Being the inquisitive mind that I am, I am always on the lookout for cool stuff that can actually help our businesses run more efficiently and effectively. Since the theme of our week has been riding the recession, I thought I would further contribute to your cost saving efforts with some recommendations and links to tools that I have found. Many of these tools are free and can actually help you cut costs if you decide to use them. In no particular order, here are some of the ones that I have come across and that I am using.
On the telecommunications front we have a couple of different technologies that I have been using as of late. The first is Skype. Skype allows you to call anybody on Skype free of charge. You can also buy time and call a regular phone for a very reasonable price or for something crazy like $3 a month you can get unlimited calling. They also have video capabilities so you can see who you are talking to as well. I use Skype through my computer but you can also buy a standard handset to use it. We've been doing international conference calls with it for free and the quality is good.
Another telecommunications offering we use is Free Conference. With Free Conference you can either set up a 800 number for 10 cents a minute or get a general number and local rates apply. With Free Conference there are no more thousand dollar conference calls. I believe there are a couple of other competitors in this space, so Google "free conference calls" to find the others.
We are also beginning to use YuuGuu. This is a free web conferencing technology that allows unlimited participants on a web conference. For those of you spending a fortune on Web X, this is a great alternative. You can also use this to collaborate with others through the web. You can share documents and your photos and all sorts of other stuff on your computer.
For those of you who are not fortunate enough to use a Mac and the new Time Machine for backing up data, a great and economical solution is Mozy. Pricing is as cheap as $3.95 per month for online back up. A lot cheaper than having a server and certainly better than having everything lost when your Windows machine inevitably crashes!
Boot strapping your business and maxed out on the credit cards or don't want to pay the "market rate" of 22%? Or, got some extra cash lying around and want to get better rates than what you can get from your bank? Then check out some of the peer-to-peer lending sites out there that let you borrow up to $25K. The biggest is Prosper. But a couple others are coming on strong and have different structures. Also check out Zopa and Lending Club.
Does your son/daughter/wife or best friend want to borrow money from you? Formalize the process with Virgin Money USA. Formerly Circle Lending it provides all the documentation necessary to formalize the loan and they will even do the collections for you at a reasonable price.
Those of us in the service business know what a pain in the ass it is to track our time and do our billing. Check out Fresh Books which is an online invoicing and time tracking software. I'm just beginning to play around with this, but its pretty affordable and from what I've seen it does a pretty good job.
On the personal money management side there are a number of financial manager websites out there that warrant taking a look. A couple to check out include Mint, Wesabe and Smart Hippo. I can't provide recommendations on them yet, but each looks pretty cool and given that the recession is going to make us all watch our spending a little more closely they are definitely worth exploring to see which one works best for you.
If your like me and don't necessarily think in a straight line, it might be time to look into Mind Mapping software which allows you to actually connect those random thoughts together. I use Mind Jet, which I believe is the best software out there. I particularly like it because I have handwriting that even I can't read, so when I'm in a meeting I just Mind Map the meeting and save it. You can then export it to a Word document or a Powerpoint. Reasonably priced at something like $79.95.
Lastly, we can't be all work and no play, so check out GameTap. They have close to 1,000 games that you can play online. This includes some classic arcade games like Pac Man, Galaga, Dig Dug and Burger Time. They have free games or you can join the service for $9.99 a month. Amanda, if your reading this, I never ever have time to play!
That is all I have for today, if your like me and in the office on this snowy day, take some time to explore these sites. It will be worthwhile.
On the telecommunications front we have a couple of different technologies that I have been using as of late. The first is Skype. Skype allows you to call anybody on Skype free of charge. You can also buy time and call a regular phone for a very reasonable price or for something crazy like $3 a month you can get unlimited calling. They also have video capabilities so you can see who you are talking to as well. I use Skype through my computer but you can also buy a standard handset to use it. We've been doing international conference calls with it for free and the quality is good.
Another telecommunications offering we use is Free Conference. With Free Conference you can either set up a 800 number for 10 cents a minute or get a general number and local rates apply. With Free Conference there are no more thousand dollar conference calls. I believe there are a couple of other competitors in this space, so Google "free conference calls" to find the others.
We are also beginning to use YuuGuu. This is a free web conferencing technology that allows unlimited participants on a web conference. For those of you spending a fortune on Web X, this is a great alternative. You can also use this to collaborate with others through the web. You can share documents and your photos and all sorts of other stuff on your computer.
For those of you who are not fortunate enough to use a Mac and the new Time Machine for backing up data, a great and economical solution is Mozy. Pricing is as cheap as $3.95 per month for online back up. A lot cheaper than having a server and certainly better than having everything lost when your Windows machine inevitably crashes!
Boot strapping your business and maxed out on the credit cards or don't want to pay the "market rate" of 22%? Or, got some extra cash lying around and want to get better rates than what you can get from your bank? Then check out some of the peer-to-peer lending sites out there that let you borrow up to $25K. The biggest is Prosper. But a couple others are coming on strong and have different structures. Also check out Zopa and Lending Club.
Does your son/daughter/wife or best friend want to borrow money from you? Formalize the process with Virgin Money USA. Formerly Circle Lending it provides all the documentation necessary to formalize the loan and they will even do the collections for you at a reasonable price.
Those of us in the service business know what a pain in the ass it is to track our time and do our billing. Check out Fresh Books which is an online invoicing and time tracking software. I'm just beginning to play around with this, but its pretty affordable and from what I've seen it does a pretty good job.
On the personal money management side there are a number of financial manager websites out there that warrant taking a look. A couple to check out include Mint, Wesabe and Smart Hippo. I can't provide recommendations on them yet, but each looks pretty cool and given that the recession is going to make us all watch our spending a little more closely they are definitely worth exploring to see which one works best for you.
If your like me and don't necessarily think in a straight line, it might be time to look into Mind Mapping software which allows you to actually connect those random thoughts together. I use Mind Jet, which I believe is the best software out there. I particularly like it because I have handwriting that even I can't read, so when I'm in a meeting I just Mind Map the meeting and save it. You can then export it to a Word document or a Powerpoint. Reasonably priced at something like $79.95.
Lastly, we can't be all work and no play, so check out GameTap. They have close to 1,000 games that you can play online. This includes some classic arcade games like Pac Man, Galaga, Dig Dug and Burger Time. They have free games or you can join the service for $9.99 a month. Amanda, if your reading this, I never ever have time to play!
That is all I have for today, if your like me and in the office on this snowy day, take some time to explore these sites. It will be worthwhile.
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