Just over a year ago, when I decided to start my own company, I knew that I would need some good tools to keep me organized and professional.

The nature of my work takes me on the road a lot, so over time I have developed a pretty good toolkit of iPhone apps, gadgets, software etc. to keep me on track and productive. I thought that I would share some of my favourite apps with you, in case you find them handy as well!

COMMUNICATIONS
Facebook & Instagram: I like to stay connected to my family even when I'm far away from home, so I love taking pictures of my travels and sharing them via social media.

Twitter: I really love how Twitter can be such a handy networking tool at conferences, where you can follow the conference hashtag and see what other people are saying. At last year's FCM conference in Vancouver, there was a pretty rousing conversation about community engagement that happened via Twitter.

Weebly: Obviously, this is a handy one to keep this website updated. I appreciate that the app lets me write blog posts and check on my site stats.

TRAVEL
Kayak: A lot of my trips require multiple flights, car rentals, and various hotels. I LOVE the Kayak app on my phone, which helps me figure out where I'm going and how I'm getting there! I just email my booking confirmation emails to trips@kayak.com (which is set up to recognize my email address) and then it organizes everything neatly for me, in chronological order! 

Yelp!: I hate ending up in a new city and not knowing where to find a great meal, or drugstore. I totally rely on Yelp! (particularly the "search nearby" function) to point me in the direction of local amenities (it even shows me what places are open, and their location on a map) and restaurants are rated by other Yelp! users.

BOOKKEEPING & INVOICING
FreshBooks: Keeping track of hours for various clients, expenses on the road, invoices that I've submitted, etc. can get pretty complicated. I've seen some super impressive spreadsheets, but for me, a program called Freshbooks has been a lifesaver. It's got a great web interface and iPhone app (which lets me take photos of receipts to accompany expense claims!) and is overall very user friendly. It even exports all of your information to an excel file, which is a time saver now that it's tax time! There's a free version, if you only have a couple of clients, but I've upgraded to the paid version and it's worth every penny.

CIBC: I'm excited that this app now lets me deposit cheques with my camera phone! A lot of banks are now offering this feature. Online banking on my phone means I never miss payments, even if I'm stuck in an airport in Winnipeg.

TurboScan: There are a lot of different document scanning apps out there, but this is a simple-to-use and reliable one that I use to scan receipts for travel claims. 

MISCELLANEOUS
Onavo Extend: This is a handy (and free!) little app that compresses incoming and outgoing data so that I don't go over my limit, no matter how many hours I spend on Pinterest.

CardMunch: This app scans business cards, and then takes it one step further by finding that person in LinkedIn and showing their profile. Super handy for conferences and other networking events.

Google Drive: Handy for sharing files with clients - I like to set up a folder for each community that I'm working with , and google drive is nice because files are editable online. I also like to keep copies of files I want access to even when I don't have cell service, like current knitting patterns for plane rides.

So, do you have any favourite apps that help you stay organized?

-JH

Here's to all of the folks scrambling today to get final reports and funding proposals in before the end of the fiscal year!

To the uninitiated, it seems crazy that so much spending and activity takes place at this time of year, but for many it's par for the course when you work on projects without permanent funding.

Over the years I have learned some tips for alleviating the stresses of end-of-year spending and reporting. Here are some favourites (which mostly apply to First Nations, but have some general applicability as well):

When you start projects:

• From the beginning of the project, make sure you are consolidating information according to the final reporting template (or, if that's not available, according to the proposal you submitted) so that you don't need to crunch all of those numbers in one day.
• My own planning mentor, Tony Wong of Quintry Management Consulting Inc. always suggested that I create a detailed list of prioritized "wants" for my program/project (computer software, cameras, office supplies, etc.). Then, when some extra funds are freed up (if, for example, you're under budget in a certain area of your project) they can be applied to the "want" list. It's a simple concept, but it gives you time to plan what you would do with extra funds, and research options, rather than blowing money on low-priority items.

Near the end of projects:

• I really like to use one-time funds to support ongoing activities in the community. For example, purchasing a three-year pro subscription to a survey program like Fluid Surveys, so that the community can continue to use the program for the next few years. 
• If you are throwing an open-house or community gathering to do end-of-project reporting back, think about how to support the community's own members and businesses with project funds. For example, using community members to cater, purchasing door prizes or gifts from artisans in the community, or using gift certificates from band-owned businesses as prizes. For example, last year my community held a big open house, and as the main prizes we gave away gift certificates to our own water taxi company, so that the winning community members could take a trip to our traditional territories. Everyone wins!
• Delegate! If you know you are going to have a ton of work to do in the last few days before March 31, and you have extra funds, hire someone to help you with basic data entry.
• Make sure to schedule some self-care in early April, to help alleviate the extra stress of this time of year!

I'm spending the day helping one of my mentees crunch numbers from some community engagement activities, and happy to be able to help out :) Do you have any favourite end-of-fiscal-year tips? I'd love to hear them!

-JH

I get a lot of questions about what exactly it is I do for work. While I do many different things, one of my favourite jobs is CCP Mentor. CCP means Comprehensive Community Planning, a community-driven, long-range, holistic type of planning that about half of BC's First Nations have participated in. 

There is a fantastic online portal for CCPs here, though you must create a (free) profile to access them. Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (formerly known as Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, or INAC) has funded CCP projects for about ten years now, although of course communities can do CCPs without AANDC support.

AANDC also organizes an annual conference of CCPers from across the province, to network, share best practices and stories of community successes, and essentially help each other do the best community planning possible. I have been fortunate enough to help design and lead facilitation for these workshops since 2011. During the 2011 conference at En'owkin Centre,  the idea came forward that a mentorship network could help communities who were just starting their CCPs, or struggling with their CCP process. By 2011 many communities had completed CCPs, including my own community, the Gwa'sala-'Nakwaxda'xw Nations, so there was a core group of CCP mentors with experiences and stories to share from doing our own CCPs in our own communities, and so the pilot CCP Mentorship program started in 2012.

The gist of the program is that BC First Nations receiving AANDC funds for CCP work (sorry for all the acronyms) can request mentorship support from AANDC, which has a pool of contracted mentors around the province. Each mentor is paired up with a few communities (most of us work other jobs as well) and, basically, the mentor and mentee(s) are left to define the nature of the mentorship support.

The initial e-mails and phone calls help us to establish a relationship and talk about the community's needs, and the mentor's skills. A learning agreement is drafted by both parties, explaining the responsibilities of each person, and what tasks and goals will hopefully be completed as a result of the mentorship. After the learning agreement is in place, mentors travel to the mentee community, generally for a day or two, to offer direct support to the CCP team or coordinator in that community. Activities can include:

• A tour of the community, to help the mentor better understand the local context
• Informal conversation and story telling about the community, their CCP process, and the mentor's community and CCP experience
• Training in specific tasks, like proposal writing or facilitation
• Presentations to groups such as the CCP Advisory Committee, Chief & Council, community meetings, etc.
• Brainstorming and work planning for any phase of the CCP
• Offering a sympathetic ear to the CCP staff, since the mentors have "been there" through the tough parts of the CCP process, and survived!
• Even, in some cases, interviewing and helping to hire the CCP Coordinator and assistant, where none are in place already

The needs of each community are unique, as are the skills of the mentor. The beauty of a program like this is the flexibility and comprehensive nature of the mentorship. Of course, a lot of the support happens remotely as well. I am in touch with my mentees via phone, text messages, Facebook, and e-mail, sending them ideas for activities, reviewing drafts of CCPs or community questionnaires, helping with budgets and proposals, and so on. Just this morning I spent a few minutes on the phone with a mentee sharing a couple of ideas for activities to help a group of community members prioritize action items related to language revitalization, while also sending Facebook messages to another mentee to help them with a funding proposal.

My favourite thing about this whole program is that, as mentors, we build up the skills of community members, who then are able to use those new skills to help their own community. Even when their CCP is complete, that community member can then transfer those skills into other jobs - I have seen CCP coordinators go on to become elected leaders, planners in other areas like language revitalization, or in cases like mine, go on to start their own companies. So, we are strengthening First Nations and reducing their dependancy on external support. I love it when my help is no longer needed, or not needed as much, because the person I have mentored feels fully capable of moving forward with their work.

It is exciting to think about the potential for this model of training and support, the mentorship model, to spread to other areas. Experienced administrators mentoring other administrators? Housing coordinators sharing their stories and experiences with other housing coordinators? Who knows how far it could go, but I'm happy to be part of the great things that are happening right now!

-JH