So you’re going to be doing lots of repetitive actions, especially on your computer. Typing out the link to your show reel or LinkedIn profile. The set text you use on emails sent to new employers. All of this is tedious to put in each time.
I automate lots of little text shortcuts, so when I type a specific combination of letters, whether on my phone, tablet or my laptop, a whole phrase appears.
“gavin@” Writes my full email address
“vvat” writes our VAT number
“llink” reveals the URL for my LinkedIn profile
“/port” inserts the link to our portfolio page on our website
And many, many more.
You have to make sure the keyboard short cut isn’t something you’d write everyday, so rather than “port” to write our portfolio page address, I use “/port” but you’ll get the hang of it.
Apple have a short cut feature for their phones and tablets called Text Replacement, which you’ll find useful if you’re replying to job ads on your phone.
If you’re using a Mac, then TextExpander is the best programme I’ve come across. It’s $40 a year, which is not a small amount. However, that investment will buy you back hours of time and increase your productivity.
You can create quite complicated formulas, which I use for:
- hiring crew, giving confirmed details for the shoot
- sending an invoice, complete with date due
- booking voice over studio
- adding code to our website that creates a link
Here’s the code I use for invoicing, for example:
Invoice 107%filltext:name=Number% for work done on the %filltext:name=Project% project%key:return%Dear %filltext:name=Name%,
Please find attached our invoice 106%filltext:name=Number% for work done on the %filltext:name=Project% project.
This will fall due for payment on %@+30D%B %e, %Y. Please ensure that the invoice is processed promptly, and please let us know if there is any further information you need from us.
Your business is greatly appreciated.
I then just put my cursor in the subject line, type your short code, and a box will pop up with the fields to complete and boom, the email is written. I can attach the invoice and send it in seconds.