Tag Archive for: television producer

Quicker Than a Celeb Marriage — Zirtual Is Back

Zirtual WebsiteUPDATE: This is a correction to a post I wrote this week called, “Outsourcing Site Zirtual Goes Bye Bye…Don’t Panic.”

Great news…you really don’t have to panic…

Zirtual is BACK!

Yep — just like that.

In the blink of an eye all those annoying tasks you didn’t want to do yourself — can be outsourced to a Zirtual assistant again!

I’ve rarely had to cover breaking news on this blog — I reserve that for my day job as a TV producer.  But I’m excited to bring you this up-to-the-minute update.

I heard from the CEO at Startups.co, which bought out Zirual after their payroll snafu.  Wil Schroter wrote via email:

We bought the company and are operating as per before.  Your article is inaccurate.  Happy to answer questions.

I didn’t realize they had gotten operations up and running so quickly.

Well that’s fabulous and that means you need to get going on that to-do list you’ve been putting off.  And by get to… I mean give it to someone else to do!

Outsourcing is your friend.

Sometimes Productivity Falls Through the Cracks

I have to admit when I got this email from Wil my heart sank.  I thought, “oh no! I got it wrong! I let my readers down.”

You see — as a producer working in news — “getting it right” is something that is really important to me — really it’s the only thing that matters.

I’m sorry I got this one wrong.  When I published that first post — the Zirtual blog still said it was in limbo and to stay tuned so that’s what I went with.

As soon as I learned about the update though — I preempted the blog post that was supposed to run today so I could bring you the most accurate information.

Sometimes productivity and accuracy does fall through the cracks. We are all human — remember not to be too hard on yourself today.

Thanks for understanding about my oversight and I hope you’re just as excited as I am that Zirtual is back!

Produce Your Life With Lists

As a TV producer — I think in lists all day long: segment ideas, schedules, questions, shots, etc.  Many of the skills I use at work come in handy in my everyday life too.  Grocery shopping, looking for an apartment, traveling and even clothing shopping becomes much easier with a plan — and a list!

If you think of your life like a newscast — and break it up into little bite-sized segments — it will be much easier to manage and be successful.  I talked to Hilary Topper on her show, “Hilary Topper On Air” about how thinking like a producer will make you more efficient and less stressed in every aspect of your life.  We talked about websites to make your life simpler, how to get your holiday shopping done with ease and ways to save money.

Take a listen to her show on Blog Talk Radio and let me know what you think!

Backtiming: Producer Tip for a More Productive Day

In television news – timing is everything. Producers, anchors, reporters, videographers and editors work on very strict deadlines. Sometimes stories have to come together quickly – this makes time management one of the keys to success in this business. Working in TV news for over a decade has conditioned me to use this skill to be more efficient in everyday life.

Time Management

One of those time management skills is called backtiming. It’s a technique used to make sure all the stories fit into the show and you can get off the air on time. A line producer assigns a time estimate to each story depending how important it is. All those time estimates add up to fill the newscast. You have to make all the news of the day, sports, weather and entertainment fit in that timespan. Read more