Delaware’s tech and creative class gives us the lowdown on their work style in our column, Work Hacks.

Heather Lumb knows it’s weird but she swears by webinars.
“I’m trying super hard to get my coworkers into this jive but only one has budged so far!” said Lumb, a digital marketing strategist who has worked at Wilmington interactive marketing firm Möbius New Media since January 2016.
She added: “To me, learning is non-negotiable no matter what your experience level is.”
Here are a few more of her go-to work tricks that help her remain productive on busy days.

What is a normal workday like for you? 

A normal workday always starts with a good cup of coffee, email, my SEO news sites, and some sort of bad-for-me breakfast. After that it’s anyone’s guess. I am constantly running site audits and checking reports for clients and testing Google and Bing rankings. I also am a social media and email advisor/implementer, so I have plenty of mini meetings where, say, we need to decide if [the word] “sup” is appropriate for the audience we are trying to reach at that time.

Name something you do each day that helps you be productive and enjoy your work.

Every day I have to check reports to see how my efforts are being seen by Google and my clients. I use multiple kinds of reports — Google Analytics, Search Console, SEMrush, Facebook Insights, Local SEO and even our own data reports in-house. I MUST review these to know what’s working, what’s not, what should still be tested, what’s trending, rankings, all of it. If my mind goes blank at any point, I do this immediately to pull me back in.

Heather Lumb’s work hack? Use a pen instead of a hairtie. (Courtesy photo)

What is one thing about your work that is something only you do?

I absolutely swear by webinars. This is weird, I’m sure, but I make time for at least two informative webinars a month. Maybe it’s something about SEO and how it never stops and is constantly evolving, but I always make time for learning and leadership advice. I’m trying super hard to get my coworkers into this jive but only one has budged so far! To me, learning is non-negotiable no matter what your experience level is.
I’m also the only one in the office who holds her hair up with a pen. Even though I’m the only woman in the office, there are two other guys with hair as long as mine!

Do you prefer to handle projects alone or work as a team?

I am a team player with a solo agenda. What that means is that brainstorming and bouncing opinions back and forth is a fun activity to me that I encourage weekly, and it’s crucial to anyone charging someone else for services. But I have a solo agenda in that I’m glued to my computer and can zone out like nobody’s business. If I’m working on end-of-month reports, forget it. Unfinished projects are terrifying to me, so if I’m getting close to the end, back away from my desk.

Do you have any tricks that keep you from getting distracted during the day? 

I have this Fidget Cube that keeps me from getting too distracted from what I’m doing. I love it, everyone loves it. But I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t just thrive in the daily distractions sometimes, I’m way too hyper. I’ll bounce around my coworkers desks, getting opinions on copy, content ideas, I’ll ask programmers in person about a specific DNS issue and I stick to that method. Too many great problems were solved in this office with face-to-face chats, so it’s one distraction I’ll welcome. Unless it’s end-of-month reports time!