Two plus years working from the couch and kitchen table had my back and wrists all cranky, to say the least. Hence, I recently set up a permanent workstation, taking into account some best ergonomic practices that I’ve garnered over 14 years of some-sort-of-desk-job history. I’m happy to report that, almost immediately, my back and wrists graciously behaved as a result of my mostly-minor modifications. I figured yawl (that’s how we do in the East) might benefit from a handy check list of 10 things to consider when settling down for a day – or 14 years – of your own desk work. The list is just a guide on seated positioning, so I didn’t hit on adjustable tables, standing workstations, glare, or any helpful exercises. See the resources at the end of this post for more ergo tips and gear.
1. Keep your head aligned over shoulders; don’t stretch neck forward.
2. Your eyeballs should be looking straight ahead, not up or down. To achieve this, the top of your monitor needs to be no higher than eye level. You might need a riser to help lift your laptop or monitor to a good, eyeballs-dead-center position. A chair with adjustable height may help here as well.
3. Sit as far away from the screen as comfortably possible.
4. Shoulders should be relaxed and comfortable, not raised or hunched forward.
5. Keyboard should be at seated elbow height. This really helps with keeping shoulders relaxed and lowered and is the one thing that can make or break my back. Being pretty darn short, either I can saw a couple inches off my desk legs, or use a keyboard tray to make this happen. Laptop users: consider using a real keyboard at your workstation.
6. Elbows should be at a 90 degree angle. Again, a keyboard tray can work wonders here.
7. Typing wrists should be straight, parallel to floor. Support non-typing wrists with a wrist rest or arm rests. Laptop users: consider using a real mouse at your workstation.
8. Support the curve in low back. Either your chair will have some sort of lumbar support, or a pillow or a back rest will do the same.
9. Feet flat on floor or foot rest. Footrests can help here, fyi.
10. Take breaks! Move! Really! It helps! A lot! You know you should, so I’ll stop shouting and nagging and trust you on this one.
In case you’re wondering, here’s what this all looks like in practice:
Also, if you want to get nitty-gritty, then check out Ergotron’s Workspace Planner, which takes your height and returns customized measurements for your sweet, sweet workstation.
Once you’re in a good working position, you should be able to feel it in some way. And although these may seem like a lot of steps, it’s really pretty easy to implement at least a few of them. Good luck and happy, ache-free computing to you!
Resources:
Excellent, detailed info here, and note the reference and resource links throughout: http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/ergoguide.html
Some good workstation images: http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/computerworkstations/
I like these articles. The first is handy for straight-up, non-workstation laptop use, and the second post addresses eye strain towards the end: http://dailydiy.com/category/ergonomics/
There are some good stretches listed here: http://dohs.ors.od.nih.gov/ergo_computers.htm
A start for researching ergo equipment that runs the price range gamut. There are a ton of resources online, this one just happens to come up first; I like their website; they have a “green” section, which I also like: http://www.ergopro.com/
Be still my heart! PRICEY, but i’m saving my allowance this year (all year) for this beaut:
http://www.hermanmiller.com/Products/Embody-Chairs
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Tags: ergonoics, home office, work/life, workshifting
Our good friend Gene Rosen from Photogenec, a screencast tutorial development group, and the newest member of the BatchBook experts program, has developed a terrific screencast to demonstrate a lead generation web solution he created using Freeway Pro WYSIWYG Mac web design software and his BatchBook web forms.
We love the way this screencast brings to life the real-world problem of overcomplicated, unreliable web site design and marketing. Screencasts are a great way to quickly communicate the problem your product solves – and the folks at Photogenec add fun personality to it, as well.
Thanks to Gene for the effort and great resource for BatchBook! You can see more about Gene’s services as a BatchBook expert on our new expert’s page.
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Tags: batchbook, screencasts, tutorial, webinar
Name: Becky Shankle
Company: EcoModernism (www.eco-modernism.com)
Tell Us A Little Bit About What Your Company Does And What Services You Provide:
If modern kitchen design and sustainable materials had a baby, it would be EcoModernism. We design, assemble and install residential kitchens. We start with IKEA cabinet components – because they are extremely affordable – and finish them out with as many green materials as possible. Some of those materials include quartz countertops, bamboo shelving, cork flooring, recycled glass tile, and zero VOC paints. Green building materials haven’t become mainstream enough yet to get the price down. By using IKEA to save on the boxes, we’re able to shift the budget toward the more expensive finishes, and still come out cheaper than a fully custom kitchen. We design the kitchen to meet the client’s needs and goals, functionally and aesthetically. Once we lock in on that, we compile the order and help them place it.
The average IKEA kitchen comes in about 150 flat packed boxes. We offer an assembly and installation service, which starts with verifying the order’s completion when it gets there. Then we assemble it all, install it and help coordinate the countertop templating. We also dispose of all recyclable packing materials at a local facility.
How Did You Get Started?
I grew up in neighborhoods that had houses under construction, so the smell of wood and sound of saws and hammers has never gotten out of my blood. I started in commercial architectural design in 1986. Did that for 10 years, then moved into space planning and management for a dot com company. Got laid off from there in 2001 and have basically been on my own since. I find the project size & lifespan of residential design a lot more enjoyable than commercial projects. I’ll always be involved in design in some capacity.
How Long Have You Been In Business And How Many Employees Do You Currently Have?
I’ve been an independent designer since 2001, and have hung out my shingle as EcoModernism since January 2008. Currently, I’m the whole show. I have an installer who helps me with the actual installation of the boxes. I contract with him on a per project basis, and I partner with trades like electricians & plumbers the same way. I forged a positive relationship with the local IKEA store, & we both recognize the mutual benefits of our businesses. I’m approaching the critical mass point where I need to bring some help in – there’s only one of me, and I need to find a way financially to jump the chasm and develop a full time team.
Who Is Your Target Audience?
For individual single home projects, my target audience is people who love modern style – clean simple lines, no traditional trimwork like crown molding – and combining it with rougher design elements like wood or irregular surfaces, and indirect lighting. Most of the people who come to me already know they want IKEA. Saves us both time & pain trying to sell them something if they don’t already want it. For multi unit condo projects, my target audience is developers who want a cost effective, modern look with efficient space use, and are conscious about urban infill as an eco friendly solution to how we live.
How Does Your Company Stay Connected With Clients And Your Business Community?
Twitter, LinkedIn, mainly. I’ve done some presentations for Ignite and other local events. And networking with local contractors and like-minded small companies. Mostly I try to maintain a reputation as a quality service provider no matter what stage of service we’re in. I stress reliability, realistic budgeting & communication, & building a solution around the client, not the other way around. If I get that down, then my previous clients become my marketing engine for me.
Can You Offer Any Advice For Anyone Else Looking To Start Their Own Company?
Be driven by your own passion – don’t let the naysayers beat you down. Do the work in finding what people need/want. Then be disciplined about providing good service. Try to think relationally about things that are on the periphery of your business. For me, it’s issues like urban living, container or community gardening, and furniture. Have fun!
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Tags: Blue By You, small business
Webinars make your fingers go faster!
You may have had the chance to work with our amazing Customer Service and Onboarding Specialist Stephanie Sweeney. Did you know that she also runs our Webinar program? At least twice a month, Stephanie provides free online training on how to better use BatchBook to run your business. Recent topics include “Using BatchBook for Fun & Profit”, “BatchBook for Sales” and “The Small Business Webinar”, which looks at how BatchBook integrates with some other cool small business web apps like MailChimp, Freshbooks, Zendesk and Shoeboxed. And there’s always a Q&A session at the end, so you can ask specific questions that you may have about how you’re using BatchBook.
Register now for today and next week
The schedule can be found on our Onboarding page, but I’ll save you the click. Today at 2pm ET we’ve got “Using BatchBook for Fun & Profit” (which is kind of our BatchBook 101) and next Thursday, January 28th at 2pm ET is the very popular “Small Business Webinar“. Click the title of the session to register.
We encourage you to check out a webinar if you haven’t had a chance to. If you can’t make it, we have some recorded and posted on the Onboarding page for viewing at your leisure. And we will be adding more in upcoming weeks.
We’re always looking for ways to help our customers succeed with our product. Please let us know what webinar you’d like to see and maybe we’ll add it to our webinar schedule!
UPDATE: Due to a scheduling conflict, the Small Business Webinar date has been moved to Thursday, February 4th at 2pm EST. Still plenty of time to register here!
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Tags: batchbook, Community, Customer Service, training, tutorial, webinar
We wanted to start the new year off with a round-up of some recent articles and reviews that have hit the Interwebs. A brief media retrospective, if you will (a complete list of media coverage can be found on our press page.)
Live via Skype
Back in September, our friend and Internet marketer Bernie Borges did my first ever interview via Skype about all things BatchBlue and our content strategy in particular. His Optimize This blog post has a link to the audio version as well as a nice summary of our chat.
The work/life thing
One of our very favorite ladies Aliza Sherman, who’s the Entrepreneur Mom at WorkItMom (among her many other projects!) posted an interview of our president Pam O’Hara and me by problogger Gina Blitstein. Pam and I were both surprised at how different our answers were when it came to how we balance our work and family lives (Pam has three kids under seven and I have two.) Have a read – maybe you have come up with an entirely different way to make it all work that you’d like to share.
Locavores
Here in our hometown of Providence, we were featured in Rhode Island Business Quarterly. I like this article because it includes a picture of (most of) our team in our office, which is kind of rare. I also love the title “The Organizers” because it makes us seem alike street gang in a gritty episode of the Sopranos — arguably more exciting than building software!
Monkey do
Our favorite monkeys over at email marketing company MailChimp reached an important milestone with their API and mentioned BatchBlue and our Small Business Web cohorts over on their blog. Our integration with MailChimp was our first ever, therefore we will always have a great fondness (as well as free bananas!) for them. Congrads to the MailChimp team on their continued success.
Word on TheStreet.com
Finally, as an early Christmas gift, Jonathan Blum wrote a nice review of BatchBook on TheStreet.com and also posted a slick little video of BatchBook in action. It was a great way to end an exciting year.
As always, we’re now hard at work at the BatchBlue headquarters, building things to surprise and hopefully delight our customers in upcoming months. Thanks to all for your support — we look forward to what the new year will bring for BatchBlue and our customers.
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Tags: batchblue, batchbook, mailchimp, small business web
