Author: Constantin Bosse

How to and why to learn to work smarter with EXCEL

| Constantin Bosse

How and why Excel

The other day I was asked about my EXCEL skills. I have been using this program since my time in college and I have come to appreciate the benefit of investing some more time in it.

I think that everybody should know a little more about its use and benefits and get some tips to start learning. However the best is to start with an example of its potential.

From 10 to 3 minutes

If you could reduce the time you spend doing a task from 10 minutes to 3, would you? I definitely would, and often have had to, to stay sane.

You probably may think that this is not much of a deal, to save 7 minutes. However what if you had to do this 100 times in a row? You would save 700 minutes, almost 12 hours.

Continue reading →

Looking for solutions or ideas? A step by step approach

| Constantin Bosse

Ideas search

 

The other day I was talking to a friend who is currently trying to solve a major technical problem of a product. From what he mentioned this problem had already been challenging others for some years. He did not know where to start due to the complexity of the task. I am no engineer but at my work I have had to solve complex problems too, so I mentioned my approach to him.

Until today I had never thought about the process I followed since it always appeared to me as an exercise of common sense and keeping an open mind.

An Open Mind

Whatever you try to solve, start out with an open mind. I mean by this to start out with the following assumptions:

  • Everything can be improved but first it must be understood
  • You are not the first one who has had this problem
  • There may already be a different approach that can work
  • You do not know everything
  • Sometimes a good solution is better than a perfect solution
  • There is no such thing as a dumb question

By keeping an open mind and not taking things for granted you are capable of three things: Continue reading →

THE WEB: A tool or a place?

| Constantin Bosse

Is it a dumb question?

It may sound like a dumb question but it can be both and even more things.

The WEB is more and more part of our lives so that it deserves a place by itself among the things that everyone should know how to use. I do not consider myself an expert here but rather a skilled user. Can we live without it today and still remain part of our modern society? Nope.

It is a place… one click away

There are more than 3 billion people online today and the number is rising daily. Social networks, e-commerce, learning, etc. People go online to meet others, to interact, to learn, to play etc. More importantly it is the new face for many company’s that want to reach out to their customers 24 by 7, 365 days a year. It is many people’s face if they are involved socially in networks or your store’s front when selling goods online, etc.

For example, if you want to get information on the last tax changes, you go to your local IRS online office site. You want to order some food, you can go to your favorite place online place, the order and have it delivered. You want to visit a location before traveling their, you can. You go to Google Earth and see how it looks like. In a way you are always just one click away.

It is a tool

If you want to sell or be known you need to be online in some form or an another. The fact that so many people spend more and more time in front of those screens means that they are spending less going to actual places. Take me for example, I often am online for:

  • Information for my work
  • Things to buy online
  • Plan a trip
  • Communicate with my friends and family
  • Check email
  • Learn and study
  • Read news articles
  • Watch movies

It serves all these purposes just to name a few. If you are a business it is a mandatory to be present online to sell your brand, attract followers, new customers, etc.

Why learn more than just to use it?

More and more careers are connected or directly involved in the WEB. Programming, marketing, sales, etc. are becoming increasingly web dependent. You possibly use a computer for work, or at least to do some shopping online from time to time, in addition to your email you also may access the bank from there.

You can benefit from the Web whether you are an individual or a company, for example:

  • Getting new leads or job-offers
  • Connecting with other people
  • Promoting your own brand
  • Saving money, time, and effort on all your activities online

Is it expensive or difficult?

Nope, not at all. As for money, you can start out free and move to paid options with time. I know companies who decided to be present just in social networks and not have a website with their own blog. These companies set up their business online entirely for free, and just invested the time to learn how to use it and run it.

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin have all free start packages. You can have your own blog for free or just register for low cost hosting services at wordpress.com. I for instance use 1and1 and it costs me about 1 Euro a month, which comes with an additional registered domain name.

As for difficulty, The social networks are fairly intuitive and setting up a blog of your own in some companies can be as easy as dragging and dropping elements  to create your blog.

So why don’t you try and see for yourself?

 

Why another language?

| Constantin Bosse

Why should you?

Many people think that knowing English is sufficient. I disagree and some reasons to learn a new language are:

  • Capacity to understand and communicate with people from different backgrounds.
  • Potential plus when being considered for promotions in a company.
  • To use for work.
  • To travel to or live in a foreign country.
  • To use in negotiations.

If you work in the international scene every language becomes a major plus. I have worked in business and used German, English, Spanish and French over extended periods of time interchangeably, and can only recommend it.

Continue reading →

Choosing what to learn and where?

| Constantin Bosse

What to learn ?

Whenever I approach a project I ask myself what do I want to achieve, and what do I need to know in order to achieve it.

If for example you want to learn something for fun you can just go ahead and do it without much thought. If you want to set up a business you possibly need to learn things that you had not considered before.

When choosing what to learn you have to be realist though and keep some things in mind: Continue reading →

This Website

| Constantin Bosse

With my articles I want you to save time, learn something new or read something interesting.

To give you an overview I will start creating content about:

  • Entrepreneurship
  • Management and business in general
  • Creativity
  • Learning
  • Helpful tools
  • Canary Islands
  • Social Media
  • Webdesign
  • Programming
  • Current ideas
  • etc.

Some of these are new for myself too, so that I will share what I learn. In other areas I know more from my experience, work or because I am passionate about them.

Well then, welcome and enjoy.

Constantin