My Top Five Work At Home Tools

It doesn't matter what type of business you are in, there will always be tools available that you can apply to your business. These tools will not only reduce unwanted or unneeded time to do a task but, they also will create a higher productivity rating. Most webmasters that work from home online have run into the "time" problem at one point or another, and only wish they could find a way to work through this. Let's face it, time is precious, it doesn't matter if its for business or pleasure, the last thing you want to be doing it wasting time doing things the hard way, when you could be doing it the easier and quicker way. Listed below are a few tools you can utilize in your own home business:

Auto Responders - One of the best sites I know of is Aweber, not only have they been around for a really long time but, they are a stable business to work with. Aweber allows you to set up an auto responder with your business, of course this can send prospects on your list an automated email of your choice that you can personalize, keep on file and send as many times as you want.

These auto responders can be used as; thank you for joining emails, welcome to the list emails, thank you for order emails, and well, anything else you want. I have a few set up in my account. The first one that gets sent is after a person joins my list, it just is a small thank you email. The second one is a welcome to my list type of deal, kind of letting them know who I am and a little bit about my background of writing. My last one and most recent one is a "specials" email which allows my customers to know that when they get on my list, only they will be permitted to have the sale prices. Now with all of these I send them out to ONLY the newest members who join. This way Bob that has been a member for a year, wont get the same email 100000s of times.

Google Docs - Though this program can sometimes be unstable, it's a great way to share docs with special customers you might have. You can share graphs, charts, docs, xml docs, text files, photos, business plans, etc. This is also nice if you are working "side by side" with someone on a project. Just open the file and you can both work on it together even when you are on other sides of the world. Its super efficient, quick, easy, and free which is important!

Additionally, any edits that you make are also visible to other users that share your document in real time. With Google Docs, users can store their documents without worrying about loosing unsaved work, and they can be accessed from anywhere. It also gives even the most unorganized person the power to organize their documents.

Box Net - This website is especially for people that would like to have the ability to store docs, photos, spreadsheets, videos, zip files and much more. All of these items are safely and securely stores online and can be accessed by anyone that you want to share them with such as clients, colleagues, or even your friends. As with most other online collaboration tools, the nicest benefit is that files can be edited anywhere, any time, without having to re-upload from your desktop.

Desktop Calendar - I actually try to keep two types of calendars. I know I know, we're online, we don't need no stinkin' calendars! Well, if you want to stay organized, then this is pretty much a given. The first one I have is Google Desktop. It's very small, it sits on the side of my desktop and can easily be brought up by pressing shift twice. You can also add gadgets to your Google desktop.

I have a contact box which is my super duper Rolodex, I have a clock, I have a "to-do" list which is VERY nifty and I also have a notepad. All of these items are auto-saved which is something I love! The second calendar type thing I have is a desktop calendar, it pops up again when I press double shift and I include all my business meetings, business deadlines, proposals, phone calls, etc.

Of course there are millions of other tools out there that you can use, but I know for me personally, these are the top 5 that I use. Not only do they keep me organized, but they keep my business running smoothly and semi automatically, and in a fast-paced world that is definitely something you want where possible!

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