As you plan our your day, week, or year, it’s nice to have a system that makes it easier for you to manage it. One of the tools that I use to help me plan, that’s super easy and free, is Google Calendar.
The primary reason I love Google Calendar is because it’s stored online. You can update it from your desktop, your laptop, or your mobile phone. No more worrying about losing a day planner that’s critical to your business. Also, you can share different calendars with your family and your assistants. (You’ll see what I mean in the video)
Over the years, I’ve learned how to successfully use Google Calendar in my business. And today, I’m sharing webinar training from my Website Marketing Workshop. This webinar is all about how to use Google Calendar in your business and in your personal life. You’ll be excited to start planning for 2020!
7 Reasons Why Google Calendar is My Top Planning Tool
There are other virtual planning options, but it’s hard to beat Google Calendar. I’ve put together a list of the best features of this tool:
- Access your calendar from anywhere in the world
- Updating is easy and fast
- Share your calendar with the public, team members, and family
- Have multiple calendars for business and personal – each of them color-coded for easy identification
- Receive reminders via email, popup or text
- It integrates with online booking software, allowing others to book an appointment with you online
- And… It’s FREE!
Watch How to Use Google Calendar to Plan Your Day-Week-Year
Here is what you’ll learn in the video training:
Set Up Your Google Account
Getting started with Google Calendar is simple. First, you’ll need to have a Google account (if you have a Gmail address, then you have a Google account). If you don’t have a Google account, create one now. You can use your existing email address, even if it’s from another email service provider.
Once your account is set up, you’re ready to start using Google Calendar in your business and personal life. Login to your Google account. Click the ‘Google Apps’ icon in the right-hand corner, and select ‘Google Calendar’.
Create Events in Google Calendar
Planning is important to help you stay on top of your daily tasks, and set goals for the future. Google Calendar allows you to set up events, reminders, and tasks.
Choose a Date/Duration: Create a single event at a specific time, a full-day event, a multi-day event, or even duplicate an event. Do you have a specific event that happens each week or each month? Then set up a recurring event.
Reminders and Notifications: Have Google Calendar notify you about an event at a certain time interval beforehand – of your choice. Be sure your Google Calendar settings match your time zone.
You can also input important details and notes about this event. This feature is helpful if you have team members who need to see those details too.
Invite Others to Attend an Event:
You’ll see the option to invite guests on the right side. Type in the guest’s email, double-check the Guest Permissions, and send the invitation. If the person has shared their calendar with you, you can even view whether the person is free at the event time.
Create Different Google Calendars
Most of us are “juggling a lot of balls”, “wearing a lot of hats”, or “spinning a lot of plates”. Whatever the cliche …we’re doing it. Your business is busy with marketing, various projects, conferences, appointments, phone calls, classes, and training. That doesn’t even include your personal life.
So set up multiple calendars in Google Calendar. You may be thinking, “Why would I want multiple calendars? I only need one!” However, multiple calendars work great for organizing business and personal tasks. Think of these different calendars as layers or different departments.
For example, one of my calendars is my Editorial Calendar. This calendar shows what emails are sent out to which groups. I have a separate calendar for the Website Creation Workshop, which shows when the live training webinars are scheduled. Watch the webinar training above for instructions on how to set up different calendars.
Color Code Your Google Calendars
Color code your various calendars to get a great visual image of what you have going on in each area of your life. I do miss holding in my hand a pretty day planner, but the colorfulness of my Google Calendars and convenience makes up for it. See this demonstrated in the video.
View some (or all) of your Calendars
Now that you’ve created different calendars, you can view all (or some) of those calendars at any given time. You can also add some public calendars that Google provides for free. Such as US Holidays, Canadian Calendar, Jewish (Israel) Holidays Calendar, and more.
In this webinar training, I’ll show you how to add calendars and turn them on and off.
Share Calendars with Other People
One of my favorite features of Google Calendar is that I’m able to share different calendars with my business team and family. I have multiple team members and they don’t all need access to the same calendars.
For example, my Webinar Assistant doesn’t need access to the Editorial Calendar, but she does need access to the webinars calendar. So, I can share that one specific calendar with her.
In addition, I can share my calendar with my family members as well. And they can share theirs with me.
Make A Calendar Public
Why would you want the whole world to see your calendar? This feature is particularly useful when you hold classes for the public. If a specific calendar is set as public, you can embed it in your website. All your website visitors will be able to see when your next classes are being held. See my other blog post on how to embed a Google Calendar into your website.
You Get A Variety of Easy Viewing Options
Adjust Your Calendar View
We tend to process information in different ways. Some people are checklist people, while others prefer grids, mind maps, or diagrams. Google Calendar has several different options of how you can view your calendar:
- Day – view today only
- Week – view the week
- Month – view the month
- Year – view the entire year
- Custom – create your own view
- Schedule – list form
It’s easy to change your calendar view by using keyboard shortcut keys (D=day, W= Week, M=month, Y=year, C=custom). Or, click in the drop-down in the right-hand corner to select your view. For those who work better with a list of events, rather than in the grid calendar form, choose Schedule (S). I’ll show you how in the training video!
And Google Calendar is Mobile-Friendly!
Google Calendar works great with mobile devices. Download the app on your smartphone, log in, and you’ll be able to view your calendar wherever you are in the world.
You can adjust the calendar view on your mobile device too. In addition, you can add or edit your calendar events. When you add or change your calendar on your mobile, it will update everywhere.
Watch the webinar training above for all these “How To” Instructions!
Here is also a short video on Google Reminders:
Conclusion:
I’ve been an entrepreneur for 18 years now and have tried a lot of scheduling tools. Google Calendar makes my life simpler and helps my business run smoother. I’m not always digital, I still jot notes on paper. But I depend upon Google Calendar to organize my business and personal schedule.
(I First posted this article on Jan 4, 2013, but decided to update it now as a new post because the content is important and relevant to all biz owners)
