Archive for Essential Tools
Essential Tools Featuring Logan Thompson
Posted by: | Comments
School’s out for the summer (at least where we are), but as any good internet professional knows, everyday is an opportunity to learn something new! This week’s Essential Tools series features affiliate marketer, designer and entrepreneur, Logan Thompson and his essential tools for online success.
In Logan’s own words:
DropBox – I don’t know what I’d do without Dropbox. I can store and backup all my files so I can work from multiple computers and even off my iPhone. Plus it is great for sharing large files with other people.- Meebo – I spend quite a bit of time chatting with clients and colleagues online and Meebo keeps all my instant messaging clients in one web interface. It definitely helps me keep things in order.
- Web Developer Firefox Add-On – Has so many tools I use when building sites, especially when working with CSS. Cuts my development time in half at least.
- WiredTree – My hosting provider is essential to my business. I’ve used a LOT of web hosts, and they are by far the best. Fast support and they manage my server for me so I can focus on my business.
- Outright – Keeps all of my bookkeeping in one easy to user online interface. It has saved me so much time since I switched from Quickbooks. Plus it’s free so you can’t beat that.
- TweetDeck – Still my favorite Twitter app. Runs on my iPhone and desktop so I can stay in the Twitter loop.
Thanks for being part of this series, Logan, and for sharing a tool that is new to me – Outright – it looks like something I need to be using, especially since it works with FreshBooks.
Subscribe to the Essential Keystrokes feed so you don’t miss a single Essential Tools feature. If you are interested in sharing your essential tools for business, drop me a line at cpolanosky [at] gmaildotcom.
Essential Tools Featuring WordPress Designer Rebecca Diamond
Posted by: | CommentsAre you ready for the long weekend? I know I am! But, before I sign off for the weekend (ok, who am I trying to fool, I will be online at least a little bit), I want to introduce you to another super talented WordPress designer, Rebecca Diamond of StudioPress and Rebwebdesign.com. Rebecca became such a fan of Brian Gardner’s StudioPress themes, she actually works full time for StudioPress these days.
Rebecca’s must haves for online success:
- Gmail – after a disastrous Thunderbird crash in which I lost a year’s worth of archived email, I now route everything through Gmail
- CoffeeCup Direct FTP – it can edit php and html directly on the server. For $40, it was a lot less expensive than one of the more well-known FTP/editing clients out there, so it’s what I learned on. It’s worked so well that I’ve never switched it for another program!
- Photoshop – Goes (almost) without saying!
- Favorite WordPress Plugins – Dynamic Content Gallery, Genesis Simple Hooks, and Gravity Forms
- Tweetdeck / Twitter – again, a business given these days. Plus it’s fun to catch up on little snippets of everyone’s life!
- Skype -it lets me be in contact with clients around the world, travels with me, works on my cell phone – I love it.
- PayPal – for fast, easy and convenient client billing
- And for collaborating on big projects I like Action Method Online. It keeps everyone in the loop much better than a huge email chain cc’d everywhere.
Thanks for being part of this series, Rebecca, and for sharing a tool that is new to me – Action Method Online. I love learning about new tools for productivity!
Subscribe to the Essential Keystrokes feed so you don’t miss a single Essential Tools feature. If you are interested in sharing your essential tools for business, drop me a line at cpolanosky [at] gmaildotcom.
Essential Tools featuring Tammy Lenski
Posted by: | CommentsThis week’s Essential Tools series features Dr. Tammy Lenski, conflict management specialist, author and consultant who also happens to be a very successful blogger (at Conflict Zen). Tammy is also the co-founder of the Mediation Business Summit virtual conference, where I will be speaking in September on the topic of website essentials for small businesses.
Like many small business owners, Tammy’s business has to be ready to run from anywhere – on the road, in a client’s office, in a home office or anywhere she happens to be that day. As a result, the majority of her business is run in the “cloud” (here is a great article from one of my essential tools, FreshBooks, with 3 Reasons Your Business Needs to Run in Cloud).
In her own words, Tammy’s essential tools for running a small business in the cloud…
I default to tools that I can use cross-platform from wherever I am (I travel a lot for business), so I prefer the cloud (with good backup mechanisms) and apps that have companion iPhone apps. These are the ones I use every day:
Highrise: I use it for client relationship management and as my task manager — all emails to and from clients end up here, as do notes from client calls and visits, along with documents. I can tell in an instant what I need to do next for a client or project and I can give my assistant access for when clients call and I’m not in the office.
Dropbox: I have several MacBook Pros and an iPhone and want to spend zero time remembering to sync. Dropbox takes care of it all for me and I can get any files I need from wherever I am. It’s saved me in a pinch more than a few times!
Evernote: I use it for, well, everything. Hotel and flight confirmations, notes for speeches, screen grabs of websites I like, gardening ideas, you name it. It really is my external brain.
WordPress with StudioPress: I love the ease and extensibility of WordPress and customize my sites myself using Brian Gardner’s terrific, powerful themes as the design foundation.
Google Voice: I work all over the place – office, home, hotel rooms, on-site while visiting a corporate client. Google Voice helps make me accessible, sends me my messages as texts for quick reviewing, and automatically knows to send business calls to voicemail during evenings and weekends.
Google Apps for Business: Mostly use Gmail and Calendar, both syncing to my iPhone.
Chrome: It’s light and fast and since I do so much of my office work using the cloud, it’s a timesaver, even with the Mac version still in beta I’m loving it.
Thanks Tammy for giving us a glimpse into your business and how the sky (I mean the cloud) is limit!
Subscribe to the Essential Keystrokes feed so you don’t miss a single Essential Tools feature. If you are interested in sharing your essential tools for business, drop me a line at cpolanosky [at] gmaildotcom.
