Skirt: Ann Taylor Loft

T-shirt: Target

Necklace/Earrings/Belt: Forever 21

Shoes: Sam and Libby, via DSW

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These photos were taken after a long day at work and class. When I asked my husband to snap a few pictures of my outfit, he went into photographer mode, and ended up pulling out his fancy studio lights because the “natural” light from the overhead fixture made the photos look terrible. He also switched out his lenses and played with different flash diffusers. How did he end up getting a few decent photos? He used the right tools! There have been several personal and professional situations recently that have further re-enforced my belief that success is partially dependent on the right tools.

Be selective. We’re working on a huge CRM project at my company, and there’s a lot of features of the system that we just won’t use. There’s a lot of phrases and headers that we haven’t defined, so they haven’t been used in the past. Basically, we’ve got this huge tool that we’re not using effectively because it’s not the right tool for our job yet. Sometimes it seems like having all the tools that anyone, anywhere, could ever need is the perfect way to ensure that you have the right tools for your job. I think this is incorrect, and that often times a select number of the most heavily used tools will serve you better. Think about how much time you have to spend organizing and sifting through all the extra tools that you have, when all you really need is one specific tool. In our case, we don’t need to move inventory through the same sales cycle as service events. Thus, we are better served by eliminating the excess menus, phrases, screens, and keystrokes than we are by keeping tons of unused tools around “just in case”. Be selective in which tools you choose to keep handy!

Know the job, know your audience. I’m an avid scrapbooker (when I’m not in school, of course!), so I’ve accumulated a lot of tools and tricks to use with those tools that help me make my designs “better”. I found out just how much my designs are based on my use of tools when I’ve agreed to create scrapbooks for other people to put pictures in later. Basically, I have to remember that other people don’t have the same tools that I have, so my design can’t be dependent on use of the fancy tools. The same is true in business. You’ve got to know the job and design the solution in such way that special tools aren’t necessary for people to implement the solution. If you require that they use special tools, you may be complicating the job to the point that it can’t be accomplished. For our CRM project, I’m working with our sales team and management team to find out exactly what information they need, and what tactics they can use to retrieve this information. If I just went in and designed it from my own perspective, I would be giving them a tool they couldn’t use.

My husband knew which tools to use to make these photos better… do you know which tools you need to make your business better? Like the outfit? Like the outfit? See more details here!