VerusNova

GoldMail lets you easily create slideshows and presentations with text, images, and audio narration almost effortlessly (don’t you hate when people say that) - OK, it’s pretty simple though.

1. Create your slides using photos, images
and documents

2. Record your voice or use a soundtrack

3. Use your own e-mail to send your GoldMail
message or post it to any web site or blog

This is a great way to get your business presentations on your blog in just a few simple steps. Other related services include Wink, and Slideshare.

RedRoller is a “one-stop shipping solution that lets you compare rates and service options among top carriers and then complete your shipping transactions in a snap.”

This is a great service for eBay and Yahoo! stores. It can help with many aspects of shipping including:
# Speed and simplify your entire shipping process
# Make smarter shipping decisions by comparing services among top carriers
# Know what you’re spending. Understand your shipping options
# Avoid penalty fees with address verification
# Save time with e-mail notification, customizable reporting and 1-stop package tracking
# Integrate with existing applications eBay, Outlook and more…

If you run a small business like me - your home “office” is not the best place to hold larger or lengthy meetings — and if you’re a slob (oops, I mean organizationally challenged) then you probably shouldn’t bring people over…and hire a cleaning service for God’s sake!

OK- back on track…Worktopia lets you find local meeting rooms and office space that you can rent on short notice.

Search over 2000 properties Get Live, Comparable Quotes Instantly Book Meeting Space Book Group-Room rates!

They have a flash demo of their service HERE.

Small business that need effective task assignment without the hassle of big project management applications have a few options and tools like spreadsheets available - but here is a new option:

TaskDriver is a unique task assignment based application developed specifically to meet today’s tough corporate standards of task assignment and tracking. It is a browser based thin client built with PHP/MySQL technologies. It contains built-in authentication, Manager/Assignee relationship and easy deadline tracking.

Features–
* Manager / Assignee relationship
* Quick and easy task creation and assignment
* Email notifications on task statuses
* Individual task history captured and reported
* Easy install and setup. (Requires PHP/MySQL)

Related Book: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

If you have as much trouble learning QuickBooks as I do - or if it is just more than you really need for your small business, then take a look at PULSE.

Pulse is a web-based cash flow management tool that allows you to easily monitor the heartbeat of your small business - your cash. Say goodbye to unmanageable spreadsheets, and hello to an intuitive interface with the power to quickly manage and evaluate your income and expenses. Pulse makes tracking the health of your business simple, accurate and efficient.

Features include:
* Organize income by companies and projects
* Organize income and expenses with categories
* Integrates with Basecamp project collaboration tool
* Company income history
* Recurring income and expenses
* Multiple user support
* Potential sales/income tracker

If you like the technical side of your small business, and HATE the business end of it - things like writing up invoices…Here is a site that could make at least one thing much easier:

The Invoice Machine is a free web 2.0 application that let’s you create free and beautiful PDF invoices in a snap. Click on “Start The Invoice Machine” to begin creating your custom invoice!

If the above really describes you - I also recommend reading Michael Gerber’s
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It

There are many times in life where it makes sense to rent (also known as borrowing with a fee) instead of buy…
Do you really need to spend hundreds of dollars on that tool when you will likely not need it again? How about testing out a new electronic device or cell phone to see if you really like it before you buy it? How about when you are on vacation and you need to rent a crib or other large childcare product?

Zilok has the answer - at Zilok you can find anything for rent or rent anything you own (at least as long as it is legal).

This is also a great way to make some extra cash for all that stuff you insist that someday you will need. I wouldn’t try to rent your old skivvys or grandma’s hearing aides - but I leave that to your discretion.

This can actually be a big help for small businesses who have to purchase big ticket items that they don’t use everyday. You can either rent them, or buy them and rent them out for extra cash flow. You could buy a bunch of old furniture at a garage sale for next to nothing, and rent it out to home sellers, college students, etc. Your total outlay would be a few hundred dollars for furniture and a monthly storage fee.

The internet and computers have spawned many ways to automate your financial life such as online billpay, online stock accounts, auto-deposit and withdrawl, etc. If you have a small business then you know the pain of QuickBooks! Well, there can be an easier way:

Saasu.com states it plainly - Time is Precious.
Saasu provides automated payments, purchases, billing & payroll. Online accounting reduces time & labor costs. Email quotes, orders & invoices to customers or suppliers. Automated upgrades & tax tables updates are standard.

You can get a lot of functionality for FREE or get one of the inexpensive plans.

Do you run an eBay store? Do you have an online site that takes PayPal as payment? Does it seem to be a mystery how much money Paypal takes for any given transaction? Here is something that can help you…

PayPal Fee Calculator will tell you how much you will receive for any transaction (multiple currencies), and even better, it tells you how much you need to charge if you want to receive a specific amount of money.

For example, if I have a Merchant account and want to receive $25 for my product - I need to charge $25.95.

Related Book:
The PayPal Wars: Battles With Ebay, the Media, the Mafia, And the Rest of Planet Earth

OK, TV is a total waste of time (except for sports of course) but if you must watch, don’t be a slave to the boob-tube schedule.

MythBuntu is an open source application with TIVO-like functionality on a CD. Just pop the ISO into your dedicated PC (with supported TV/video card), add internet, and voila! — record your favorite shows while you are gone and watch them at your convenience. It combines Ubuntu Linux with a pre-configured version of MythTV,

MythTV’s robust Personal Video Recorder (PVR) functions allow you to:

• pause, fast-forward and rewind live Television
• install multiple video capture cards to record more than one program at a time
• watch and record SDTV and HDTV via firewire
• Program Guide Data in North America is downloaded from www.schedulesdirect.org

The continuing saga of outsourcing your life and removing the mundane from wherever it resides –

I Want Sandy is an automated virtual assistant — who looks like someone from an Archie comic book — that can help organize your To Do list. You can send natural language emails to Sandy such as “Remind me to refill my prescription tomorrow @todo” or “Remember the plumber’s number is (415) 555-1212″ or “Remind me I have a Marketing meeting on 3/14 at 1-2pm”.

This computerized service is a glorified To Do service (I use free-minder.com all the time). Sandy can send reminders by email to your BlackBerry, Palm, or iPhone, or text you on your cell phone, and I believe a Twitter interface is on the way….

Best of all Sandy can nag you for free! This is definitely a great site if you tend to write yourself lots of sticky note reminders or carry around a voice recorder, etc.

In our continuing saga of using the internet to free up your life from drudgery and mundane tasks –

Car’s can take up a big chunk of your time and money between repairs, maintenance, and day-to-day — so unless you live somewhere that you can get by on a bicycle or public transportation — I have a great site for you…

Check out Service Beacon which will help you track your car’s service history and remind you of maintenance appointments. ServiceBeacon comes preloaded with your car’s official maintenance schedule, the electronic version of the schedule in your glove compartment that probably rarely (if ever) gets looked at — If a recall is issued on your car, you will receive an email notice to let you know. You can also create a service order and have Service Beacon email it to your dealer (or any service provider for that matter).

Everyone who has thought about it for even a moment realizes that time is the most valuable resource - you can’t beg, barter, bully, or buy more. So how can you make the most of the time you have? (No, it’s not playing more of Halo 3 - but a good guess!)

You can leverage some of the great time saver and outsourcing tools found on the internet. I will be highlighting several of these in the next few days.

DoMyStuff.com lets you find a local personal assistant by posting tasks and letting others bid (by zipcode). You can find someone to do chores like, picking up dry cleaning, walking the dog, mowing your lawn, and cooking your dinner. This is a great service - however, do not use this as a substitute for marriage (OK, fine - go ahead!)

Those who have read the amazing book by Timothy Ferris: The Four Hour Work Week know about outsourcing everything from work, personal chores, and even duties such as reading bedtime stories to your kids. I haven’t yet found a site called WipeMyButt.com, but I’m sure it’s just around the corner.

Other sites you can use to hire personal assistants — both local and virtual — include:

• GetFriday.com
• YourManInIndia.com
• eLance.com
• Virtual Assistants 4U
• Brickwork
• AskSunday.com

If I were to put my money where my mouth was…I would be outsourcing these blog entries…Hmmm

Well, it looks like I won’t be able to get the remainder of my posts back….bummer…

In case you were wondering where I got the New & Improved banner in the top tight corner, you can get one too at QuickRibbon.com