My oh my I've just spent close on an hour trying to get a pdf document to print for my partner. He was cursing the computer, the printer and everything else - threatening to drive down to the office to do it and I of course said 'don't worry I'll get it happening...'

Well eventually I did but I resorted to my very old trick of basically giving up really and downloading the latest version of Adobe Reader which is now 9.1. We were working with 8.1 on this laptop so I thought a freshen up would not go astray. Sure enough after all the palaver of downloading, updating and restarting the much needed document printed.

It's not something I can explain but I have seen PDF printing issues resolved several times before by the simple task of updating to the latest version of Adobe Reader which is available .

Valerie Khoo - Journalist, Author, Entrepreneur and Blogger

With people spending an increasing amount of time on the internet, it’s vital for your business to have a strong online presence. This goes way beyond having a website, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you really want to build your brand, you need an integrated online marketing strategy.

So what’s the best way to do this? How can you make the most of your online presence and let this work for you 24 hours a day? Where should you get published and, more importantly, what should you be writing/broadcasting about? This is your chance to get clients while you sleep. Valerie Khoo reveals the 'Top 7 Tips on How to Boost Your Business and Build Your Brand Online' and provides real life examples of winning online strategies.

Discover how you can do this with:

• Your blog - position yourself as an expert.

• Getting your articles published online.

• How to write effective newsletters that sell.

• Building an online audience who want to hear from you.

• Publishing on your social networks.

• The power of publishing podcasts and videopodcasts.

Valerie Khoo is a journalist, author, blogger and entrepreneur. She runs two successful businesses - the Sydney Writers' Centre and the Business and Careers Institute. Apart from her regular Enterprise column in smh.com.au and theage.com.au Valerie is also a podcaster and consultant to small businesses who want to leverage their online opportunities. Valerie's entrepreneurial activities have been recognised by multiple business awards. She is passionate about the concept that you can design your business to create the lifestyle you want - using smart systems and making the most of the internet.

At this lunch you’ll learn: 

• The one thing you MUST do to turn your website into a leads-capturing machine.

• How to position yourself as an expert in your target market.

• 5 golden rules for creating a successful e-newsletter that drives sales.

• Simple ways to create an effective podcast to reach your customers.

Tickets

Members $75.00 | Visitors $95.00 

[Book Tickets]

I'm so loving the latest answer to scheduling nightmares - a free website called Tungle. I've not seen such a feature rich service with all the doodahs and gadgets in a long time. Sign up for free at www.tungle.com.

The complete feature list is below:

RSS feed
Get your meeting updates in real time

I can't tell you how easy it is to set up and use. There are now widgets that you can add into your blog (as in above) or Facebook - the green 'light' indicates that you are available and Tungle keeps an eye on your calendar in real time turning red when you are busy. You can have your own 'tungle me' link which in my case is www.tungle.me/helencrozier. I chose as well to buy an easy to remember domain so now whenever I say "go to www.bookhelen.com" clients and friends will be taken to my tungle availability page as I've set up a redirect.

Bliss! I'm just waiting and hoping patiently for a working hours box to set up in the options. I don't like the calendar showing me as 'available' when I am actually asleep -people in other time zones might not realise that and could give me a call in the middle of the night!! Tungle promised me it would be possible to specify availability hours in the next major release.

Until then jump on board and enjoy the freedom of not playing telephone/email tag when trying to get someone to commit to an appointment!

For those of you longing for 'the old days' when letters were handwritten here's just the thing. A font of your own handwriting to install on your computer.

1. Print out the template sheet on the Fontifier website.
2. Fill out each of the characters on the sheet.
3. Scan (or ask someone to scan for you) the document.
4. Send it to Fontifier.
5. Preview the font and if you are happy pay $9US.
6. Download and install your handwriting font.

Simple and how affordable?

Why would you do it?

Here are some of the applications that users have found for Fontifier:

Add a personal touch to journals and scrapbooks.


Create fonts as a record of a child's handwriting through different ages.


Add a personal touch to letters and emails.


Create fonts as a fun and educational activity for children.


Try out unusual alphabet designs and calligraphy.


Create fonts of runes and other secret writing systems.


Create a font of special symbols; eg yachting symbols.

Any other ideas of how to use this ingenious tool?

Sydney has 209 Meetup groups. The Sydney Online Bookclub Group has 280 members who meet in the city monthly but also communicate via the group page. Loads of other interesting groups exist - language, film, writing, business, technology, sport. If there isn't already a group in existence near you then by all means join and start one yourself.

Meetup is the world's largest network of local groups. Meetup makes it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face. More than 2,000 groups get together in local communities each day, each one with the goal of improving themselves or their communities.

Meetup's mission is to revitalize local community and help people around the world self-organize. Meetup believes that people can change their personal world, or the whole world, by organizing themselves into groups that are powerful enough to make a difference.

I'm so excited that this has taken off and shall be joining a couple that interest me and writing about the journey. I'd love to hear from members of meetup about their experiences in the comments.

Hot off the press from the inimitable Sarah Prout....I am  honoured to be included in the group....
Great reading at only $15! 

The Millionairess League eBook

Need a good dose of business inspiration? Are you curious to see how other women make money online?

This is your chance to get a snapshot into the minds of successful online businesswomen. Discover their favorite websites, invaluable online resources and the exciting projects they are currently working on.

Be inspired by their passion, creativity, success and flair for online adventures.

In The Millionairess League eBook you'll discover:

• How Social Networking can transform your Business.

• Secrets, Hints and Tips to Online Success.

• Definitions of Empowerment, Inspiration and Business Fulfillment.

The 30 businesswomen profiled cover the vibrant spectrum throughout various stages of business development. This ranges from the start-up phase, fuelled by excitement, to booming online empires.

Within the 95 PDF pages is a wealth of information from women that answer a series of questions such as:

What is your business/personal mission?

Who do you admire professionally and why?

THE MILLIONAIRESS LEAGUE (30 Online Business Adventures) IS FOR ANYONE THAT ENJOYS READING MOTIVATIONAL PROFILES OF SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSWOMEN.

It showcases women in various fields of interest such as publishing, share trading, property, iPhone app development, Law of Attraction, community building plus many more!

Explore the world of possibility and inspiration from empowered online entrepreneurs.

Why the shift to cloud computing? It's the portability that sells it. It's the notion that you don't need to be chained to the computer at your desk to get work done. If you work in the cloud you can leave that cumbersome laptop behind and roam as free as a bird because you can check in on a computer at your client's office, the local library, or even on your iPhone/Blackberry etc.

There are thousands and thousands of cloud sites clamouring to be your online support system helping you with task/project management, customer relationship management, billing, etc. The choice is daunting but thankfully there are also many helpful sites and people (such as yours truly) that do the legwork for you - testing, reviewing and writing.

Would it make your life easier if you sent your business to the sky?

The company however was by no means 'cheap'. It was a great group of women and with the exception of two whom I had met independently there were three more that I 'knew' only because of twitter. I was most excited because I had been chatting with Valerie Khoo for some months virtually and finally it was time to meet her in the flesh! Having read her great newsletters and fun tweets I felt as if I already knew her extremely well - a bit like internet dating perhaps!! There was no awkwardness or unsure moments of what to say. We couldn't stop talking about many things... technology, writing, iphones, Biggest Loser etc.

I continue to hear much negative sentiment towards twitter but I would like to reiterate that it is what you make it. If you let the noise flood into your twitter stream and if you yourself tweet meaningless nothings - you will get very little in return. Valerie reminded me that I had helped her out in the early days of when I was on twitter and she was really grateful for that. I didn't do it with any ulterior motive - I was just pleased to give her the contact details of someone who might be helpful for her to know. The two most valuable things about twitter are the chances of deep and meaningful connections/relationships plus the opportunity to use it as a resource or directory just like google.

Yes there's rubbish on there but there is also rubbish on the internet. Filter out the rubbish and you will find gold I promise you!

Special thanks to Catriona Pollard from CP Communications for organising - look forward to the next one! Great to also see Robin Powis from Defining Style, Susanne Thiebe from Less Mess and Karen Andrews of Shine Sales Solutions.

If it takes 30 days to make a 'habit' I'm so close that I'm nearly cracking out the champers for this one! I've tried lots of systems and tools in the past but to be honest after 2-3 weeks those systems and tools start to wear thin and the backlog builds up. THIS TIME seems different and the reason is clear. I have some serious synchronisation going on - where ever I'm working. Previously I was downloading emails into Outlook because it was my preferred method of dealing with email. I tried and liked Taglocity for sorting the emails and putting them into folders but it truly wasn't the simplest system around. More and more frequently I was finding myself out and about and needing to deal with emails - yes I could read and answer emails on the iPhone but then when I got home the emails would be downloaded again into the desktop. Double handling (yuck) and I didn't have the facility to be able to sort the emails into their appropriate folders.

Now since I've signed up to Google Apps for my domain all that has changed. This costs $50US per year to host and what a bargain. Sometimes it's a little fiddly to set up but once it's done you are in for a treat. I collect all my email into one google email bucket (personal and business). I can use google's coloured labels which replicate in Outlook as 'folders'. I'm going for minimal folders however to keep it simple:-
@action
@data entry
@print
@read
@reply
@waiting.

I then have a folder for each of my top 5 projects and one for expenses (which probably isn't necessary - I could do a 'search' for invoice, receipt and that would bring up all emails accordingly - it just feels safer!)

Now here's the great thing. Whenever I handle an email in any of the three places - Outlook, Google Mail or the iPhone a magical synchronisation happens and I never have to double handle anything!! If I have spare time and I'm with my iPhone I can check AND process email at the same time - either replying or filing or reading and deleting. When I'm at my desk and feel like a bit of Outlook work I can get in there and click on the @reply folder and knock of some answers to people. Finally if I'm on anyone else's computer I can log into gmail and work from there.

To think we had to deal with Microsoft Exchange etc before this was happening - at a cost of thousands of dollars... (Of course calendars, contacts and documents are also available to work with in this way.... bliss) I'm putting together documentation on how to put this all together very soon so stay tuned!

This has given me the opportunity to rethink who I want to be looking after - who ARE my people? I've answered that question quite clearly and the people I love to help are small business owners (Including Professional Organisers/Organizers), iPhone users and parents of computer literate children/teenagers wanting to catch up and work out what's going on out there in terms of the internet etc.

Easy... three blogs for the people I want to help and one attached to my site for who I am, what I do, how I do it and the people/resources I use/admire/respect.

It won't be too much of a shuffle - stay tuned and I'll let you know how to get to the blogs as soon as possible.

Love and best wishes....

How tremendous to discover this site last Saturday and my only hope is that this wonderful concept spreads way beyond Sydney.

To summarise:-

Here are 6 campaigns for you to be part of the solution.  
 
1. MINDFUL CONSUMPTION
Whether it is mental detoxing or adopting voluntary simplicity what we consume via our minds and wallets has a huge impact. Learn more... 

2. LEARN FROM VISIONARY TEACHERS 
There are authors who we highly recommend. Either read their books or download their teachings to your i-pod. This is not about accumulating new dogmas, ideologies or beliefs but encouraging us to BE that which we are trying to bring into the world. Learn more...

3. AWAKEN A KINDNESS REVOLUTION 
Now is the time to wake up kindness as a fierce and revolutionary force way beyond mere do-gooding! Kindness is our planet's greatest need - towards ourselves, the natural world and each other. It is about the realization that we are all connected as one human family. So flip the idea of "the more I get the happier I am" on its arse and feel the true joy and juiciness of creative generosity & kindness. Learn more...

4. DEVELOP A CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE
If, as Einstein said, we cannot solve problems with the state of mind that created them, then contemplative practices are an indispensable part of the solution to today's real-world problems. In essence, they are the tools of the revolution to awaken wisdom, resilience and assist all social and environmental movements becoming effective and sustainable. Learn more...
 
5. ADOPT NEW THINKING
If you believe the ideas of the old paradigm, you are part of the problem.  But how can you become part of the solution? Learn more...

6. SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Wake Up Sydney seeks to promote new models for socially and environmentally sustainable business in the 21st century. Learn more...

I've signed up and already received my 'kindness cards' which I can't wait to start distributing in as creative a way as possible. I'm also going to the opening night which looks as if it will be really special indeed. Anyone else going?

Last year I showed a client Carbonite as an online backup suggestion. She liked the look of it so downloaded and subscribed. I'm all for online backups - some swear they aren't secure and that they slow your system down. I've tested Mozy and am currently using Sugarsync. I haven't noticed any slowing down and I trust their various degrees of encryption. Recently thousands of Victorians have had to deal with significant heart breaking losses of such extreme magnitude I can hardly bear to think about it. If I could wave a magic wand and retrospectively make it that everyone with any digital life had been able to send at least all their photos to an online backup system I would. Many many fire survivors have lost their family history and are trying to put back the pieces by gathering the scattered remnants of memories.

This particular client sent her laptop in for a hard drive upgrade. While this was being done for some bizarre reason her data was 'lost'. Thankfully Carbonite had been set up correctly and she was able to retrieve all her emails and documents. Yesterday I spent a couple of hours putting things back in order and now she is operating normally.

Carbonite offers unlimited backup for less than $6 per month.

Don't you just love the graphics of this?

1. Sign up for free at www.bookmooch.com.
2. Type in the books you want to give away (10 to get you started).
3. Receive requests from others for your books.
4. Mail your books and receive points.
5. Ask for books from others with your points.
6. Use for free: your only cost is the postage to send your books to others.
7. Get more books: every time you give a book, you can get a book.

I've seen Book Crossing (fun but a bit more 'random') and Slim Ink Book Rental (like Netflix for Books) so BookMooch just adds another interesting tool to the box for indulging in one of life's most wonderful passions without adding too much clutter to your shelves or damage to your bank account. I've signed up and from home will add some books to the list and try not to be embarrassed :-).

So this morning I disconnected the internet knowing I would need an extraordinary level of focus. Using Taglocity (see previous post here) I managed to obliterate the inbox and get it back down to zero in 5 hours. It wasn't pleasant. I had to take breaks and then go back to it. I was doing a very good clean up though - New Year sort out - unsubscribing to newsletters like you wouldn't believe. Some people/organisations make that easy to do, others make it more difficult and I understand why it's easier sometimes to just hit the delete key rather than kill the source properly!

Anyway I'm all happy now and ready to get answering all of the emails in my @Action folder. Taglocity is great I have to admit..... back to sleeping better perhaps!

Since joining Twitter in October I've been very lucky to connect with some incredible women. This has led me to provide a list of links to their sites on the left hand column of this blog. If you are low on inspiration or motivation to get you moving towards your purpose or at least finding out what might be your purpose I would strongly suggest that you follow these girls on Twitter.
@JulieAnnStor, @londoncowgirl, @valeriekhoo, @cheyannebrae, @sarahprout, @Ellifordyce, @sammutimer

I've also included three women who I can't seem to find on Twitter (alert me if I've just not been thorough enough in my searching please).
Carla Coulson, Petrea King and Paula Constant.

Ladies, you are as exquisitely beautiful as the water lily I photographed in the grounds of the Alhambra, Spain in September. Your courage, insightfulness, compassion, generosity and drive inspire me to overcome any barriers I have created for myself so that I too might make the journey towards business and personal success, completion, creativity and philanthropy. Thanks to Elli Fordyce who recorded her first CD at 71 I now know there is no age barrier to my dreams but having connected with these wonderful women I feel that I am being drawn to my purpose at a far greater speed. Thank you!

I hope the readers of this post will also benefit from learning about and connecting with these women also. Follow and learn but this is by no means an all inclusive list. I shall be adding links to other ab fab women in due course!

Having spent the entire long weekend trying to declutter and offload masses of 'stuff' - I'm pleased to see that Slim Ink is still going strong. Slim Ink is an Australian online book rental service. It works similar to the DVD rental systems were you sign up for a certain number of books to have out at the same time. I have my eye on the 'casual' plan which allows you to have two books out at one time over a three week period - this costs $20/month. I really like the idea and it surely must work out cheaper than buyng the books. My book shelves groan at times with the weight I ask them to carry. With this system the books come to reside for just a short time and then leave again. Paying the $20 would also encourage you to read a little faster so as not to waste your membership. Sure it's not as cheap as the local library but hey there are no fines if you are a bit slow to finish. The selection seems broad enough to entertain and includes many award winners.

I'd love to hear opinions from any members. Congratulations to Working Solo for putting together such a great site!

"When is Good?" is a free site that makes coordinating an event or meeting so much easier! After the demise of www.iwantsandy.com I'm a tad reluctant to 'sell' similar online services. I particularly feel for the devotees of that particular site - the learning time involved, getting used to a system and then having it pulled from under your feet. Not GOOD!.

"When is good" is hopefully not in the same boat. It doesn't require long hours to learn how to use it. It's a sort of get in, do the job then get out site. I do like it though and am determined to make use of it for future scheduling issues.

Here are the instructions......

 1.  Visit www.whenisgood.net
 2.  Click the grid for all the times that are good for you
 3.  Email the link to your invitees.
 4.  They see your proposed times and click on when they are free.
 5.  You visit your results page and see when everyone can do.
 No sign-up form. No password to choose. No fuss at all. This is a brilliant tool to overcome those backwards & forwards emails - use it for your next marketing meeting or book club dinner.

Numerous services exist. I have tried Beinsync but found it confusing and it has made one client's computer extremely slow while backing up. Another client has used Carbonite with some success. The product I'm most excited about right now is Sugarsync. For $24.99US per year you can synchronise/backup 10gb of files. That's a hefty amount of data. Business accounts are available for up to 250GB!

How Much Storage Do You Need?

Here is what you can fit in a 10GB account.

Once you have set up what folders you would like to use the service on it's a breeze to use. You install Sugarsync on every computer (including MAC) that you will be using or use the web interface to access your files. Both web and mobile phone access to your files is then possible .  You can open or email links to files in a snap from whatever computer/mobile phone you are on. The iPhone application is sensational.

Why do I love it?
The interface is not only pretty to look at, it's intuitive.
It doesn't at all seem to be a resource hog - you don't notice it's there.
It's very affordable - I"m thinking about taking the step of moving up to 30GB of critical data for $49.99US a year - so I can sleep better at night and have access to that many files wherever I choose to work.

What will make me love it more?
Outlook PST file synchronisation - as in emails, calendar, contacts and tasks (big ask I know...) (using Mozy purely for that as a supplement right now)
Being able to backup "My Websites" - it doesn't seem to like html files so they aren't carried over - bit of a pity but maybe that will be fixed. I keep those on a memory stick for portability.

Sugarsync is owned by Sharpcast - I tested out their photo synchronising software a little over a year ago and thought it was amazing. This document/file facility is mind blowing really. I'm so pleased they've received a funding boost and can't wait to see what comes out next!

There's a 45 day 10gb trial if you want to test it out. I can't emphasise enough the importance of having at least some of your 'criticals' backed up offsite and this for me seems to be the smartest way to do it.

• 2 different ways to manage your Action/To Do paperwork - also known as the papers currently covering your desk

• Using Outlook to manage your Action/To Do items electronically- task list, calendar, email methods

• Filing methods and what every office needs to be functional and effective

• Questions and solutions time - please bring photos and specific questions, plus your laptop

Presented by
Karen Koedding is Australia's first and only Certified Professional Organiser. Karen is a member of NAPO and AAPO, the professional associations for Professional Organisers. Her background includes degrees in Accounting and Interior Design along with 15+ years of experience as a licensed CPA. www.alittleelf.com

Helen Crozier is known as The Calm Tech Coach. Helen is a technology coach and a member of AAPO. She is passionate about helping people find simple but smart ways to use computers, software, digital devices or websites in order to make their lives easier in these crazy hectic times. www.thecalmtechcoach.com

Home Ideas Centre
61 – 63 O’Riordan Street, Alexandria, Sydney
$98.00 +GST (includes afternoon tea) 10% discount for 2 attendees 15% for 3 attendees
All seminars: 2pm - 5:30pm
Thursday 22 January 2009
Wednesday 18 February 2009
Thursday 19 March 2009

Book Online Here!