The Reata BizBlog

I used to carry a micro-cassette recorder so I could make "notes" to myself when I was driving.  When I got to the office I would listen to the recording and write down my To Do list.

Then mobile phones and voicemail came into the picture and I would then just call my office phone and leave a message with the reminder.  But I'd still have to listen to it and write it down.

Well all that is behind me now.  I now use www.Jott.com - a free service which converts my voice memos into emails both to myself and others.  So here's how it works.  I call a toll-free phone number using a speed dial button on my mobile phone.  The Jott system recognizes that it's me calling (I guess it uses caller ID to know it's me) and asks me, "who do you want to Jott?"  I say, "me" and it responds, "Jott yourself." After the beep I leave my message and hang up.  The voice memo is then converted to text and an email is sent to me automatically.  I can Jott my wife, one of my agents, or even a group all at once and emails go directly to them.  I could make a call to them just as easily, but sometimes I don't have time for a conversation and just want to send a quick message.

You can sign up for Jott for free.  It takes a couple of minutes, but will save you lots of time, keep you from crashing your car while taking notes, and prevent forgeting something that's really important if not written down that second (maybe that one is just me).  There are other services that do this as well, but I haven't used those.  CopyTalk (www.CopyTalk.com) is one of those.  It requires a fee but then it probably offers additional services or features.

Bob Gibbons can be reached at bob@reatacommercialrealty.com.