Organization Inspiration
Posted: August 9, 2011 Filed under: Organization, Project Management Leave a comment »De-clutter your day to ease your mind.
I usually start my day with 462 things on my mind. As the day continues, that number increases and by the end of the day, I’m not only exhausted but I have a lot on my mind! As my days start to get more and more busy and my head starts to spin a little bit faster, I’ve decided to try out new ways of staying organized. I thought I would share some of those with you. Maybe something will work for you and make your day just a little bit easier.
• Sick of little notes everywhere? Try Evernote. You can add notes, clips from websites, take photos and store files. The best part, it’s online! It’s available wherever you are. You can access it from your phone or computer. Try it out, I think you will find it quite handy.
• Getting lost of stacks of paper? Try a Fujitsu ScanSnap scanner. You can scan up to 10 pages at a time. It takes paper that is 8.5″ wide or smaller by any height. It scans both sides and makes it a snap to clean up the pile of paper on your desk.
• E-mail in-box getting full? Try Skype to send quick questions and comments to people rather than sending an email. It’s free to set up an account and you can start instant messaging with your friends, family and co-workers right away. You can also call people for free, even long distance and have video chats. I’ve found it most helpful for quick conversations with co-workers but try it out, maybe you will find something else you really like about it.
• Forgot what’s going on after work tonight? Add a personal calendar to your work calendar and keep it updated. That way, you know whats going on all day, everyday and it’s easy to make plans wherever you are. I use iCal but there are tons of free calendars out there. Try Google Calendar, I’ve heard great things.
• Sick of the mess? Keep your work space clean. Recycle paperwork as soon as you can. If it’s something that needs to be saved, file it. Clean out files on a regular basis. Scan and save items on your computer when possible. Only keep necessary supplies at your desk. If you never use a stapler, put it somewhere else so it’s out of your way. If you always use the same couple of pens, get rid of the others.
• Files from 2002 on your desktop? Keep the desktop on your computer clear of files if possible. Trash old files. Keep things neat and tidy in folders with a hierarchy that makes sense to you. Make sure you name folders so that it will make it easy to find things in the future. Label files with dates so you know which is the most recent version.
• Need some new ways to sort or store things? Check out the Container Store.
These are just a few of the items I use or things I do each day to keep it moving as smoothly as possible. I hope you find something that works well for you too. Any organization tips you would like to share?
- Laura Swing, Envision’s project manager
Transparent Leader, Authentic Brand
Posted: August 3, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment »I’ve always been a real sucker for an authentic leader – one who’s honest, ALWAYS transparent, works quickly to mend things…and then move on. This morning I got an email from Airbnb’s CEO. I thought it was just another form letter. Not so. I hope you enjoy the transparency and ability to mend and move on that I observed in his letter. Read on…
(One last note: Laura will be sharing about her experiences working as Envision’s project manager. Speaking of transparency…Stay tuned!)
Hi Liz,
Last month, the home of a San Francisco host named EJ was tragically vandalized by a guest. The damage was so bad that her life was turned upside down. When we learned of this our hearts sank. We felt paralyzed, and over the last four weeks, we have really screwed things up. Earlier this week, I wrote a blog post trying to explain the situation, but it didn’t reflect my true feelings. So here we go.
There have been a lot of questions swirling around, and I would like to apologize and set the record straight in my own words. In the last few days we have had a crash course in crisis management. I hope this can be a valuable lesson to other businesses about what not to do in a time of crisis, and why you should always uphold your values and trust your instincts.
With regards to EJ, we let her down, and for that we are very sorry. We should have responded faster, communicated more sensitively, and taken more decisive action to make sure she felt safe and secure. But we weren’t prepared for the crisis and we dropped the ball. Now we’re dealing with the consequences. In working with the San Francisco Police Department, we are happy to say a suspect is now in custody. Even so, we realize that we have disappointed the community. To EJ, and all the other hosts who have had bad experiences, we know you deserve better from us.
We want to make it right. On August 15th, we will be implementing a $50,000 Airbnb Guarantee, protecting the property of hosts from damage by Airbnb guests who book reservations through our website. We will extend this program to EJ and any other hosts who may have reported such property damage while renting on Airbnb in the past.
We’ve built this company by listening to our community. Guided by your feedback, we have iterated to become safer and more secure. Our job’s not done yet; we’re still evolving. In the wake of these recent events, we’ve heard an uproar from people, both inside and outside our community. Know that we were closely listening.
Today we are launching a new safety section of the website (www.airbnb.com/safety) with the following offerings:
Airbnb Guarantee
Starting August 15th, when hosts book reservations through Airbnb their personal property will be covered for loss or damage due to vandalism or theft caused by an Airbnb guest up to $50,000 with our Airbnb Guarantee. Terms will apply to the program and may vary (e.g. by country). This program will also apply retroactively to any hosts who may have reported such property damage prior to August 1, 2011.
24-Hour Customer Hotline
Beginning next week, we will have operators and customer support staff ready to provide around the clock phone and email support for anything big or small.
2x Customer Support Team
Since last month we have more than doubled our Customer Support team from forty-two to eighty-eight people, and will be bringing on a 10-year veteran from eBay as our Director of Customer Support next week.
Dedicated Trust & Safety Department
Airbnb now has an in-house task force devoted to the manual review of suspicious activity. This team will also build new security features based on community feedback.
Contact the CEO
If you can’t get a hold of anyone or if you just want to contact me, email brian.chesky@airbnb.com.
We’ve also added several other safety-related features to strengthen the trust and confidence of our community:
Safety Tips
Suggestions for both guests and hosts on how to utilize our tools to better inform your decisions.
Verified Profiles
Our updated user profiles chronicle their public history on Airbnb, giving you more insight than ever about a potential host or guest. Along with standard social information, you’ll also see if a user has verified their phone number, connected to their Facebook account, and whether the majority of their reviews are positive or negative. And as always, you can read their reviews and references.
Customized trust settings
We now give hosts the ability to set custom trust parameters for bookings; those who don’t meet the specified requirements will be unable to make a reservation. Selections for Trust Settings include: verified phone numbers, profile descriptions, location information, with more coming soon.
Product suggestions poll
Have more ideas on improving safety? Now, you can submit and vote on the best ideas through our new product suggestions poll.
Many more product updates will be released in the coming days. In addition to these new features, there are safeguards already in place to protect the community. These include over 60 million Social Connections, private messaging to screen before booking, a secure reservation and payment system and transaction-based reviews. We also provide verified photographs, fraud detection algorithms, and flagging capabilities.
These steps are just the beginning. Improving the safety and security of our system is ongoing. Although we do have these measures in place, no system is without some risk, so we remind you to be vigilant and discerning. As a member of the community, you have invaluable experience that we hope to draw upon to improve our system. If you have any constructive ideas or feedback, please share them with us at www.airbnb.com/safety.
What’s made us proud during this trying time is the response of our community. Emails of support to EJ poured in; many hosts offered her a place to stay in their homes. It’s been inspiring to see that Airbnb can really bring out the best in people. Like Airbnb, the world works on the idea that people are good, and we’re in this together.
When we first started Airbnb, I told my mom about our plans for the business and she said, “Are you crazy? I’d never do that.” But when I told my late grandfather he said, “Of course! Everyone used to stay in each others’ homes.” We’re bringing back this age-old idea with new technology. Now each day, you and the rest of the community are creating meaningful connections around the world.
Thank you for being part of Airbnb.
Sincerely,
Brian Chesky
CEO, Co-founder
Airbnb
brian.chesky@airbnb.com
Top 7 Truths of Synchronizing Social Media To Your Brand DNA
Posted: March 24, 2011 Filed under: Top 7 Social Media Truths Leave a comment »TRUTH 01: SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT TECHNICALLY FREE
This is an issue that all our clients must reconcile before beginning any type of social media strategy to advance their brand and business. Yes, starting a Twitter or Facebook account costs you nothing financially. But there is a substantial investment required when it comes to your other resources. Social media requires content, content, content. And while a lot of great content can be produced for little or no budget, there are other costs such as time, energy and other opportunities you may have to pass up to commit to social media.
The other cost many don’t consider is maintenance. Social media is called social media for a reason—you actually have to be social. This means like any good relationship, real people have to put in the effort to maintain it. We have helped dozens of entrepreneurs and corporations get their social media strategy going only to have them come back and say, “It’s not working.” And 99% of the time it’s because there isn’t a maintenance strategy in place.
Where social media is free, is in its scalability. Whether you are generating 100 impressions or 1,000,000; it costs you the same for both. So your return on investment using social media can be pretty astronomical, which is really what using tools like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube is all about.
So remember to count the cost—especially time and opportunity—when considering a social media strategy. Social media works best when all your ideas, resources and people are synchronized to advance your brand. Count the cost. You’ll thank us for it.
