Recommended Resources for
Brilliance-Based Businesswomen,
Especially Us Single Moms
We all get hungry. Seamless is the fastest, easiest way to order pickup or delivery from 10,500+ restaurants in more than 40 cities. You can order from your computer, iPhone, iPad, or Android device. Use my link below to get a $5 discount on your first order!
Order a meal for you or a friend
My personal To Do List also never seems to end. In fact, one of the keys to experiencing joy and ease, for me, has been accepting that I simply can’t finish everything on my list. And yet, it’s possible someone else can! Task Rabbit matches busy people with errand runners in cities across the US, no membership or pre-planning required. Find someone to pick up your dry cleaning, run to Costco, move your stuff, etc. You can also hire someone to work for you virtually, regardless of your location. The typical task costs $7 – $15, far less than a personal assistant. Let me know how you like it!
I have found Dropbox to be the easiest way to store, sync, and, share files online. Dropbox works seamlessly with your operating system and across platforms. There’s no complicated interface to learn. I use it to share files with my entire team, which includes people with Macs and PCs. Best part? It’s free.
OFFICE AUTOPILOT
Until recently, I was using a combination of Mad Mimi for email marketing plus AutoWebBusiness (also known as 1 Shopping Cart) for website sales, digital product delivery, affiliate program management, credit card processing and recurring billing. The combination was just too much hassle. So my team and I did a ton of research to find a simple, streamlined service with excellent customer support. We found it in Office AutoPilot! If you sell products or services online, I recommend you explore it.
Streamline Your Marketing and Sales Today
JOINT VENTURE WOMEN
Through joint ventures, my client Lynn Smith has substantially grown her Brilliance-Based business, reaching more women with her message and creating rewarding business relationships with like-minded women she otherwise wouldn’t have met. When she created her system, she expanded her community by 464% within nine months! Now we can all benefit from her community.
At Joint Venture Women, you’ll find Brilliance-Based Businesswomen ready for connection, collaboration, and learning. How would it benefit your business to welcome new members into your community every single month?
Build Meaningful Business Partnerships
I am totally inspired by Janet Powers at Women’s Toolbox. She has huge goals for her community of women entrepreneurs, and I predict she will reach them fast. She is a warm, genuine connector, truly interested in benefitting women entrepreneurs. Already her site as better page views per user and longer visits than Oprah.com. If you want to host a radio show, be a media resource, or be found easily by women in your target market, get involved with Women’s Toolbox.
I simply uploaded my Powerpoint presentation (it could have been a video clip, document, or photos instead) and then spoke my narration into the telephone. Within seconds of hanging up the phone, Brainshark stored my presentation, ready for me to link to or embed on my own site. In other words, they have an easy, step-by-step process that allows anyone with internet access to transform content into voice-enriched video presentations. And if you want, they even promote your content to their community. Best of all – it’s free!
You make an agreement with someone and you want to get it signed and get them a copy with your signature too? So you use mail, or fax, or a scanner, or some combination, all of which seems to take too long?
Well, Echosign takes all the hassle out of it. There’s no printing, faxing, or scanning. We send a document (W-9, non-disclosure agreement, independent contractor agreement, client agreement, credit card approval, love note, or whatever) from the Echosign site to one or more intended recipients. They receive an email from us and “sign” it digitally, at no cost to them. Then they receive a copy signed by us. Echosign automatically files .pdfs for us both. And the digital signature is as legally binding as a paper signature. Easy-peasy!
EchoSign has a free option, which is where we started. Full disclosure: if you choose a paid account, connect2 will get a small fee for referring you. If you try it, let me know what you think!
Try Electronic Document Signing
The GO System is all about workplace productivity that I also apply to organize every aspect of my life’s physical and virtual paperwork.
Years ago, I participated in a training program to learn the GO System and it literally changed my life. I went from referring daily to my 300+ item electronic task list to referring to one simple folder that contains all my tasks and projects for the day. Best of all, I know where everything in my office is – every client folder and resource from my 12+ years in business.
If you’re curious about learning more, quickly and inexpensively, check out Getting Organized, Improving Focus, Organization and Productivity. The book itself is organized to be an easy read. It is full of tips and strategies for getting and staying organized.
Declutter and Organize Your Life
When you need to decide who will host your domain, you should checkout the Go Daddy Group. They offer everything you need to make a name for yourself on the Web, from domain names and website builders to complete eCommerce solutions.
They are the world’s #1 ICANN-accredited domain registrar by delivering world-class products at competitive prices and supporting them with industry-best service, delivered 24/7/365. Go Daddy manages more than 50 million domain names and is the largest hosting provider in the world. They have gained my trust – give them a try!
Try Go Daddy for Hosting and Domain Registration
Elance is the leading site for Briliance-Based Businesspeople to connect with each other to get work done. I’ve met some of my best team members here. Whether you’re looking for freelancers with specific expertise or a few more clients, this is the easiest and fastest resource I’ve found.
In short, Elance delivers an immediate, cost-effective and flexible way to find, hire, manage and pay independent professionals and contractors online. If you sign up from the link below, Elance will send you a gift to help you get started.
Need to read lots of files on the go? Goodreader is your solution for PDFs, Word, Excel, Google Docs, and more. Better yet, you can download documents from URLs. The reader handles heavy documents without a problem and can even unzip files easily. Its clear management system makes it easy to find what you are looking for quickly and to store all your professional documents with just a finger tap. Available for iPhone, iPad, $0.99
The Evernote motto says it all: “Capture anything, access anywhere, find things fast.” Record a conversation or lecture at a conference, snap a photo, capture a web clip and more. This handy app will ensure you never forget any piece of important information. Available for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, free
Make Your Important Information Accessible
Do you carry sensitive, private information on your mobile device? Use Mobile Defense to protect your client information in case you lose your phone– or better yet, lock your phone remotely or locate a missing phone, sign up on their website to be notified of the next release for this powerful app. Available for Android, free
Protect Your Private Information
Gone are the days of exchanging business card thanks to Bump. It’s not good for the environment, they are easy to lose, and you will ultimately want the data in a digital format anyway. This app allows you to simply bump hands with your colleague while you each hold your devices and Voila! You can share contacts, calendars, and even connect via LinkedIn and Facebook. Available for iPhone, iPad, free
DRAGON DICTATION
I use Dragon Dictation on my iPhone, and find the hands-free voice recognition application is easy to use and you can instantly see your text in everything from email messages to blog posts. It is actually faster than typing on the keyboard. So use it on Facebook, Twitter and email, and enjoy the freedom from tap, tap, tap.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL TRANSACTIONAL LAW CLINIC
The Transactional Law Clinic at Harvard Law School offers low-cost legal services to business owners by pairing experienced and expert attorneys with advanced law students. The program delivers critical legal counsel to clients, while giving the law students the opportunity to gain practical experience by handling real cases for real clients. They offer general legal services across a broad range of situations, including business formation, contract preparation, review and negotiation, permitting and licensing, trademarks and copyrights, corporate governance and compliance review, and more.
PAPERBACK SWAP
I am an avid reader. Although I love libraries, I prefer to collect the books that appeal to me, read them when I feel called to, and then share them with others. This service is a free, huge, virtual swap meet for books, DVDs, CDs and more. It’s both earth-friendly and wallet-friendly!
1 BOWL EATING
I’m an avid eater too. So in January 2008 I made up my own method of serving healthy, delicious, balanced, single-serving meals in one bowl per person per meal. Then I started blogging about it, focusing on the yummiest, most creative recipes I’ve concocted.
TOTAL IMAGE CONSULTANTS
Over the past 22 years, Ginger Burr, believing that your image is about representing the best of you (not making designers happy), has built a remarkable career as an expert personal image consultant working with women from all walks of life. She has helped women everywhere, including me, navigate through (and sometimes completely ignore!) the styles of the season and feel great about how they look.
EnergyRICH
Heather Dominick is the creator of the EnergyRICH® Entrepreneur Success System and EnergyRICHcoach.com and one of my valued mentors. Her Brilliance is teaching healers, coaches and heart-centered entrepreneurs around the world how to partner Universal Energetic Principles with practical step-by-step “How-To’s” to joyfully make more money in business and better serve the world.
BRYN JOHNSON
A friend of mine since Wellesley days, Bryn is a passionate connection strategist. If you seek support as you make true connections with new partners and clients, Bryn has a variety of valuable tools and services for you.
ALI BROWN
Ali Brown has become one of the most successful female entrepreneurs of her generation. As founder and CEO of Ali International, LLC, a company which was recently named to the 2009 *Inc 500*, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies, she has created a dynamic multimillion dollar enterprise that is devoted to empowering women around the world.
When my business was smaller, I used Mad Mimi to create and manage my newsletter and community lists. My layout and links were a snap to create. Plus, their customer service is excellent.
I recommend these resources based on my own positive experiences. Although I certainly can not guarantee your experience, I hope you will benefit from these resources too. If you try them via the links above, know that I am an affiliate of some of them and may receive commissions from sales generated.