Is Teleworking Better for the World?

Talking to friends and family about their winter commutes makes me think about how tough it is for people who work in offices this time of year, many unnecessarily.

There are many jobs where you have to be physically present, but there are also many jobs where you could just as easily work from home given the right technical setup. I am wondering if more people had the opportunity to work from home, it might help the environment and the economy.

What are the advantages to teleworking?

Obviously many companies worry that if there employees are not watched 24/7 they will not do their job, but in fact many organizations in practice have found this is not the case providing obvious checks and balances are implemented. Working remotely doesn’t have to mean out of touch.

All this doesn’t take much in the way of expensive technology either, it’s the kind of stuff most families will either have or be getting in their house:

So there would be fewer gas-guzzlers crowding up the roads spewing out toxins, happier and more productive workers, and companies could save some money in a tough economy … Am I nuts or would more teleworking be better for the world?

Microsoft Excel in 10 Minutes

I put a call out for Microsoft Excel questions in a recent post and the most popular suggestion was for some kind of quick introduction or beginners guide. In addition Debra wanted to see how to add up columns of numbers.

Here is a quick PDF containing a fast and easy run through of the basics of Microsoft Excel:

Download it for free here:
Download excel-in-10mins PDF

Let me know if there is anything else Excel-related you would like me to cover or answer!

Scribus – Free Open Source Desk Top Publishing Software

You really can get some excellent software for free now! My friend Darren from Travel-Rants let me know about this free desktop publishing software that he has used to create his ebook PDF.

Scribus is a an open source project so expect everything that entails, and all the benefits too. Yes, it has rough edges, and usability is not necessarily a strong suit, but features are being added and they seem to be on top of bugs.

All major desktop operating systems are supported, linux, windows and in my case, Apple Mac. Which is very cool because I was in the past resorting to booting up the old windows machine just because it had Microsoft Publisher on it, but now I can do pretty much all publisher can do on my Macbook without spending any money. Powerful, Mac compatible and free.

Yes, completely free!

Feature-wise it is complete enough for most small business needs. It’s obviously not going to be the kind of thing that expert DTP gurus and newspaper publishers are going to need, but how many of us require industrial strength software on a day to day basis?

As well as all the most required elements, and in particular those necessary for laying out text, there are a whole bunch of templates freely available for everything from leaflets to presentations.

The only major issue I have had is getting Ghostscript onto my Mac, without it print preview does not work.

I only just got this and installed it so I would love for you to tell me about your experiences.

Got Microsoft Excel Questions?

Our Excel cheat sheet seems to have been a hit with readers so far. If you haven’t grabbed it yet, you can still download it for free.

So many people told me that they struggle and fight with Excel I thought I would offer you the opportunity to decide what should go in the next one! I will do my hardest to get answers for all the best or most popular questions.

Just add your suggestion, question, idea or problem in the comments.

Also if you particularly like a suggestion anyone else makes, just point it out in the comments too!

We have Excel experts on hand to supply me with the answers, so get asking your Excel questions in the comments :)