s software interfaces. The post below describes the history of my Google Drive book, and the project to create a second edition.

The first edition of Google Drive & Docs In 30 Minutes was released in 2012 and sold thousands of copies. Readers loved the quick learning concept, and the fact that it covered not just Google Drive and Google Docs, but the other programs in the suite — Google Sheets (the spreadsheet program, akin to Microsoft Excel), Google Slides (a presentation tool like PowerPoint), Google Forms, and Google Drawings, as well as collaboration and other features. I have been a heavy user of Docs and Sheets for more than five years, and was happy to share my expertise with readers.

Google Drive New Button  Last summer I noticed that some of the features of Drive and Docs had changed. For instance, the Create button in Drive was replaced with a New button, the search interface within Drive changed, and the home icons in Docs, Sheets, and Slides started taking me to new index pages for each of the programs (before they had taken users back to the Drive home screen). Some of my readers also began to notice the shift. Google announced it was transitioning to a New Drive and Docs experience, and clearly the guide needed to be updated.

I immediately started rewriting the book, going through every single example and exercise to see what had changed. For the browser/Chromebook versions, the biggest changes were in Drive as well as the new Docs, Sheets, and Slides home screens. However, when I gave the mobile apps a workout, I saw that the changes had been even more pronounced. It is now possible to download and operate the apps independently. This means if users only use one app (say, the Google Docs app for iOS) that’s all they need to download. Before, the Drive app was required, even if you only used the Docs functionality.

Rewriting lasted through the fall, and then the editing and design process began. It was a tough slog, maybe tougher than any title I’ve ever done, but the result looks great. The interior features much sharper, high-resolution images (up to 300ppi) and a much improved layout. There is a new cover, as well as a slew of how-to videos I released through YouTube and will shortly be adding to the official Google Drive & Docs In 30 Minutes website. The Google Drive guide is now available through Amazon, iBooks, B&N/Nook, Google Play, and Gumroad, and will soon be available via Ingram’s extensive book catalog. I am also distributing it through some speciality marketplaces, including O’Reilly.

Finally, I have set up some special offers for educators who are interested in providing Google Docs for students, teachers, and staff. Since the first edition of the book was launched in 2012, I have sold hundreds of books and ebooks to individual teachers, schools, and school districts. Last year, I created an educational license for Google Drive & Docs In 30 Minutes which provides an unlimited number of digital copies of the guide to staff, faculty, and students for each participating school (in PDF, .epub, and .mobi formats). The license has enjoyed sales as far afield as Singapore. I also have created an educational license subscription as well as bulk orders of paperbacks with a heavy educational discount.

If you’re interested in learning more, I’ve created an About page for Google Drive and Docs in 30 Minutes (2nd Edition). It includes a summary, as well as an excerpt from the introduction.

Is it possible to learn Excel in just 30 minutes? What readers say about our newest guide

By Blog, Featured, News

Today I am pleased to announce the second edition of Excel Basics In 30 Minutes. Yes, it’s possible to quickly pick up the basics, and to that end the new guide concentrates on the features and skills which I believe will most benefit new users. It is not intended to be a comprehensive guide, and I am not making any guarantees that readers will be able to take over their companies’ accounting departments, but 30 minutes after starting, readers will hopefully have learned some core spreadsheet skills … and even a trick or two!

Don’t believe me? Then listen to what real readers have to say. There is already one review of the second edition from a Goodreads member. She said:

Nice guide to learning how to use Excel for most basic functions. As someone who only uses Excel occasionally, I found the tutorials to be easy to follow. Additionally the visual aids (images of what your screen should look like) were beneficial. It is an easy book to reference if you are having an issue with a particular Excel task.

This is a major update, not only because it covers the most recent versions of Excel (e.g., Excel 2013, Excel for Office 365, Excel Online, and Excel for Mac) but also because In 30 Minutes guides has commissioned a new interior design template. I think you’ll agree Rick Soldin has done a fantastic job. Starting with this guide, all In 30 Minutes books and ebooks will feature sharper images and a high-quality layout that’s easier to read, for the print version as well as the ebook:

Excel Basics in 30 Minutes iPad sample

In addition, for those users who don’t want to invest in an Office 365 subscription or a $100+ Office 2013 software package to learn how to use Excel, Excel Basics In 30 Minutes (2nd Edition) includes instructions for Google Sheets, Google’s free online spreadsheet program. Readers of the first edition who only wanted to dip their fingers into spreadsheets appreciated these extra sections, which make it possible to learn the basics of Excel without having to own a copy of Excel.

What else did readers like about the first edition? Here are some review excerpts gathered from Amazon and Goodreads:

Thomas:

It’s like a “Cliffnotes” book for Excel 101. It actually did take me 30 minutes to get through this – I may have had an edge because I use Excel at work so a complete newbie may need more time. But still, after 30 minutes you’ll know a good amount. To be efficient like that is a big plus to the author.

Robin:

I have been out of the office environment for several years and now starting to use Excel again. This has been a great refresher course.

Another Thomas:

An excellent little guide. For those that already know their way around Excel, it’ll be a good refresher course. For those that don’t, it’s a clear, easy-to-follow handbook of time-saving and stress-avoiding skills in Excel. Definitely plan on passing it around the office. Best of all, it covers both Excel and Google Drive’s spreadsheet system. Given how many workplaces, groups, and individuals are migrating to Google’s cloud-based system, it was a welcome addition.

Chad:

One thing I particularly liked about “Excel Basics in 30 minutes” is that it covers BOTH the MS Excel basics and the Google version basics. Explaining anything this intricate in 30 minutes is a challenge. (Can it be read in 30 minutes? Yes, I could do it, but I am not a typical user, I did not need to stop and practice the examples.) I was impressed that the book does go into some of the “meat” of Excel while still being a book that someone with NO previous exposure to a spreadsheet can grasp.

The chapters cover the following topics:

  • The basics: cells, functions, and formulas
  • Excel Ninja Skill #1: AutoFill
  • More basic Excel skills: percentages, pasting, and rows
  • Excel Ninja Skill #2: Charts
  • Sorting and filtering
  • Printing, PDFs, and import/export features

Excel Basics In 30 Minutes, 2nd EditionThe ebook version of Excel Basics In 30 Minutes (2nd edition) is available for the Kindle, iPad, Android devices, and the Nook. The black-and-white paperback edition can be ordered via Amazon or requested at libraries and bookstores — the ISBN is 978–1–939924–30–8. There is also a full-color PDF, which can be printed out or read on a screen.

Announcing Twitter In 30 Minutes, 2nd edition

By Blog, Featured, News

Twitter guideI’m pleased to announce the 2nd edition of our popular Twitter user guide, Twitter In 30 Minutes: How to connect with interesting people, write great tweets, and find information that’s relevant to you. Released this week, it’s available in several different formats, including ebook (Kindle, iOS/iPad, and Google Play), paperback, and PDF versions. As part of the launch promotion, I am giving away 10 free electronic editions (more on that below) and I will also talk a little bit about the guide itself, including what’s new and why I wrote a second edition of the guide, considering the first edition was released less than a year ago! Read More

Announcing jQuery Plugin Development In 30 Minutes

By Blog, News

We’ve just launched a new title in the In 30 Minutes family of quick-start guides. It’s a book about jQuery plugin development, the first In 30 Minutes title on a programming topic.

What is a jQuery plugin? It’s a piece of reusable computer code used to build web pages. Plugins are based on jQuery, a widely used library of JavaScript code that is used on more than 50% of websites. To illustrate, here’s an example of a simple “Paint” utility, written by the author:

jQuery plugin example

Experienced developers know that well-written jQuery plugins can reduce bugs, increase efficiency, improve collaboration, and save time. While jQuery Plugin Development in 30 Minutes is intended for people who already have some experience with JavaScript and jQuery, most of the concepts in the guide will not require any advanced knowledge.

The author of jQuery Plugin Development In 30 Minutes is Robert Duchnik, an experienced full-stack web developer. While this is Rob’s first book, he has been writing about jQuery plugins and giving advice on Websanova for some time. The jQuery plugin example posted above is actually published on Websanova, where anyone can play with it and look at the underlying code.

When I first saw Rob’s manuscript earlier this year, I knew that he was going to be a good fit. In the introduction to the guide, he wrote:

I wanted this guide to be as short and concise as possible, and provide only the information needed to start building plugins. Why give long-winded write-ups about every concept? My intention is to avoid the fluff and filler that make up 80% of most programming books, and just get straight to the point.

Getting straight to the point is exactly what In 30 Minutes guides are all about. Rob gets it. Using clear language and lots of code snippets, he shows how to build plugins in a straightforward, lets-get-things-done manner. Topics include:

  • Creating a plugin
  • Prototyping
  • Generate, Init, and Destroy
  • Handling events
  • Plugin options
  • Setters and Getters
  • Styling, CSS, and themes
  • Callbacks
  • Browser and mobile support
  • File organization and versioning
  • Boilerplate

jQuery plugin development bookThere are more than a dozen sections in all. Rob has included lots of code snippets in the book, which can also be referenced online.

jQuery Plugin Development In 30 Minutes is available right now in various formats, including Kindle, paperback, PDF, and Google Play.