• Name: Chris Murphy
• Location: Austin, Texas
• Profession: Co-Owner/Salon Director
• Company: MFX SalonSpa
• Website: www.maximumfx.com

Bio

Chris Murphy is the co-owner and salon director of MFX SalonSpa in Austin, Texas. Chris works with salon and spa owners throughout the U.S. and relies on Evernote to not only manage his business and various speaking opportunities, but to remember people and improve his company’s recruiting and HR processes.

I use Evernote, Everywhere

• iPad
• iPhone
• Mac

Favorite Evernote Products

• Evernote Hello for capturing potential salon candidates

I use Evernote for…managing my salon business

I had downloaded Evernote a while ago but couldn’t really wrap my head around how I could incorporate it into my business until I had lunch with Real Estate Ambassador Krisstina Wise. Once she filled me in on the ways she was using Evernote for her business, I thought that I should really have another look. And suddenly, all of the different ways I could be using it just hit me. Now, I don’t know how I could live without it.

I own an Aveda Lifestyle Salon and Spa with multiple physical locations, so one of the most important things to me about Evernote is that it syncs and information I capture is available anywhere. The salon industry is a labor intensive industry so there are always lots of schedules to stay on top of, reviews to keep track of, etc. Being able to manage this type of information in Evernote and be able to access it from anywhere is so helpful.

In addition to the day-to-day management of information, one of the key areas of business that Evernote has majorly impacted is our recruiting process.

Evernote and Evernote Hello for recruiting

Aveda has institutes across the U.S. and because we have relationships with many of them, we tend to do on-site recruiting at different locations. We recruit most heavily from institutes in Austin, San Antonio and Houston. During our visits we usually give a presentation, after which we get approached by 50-60 people who want to learn more about our company and submit their resumes. Prior to Evernote, we didn’t have an efficient system for gathering contact information on site and staying connected with potential candidates.

Having recently downloaded Evernote Hello, I realized that we could be using it to take pictures of candidates who stopped by our table and capture all of their information right then and there. Because Evernote Hello syncs with Evernote, we could even pre-select a specific notebook (in our case, ‘Job Fairs’) to send all of these notes to. Now, instead of collecting business cards or writing down information on scraps of paper, we capture everything using Evernote Hello. I love that Evernote Hello also uses my phone’s GPS to capture the location where the note was taken — this makes it easy for me to connect certain faces with specific institute visits.

Our company has a 6 step recruiting process, and when you have a large volume of applicants rolling in, you can imagine it’s easy to get tripped up over where they are in the process. Between Evernote and Evernote Hello, we’ve been able to essentially streamline our system.

Creating a recruiting system inside of Evernote

We have several notebooks in a Notebook Stack that we use to manage the recruiting process. All of the applicants we capture using Evernote Hello get automatically saved to the ‘Job Fairs’ notebook. We have a separate notebook that includes all scanned resumes that we receive. We have another notebook that includes all applicants who we are interested in; we automatically send all of these applicants a list of questions as a first step. As candidates move through the process, we take notes along the way and funnel them on to the next step. If we decide not to move forward with a candidate, we add them to a separate notebook that we use as a reminder to notify these people.

Using Evernote as the central hub for our recruiting has allowed us to be a lot more efficient and provided more clarity around the recruitment process. I’m able to share recruiting notebooks with all of my managers, who can see applicants coming in, in real time. Plus, they can add their comments to all of the notes, so the interview and hiring process is really collaborative. Ultimately, we can process a larger volume of information and yet stay organized. We’re not a huge company with big management systems and using Evernote has really helped us! Evernote has completely changed how we do business; we end up hiring more quality people.

Evernote for performance reviews

In addition to being instrumental in our recruiting process, Evernote has also played an important role in the way that we handle performance reviews. We create a note for each team member in Evernote and then refer to the individual’s note during our monthly meeting, adding notes each time. Because everything is in Evernote, multiple people (including myself and a team leader) can edit the note simultaneously; I can have my iPad in the meeting, while the team lead can be taking notes on his/her device at the same time, throughout the conversation. Later, we can share the note with the team member we reviewed so they can have access to all of our feedback.

Bio

Aubrey McGowan is a singer/songwriter and the co-founder of Song & Story, a company that helps people tell their stories through  song. Launched in January 2011, Song & Story is made up of Aubrey, his wife, and several collaborators who write and produce songs for individuals and organizations. Aubrey shares how Evernote helps him with his creative process as well as managing his business and home life. He even wrote a song about it!

Download the MP3

I use Evernote, Everywhere

• iPad
• Windows
• iPhone
• Mac

I use Evernote for…

As a songwriter, I spent a lot of time looking for a way to manage my songwriting ideas. I’ve tried everything from software to paper notebooks, but couldn’t find anything that really clicked until I began to use Evernote. The flexibility of the app, it’s various features, and the many locations from which you can access your information really made it the perfect tool for me to manage my business and my life. I use Evernote religiously. Here’s a look at how it helps me:

1. My wife and I share multiple notebooks which are divided into two Notebook Stacks. I organize notes into everything related to songwriting or the business. That way, virtually everything I need access to on any given day can be found in my Evernote account. Sharing notebooks with my wife means if she records a melody at home, it syncs and I’m able to listen to it even if I’m at the office. It makes working together a much more seamless process, especially since we’re not always in the same place at the same time.
2. I draft and organize songs in Evernote. I create various drafts of songs in Evernote and organize songs in separate, Stacked notebooks that include songs in progress and completed songs. The completed songs notebook also serves as a portfolio.
3. We manage our business in Evernote. We have several notebooks under the Notebook Stack ‘Business’ which includes everything related to running our business: from invoices to web graphics, my wife and I always have access to documents, websites, expenses, and more.
4. Evernote helps us maintain a paperless lifestyle. Whether it’s a scribbled note on a napkin or a document, Evernote lets me manage my paperwork without the paper stack. I can snap a photo of an item, or scan in a document. Once it’s in Evernote, I can tag and file into appropriate notebooks so I’m always able to find what I’m looking for. [Learn more about paperless lifestyle from our Paperless Living Ambassador]
5. I use my Evernote email address hourly. My Evernote email helps me manage the things outside of my Evernote account, organize them, and find them later. I forward important emails, articles I want to read, invoices, and more from my email to my Evernote account, where I sort them into notebooks. [Learn how to send emails to your Evernote account.]
6. I keep track of my favorite products in Evernote. I have a songwriting notebook that I love. When I run out of room, I know exactly where to order a new one because I have the ISBN of that notebook and vendor’s website saved in my Evernote account.
7. I use Evernote as a reader. I have a notebook called ‘Enrichment’— it’s where I keep things I don’t have time to read, or always want to go back to. Before I started clipping and emailing articles to my Evernote account, my reader was a mass of things and I’d never know where to even start. Now, if someone has 10 blog posts and I know I only want to read one of them, I can just clip the article using the Evernote Web Clipper, or email it from my inbox to my Evernote account.

Evernote in the collaborative song writing process

When we work with a client on creating a song, we take a very collaborative approach. The first step is always having them fill out a survey about the kind of story they want the song to tell and the sorts of emotions they think it should evoke (Should the recipient feel happy? Should he/she be called to action?). From there, we engage in a lot of back and forth before we get to the final delivery stage. We are excited about engaging people in the storytelling process, not just being recipients of a finished project. Evernote helps us work with our customers every step of the way.

Evernote is our jumping off point to collecting ideas and also for working through rough drafts with the customer. We used Shared Notes to get customers involved in the storytelling process.They’re able to see our progress, as we record ideas and scratch tracks by simply clicking on the Shared Note Link. If it’s not hitting the right spot, we continue to work back and forth.

Evernote for everything else

In addition to using Evernote to manage my business and songwriting, I also use it as a catchall for pieces of information that would normally have no proper place. I have a notebook called ‘misc/personal/docs.’ I use it to save account numbers and things I always forget. For example, I have a photo of a sticky note with the dimensions of our countertop and another with the account number of my Internet service. I have the size of my tires on my car, the model number for the lightbulb in my car and serial numbers for pieces of equipment I have, all handy in Evernote, instead of sitting in a junk drawer, where I’d inevitably never find them. Lastly, I’m working through some online courses to finish my degree and everything I do, I keep in Evernote. When it comes time to take an open book test, I’m able to search through my Evernote account at lightning speed.

The song that I wrote for Evernote really captures what Evernote is for me. I chose to personalize the tool because it’s truly my constant companion.

Get Evernote for iOS

Predictive Note Titles

Gone are the days of Untitled Notes. Now, when you create a new note and save it without giving the note a title, the app will assign a contextual title using calendar events, your location, note contents, and other information. You’ll see our predictive title as soon as you create the note. If you would prefer to change the title, just tap into the title area and start typing. As a result of this new feature, all of your new notes will have an informative title.

Easier Notebook Sharing

We felt that notebook sharing was too difficult to find in the previous version of Evernote, so we made it more easily accessible. To share a notebook, go to your notebook list and tap on the notebook you want to share. Next, tap on the new share icon in the top right of the screen. Much easier.

Better Editing, Copying, Pasting, and More

This update includes major improvements to the note editing capabilities on iPhone and iPad, particularly in iOS 5. First, you’ll notice that editing is significantly faster, especially for long notes. We resolved many issues related to new lines and we do a much better job of preserving styles when you copy something from a note and paste it into another note or into another app.

Stacks

Notebook Stacks, our visual notebook organization, have been a part of Evernote for iPhone for a little while, but enabling them wasn’t easy. In this update, we made Stacks the default view for the notebook list. If you prefer a stack-less view, tap on the “i” in the top left of the Notebook screen to switch to a different view.

And more…

In addition to improved stability and lots of bug fixes, this update also includes faster and more reliable synchronization. Also, we completely redesigned the login and registration experience. We have lots more to come. Let us know what you think of our latest update.

Bio

Jennifer Lathop is a graphic designer and hobbyist knitter who lives in Minneapolis. She began knitting with her mother. Today, she uses Evernote to not only manage her patterns, but to organize her family life, do her taxes, and keep track of work projects.

I use Evernote, Everywhere

• Mac
• Android
• Web Clipper (Chrome)

I use Evernote for…

After I had initially discovered Evernote, I really wanted to figure out how it could fit into my lifestyle. I started following the Evernote blog and also Michael Hyatt’s blog and taking note of ideas. I started using Evernote by scanning in cartoons that I kept in a desk drawer, and since, my use has evolved beyond what I ever imagined.

Evernote for Knitting

I started knitting with my mom years ago. I’ve knit hats, mittens, scarves, blankets, sweaters and socks. Right now, I’m working on a baby blanket. Here are some of the ways Evernote has become an invaluable companion for me:

• When my mom passed away, I got all of her knitting stuff and was immediately overwhelmed. My mom never knew what needles she had, and was always buying more. I’ve taken all of her needles and organized them entirely in Evernote, noting the type (double point, circular). Now, if I’m at the craft store, I know exactly what needles I have because I can pull up my list on my phone.
• You knit where you are, so you take your projects with you. I used to take my pattern, fold it, and stuff it in my bag; after a while, it would start to crease and rip. Now, my patterns are saved in Evernote, so I have them with me no matter where I go, and they’re protected…for life!*
• I find a lot of free patterns online, so I clip the patterns or new knitting techniques that I come across. Recently, I came across a video about a difficult join (it’s where you stop one yarn color and start another). I clipped the screenshot to my Evernote account so that I’d have it for reference  (it’s complicated!). You can also scan in hard copies of patterns and save them in your Evernote account.
• I love having local notebooks on my phone, so even if I don’t have an Internet connection, I’m still able to pull up my pattern. [Learn more about Offline Notebooks; this is a Premium feature]
• One of the things I’m starting to do is chronicle my knitting projects: taking pictures of finished projects, scanning in the labels of the yarn I used, and attaching the image of the yarn type to the note.

Evernote for work and life:

These days, I use Evernote for much more than knitting:

• I have 16 main notebooks, many of which are Notebook Stacks. I love having my notes separated into appropriate categories. I have notebooks for graphic design, health, my kids, knitting, productivity, taxes, etc. Each notebook, like my ‘kids’ notebook, has a sub-notebook (ie – each kid has their own notebook). [Learn more about Notebook Stacks]
• I’m a graphic designer and I’ve started to collect samples of things I see and like. I’ve also been doing more social media work for my job, so I’ve been saving tips, tricks and ideas for best practices.
• I really like being able to share notebooks. I share them with my husband, especially when they have to do with the kids, the house, or gift ideas. For example, we went school shopping this weekend and I had scanned in the supply list. We both had it, so we could both scan the list. If he needs to pick some things up when I’m not around, he can. I’ve recently started sharing project-related notes with my boss. They get updated everywhere automatically, so we’re always on the same page. [Learn more about Shared Notebooks]

User Tip:

I love the new Android widget that shows my most-recently used notes: it allows me to pull up my most-recently used pattern in a snap.

*I only scan in patterns I have purchased (or are free) and I do not share or distribute any patterns I have loaded into Evernote.

Bio

Ryan Kessler is a student from Southern California who will be starting college in the Fall. Evernote helped Ryan get organized his senior year of high school and raise his GPA from a 2.9 to a 4.4 (if you’re unfamiliar with these numbers, that’s really great!). Read on to find out how he did it.

I use Evernote, Everywhere:

• Android (phone and Tablet)
• Windows
• Web Clipper (Chrome)

I love…

• The Droidscan app for scanning all of my docs using my phone
• Nozbe for giving calendar context to my Evernote notes
• tarpipe for publishing content to my various social streams with one single action

I use Evernote for…

My senior year of high school, I took 5 high school courses, 4 college classes and worked part-time, so I needed to find a tool that would help me stay organized and focused on whatever task I needed to complete. Evernote completely changed my workflow.

1. Evernote for staying focused

A big part of being a high school student is being able to switch modes extremely quickly. Within a few hours, you have to go from physics to history. Evernote lets me do this seamlessly.

I have a Notebook Stack of notebooks for various activities, including school and work. When I’m at work, I open my Work Notebook Stack and know that I won’t have any distractions because I wouldn’t see all of my extra-curricular stuff mixed into work stuff. [An introduction to Notebook Stacks]

2. Evernote for getting organized

My freshman and sophomore year, I was very disorganized. The problem wasn’t that I wasn’t managing my time well, it was that I couldn’t find the things I wanted when I needed them. I used to spend hours just sorting through my schoolwork to find one assignment. Once I started using Evernote, life became a lot more organized:

• I got into a routine of sorting everything into Evernote as soon as I got it so I could instantly access it when I needed it. I attribute my GPA boost largely to my new-found ability to find everything quickly, from any device I was working on.
• Once I get stuff in Evernote, I organize it. I have a tagging system to separate out tasks and projects.
• I scan paper documents using Droidscan, which is a fantastic app I found in the Evernote Trunk.
• I draft reports right in Evernote, where my research is close at hand.

3. Evernote for lightening my load and connecting all of my devices

I started using Evernote so much, I stopped thinking about it. I even started scanning textbook sections I needed that day in class so I’d have them on my phone. It got to the point where I would go to school with only my journal and my phone.

A lot of students bring their laptops to class because they think they need to carry around their files. With Evernote, I never had to lug around my laptop. Our school would rent out laptops from the library, so if I needed to print anything, I’d just stick it into Evernote in the morning, pop by the library at the end of the day, pull up Evernote on the Web and use the school printer. I never think of having a thumb drive anymore.

With Evernote, I can see everything I have to do, want to do, and already done. I never have to think ‘Oh, shoot, I left something in my locker!’ Maybe I forgot my phone in my locker, but because everything in Evernote syncs across every device I own (not to mention the Web), I know it’s still there and I could access it from my desktop at home, the school laptop in the library, or my tablet.

4. Evernote for group projects and class discussions

When you’re working with a group, you tend to get a lot of information passed back and forth via email. I started using Evernote to keep track of all of my group projects by giving group members my Evernote email. Everything related to the project would get sent to my Evernote account, where I could organize it accordingly and stay on top of the latest versions and conversations. [Emailing to Evernote]

We’d often have class discussions via a thread on a forum that my school subscribes to. Threads would get long and tedious and require you to login to keep track of the conversation. I would just clip it to my Evernote account and pull it up whenever I needed it.

5. Evernote for crunch time

Creating a study guide before a big test was so easy with Evernote. I would compile all of my notes from a certain time period and put them into a separate notebook. From there, I could reference only the materials I needed to study.

6. Evernote for learning a foreign language

I love Evernote’s Audio Note function to help me remember stuff, but it’s also a killer way to help you learn a language. I use audio notes to record myself pronouncing words, then play back the recording to see if my pronunciation matched my teacher’s pronunciation. When you’re learning a language, you need some way of hearing yourself to perfect your accent.

7. Evernote for building my future

I’m starting college in the Fall and will be studying entrepreneurship and design. I attended the Evernote Trunk Conference and saw Kyle Koch’s presentation about using Evernote for industrial design and was blown away. Evernote is crazy powerful for design and I’m excited to see how it fits into my ongoing studies and professional career. [Read Kyle Koch's story]

User Tip: Note Links for Creating a Study Guide in a Single Note

Note Links are an awesome way to associate two notes incredibly quickly. I use Note Links to create a study guide in a single note. I often snap a photo of the whiteboard in class and then take notes as well. With Note Links, I can link my notes to the whiteboard image, giving additional context. [Learn how to link your notes]

Join the discussion about Evernote for Schools on our forum. Learn from educators and share your own experiences, best practices and tips.