retaggr - your online presence everywhere
retaggr is about two things:
- displaying your Profile Card so the world can keep up to date with the details you choose
- tagging people you know on images anywhere on the web (not just on some social networks)
What is my Profile Card?
- Your profile card is like your business card for the web, except so much more!
- Aside from your name, bio, and links to your websites, you can add widgets to your card which will be visible to anyone that views your card.
- What kind of widgets? Recent blog posts, recent tweets from twitter, recent photos, the ability to communicate via MSN/Gtalk/Skype, and more.
- Explore the widgets on the My Profile Card page for a full list.
- Consolidate all your online identities into one.
What can I do with my Profile Card?
- On retaggr enabled blogs and partner sites, your Profile Card will be left when you leave a comment. Look for this icon:
- Embed it in your webpage! We have some options for you. Get started here.
- Include it in your email signature
- Encourage others to link to it when referring to you on their blog. If they retaggr enable their site, those (normal) links will pop up your card.
How do I embed my card in a blog / website?
- Anyone can embed or link to your card, by clicking “Embed” on your Profile Card, and following the instructions there.
- If you’re looking for something smaller, check out the retaggr badge
Where will my Profile Card be shown?
- Anywhere you (or anyone else) embeds it - blogs, websites, etc.
- As a pop up card on images in which you are tagged
- As a pop up card on retaggr enabled websites, when they link to you
- If you include it in your msn tag line, email signature, and so on, others will be able to view it by visiting the address in their browser
- If you have installed it on your blog, against your name when you post
- Linked from your retaggr email signature
- In community features on this site (Edit your settings if you’d like to change that)
Have fun with this new interactive business card.
DropCard
Nice FREE networking app for easily sending your “virtual business card” via your cell phone by DropCard.
1. Create your profile with your contact information.
2. Text their email to 41411 (for example, drop janesmith@email.com) or check out their shortcuts
3. They’ll receive your information by email (for example, your website, blog, LinkedIn and more) and they can immediately save it to their address book.
For premium service at $3.99 a month you have the ability to add a logo, attach files or documents and receive statistics.
Visit DropCard’s website at http://www.mydropcard.com/index.php.
I have not tried this but if you have, let me know how you like it!!!
Work ON your business, not IN it.
I once made the mistake of hiring a company that specialized in handling technical support for online businesses. The single person assigned to my (smallish) account at the time was a member of MENSA. She was a true-blue certified genius with a technical background.
Who could ask for more, right? Wrong! The woman turned out to be completely unable to handle the support for my business, and after a couple of months of fighting and hoping for the best, I fired the firm.
From that point on I became a bit of a control freak about my business. I mistakenly assumed that if a certified genius with a technical degree was unable to handle my tech support, that I just needed to give up and do it all myself.
After about 18 months of that I was at the point where 80% of my time was used up handling support requests. My business stopped growing. I was chained down by support requests, stuck working in my business instead of on it.
Not long after that Mike Filsaime asked me to give him a call, which I did. We had a long conversation about outsourcing things like support requests.
Mike laid the bare truth on me in a way that only he can. “Jon,” he said, “you have two choices: you can burn yourself out doing everything yourself, or you can hire out and watch your business grow.”
“But Mike,” I protested, “nobody is going to be able to give my customers the kind of support I can! I created these products.”
“That may be true,” he replied, “but not even you can do what you do for an endless number of customers without killing yourself. At some point you simply will not be able to handle it.”
He was right, too. I was already at the point of wanting to chuck it all because I just couldn’t keep up with the support requests the way I wanted to — forget about growing my business!
So I did some hard thinking about what I was going to do. Mike told me that he managed to get a very happy customer of his to do support for one of his products in return for a percentage of the profits. That worked very well because the person was not just an employee, but was actually invested in doing a good job.
I decided to give that a try, and ended up hiring Amin Motin, a very active member at one of the support forums I ran. I had already made him a moderator at the forum because of his freely dispensing so much good advice and support to folks there. It seemed only natural to have him do support for my other products.
Amin is also invested in my business. His “salary” comes from a variety of web sites and services which turn a profit for both of us. And you know what? I was very wrong when I said that nobody could give my customers the same level of support that I was giving them. Amin is better than me, more patient and helpful with my customers, and I’ve read more praise directed at him than I have room to share here.
After bringing Amin on board I suddenly had a huge amount of time to devote both to personal and business pursuits. My net monthly income has increased 40% because of being free to work on other projects and toy with ideas I’d had in the back of my mind — and this increase has come despite Amin’s share of the profits and me working fewer hours than I did before (I devote a lot more time to my personal ministry work now).
You see, I had the wrong outlook on my business. I was so afraid to let go of a piece of my business that I had been burned on before that it was strangling its growth (and stressing myself out beyond belief). I also had the mistaken notion that I couldn’t afford to pay somebody to handle the support for me. What Mike helped me to see, and what indeed has proven to be true, is that I couldn’t afford not to have someone else doing support.
Now I outsource everything. My site design, graphics and logos, my support, my content creation. You name it. If it can be outsourced, I try a few folks out until I find the one who fits the bill and I stick with them.
Doing this has dramatically increased not only my bottom line, but also my peace of mind. My family and I travel on vacation, and I’m not stuck doing support tickets in the evening while we’re away. I don’t stress about how support is going to get handled, because Amin is so fantastic at it. I never worry about how my next web site or product is going to look, because the guys at GraphicsGenie.com do such a fantastic job on every product I put up.
You may really not be able to afford to hire out just yet, and that’s understandable. I was in that position at first also. But I promise you, I promise you, that as soon as you can make room in your budget to start hiring out the services that you do not absolutely have to handle yourself, you will find your business blossoming into something much greater than you could possibly make it by yourself.
Please post your thoughts and questions in a comment below.
Source: internet marketing
It’s Not Possible To Listen And Talk At The Same Time
Let’s face it; it is simply not possible to listen and talk to your colleagues at one and the same time.
Working on your listening skills to the point of perfection is likely to be one of the best assets you have to offer your organization. This skill alone will take you further in life than practically anything else you can think of in connection with how you connect and communicate with other people.
Instead of listening to what someone has to say in an uninterested manner, try actually engaging your mind in the conversation which is taking place. Give serious thought to what the other person is saying to you and if you find yourself drifting away from what he or she is saying, focus your concentration on that person’s lips and watch as they mouth the words.
Make sure you break your gaze every now and again as staring at them looks strange and may lead to awkwardness between you.
Whilst someone is talking to you, make a mental note of what they are saying. If you are not sure about a particular point, when they have finished speaking ask them to clarify the point in question. This shows the one speaking that you are listening to what he or she has been saying. A good speaker will always give you the opportunity to ask any question at specific intervals throughout the conversation.
If you decide to make written notes, don’t attempt to do this verbatim. It is practically impossible for you to write down every single word of the conversation and get the exact meaning of what the person is trying to say. You are too busy writing to be listening to what is said.
Piggybacking is a technique you can use to continue the conversation if you do not have a great knowledge of the subject being discussed. An example of this is when your assistant is describing something technical to you about his or her computer which you have no knowledge about, or interest in, whatsoever. When your assistant says to you that the RAM needs upgrading, simply ask why it needs upgrading. This open ended question requires an answer with more details.
The response can then be used for you to continue the discussion even further and you will appear to remain in control of the conversation at the same time.
Listening skills are not acquired overnight. They take time to develop. If you actively look people in the eye and show an interest in what they are saying by repeating little snippets of what they have said, this shows a genuine interest in what they are sharing with you. Overall this gives you far more credibility with others and your relationships will go from strength to strength.
Tags:
Business Success,
Personal Growth,
Personal Success,
Self Improvement
Source: Personal Success
Standard Mileage Rate Deduction Increase July 1st, 2008
Here is some great news for real estate agents come July 1st:
Starting July 1, 2008, the standard mileage rate for business miles is being increased to 58.5 cents per mile. The rate is currently at 50.5 cents per mile. Over the years, the IRS has somewhat tried to keep up with increasing fuel costs, but they’re probably a little behind at this point.
The standard mileage rate is important because it’s used by a lot of businesses to reimburse employees for their miles driven for company purposes. Self-employed people also use this rate for their business mileage. via WalletPop.
Other Posts You May Be Interested In:
Post from: The Real Estate Bloggers
Standard Mileage Rate Deduction Increase July 1st, 2008
Source: Real Estate
Using non-OEM Cannot Void Warranty
Myth: If you use compatible replacement parts such as ink, toner, printer drums, et cetera, the manufacturer or service technician can void their warranty.
Fact: This is a common misconception! U.S. legislation enacted in the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Improvement Act, Section 108, and the Sherman & Clayton Antitrust Act prohibits manufacturers from voiding your warranty if you use non-OEM parts unless they can prove the part or supply damaged the product. In plain English:
“Tie-In Sales” Provisions
Generally, tie-in sales provisions are not allowed. Such a provision would require a purchaser of the warranted product to buy an item or service from a particular company to use with the warranted product in order to be eligible to receive a remedy under the warranty. The following is an example of prohibited tie-in sales provision: In order to keep your new Plenum Brand Vacuum Cleaner warranty in effect, you must use genuine Plenum Brand Filter Bags. Failure to have scheduled maintenance performed, at your expense, by the Great American Maintenance Company, Inc., voids this warranty.
So save money purchasing non-OEM parts and supplies, you’re covered!!
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Backing Up Data Made Easy
Losing your valuable files through accidental deletion, hard drive crashes, theft or virus attacks can be devastating. Data loss always carries a disastrously high cost in time, money and stress.
Making regular backup copies of your files is a good idea — you’d do it if you knew where to begin, right? There’s a free, simple-to-use program that allows you to create, schedule and run your own backups 5 minutes after you’ve downloaded it? Just pick your source and destination folders, pick the times you want it to run and you’re set. From now on, if your data gets lost, damaged or deleted you can quickly recover it at the touch of a button.
Comodo BackUp is suitable for both beginners and experienced users and is completely free of charge. Features of free Backup Software include complete file and folder duplication to local and network drives, FTP servers and CD/DVD re-writers; intelligent incremental backups; e-mail reporting; extensive report logs; real-time backups with synchronization mode; advanced rule-based filtering; flexible scheduling of backups; space-saving archiving capabilities and more.
Operating Systems
- Windows Vista
- Windows XP (Service Pack 1 or later)
- Windows 2000 (Service Pack 3 or later)
Hardware
- Intel Pentium II 233 MHz or equivalent processor
- 128 MB RAM
- 12 MB free hard drive space
PayPal Alternatives
PayPal, which is owned by eBay, is very popular but if you are a small-business owner there are a few things you should know. PayPal is not a bank and is not regulated by federal bank regulations. PayPal will not defend you nor really “investigate” complaints but rather sends you boilerplate responses and 99.9% of complaints filed are denied. PayPal’s main income is making interest from the balances in PayPal accounts. If your business deliver services as opposed to tangible goods, they do not defend you at all. Google the phrase “PayPal alternatives” or “PayPal problems” and you will find thousands of horror stories.
So what are the alternatives if you do not want or cannot afford a merchant account? This list contains various alternatives to PayPal.
Google Checkout - When you use Google Checkout to process your sales, you’ll only be charged a low 2% + $0.20 per transaction. With Google Checkout, there are no monthly, setup, or gateway service fees. If you advertise with Google AdWords, you will also be eligible for free transaction processing for some or all of your Google Checkout sales each month. For every $1 you spend on AdWords each month, you can process $10 in sales the following month for free through Google Checkout.
2Checkout - In 2007 Inc. Magazine named this as one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S.
AlertPay - Offers personal and business accounts. Works and feels like PayPal.
E-junkie - Shopping cart for selling downloads and tangible goods. Great pricing - upload 10 products (50 MB) for $5 a month, up to 999 products (999 MB) for $125 a month.
ProPay - Registered agent of Wells Fargo Bank and MetaBank. Offers fixed rates on all transactions. Processes credit card transactions via internet and phone.
NETELLER (U.K. based) - Want to move your money? Maybe kick a payment over to your favourite site or send some to a friend? Or do you want to load up a prepaid card for your next trip? You can do this and a lot more. Instant deposits, withdrawals, transfers to merchants and other NETELLER members.
WorldPay - Accept payments via internet, phone, fax and mail. Major credit cards are accepted and they have also included debit cards and local payment schemes like Maestro, Laser and Electron.
ClickBank - If you have a digital product or service to sell, consider the benefits of becoming a ClickBank publisher.
Escrow - Both parties agree to terms, which includes a description of the merchandise, sale price, number of days for the Buyer’s inspection, and shipping information.
Is there a good PayPal alternative not listed here? Let me know!
