How you can be smarter, happier, and more productive at work
It’s been a while since I’ve posted on this blog, and that’s because (as you may or may not know) earlier this year I launched my own company, Popforms, and have been doing all of my writing over on our site’s blog.
I still get a ton of traffic coming to katemats.com, though, so I wanted to take an opportunity to share what I have been up to, how you can stay involved with my journey, and how it can hopefully help you too. :)
What we’ve been up to
I founded Popforms with the goal of making it easier for managers and teams to work together. As a manager, I wasn’t always good at my job, and I know many busy leaders today would also love to do more to help their teams -- they just don’t have time to prioritize it. We all have goals, and I want to make it easy for people to share and help each other with those goals at work.
So our software tool (which is coming soon!) will help teams do just that. I outlined our biggest company goals in this post on our blog, and if you want to keep in touch and be first to hear when we launch, please consider signing up for our bi-weekly newsletter
Click here to join our email list.
Sparking a new idea
This summer at Popforms, we launched a set of e-learning courses (that we are calling “sparks”) in advance of launching our main software product. Sparks are simple, bite-sized email-based courses that aim to help users improve a skill, grow as a leader, or become more effective in their role.
Each weekday or week (depending on the course -- some are daily, some weekly), users get an email that walks them through a new concept or lesson to help them get better at everything from be more productive to becoming a better writer. Many include a short exercise or suggestion for you to try out that week to improve your skills.
We have been hard at work on these courses and would love to have you try one!
To let you know what we have to offer and which one might be the best for you, I wrote a brief rundown of our entire sparks inventory (so far) that you can read through and use to find the best course for you. And if you think a spark sounds like a good for for you, just click on it and it will take you directly to the signup page!
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“Popforms sparks deliver heavy-hitting lessons in a lightweight format that’s easy to incorporate into my busy schedule. Their fun-to-read, actionable content helps me take responsibility for my own professional development and growth.”
Jessie Culbert, sparks customer
A Year of Leadership
$50 / 52 weeks (weekly)
This is the spark that sparked ‘em all! I wanted to create a guide to help leaders be better at one little thing every week, from coming up with innovative ideas to connecting with peers to doing a ridiculously good 1:1 with an employee. Every user in this course will have a full year’s worth of tips, skills, and reminders to help them be as amazing at their job as we know they can be. (That includes you!)
How To Overcome And Manage Your Stress
$20/ 10 weeks (weekly)
Who isn’t stressed? We dug into tons of scientific research on stress and how to manage it effectively. If you are feeling the pressure, this one is a great way to learn how to start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and learn how even the busiest people keep it all balanced.
Speak at a Conference - An Intro to Pitching and Public Speaking
$20 / 8 weeks (weekly)
Speaking at conferences has changed the course of my career; it’s helped me build my brand and become more widely known in my industry as a leader. So it’s something I care deeply about and want to help other people do to! This is your go-to guide for starting out as a first-timer, to help you understand, organize, and strategize your pitching process.
Managing Your Manager
$20 / 10 weeks (weekly)
If you have a troubled (or maybe non-existent!) relationship with your manager, this is a step-by-step guide to building or repairing a good rapport with your boss. We walk you through relationship-building strategies and give you a precise roadmap for employing them successfully over 10 weeks.
Improve your communication: form first impressions to winning a negotiation
$20 / 11 weeks (weekly)
We did tons of research into the science of communication and the best techniques for using communication to lead, organize, persuade, and connect. Most problems at work are communication problems, and those who have the skills to manage them will come out on top!
Your Dream Job Is Waiting
$15 / 2 weeks (every weekday)
What’s that *thing* you really want to do? If you are ready to quit your day job and strike out on your own to make it happen, this one is for you.
Taming Your Email - 2 Weeks to Inbox Zero
$15 / 2 weeks (every weekday)
We take you from inbox overload to email nirvana in this one. It’s a step-by-step guide to clearing the clutter and adding strategies to help you maintain order long term.
Getting Stuff Done
$20 / 2 weeks (every weekday)
This one is a fun one -- we wrote two versions of this course, so you could choose between our traditional Popforms-style spark or a snarky, tough love version of the same material. We all need to be more productive and get more done. This one has tons of strategies and suggestions for making the most of your time and eliminating the time-wasters.
Your Super Simple Guide to A Powerful Personal Brand
$20 / 10 weeks (weekly)
Your personal brand is how you make your mark on your industry. It’s shorthand, so people can easily recognize you and your best assets -- and it’s crucial to set up the key elements so you have it when you need to leverage it. We help you with everything from social media to community-building, and everything in between.
Learn to Write Emails People Will Read
$15 / 2 weeks (every weekday)
We all send tons of email these days, but are yours not getting the responses you hope for? There are lots of factors that influence what people reply to, what they ignore, and what makes them stand up and notice -- this spark takes you through the top concepts to make sure your most important messages get through.
Ten Days To Write More, Better
$15 / 2 weeks (every weekday)
Communication is key in almost every job, and good writing means you can get your point across to your colleagues in email, in presentations, in reports, and all the little situations where clear communication is essential. This is a guide to writing persuasively, proofreading effectively, creating a captivating headline, and much more.
"The thing I like most about popforms - whenever I think, "ah, I need to learn X because Y" - I go to popforms, and there's a spark for that. And the sparks are consistently excellent - thoughtful, pithy, inspiring."
Stacy-Marie Ishmael, sparks customer
Thank you so much for checking out Popforms, our sparks, and for following along with me on this crazy startup journey. If you want to keep up with my blogging, head over to popforms.com/blog where we are sharing tons of excellent reads on leadership, teams, and being excellent at your job every week.