Posts made by elin

Tomorrow, thousands of people will run 42 195 meters through the streets of Flic’s hometown, in the 39th edition of Stockholm Marathon. We have some hobby runners in the Flic team, and I, being a former professional football player, still like to test my limits miles after miles on a weekly basis. Though I will not compete in the Stockholm marathon, I see a lot of similarities between running a marathon and working in a startup.

Here are my best tips on how to make the most out of the ride;

1) Race at your pace. We make hardware, and that is damn hard. By nature, we don’t grow as fast as recurring revenue- or software companies and we don’t strive to do that either. We go at our own pace, and so should a marathon runner. You can be sure you’re set up for failure if you try to keep up with the elite runners.

(Note! we never said that you have to run slow, just make sure to keep a pace that allows you to last for the whole 42 K..)

2) Ask for support. Running can be a lonely sport, and at times, so is the life of an entrepreneur. Don’t make it tougher than it already is. Involve your friends and family, tell them about the journey that you are on and rely on their emotional support. We would not be where we are with Flic today if it weren’t for our amazing network of family, friends, and users. So on race day, don’t be afraid to ask everyone you know to come out to cheer for you. The feeling when you embark along a path lined with your close ones cheering you on is unbeatable.

3) It’s a mental game. You think you can’t take it any longer? Hang in there and start visualizing the finish line. Nothing works better for your motivation than a clear picture of the end-game. You’ll be surprised how much further you can go.

4) Stay focused. When working at a startup, you never really clock out. You need to get as much done as possible, in as little time as possible. Pick up your smartphone to check emails when you’re in your most productive hour and you can be sure that your flow will be disrupted. The same goes for runners - focus is key.

If you are one of those running with a smartphone, don’t fumble with your phone on the starting line, attach your phone to your arm before and use Flic to;

• Track your run with Runkeeper or Strava

• Toggle play and change tracks using Global Music control

• Send an SMS with the text “prepare the wave” to your support group when you are approaching the place where they are located

Last but not least, do not be afraid of failure, like stopping halfway. Instead, channel your energy into the hope of going all the way.

To all fellow start-ups and marathon runners out there - All the very best of luck to you from me and the rest of the Flic team!

/ Elin

At Shortcut Labs, we are on a mission to defeat complexity. Everything we do is aimed towards helping people achieve more with less effort. This is where our new integration with Microsoft Flow comes into the conversation. For those not familiar with Flow, it is the latest contribution to automated workflows. It is an awesome suite of powerful and automated flows that will empower Flic users with even more options and possibilities. It gives full access to the Microsoft Suite as well as 100+ other services to get notifications, synchronize files, collect data, and more. By joining Microsoft in the quest of helping people work smarter and faster, we give you a convenient alternative to activating tasks and processes - a simple push of a button is all that’s needed.

Here are some examples of what you can do with Flow and Flic to get the most out of your working day;

Block your calendar
Blocking your calendar is a super weapon for better focus. Are you in flow and don’t want anyone to interrupt? Press Flic to block a “Do not disturb” afternoon in your Office 365 calendar. Urgent meeting? Press Flic to block out your calendar for the next hour.

Press Flic to track working hours in Google Sheet or Excel
Don’t hassle with time tracking software on your smartphone. Mount a Flic button to your desk and track how much time you spend at work or on your different projects. You can track up to three projects with one button - one command per project. Afraid that you might be missing a billable hour? Don’t worry, you can get an email notification for every successful flow run.

I’m going for lunch, who is coming?
Although eating lunch alone while you unravel a report or scroll through a spreadsheet is a way to get more out of your working hours, leaving your cubicle for a lunch out with your co-workers is a great opportunity to recharge. But don’t waste time asking around who wants to join you for lunch, just press Flic to send a slack message to your colleagues. Customize the message according to your liking and send it as a direct message or to a specific channel.

We also see huge potential in how Flow and Flic can help brick and mortar stores track important events such as;

• How many visitors did you have today?
• How many of those were men, how many were women?
• How many cups of coffee did you serve?
• How many lunchboxes were left to waste?
• How many customers were happy with your service?

These are just some key insights that you can track by pressing Flic and link the data to Excel or Google Sheets. If using Excel, you can also automatically forward the data to Microsoft’s powerful dashboard tool PowerBi. This way you can present real-time data in beautiful graphs and diagrams.

Check out all our templates here and stay tuned, we will continue to update this site with new, powerful ways to help increase productivity.

Don't have a Flic yet? Buy it here!

Love, The Flic team