A lot of people believe that it would be great to be their own boss and run their own business out of their home. After all, you don’t have to answer to anyone but yourself. No one is ever telling you what to do or how to do it. And there’s no commuting. All of this is true. It is also true that when you are your own boss, as I am and have been for years working as an affiliate marketer and coach, that if you don’t get it done, it is never getting done.
Basically, it’s up to that person who decides to run their own business to get it all done. That means being totally organized and able to function at peak efficiency. You get to choose each and every tool that you’ll use, including deciding which of the many types of home office desks are right for you and which computer-based tools will make your life easier.
Being Organized
Being organized is essential. I found that out very quickly when I started as an affiliate marketer and discovered that I was often repeating steps, misplacing essential information and wasting time by not being able to connect with the people with whom I needed to speak.
Over the years, I have discovered eight essential tools that have gone a long way to helping me get organized. Each of these tools has made my office and my day much more orderly, allowed me to become more efficient and aided me in becoming a successful affiliate marketer.
Prior to discovering these tools, I had little hope of being the guy who got to build and drive the kit car of his dreams—the 1965 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C. And although I always possessed the drive to succeed, I don’t know if I could have done it to the degree that I have without these eight tools.
The Tools
There are eight tools that I have found are especially important in providing users with every advantage they need when it comes to staying organized, running efficiently and collaborating. Here’s a quick list of all eight.
- Skype – If you have not yet used Skype, you have to do so immediately. This amazing communication device allows you to video conference, collaborate and share all sorts of information with people anywhere in the world.
- SnagIt – I love this Skype add-on because it makes image sharing so easy. This screen capture software allows you to add captions and collaborate on visuals.
- Pamela – This Skype add-on has been downloaded more than four million times. It’s a voice recorder and much more as it allows you to create a personalized message, record messages and remind you of birthdays.
- Google Calendar – Get and stay organized with this fine tool from Google. You won’t miss an appointment or forget a deadline and you can access the information from any computer.
- Google Documents – This software allows you to access and share documents no matter where you are. All you require is an Internet connection and a computer (any computer).
- RoboForm – I’d lost numerous important passwords, usernames and other forms of important information before I found RoboForm. That no longer occurs with this software as I’m not able to recall important information in an instant.
- Carbonite – If I lost all of my contacts, projects, financial accounts and other such information on my hard drive, I’d be in big trouble. That can’t happen with Carbonite as it regularly backups all of my important information on a secure server.
- PageLeap – Do you hate losing track of those webpages that are most important to your business? That will no longer happen with PageLeap as it displays those pages on one screen, making them instantly accessible.
Get it Together!
If you want to succeed, then you will need to get your office together and ensure it is properly functioning. By the way, if you don’t have room for a big home office, that’s okay. You can choose one of the many smaller corner computer desks on the market to act as your workstation. The main thing is if you are going to work from your home, you must get and stay organized. The tools in the article are designed to do just that. Start setting up you office this weekend and soon you can be up and running and making money!
Over to You
Do you have a favorite tool to share? Do use any of the tools above?
Twitter: Ileane
says:
Hi James, I can’t tell you how many times Mitch aka @Anklebuster has told me about RoboForm, but for the life of me I don’t know why I haven’t downloaded it yet.
There are a few more tools you mention here that I need to explore. Skype has some great extensions, thanks for sharing them.
Ileane Smith recently posted..10 Most Popular Online Office Tools
Twitter: JamesMartell
says:
Hi Ileane,
I love RoboForm. I couldn’t live with out. It’s very easy to use. Go ahead and take the leap. The water is warm.
James
James Martell recently posted..Affiliate Buzz 201 – Affiliate Marketing Success Stories
Twitter: linknami
says:
I’d like to add another tool: google reader. It is a great tool for blog commenting because you get notified as soon as new blog entries arrive from the blogs that really interest you and you can briefly scan the title if it sounds like something of interest to you. It is basically the newspaper 2.0
There’s a couple of great little backup tools there. Just as an overall backup system, I love ICEMirror – free tool that simply scans whatever you want on your hard drive, and creates a mirror of it on (for example) your external back up drive.
I much prefer it to more complex backup systems that compress the files and stuff.
Simon Canter recently posted..Finding The Best Prostate Supplements To Promote Male Health
Twitter: Sticky_Business
says:
I like Evernote. It makes saving urls, bookmarking, creating idea files, saving images or video very simple.
Twitter: LoveThatBug
says:
Great suggestions James. I’ve recently bought a lovely new desk that is big enough to hold everything but not so big as to swamp my tiny “at home” office. And a filing cabinet. I guess I’m old school because I still end up with heaps of paper work. The filing cabinet is such a treat. At last I can find things when I need them!
Dawn recently posted..Apr 19- Green Vibrance Probiotic
Twitter: DennisEdell
says:
Excellent list James. Being one of those with a bedroom/office I need to consolidate as much as possible.
Dennis Edell recently posted..Link Building and List Building – A Blog or Newsletter
This is a great post. I like to use Skype to communicate with my family and friends and also RoboForm, because sometimes I forgot my username/password
Rabihat recently posted..Exercises You Can Do to Lose Man Boobs
Twitter: selfishyayun
says:
Things that you mentioned earlier it is still strange for me, I first heard it and it may be because I’m still very new in the world this blog. I’m sure all tools that I can immediately use
selfishyayun recently posted..I Kiss You- Please Kiss Me Back
Twitter: atulperx
says:
You have mentioned very nice info like if you don’t get it done, it is never getting done. I have seen many new promoters those are not interested in many section and keep outsourcing from different places and at end they find no big profits. I recomend to learn all the steps yourself and do them again and again till you achieve satisfied results. After that you can decide to use outsourcing and track what has been done by them on daily or weekly reports. By this you can compare the cost you invested with profit making .. But if you just invest money and start looking for profits then 90%+ losses are guaranteed..
Atulperx recently posted..New Blogger Templates for Blogspot – 2011 April Edition
Twitter: Neal_Morga
says:
Whilst I find Google docs good i have now discovered Dropbox. I have an affiliate link if anyone wants to get it, you receive 2.5gb storage instead of 2gb if you sign up through an affiliate.
Anyway. I find that onenote is brilliant for keeping my passwords etc safe and storing the onenote file in my dropbox folder keeps it synced with all the computers and my windows phone.
Neal Morgan recently posted..Help choosing your wedding reception venue
Never thought of using quite a few of those tools before – i can see how they would be useful. Thanks.
wow, never heard of half of those tools – gonna have to get busy looking into them! have to agree that google calendar is a MUST have though, even got it synced up with my HTC
Matt recently posted..Top 5 Free Android Business Apps
Twitter: arjunchauhan24
says:
OMG.. thanks fr giving me the list of those magnanimous tools..
Arjun Singh recently posted..Adsense Tips-Tricks and Secrets
Thanks for the robbo form tip. I heard of it before and saw you mention it, so i decided to go download it. Its amazing! It will save me so much time filling out forms, awesome, thanks!
bingobabe recently posted..Bingo Entertainment Shows 48 Revenue Hike in UK Market
Twitter: veryveryblessed
says:
I find organization and prioritizing are key.
Roboform is my favorite time-saving piece of software. The newest version, called Roboform Everywhere, allows you to access your passwords and private information from all of your computers, and keeps them all synchronized. It even works on phones and ipods.
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