Evernote – the online notebook

Productivity Tools: Is Evernote still a contender for your VA business?

Evernote is often described as a digital notebook, but that sells it short. It is an online workspace that never runs out of capacity and allows you to collate information in multiple formats. Whether you are dealing with images, website URLs, handwritten scribbles, or audio files, Evernote gathers them in one place.

As a Virtual Assistant, your ability to stay organised is your currency. Evernote is available on PC, Mac, and most mobile devices, ensuring your notes are with you whether you are at your desk or on the move.

The real benefits for Virtual Assistants

The primary advantage of Evernote is data centralisation. It acts as a hybrid of a notebook and a scrapbook, with a powerful search function that can even recognise text within images and handwritten notes.

Think about your client meetings. You can record an audio file of the session and save it directly alongside your typed or handwritten minutes. No more searching through different folders or devices to find the context for a specific task.

Integration and efficiency

The Google integration is a significant time saver. If you enable the relevant results feature, Evernote notes will appear alongside your standard Google search results. This prevents you from duplicating research you have already done for another project.

Furthermore, the Web Clipper extension is far superior to standard browser bookmarks. It allows you to clip specific sections of a webpage and add your own annotations immediately, which is vital for market research or content planning.

Mastery of organisation: Tags and links

Evernote provides unlimited scope for notebooks and notes. Using tags is the most efficient way to categorise content that spans multiple projects or clients. It works exactly like tagging a post on your WordPress site, making your internal search incredibly fast.

One of the most underutilised features is note links. If you are working on a large project or drafting a manual for the VA Momentum Course, you can create a master note that contains links to every other relevant note in your database. This creates an instant table of contents for your project.

Sharing and security

Notes can be saved locally or synced to the cloud, meaning you are never without your data. You can also share specific notes with clients or collaborators, even if they do not use the platform themselves.

However, we need to talk about security. Like any cloud based software, you must be smart. Evernote files are not encrypted by default. Do not use it to store sensitive client passwords or bank details. Use common sense. Use a dedicated password manager for the high stakes data and use Evernote for the information and ideas that drive your business forward.

Is Evernote part of your toolkit? What is the one feature you cannot live without? Leave a comment below and let us get the conversation started.