As I sit here and type this out, I look at the items on my desk. A 56 in 1 card reader, a mouse & keyboard plugged into my KVM; then I have a 4 port USB hub plugged into my desktop, in my hub are my Logitech web cam, my Mobile Scribe, and my Blackberry. Then there is my IOGEAR Micro Bluetooth dongle to pair up to my Bluetooth headphones with mic built in.

My main monitor is a HP 22inch that I am in love with. I have a second 17inch monitor to my right. Cables and wires snake around my desk in a fashion that would cause my mother to growl at my cluttered desk.

I have a set of some really cool Logitech speakers, but I can only turn up the volume to 2 while in my office. Not sure why I have them since I can never take advantage of the awesome capabilities of them and the fact the subwoofer is the size of a basketball. There is my Wireless N1 Router, and my Lexmark printer.

Are any of these items really making my life easier? Lets list them on a scale of 1-10 – 10 being making my life easy:

RANK 1:
- Logitech Speakers – nothing improves but at least I can hear my music or my games
- Logitech Webcam – does not make life easier – just enhances it a bit
- IOGEAR Micro Bluetooth – only needed for my BT headphones, I don’t sync my phone to my home pc

RANK 2:
- IOGEAR BT Headphones – no wires running to my pc for my headphones, very convenient
- Lexmark Printer – I guess I don’t have to use my crayons to get a document, but printers are as much of a necessity as a phone these days
- Blackberry – actually does not make my life easier, but causes me to work long after I have clocked out now. Needed, but not wanted ? (should be ranked a lot higher, but I refuse)

RANK 3:

- IOGEAR 56-in-1 Card Reader – pretty cool, but I only have 2 types of media I use anyway

RANK 6:
- IOGEAR 4 port USB Hub – I have ports in the front of my desk top, this just keeps me from bending over to unplug

RANK 7:
- HP 22-inch Monitor – I can see things now a bit better, and that does make it a bit easier
- Belkin N1 Router – I can connect to my network from anywhere in the house wirelessly. Makes it easy, and its really fast

RANK 8:
- 2nd Monitor – with second monitor, I can now work on a few more things at once. Actually that makes work allot easier.
- IOGEAR KVM – I don’t have to keep unplugging monitor cables, and I can use my mouse and keyboard on my laptop

RANK 10:
- IOGEAR Mobile Scribe – I will explain below

Not to say that any of these products are not easy to use, and in fact, I love all of the items listed above, but as a sales person and someone who travels a lot I need something that just makes my life a lot easier. I have a lot of gadgets, and I am a bit of a tech freak.

So one product that I actually use on almost a daily basis is my Mobile Scribe. This thing is great for anyone taking notes in meetings or sending personalized letters to customers, which seems to have a bigger impact on my sales numbers that taking notes in a meeting.

What makes this a product that makes my life easier is the fact that it stores 50 pages of notes, and while I have never been on a trip that has taken up more than 12 pages worth of notes, I can see the advantage.
When I get to my hotel room or get back to the office, I just connect the adapter to my computer and upload the notes.

Then I use the software that comes with it and just with a click of a button convert all of my notes to a word doc for easy recaps.

As we all know, to type out a recap after a meeting is tedious and can take some time. Also my handwriting is not the greatest; this cleans it up for me.

It is not 100% accurate all the time, but it is still close enough for me that all I have to do is spell check some of the words it does not get, or refer back to my hand written notes.

Normally it takes me 5 to 10 minutes to convert 1 page of hand written notes when typing them out myself, and that is being very liberal and leaving some things out.

It takes about 10 seconds to upload and another 5 – 10 seconds to convert to a word document. It literally has saved me hours worth of retyping notes from sales meetings and customer visits. Also I now have a digital copy of all my notes so I can save them in appropriate files to review later.

Not sure about you guys and gals but my little Office Max steno pad is not so great at reminding me where that particular meeting was or what page I have that phone number on.

I have now gotten in the habit of using this while I am working, and uploading my notes at the end of the day. Anything I have written down is now stored and I can recall it with simple push of a button.

If you have any products that make your life easier- please comment on this post, I would love to see what you are using, and what products make your life easier. I am sure there are more things out there that I am missing. And I could use some ideas to make my life a little easier.

Yours Truly,

Jonathan Hawkes