With over 30 years of management experience, eight years in CEO roles in not for profit organizations and over 10 years as the founder of Threshold Management & Coaching, Carol Scholes has proven her expertise as a leader and someone who has been able to get the job done in difficult circumstances for businesses big and small.
We wanted to talk to Carol and learn more about her experiences with Daylite, and how going Cloud has made a good thing even better!
Hey Carol, Can you tell us a little about Threshold Management & Coaching and what you do?
Absolutely. Really what we do is help organizations achieve the results they want. We specialize in supporting boards and leaders within organizations, helping them change their focus towards the future. We help you ask the tough questions like asking ‘what’s working,’ ‘what’s not working’ and search for the answers that will direct where a business goes forward.
And how can someone get a hold of you if they need your services?
They can contact us by reaching out on our form on the website.
So, since moving to Cloud, how have things changed for you?
I am a busy person, and I try to keep my mind clear of things I don’t need to think about. Before Daylite Cloud I’d worry about the server and if syncing was working all the time. I trust things will work and I have so much more clarity because of Daylite Cloud.
Managing a server was an issue for you?
I love Daylite, but sometimes I’d just find managing the server hard work. There was often some kind of complication. I’d update my server computer, and something wouldn’t turn back on, or I’d get a new Mac, and there’d be some unexpected problem.
Daylite Cloud removes these problems, and I don’t need IT support or to spend my time keeping things running.
Does Threshold Management & Coaching Have An IT Team?
No, we don’t have an IT person. I am pretty good at fixing those things but it wasn’t always fast, and you never like fixing things when you could be doing your work. Sometimes I’d lose a whole day trying to get everything in order when something went wrong.
I don’t need that. I wanted to spend less time keeping the server up and more time working. I got just that with Daylite Cloud.
Have you noticed any other differences with Daylite Cloud?
Syncing is much faster now. Before, I noticed when a device was behind and sometimes it took so long to catch up. Now things are always up to date. It seems like it is syncing in real time.
When moving to Cloud did you have any considerations or concerns?
My main concern I had was how secure my data was. You made the information available on your security page, and so many companies don’t. That was it really. I see the value in Daylite, and I know that you guys had great support so I knew was going to be ok.
And your migration, how’d that go?
It was so fast! I honestly expected a big ordeal, and that it would take a long time but I was so happy to find out it was fast and easy. I simply sent my database in, and the next day I was using Daylite Cloud and not looking back.
That is great to hear. I’d like to discuss more on how you do your day-to-day. What does the start of your work day look like to you?
My typical day starts looking ahead. Actually, the start to my work day is the evening the day before! What I like to do is review all my appointments for the next day and see if I have done all the prep work I need to have a successful meeting and that I include travel time and stuff like that. After that, I look through all my tasks and make sure that my priorities are correct, and if not I can juggle them around.
Doing this really helps me prepare mentally for the day. You know, ‘do you have to wake up extra early?’ or ‘is it going to be a late night?’ and other things like that.
I actually have this routine for the end of the week and end of the month, so I am always looking forward and setting my priorities ahead of time.
What’s your favorite part of Daylite?
I love the Daylite Mail Assistant. The benefits of having a way to easily add every client interaction into Daylite are too many to count. I just love it. I use it every morning and quickly go through my email adding them to Daylite as well as creating the tasks I need or appointments I need from all that.
So having your client details helps you do business better?
For sure. It helps me with people I have worked with before. I have their information in an opportunity, with notes and emails and I can use that information to help build stronger relationships.
Have you found anything that helps you save time?
Activity Sets are a huge time saver. I have different Activity Sets which I add to my Projects and Opportunities. Some of my list of tasks go out two weeks a head of time, and if I had to think or add each task one at a time, it would take forever!
Do you use Opportunities and Projects a lot?
Oh, yes! They are my world! All my business starts off as an Opportunity, and my work becomes a Project. Everything related to that is linked to these. So tasks, appointments emails, everything.
I think doing it this way is really important because I work with the same clients a lot but do different jobs for them, and you need to be able to keep each project straight. I like to use categories to manage them.
How do Categories help you?
I work with a lot of different types of clients. Some clients are not for profit; others are larger corporations, governments as well as certain individuals. While each client is unique, these groups often have similar concerns, best practices, languages, etc. By seeing the category for each client I meet, I can mentally prepare ahead of time and give them my best.
So, to wrap up, can you summarize what Daylite is to you?
Daylite is organization. Daylite is having everything relevant about my clients in one place, no matter the device, at all times.
