Let's be fruitful together!
"The only way to do great work is to love what you do." - Steve Jobs
5 Tips For A More Organize..
Most of us dread going to meetings—especially those long-winded or recurring weekly ones. You know, the ones that make you feel like you're wasting time. Guess what? Five out of ten meetings you attend are either unnecessary or poorly managed. •  • But meetings aren't a waste of time. They give us the power to build trust, collaborate on new ideas, and focus on long-term growth. As a team leader, you don't want your team to be forced to attend meetings and spend endless hours discussing stuff they don't care about. • Thankfully, there are blueprints and strategies to make your meetings more organized and effective. Planning won't be the only way to make sure everyone is on board. Here are other ways to reduce office politics and drama through a straightforward and fun process of organizing a meeting and making it effective. • • ### Emphasize your idea by telling a story Most people struggle so much with staying focused in meetings, and even when they are focused, they have trouble absorbing information. So what is the best way to start a discussion? A story! • The secret is that stories are typically the most effective method to attract an audience, hold their attention, stoke their imagination, and persuade them to take action. That is why, wherever possible, you should add relevant, memorable anecdotes in your online meetings. • That isn't just a personal view; it is science. According to studies published in [Harvard Business Review](https://hbr.org/2003/06/storytelling-that-moves-people), stories considerably impact employee productivity and creativity. • According to an Inc.com article on the effects of stories, they have an intellectual and emotional impact on us, and this emotional resonance drives us to act. Additionally, stories force us to focus on the next event, allowing our imagination and creativity to flourish. • ### Be focused and clear Focusing isn't only about pushing distractions away; it's also about having a vision. In reality, it involves a lot of work and learning to simplify, clarify, and eliminate useless tasks. It's an exciting idea so make sure to make that happen. • Learn exactly how to develop a laser-sharp focus to complete your key projects and achieve your major goals. It would help you if you stay focused in meetings because it affects your decision-making, productivity, and creative thinking. • To do that, force yourself to pay attention by asking questions, which guarantees that you understand what is being addressed. Furthermore, it communicates to other meeting participants that you are actively engaged. • ### Encourage attendees to prepare in advance Meetings with no agenda are more likely to lack direction and be less productive than meetings with a predetermined list of discussion topics. Meetings without a clear agenda may get off track, yielding little tangible or beneficial outcomes. • Make it clear to your team that you expect them to be familiar with the documents to discuss them during the meeting. Adding any questions or requests for adjustments to the meeting agenda is another excellent approach for your participants to prepare for a meeting ahead of time. • Send any papers to your meeting attendees a few days ahead of time so they can prepare for a productive discussion. You can do this by attaching the files to your meeting agenda or your workspace in Fruitask - a simple yet effective task management tool. •  • Participants will have more time to consider and prepare pertinent questions or observations to add to the discussion when they know the meeting's aim ahead of time. They are also more likely to attend the meeting if they are informed about the agenda. • ### Start on time We frequently miss out on significant life events just because we are late. You can determine success or failure in a matter of minutes. We don't want to be late, but most of us are prone to it - and it costs us a lot of money. • Everyone should spend time early in their career learning how to manage their time, complete tasks on schedule, and treat their clients respectfully. It's impolite to be late. The most influential person or event manager you can enjoy working with usually arrives early and delivers on time. • Being late tells others that you don't value their time, which can lead to a slew of problems later in your career. In addition, when you are consistently late on a project, your peers perceive you as unprofessional. • Your entire team may wish to avoid working with you due to your lack of effort and attention to your tasks. This could cause problems for everyone involved, and you could be disciplined or fired due to your performance. • Punctuality shows professionalism and establishes you as a trustworthy and dependable team member or leader. Being late can negatively influence your meeting or event and your reputation and future job. Poor time management is a major liability, and if you want to thrive in this field, you must prioritize timeliness and punctuality. • ### Do a recap Recap will serve as the basis for the following meeting. They enable others who were unable to attend to learn about the discussions and conclusions. In a conflict, knowing what agreements were made is useful. •  • As someone who attends and leads a significant number of meetings each week, you need to place a lot of hope in recaps. You can send meeting recaps as a summary by writing and distributing them on the same day. • With each passing hour, your power to remember and capture the content of each interaction deteriorates. To show urgency, you should send out the summary within an hour or by the end of the day. It should be refreshing and easy to follow. Always make sure to include the basics or the overview of the meeting. • When working on a project with a team, communication or meetings are crucial, especially when working with a virtual team. Another way to make sure that your meeting is organized is by using a project management tool. Of course, you might want to consider a simple yet effective one like [Fruitask](https://fruitask.com/). It's a light-structured management tool for your team and personal projects!
How To Run A Successful Pr..
Although many of us have heard the term "project management," does that mean we know how to execute a successful project? That's something we'd like to know too!  If you're going to ask the companies who lost as much as [$97 million in a $1 billion worth of investment](https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/thought-leadership/pulse/pulse-of-the-profession-2017.pdf), they'll tell you that it was because they didn't realize how important project management is. Productivity loss is any project manager's worst nightmare. Fortunately, running a successful project is no longer a mere dream because, believe it or not, there is an easy way to do it now. Read about what it takes to run a successful project in this article and see how we can make it convenient for you. ## What is Project Management? We all want to meet our clients' or boss's expectations at the end of the day. When they give you a project to manage, it usually comes with a time frame, a budget, and quality parameters. Project management refers to the step-by-step process of leading your team toward achieving these goals. It's a life cycle whose phases include initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and closing a project. This practice has proven techniques, but it can only be successful if everyone will apply their skills and knowledge in completing deliverables. Beyond managing and organizing a collection of tasks, it's a commitment that you share as a team. ## Benefits of Project Management Project management allows you to define objectives, set priorities, delegate tasks, track progress, and meet deadlines. With the right technique and the right people to work with, you'll enjoy the following benefits: ✅ **Smooth team collaboration**: Project management will help you plan how your team can work together to achieve the goals you defined at the beginning of the phase. ✅ **Improved productivity**: When you optimize workflows, your team will be able to complete their tasks at a given time without going beyond the cost limit. ✅ **Predictable success**: Project management is structured so you may use existing techniques to reduce the risk of failure. You may also create new templates which you can tailor to your client's goals and reuse them in the future as you see fit. ✅ **Satisfaction**: You can calculate your actions to meet your client's goals in terms of cost, time, and quality. Once you do, they'll be happy with your service and help you have a good reputation in the industry. ## Types of Project Management You can manage any project in many different ways. There is no straight answer as to which project management is best. Some could be better than others, depending on the type of project you have. Learn more about common types of project management below and see which one suits your project: ### Waterfall This type is for you if you can't move on to the next step without completing the current task. It's a linear method that best works with a chronological timeline and an organized task sequence. Progress looks like gradually crossing out the tasks on the list in order.  ### Agile This is the Fruitask team's favorite because it allows us to focus on the tasks given to us and refine them until we're sure that we have the best project management experience. Agile is customer-centered. It thrives on your feedback and constantly releases developments to meet the market trends. This type could be good for you if you're chasing deadlines with a tight budget in a continually changing work environment.  ### Lean Lean is like Agile but less volatile. Both approaches value the customer's experience the most. Lean, though, is more focused on efficiency. It creates a roadmap for the project in the initial stage and optimizes the workflow so you can generate the best value with minimal waste. This type will likely work for you if you're in the manufacturing industry.  ### Six Sigma Six Sigma focuses on reducing the errors of a process. It optimizes a workflow by removing steps that do not help achieve goals. In this method, you might find yourself consulting experts or looking for statistics to help you decide how to manage a project. If you're a large company that finds comfort in a data-driven approach, Six Sigma is for you. ## The Project Management Life Cycle Honestly, there's no shortcut to success. Project management helps you achieve your goals, but it comes with a price: your patience and dedication. Here are the following phases that you need to undergo: ### Initiation Phase Have a clear vision of your project. Know what your client wants but set realistic goals with them. There are two processes involved in this phase—project charter and stakeholder register. A stakeholder register is a project-related document that lets you know who is involved in the project and who influences or impacts it. It could be the business executives, your co-workers, investors, etc. On the other hand, the project charter contains the details of your project. It serves as a blueprint for the entire life cycle and may include the rationale, objective and constraints, possible risks, benefits, and a general budget overview. It's important to study your project before you start it to control the risk as much as possible. ### Planning Phase Build your team and create a project roadmap with them. During your meeting, let them know the goals you have to achieve within the time frame and the estimated budget. Then, start breaking the project into tasks and assign them to the best person for the role. Make sure that they understand the workflow and the description of their job. End this phase with a set of SMART goals in mind. ### Execution Phase After briefing your teammates, it's time to bring your plans to life. If your team is new, introduce them to one another and get them on board. Use [Fruitask](https://fruitask.com/) to make project management convenient. Our platform allows you to brief your members on their tasks and track their progress and performance (which you'll do in this phase). ### Monitoring Phase Communicate the deliverables with your client and ensure they approve of them. Monitoring is the most tedious phase because you have to check the quality of your member's output and solve any problems. You also have to make sure that your expenses stay within the budget and meet deadlines, or else you have to make necessary changes to keep your client happy. ### Closing Phase The project is already complete, but you still have tasks to do. After providing final deliverables and releasing project resources, you have to: (1) Determine whether your project met the defined goals, (2) Evaluate how your members contributed to the completion of your project, (3) Document project closure, and (4) Analyze your project one last time and learn from your lapses. ## How To Run a Successful Project?  Here are the five (5) steps to running a successful project: **Step 1: Know Your Project Scope** When you make a decision or perform a task, make sure that you are within the scope of your project. You have to remember the defined goals, the limit of cost and time, the nature of your role and responsibilities, and the criteria you have to meet. Fruitask lets you gather your members and keep them informed of the project scope. When you log in to the website, you'll see a board of workspaces where you can tab every detail of your project and set priorities. On top of that, you may save the workspace as a CSV file and give your members a copy of the sheet. **Step 2: Study Scope Changes** When you receive requests for scope changes, study their possible impact on the project and communicate it with your client so that your goals will still align with their expectations. Fruitask's "Viewer" is a built-in app that lets anyone view your project plan with the public URL you generated. Instead of jotting down their feedback, install the app "Form" to transform a workplace into a form where they can participate in your survey and submit their thoughts. **Step 3: Stay Focused** Managing a project can be overwhelming unless you break them down into subtasks that you can gradually complete. It's also better to set priorities to plan your steps accordingly. Fruitask has data types that support the practice of this step. By using "Droplist," you can track the tasks' status. We also have a "rating" that lets you measure their importance and a "calendar" to set deadlines for your goals. **Step 4: Wrap up Project** Every project comes with lessons to learn, so take time to go through their success and failures. Go back to your project road plan and determine whether you met the expectations of your clients. Discuss this matter with your team so you can perform better in the future. You probably compile a lot of data from this project but don't worry because you're safe with us. Here at Fruitask, we use end-to-end encryption to ensure that only you have access to them and that no parties can interfere and threaten you with data loss. It's safe to say that managing a project with us is better than doing it by piling folders and flimsy sticky notes. **Step 5: Grow with Fruitask!** Fruitask is more than just a digital workplace. It's an avenue you can grow as a project manager, especially if you're still new to this platform. We've designed our website to make project management easy and convenient for you. Do you know what's even better? When you click [here](https://fruitask.com/pricings/) and choose a plan, you may use the promo code: Avocado and enjoy a 50% discount. How cool is that?
The Easiest Way To Build Y..
Building a freelance writing portfolio is easy. Starting it is hard. Though writing has become a lucrative career that you may pursue even in the comfort of your home, finding a client that will trust you without the proof of your skills sounds like a dream waiting to come true. They need to see your writing samples, but how can you do that if you haven’t written in their niche before? Well, here’s an idea: be your own client. Be your ideal client and focus on the kind of content you would love to see on your website. Sounds promising, right? Here’s how [Fruitask will make it happen](https://blog.fruitask.com/free-site/?&page=14&article=fruitask-in-5-easy-steps:-how-to-get-started-) with you.  # What Is A Freelance Writer Portfolio? A portfolio reflects your brand as a freelance writer. It advertises you to potential clients by showcasing your best writing samples, past experiences, services, and achievements. It’s also a way to establish credibility and ultimately, convince them that you are the one they are looking for in a skim. Some hiring agents would only ask you to submit a few samples directly to them or to do a paid test article. Sure, you could do that, but providing them with an organized page or site where they can truly see what you have to offer will give you more chances of getting hired. # How Should My Portfolio Look Like? A writing portfolio can be presented as a website, a simple page, or a cloud drive. It’s simply a collection of your written works so it’s really just a matter of preference. The process of creating one could be confusing though especially if you have not used a website builder before. I know that because I struggled too when I started. The platforms I tried before either overwhelmed me with their buttons or limited me with their paid features. Luckily, I was introduced to Fruitask and its Web Page app where I can choose among three templates and transform my workplace into a simple database that can be published. The best part is that I can add as many articles as I want for free! ## How To Use Fruitask Web Page App? The Web Page app was created for small blogs, landing pages, and writing portfolios. To use it, simply choose “app”, click on “get started”, and import a theme. You can start with these themes: 🍊 **Simple Page 1** - this theme is pretty straightforward. It’s a single web page that has a header for the page title and a section for articles. You may also add images to make it look more visual. Simple Page 1 is great for those who only have one niche. It allows you to have a quick browse of the samples with no interruption. 🍋 **Article Page** - this theme is a more organized version of the previous one. It has a table of contents flushed on the left side of the page where you can find the titles of your writing samples. It lets you read the articles one page at a time. 🍉 **Banana Blog** - this theme is a simple yet fun website where you can start your journey as a blogger. You may customize the color palette to fit your style, and categorize your articles. Diversity is one of the strong characteristics of a portfolio. If you happen to be versatile with your topics, this would be perfect for you. Once you import a theme, just click “Back To Projects” and it will bring you back to your board. Click on the workplace and fill out the tables to update your portfolio. It’s that easy! Once you’re ready to share, you may click on “publish” and it will ask you to choose a domain name. Fruitask has a wildcard edition where you can create a URL with fruitask.com. If you want to customize it though, you’ll be charged $5 to $10 for the one-time payment. # What Should I Include In My Portfolio? You may organize your portfolio however you want as long as you highlight your written works. If you want to divide it into sections though, here are some ideas on what to include: ## About Me This is the part where you respond to the typical interview question, “Tell me about yourself”. You may do it creatively and start with a striking tagline, or you could do it like the usual—state your name, where you’re from, and what you have to offer. Pro tip: use strong, professional adjectives when describing yourself. ## Skills & Offered Services This section contains a list of what you could do for a potential client. Whether you could blog, write copies, or proofread, show what gap you could fill in their business. Though versatility is a tempting trait to have, it’s still important to master one skill. You have to position yourself as the expert on a task so as much as possible, only mention what you’re most confident with. ## Writing Samples This section is the apple of the eye; the peach in mango pie. Ideally, your portfolio should contain 10-20 recent outputs that are related to the niche of your client. If it seems like an overwhelming amount, don’t worry! Besides, you shouldn’t put everything you’ve written before. You can definitely start small because quality matters more. Pro tip: browse the articles from your ideal website and write in the voice of their brand to attract clients like them. ## Call-To-Action After you have proven your worth as a freelance writer, it’s time to invite them to work with you! Help them reach out to you easily by providing links to your active social media accounts and to your preferred e-mail address. Once they sign up for your service, you’ll be one step closer to success! # How Should I Build A Portfolio? Good question. For the most part, your portfolio is not about you. It’s made for the market you would like to work for because if you want to win them, you have to give them what they need. Here’s how you’re gonna do that: ## Step 1: Know Your Niche A niche is a particular topic or skill that you specialize in. The world is filled with topics to write about. There are also different ways to express your thoughts in writing. While, it is good to just explore all of them, sticking to one will help you grow and improve your expertise. Clients want to hire someone who knows a lot about the niche related to them so naturally, they’ll look for someone who sounds and looks like they really know what they're talking about. Between an applicant who only writes about skin care product reviews and a writer who jumps between fashion trends and holiday quilts, a beauty niche employer would hire the latter. If you haven’t chosen a niche yet, then get a pen and paper and do the following: 🍇 **List 3-5 interests you have**. Choose the one that makes you excited to talk about so you would love spending your time writing about them. 🍒 **Write what you know**. From your interests, cite an industry that you are curious about enough to get to learn more about them. If you can’t think of any, just think about your previous work and write about the industry that you’re really familiar with. 🥭 **Fill a gap in the market**. Have you ever searched about something and you can’t find a decent article that you can learn from? This could be an opportunity for you! Research the topics that you rarely read about on the internet and focus on them. Here’s a trick I’ve learned from Claire Bradshaw of Writer’s Edits – once you’ve gathered the information above, [map your niche](https://writersedit.com/freelance-writing/find-ideal-freelance-writing-niche-5-simple-steps/) by following the formula: *area of expertise + specific passion in that interest + preferred writing style + gaps in the market = your freelance writing niche. * As an English major, my niche could be *Linguistics + understanding the structure of sentences + blogging + easy-to-follow learning material on Syntax = simple blog posts about constructing sentences. * ## Step 2: Write On-Spec Projects On-spec projects not only help you improve your niche but also let you slowly build your portfolio. They’re not necessarily paid, but if a client is generous enough, you will receive compensation for the work you’ve done supposedly “for free”. If you have no one to write to yet, you may start with yourself. Create a profile of your dream customer —what’s their business, what problems they have, and how can you help them with your service. Browse the articles from your ideal website and write in the voice of their brand to attract clients like them. While it may not be rewarding for now, keep investing in your writing skills until someone comes along the way to work with you. ## Step 3: Repurpose Existing Examples Building a portfolio is easier now that you have existing samples. Rummage through your files and compile whatever you think will justify how good you are as a writer. If you have worked with someone before, take note of their feedback and only showcase the ones that you receive compliments the most. Don’t publish samples that are over a year old. As much as possible, keep them fresh and updated. because that will show how dedicated you are. ## Conclusion: Honestly, there’s no shortcut to success. Success in freelance writing never happens overnight. The easiest way to build a portfolio is to simply start writing even if it seems like no one sees your potential yet. Start writing and build your credibility over time. You can start with Fruitask where you can grow while you work. Our web page templates will help you communicate your worth as a writer to your ideal clients in the future.
Fruitask in 5 Easy Steps: How ..
Welcome to Fruitask - a colourful and fun way to manage your tasks and create a personalized workstation that fits your needs! This guide will cover everything you need to know about using Fruitask, f..
Press Release: Fruitask..
Press Release: Fruitask Has Hit 4,000 Users. Join The Fun! 🎉 • Palawan, Philippines - Fruitask, a Filipino startup and project management platform, has hit 4,000 users since its beta launch l..
