let's share (tools, tips and tricks)

[ALEXIS RODICH]

Below are some of my favorite books, tools, and blogs:

Tools:
- Sandy (A free virtual assistant... could not live without it!)
- Gubb.net (a list manager, one of several out there)
- Google Notebook
- Mind Meister (free web based mind mapping software)
- Mint.com

Blogs: I have about 30 feeds I check regularly, but these are my absolute favorites. I would be glad to share my i-google home pages (where I house my feeds) with anyone interested in regular updates to these blogs.

- Zen Habits
- Life Optimizer
- Web Worker Daily
- Technotheory (great blog by a local entrepreneur)
- Wise Bread
- The blog of Tim Ferris
- Steve Pavlina's blog

Books:
- The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris
- Getting Things Done/ Ready for Anything by David Allen
- The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz (not productivity, just the key to a blissful existence ;)

Do you have favorite tools, tips or tricks? If so, please share!

[Kacy Paide, The Inspired Office]

I love that you started this discussion. Just today I was thinking about doing the same thing. I'll have so much to share for this one.

I just read about www.wordle.net for creating word clouds for free. "Word clouds" are created from any piece of text you provide, with word size determined by frequency in your text. You've gotta see this. I don't know yet how I'll use it, but I know I will.

[KiKi L'Italien]

Awesome post! I'll have to think about helpful tools, but right off of the top of my head I like www.meetingwizard.com for scheduling conference calls with several people in different time zones.

Also, I like to read up about social media for ideas on how to promote my business as a freelance makeup artist and I follow Chris Brogan's blog religiously.

[ALEXIS RODICH]

I love Chris Brogan's blog!! A couple other good ones for social media are:

- Dosh Dosh
- Freelance Switch
- Life Dev

I will keep meetingwizard in mind... thanks!!
KiKi L'Italien said:

Awesome post! I'll have to think about helpful tools, but right off of the top of my head I like www.meetingwizard.com for scheduling conference calls with several people in different time zones.

Also, I like to read up about social media for ideas on how to promote my business as a freelance makeup artist and I follow Chris Brogan's blog religiously.

[Aaron Ross]

This is great! I actually have a long list, which I plan on posting/maintaining on PebbleStorm.com soon.

For now, here are a few favorites...

Business
www.asksunday.com (a virtual assistant service based from India that is very easy to use)
www.freshbooks.com (for online client invoicing and expense tracking)
www.wordpress.com (for blogging)

Personal:
www.nowdoit.com (a great little to-do focus tool!)
www.phonetag.com (converts voicemails to emails that you can read)
www.earthclassmail.com (I can read my snail mail from anywhere in the world)

[Kacy Paide, The Inspired Office]

www.copydoodles.com
These are handwritten doodles and notes you can easily insert into any web copy or hard copy. I haven't bought them yet, but probably will. Was just last night thinking that I need something to make my newsletter more reader friendly. I think this is it.

[ALEXIS RODICH]

There are a few others I would like to mention as well:

- Killer Start Ups: this is a GREAT site for finding cutting edge tools, communities, ideas etc.
- 43 Folders: home to the blog and forums of productivity rock star Merlin Mann

I also love Life Remix and 9 Rules because they consolidate many productivity blogs, so I discover bloggers or gems of wisdom I may not have other wise stumbled upon.

[ALEXIS RODICH]

For those of you who have not read the Four Hour Work Week, check out this concise "http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/san...">4HWW Guide." It provides a great overview for businesses who want to implement some of the productivity principals written about in 4HWW, but I also think individuals would get much out of reading it as well.

[KiKi L'Italien]

I just thought of a couple:

http://www.splitweet.com to monitor several Twitter aliases at one time

http://www.snipurl.com to make long URLs short (bonus: you can choose to name the new URL)