Speaker 1:
Welcome back everyone to Your Future Home, brought to you by Rocket Mortgage, by Quicken Loans, where you get more than expected from a mortgage lender.
Speaker 1:
All right, so working from home. While it can be a way to save time, relax and even stay safe, it can also open up your workday to a lot of distractions. Joining us now to talk about how you can stay productive while also working from home is tech expert and CEO of Zen Media. Shama Hyder. Shama, great to have you here. Thank you so much for joining us. You’re actually an expert when it comes to working from home. I’ve been told you’ve been doing this for 11 years, which is crazy. I’ve only been lasting for a week trying to do this. So what sort of tips do you have? For a lot of us newbies, we’re setting up our first work from home space.
Shama Hyder:
Yeah, happy to help and share our expertise. Our entire team has actually been remote for the last 11 years since I started Zen Media. So we’ve picked up a few tricks along the way of being able to work remote. So this is definitely par for the course. I think the most important thing is to make sure that you have a routine that works for you. This is actually a really good time to set up and try different systems that you wouldn’t have maybe had a chance to try at the office. And by this I mean, for some folks, this is me included, I usually travel a ton. So I’m used to working on my laptop, like many of us. And I love that, I love being able to work from wherever I am. But while I’ve been grounded along with all of us, I’ve actually switched to using a giant monitor and it’s increased my productivity by 20% so even though we’ve been doing this for a long time, we’re also learning new things all the time.
Shama Hyder:
And so this is a really good time for everybody who’s working from home right now to test out what your ideal setup looks like, right? Something that you always wanted to try, but you always had a lot going on. This is your chance. So for me it’s been trying a giant monitor and it’s been a huge time saver because now I don’t have to go between multiple windows and it really does cut back on wasted time and increases efficiency. So this is your time to create that ideal workspace for you.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and Shama, a lot of people associate the office with work and then home for relaxing and doing your normal personal stuff. So how can you really stay motivated while you’re working from let’s say your kitchen?
Shama Hyder:
So, don’t work from your kitchen for starters, I think it is important to have a space that you designate as your workspace and you designate an area where it’s your family space, right? Or whatever it may be. So for example, I have a seven month old son and his nursery is off limits. So I do not take my computer in there, I don’t take my iPad in there. Any work stuff [inaudible 00:02:50] it stays outside. So it’s funny because I work all the time everywhere and like many of us, right, where we’re always working on our mobile phones and so forth, but it’s nice if you can’t, if you have to work everywhere, at least create a sacred space where you know that is personal and that you are able to unplug in that area. And for us that happens to be the nursery.
Speaker 1:
All right Sharma. Obviously we’re all trying to flatten the curve and do our part out here, but how important is technology to social distancing and also decreasing the spread of the virus?
Shama Hyder:
It’s absolutely crucial, right? I mean I think I’ll leave that to the scientists who already done such a good job explaining how social distancing works and why it’s important. But just think about this. Ten years ago, this would not have been possible. We could not continue on with our work lives and we have delivery now. Restaurants are able to offer curbside. It’s funny because if you really think about it, the impact to our lives has really been minimal because of technology, because we’re still able to stay connected to the people that we love. Still get work done, still talk to work colleagues. Of course, it’s not the same as total face to face, but 10 years ago this wouldn’t have even been possible.
Speaker 1:
All right, Shama, I’m curious, what sort of smart technology are you using to make a lot of this social distancing a lot easier?
Shama Hyder:
So there’s so many awesome tools now and I have to say that I think I’ve an unfair advantage because we’re both, my husband and I are just both such techies. So our whole house is wired for technology. Sonos obviously has great speakers. If you’re a music fan, you’re able to hook up those speakers to your app on your phone and you can then stream different music according to your tastes in different rooms. Again, like I mentioned, this is a great time to optimize your workflow. So even look at some of those apps that you may have wanted to use but really didn’t work for whatever reason. INK For All is a great one. It’s AI based, it helps you become a better writer. There’s a technology called GiftCast that lets you send video recordings and money to someone.
Shama Hyder:
So let’s say you really want to send grandma some money. You can’t see her right now. You can’t give her a hug that you want. You can send a video message and they get a link and then they’re able to transfer funds, you’re able to send money from your bank account and then they put in their info and they get it in theirs. There’s also things like Haptic technology, which is so cool. Bond Touch, for example, has matching physical bracelets. So think like friendship bracelets from back in the day when we were kids to now it’s haptics. So if I touch my bracelet and I’m thinking of you, your bracelet vibrates. So things like that I think make a huge difference in this social distancing world that we’re living in.
Speaker 1:
All right. Shama Hyder, CEO of Zen Media. Thank you so much for joining us. Such a pleasure. Thank you.
Shama Hyder:
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:
And coming up everyone, how you can turn a shed in a backyard and turn it into your getaway, the she shed next on your future home.
