Linqto is a wonderful new tool that business owners should investigate. This afternoon I am hosting my first “call” using linqto. It has all the bells and whistles of many webinar type products, with an added benefit of connecting to Facebook. For me, this is going to be great when teaching – either one-on-one or virtual classrooms. I can use it to have meetings with clients or potential clients. I could use it instead of driving to local businesses when explaining things. It would be great for just visiting with friends and family, too.

I love cool software. This has so much potential. It’s kind of like Facebook TV. In fact, some linqto subscribers are doing exactly that – weekly shows at a set time. I haven’t gotten to that point yet, but this is just an example of the power it has. Other uses are discussion groups, online meetings, mastermind sessions, and focus groups. Vicki Sarris, one of the developers and owners, calls it a “live interaction platform.” Benefits for class participants are the ability to chat during the call, ask questions privately to the presenter, and being able to use their own webcam and mic and be seen and heard live. Some may choose to cover up their camera and just use the mic, or maybe all they have is a mic attached to their computer.

One other nice feature is “raise hand.” I will be using this during the call when polling the participants. Everyone can see who has raised their hands. It’s going to be much more interactive and interesting to all involved.  You should check it out.

(I am not in any way affiliated with this company and get no money from them when talking about linqto or if anyone joins as a result of my information.)

This week is so exciting for me – in a stepping outside my comfort zone kind of way. My new 2010 series of free monthly teleseminars starts on Thursday, and I am so thrilled with the prospect of doing this that I’ve kind of got butterflies already! I am meeting a number of great people during this process, and I’ve gotten tons of welcome advice and assistance in putting it all together. Each month I’ll be sharing a lot of information about marketing your business, and often the topic will be related to social media. This link has all the details about the first call.

If you have questions about why you should be marketing with Facebook, I’d love to hear from you! Leave me a comment and I’ll address that on my call this week. Or if you have other marketing questions, let me know those, too.  That might wind up being a great idea for another month’s free call.

Now, back to the Olympics…

We’ve been doing the Inbox Shuffle around my house lately. I’ve seen several posts from my Organizing and Systemizing friends on Facebook and Twitter on this topic, too. Must be the New Year. Anywho, clutter control is not one of my passions or strengths. In fact, one of the items on my Vision Board is “Conquer Clutter.” Maybe some of you struggle with this, too.

This week my husband, Mr. UnCommon Sense, started a new job. Therefore, he has a new computer, new software, and a recycling bin so full that two men had to lift it into the truck. He has just started learning Outlook, and I am helping him set it up. This is the part of the blog where I tell you that folders are your friends. Like most of you, I get dozens of emails every day. That would be a light email day! Years ago I learned the value of folders and have taught a number of friends, family members and clients some of these things. Here are the basics.

Create subfolders in your inbox for different categories. For example, you might have a folder in each client’s name. You might have one for Family. Maybe one for Vacation or Hobbies. Additionally, set up folders for all those SignUps to various things, Ezines, Social Media, Church, Software, each child’s school and sport, or anything else that is subject oriented that you get a lot of email for.

Create rules in Outlook for how you are going to handle the incoming email. All Facebook messages or Twitter DM’s automatically flow into a folder and not into my Inbox. Most of my ezines flow directly into the ezine folder instead of coming into my inbox. Stores that I receive sale notices about get the same treatment. I have folders set up for a couple of my lesser used email addresses and any incoming email addressed to those email addresses goes right into those folders. This does an immediate cut back of clutter. You could have email from each of your clients go directly to a folder. I prefer to have them come directly into my inbox, though.

During the times of the day that you handle email, do whatever you need to with the item and then delete or store it in one of the other folders right away. I know some people have a “To Do” kind of folder that emails go to that need action taken on.  The point is, if you are not using folders, it is a great tool if for no other reason than you can find emails quickly by going to the correct folder.

You might find it helpful to do a review of all the emails you are getting and start using the rules and folders in your email software. Then, don’t forget to back it all up!

You know that I have a new desk top computer, right? Well, it took about a month before I started moving everything from my laptop over to the new desktop. I was getting by with some of my files and programs on one, and some on the other. And a lot of files spread between two external hard drives. It was really dumb and took too much mental energy to keep up with it all. For some reason, in the back of my head, I kept hoping that I would wake up and the computer fairy would have done it in the middle of the night. Finally, a couple of weeks ago I took  a morning and dedicated myself to the big job. And of course it didn’t take as long as I feared.

I can’t lie to you. It’s not all moved. And I haven’t changed over my Carbonite subscription or my security software. After waiting on hold for about 10 minutes and leaving a call back number to my security software company, I still haven’t heard back. Now I’ll have to call again. curses.  I’m still using the 60 day free trial that was installed on the computer so that gives me some sense of security. no pun intended. And I keep discovering other little programs that need to be re-downloaded and installed, too. This could go on indefinitely at this rate!

So my post today is about documenting your computer programs and files. Keep a record of everything you add to your system, put all the receipts,  logins, passwords, software keys, etc. in one place. Then you won’t have to go running around without a checklist like I appear to be doing right now. [As my Dad always said when we were growing up, "Don't do as I do, do as I say."]  Ideally you would have a folder with all of the software information in it, and keep your software CD’s together for quick retrieval. I have a folder on my computer labeled “Downloaded Programs” and it contains all the programs I download rather than having actual CD’s.

My next big to-do will be to document my new system and file it away for the next time I have to “rebuild” a computer. Do you have any good ideas to share about this?

A couple weeks ago I conducted a social media presentation to a large group of business owners from my area. Shortly thereafter one of the attendees became my client. She wanted some help boosting her internet presence. We started with a great strategy session and brainstormed a lot of ideas. Well, earlier this week I received an email from her bragging about the videos she had made showing multiple applications for her product.  After viewing them, one of my friends said, “She could be the new Billy Mays.” I think she’s right!

Here is the link for one of the videos.  NokOut There are several additional videos already listed on You Tube, and she is adding more in the next week. I was so proud of her and the videos that I wanted to share them with you. They are only 1 minute long, but definitely get the message across. Each video shows a different application for using this product.

If you have a product to sell, why don’t you make some videos. Create a free You Tube account, upload the videos, and then start spreading the word on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, and put it on your website.  Ask your clients and customers to send in videos they have made using your product, too. Be creative – have a video contest perhaps. Videos can be used for teaching, giving a look at your restaurant or store, or explaining something new.  All you need is an inexpensive video camera ($150-$175). If you want to do some simple editing, there are a variety of software tools that you can use. My favorite is Camtasia Studio. You can use it for editing both video and audio, and at $299, it’s been a nice tool to add to my business.

Good luck with your own video marketing. Just be careful what you create: You Tube is forever.

Don’t you love all the free stuff you can get on the internet? Last night I discovered Windows Movie Maker. In a few minutes I had imported a couple dozen pictures from a client and created a short movie.

Apparently this was part of the pre-loaded software on my laptop and I never knew it. (Go ahead and check your own computer now. I’ll wait. )  Anyway, one of my business coaches, Allison Babb, pointed me to this a couple of weeks ago. It’s a great way to create those little movies that everyone seems to be posting on their websites. It was easy to figure out- there was a timeline on the screen where I dragged each picture in order. Then I could create a blank “slide” with text on it to display between photos, and additionally a place to enter the text I wanted to display on top of any pictures.

Right now my client is picking out some music to add to her movie. That will just be added to the timeline, and then it’s just a matter of getting the timing right to match with her music.  Another easy drag with the mouse one way or the other to change timing. Last, one menu option creates the finished movie. Voila! Easy peasy.

How about a quick movie with pics from your trip to the beach, or Bobby Joe’s birthday party? So go now and be clever and amazing to your friends and clients! For free.  Gotta love it.