TextExpander Story: How Patrick Rhone uses TextExpander to be a better writer, speaker, and consultant

Hi Patrick Rhone! Please introduce yourself and what you do for a living.

I’m Patrick Rhone. I’m a writer, speaker, consultant, mindfulness practitioner, and am sometimes described as The Nicest Guy on The Internet. I write in many places, but it’s best to start at my personal site first and that should lead you to the rest.

And how about what you do for fun?

I spend time with my daughter, laugh with my wife, play with my dogs, and take not-often-enough hikes.

What are some of the challenges in your line of work that TextExpander has helped you address? Where has it been most impactful for you?

Well, it helps me be fairly quick at responding to many emails. I often get a lot of the same questions from clients and readers that have been asked before. TextExpander helps me to have quick but complete replies just a few keystrokes away.

I often say that if I have to type the same thing more than twice, it belongs in TextExpander.

If you can remember, think back to your work B.T.E. – Before TextExpander. What were those dark times like?

I actually started my paid writing career responding to customer service letters in the days before email was a “thing.” Not even macros were in wide use. So, I had a word processor document, several pages long, with all of my standard responses. I would copy and paste from one document to the other to build each letter.

When email came along I still kept that habit. I kept a text file full of standard responses for emails, and I’d switch back and forth between that document and my email, copying replies over, dozens of times a day. It was tedious and, in hindsight, a massive waste of time.

Do you remember how you discovered TextExpander?

I don’t. It was likely mentioned on a podcast or something. Once I found out what it was and what you could do with it, I was sold.

I’m a big believer in using and learning keyboard shortcuts to save time. To be able to execute paragraphs worth of writing with a few taps is like magic — huge time saver.

If you could pick one thing, what would you most like to see improved or added to TextExpander?

Gosh, I don’t know. I’m pretty happy with it and I don’t even use half of the features it has now. I should probably try to learn those first before asking for more.

Could you share a couple snippets that are specific to your industry?

"First off, let me apologize for the abysmally slow response. Life gets in the way sometimes and my email is generally the first to take the brunt of the blow."

and

"Thank you for your kind words. Time is an extremely valuable resource so it means a lot to me when someone takes some of theirs to send me feedback and encouragement.

My best to you.

Thanks."

Can you share a couple of your TextExpander stats?

I’ve saved 12 hours and expanded 4,067 snippets and 153,600 characters.

If you’d like to share anything else, this is a great place to do it.

Be kind.