I had oodles of fun this weekend painting our deck with my husband and one of our sons. Well, let me specify, I had fun Friday and Saturday.  Sunday was alright, but Monday it wasn’t fun anymore at all. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t wait to finally be done.

It would have been nice if we had a couple of extra days to spread the job out a bit more, but unfortunately that wasn’t an option because the deck had to be finished before our first major snow stormed arrived. It started snowing last night and it’s still going strong.

So we were putting in eight hour days, getting up and down that ladder, standing on footstools or just crouching down. Oh our achy bones! This morning, admiring the fine work we had done, my husband and I looked at each other and agreed, “We will never do this again.”

Why did we not hire someone else
to do the job for us?

Good question! Well, a couple of things, 1) we thought we probably could do a more thorough job if we did it ourselves and 2) contracting it out would have cost us about $1,000 dollars.

In hindsight, which is always 20/20 we are asking ourselves  if spending 4 days painting our deck ourselves was really a good use of our time.

Truth be told, no, not really! Yes, we did save a lot of money, but at what cost? We both walk around the house like we are 80 years old, achy and sore, and we basically lost 4 days of work.  I’m behind in everything. Since I had not even turned on my computer while we were painting – and I must say, enjoying beautiful Colorado weather and temperatures in the high 70s and 80s – I came back to a mountain of emails which I’m slowly getting a handle on.

Why am I telling you this story?

Because outsourcing is sometimes the better option and not only for home improvements. Internet/Network Marketing has a lot of different parts to it. Yes, we can take care of a lot of them ourselves, but sometimes it is just not good use of our time. Or maybe we are lacking the skills to do something.  So outsourcing is a great solution.

Here are 3 fantastic resources for outsourcing.

1)  Odesk – it’s free to post a job and hire contractors. Pay only for the time worked. Contractors log in when they are working and work is verified by screenshots.

2)  Elance – Over 500,000 rated and tested professionals to choose from.  Sign up for a free account to post your job, or to sign up for work. Have some great skills? Set up a portfolio and get paid for your talents.

3)  Guru – Hire top quality Freelancers with confidence.  Check profiles, locations, reviews, work history or portfolios to find the right person for your job.

While doing my research on these outsourcing sites I found a variety of jobs offered, like link building, article writing, writing blog posts, programming, creating videos for marketing or graphics for your site and much more.

There’s no need to do it all yourself. As a matter of fact trying to be a “Jack of all Trades” might be contradictory and very frustrating. Besides outsourcing some of the tasks you need to do to build your business frees up time for the more important stuff….like spending time with your family.

By the way, I came across this fantastic video by Kim Klaver where she talks more in detail about the sites above. Enjoy!

I am seriously considering outsourcing some of the tasks I need to do on a regular basis. (Especially painting jobs, haha.)

Have you outsourced jobs before or been using the sites mentioned above? I would love to hear your feedback so please make sure you leave your comments below. Thanks!

To Your Success,

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

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Well now there’s a solution. A little software called MySpeed.

MySpeed basically lets you view any flash video as slow as 3 times slower than the original speed. This is great for watching tutorial videos and following along without having to stop the video altogether. It also lets you speed up to 5 times faster than the original speed.  This way you can zip through a lengthy webinar replay without missing any of the information like you would if you were to fast forward. Oh, and there’s no audio distortion or annoying chipmunk voices either.

So slow down video or speed up video as you please.

I love it! As a matter of fact, since I downloaded it to my desktop I find myself using it all of the time now. Quite frankly, I don’t know what I did before I found MySpeed.

Well, actually I do know. I just used the fast-forward or pause buttons a lot. But this is so much easier. I watch a lot of recorded webinars so this has been a great time-saver.  By the way, it works on downloaded videos also, so you can work offline.

It’s really a cool little gadget and available for both Windows and Mac!

There’s a FREE Trial, so check it out and let me know what you think. (Although there is an affiliate program, I am not an affiliate. This is just the regular company link.)

Enjoy!

To Your Success,

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

P.S. And as always I would really appreciate it if you could share this article with your friends and followers….And…Don’t forget to give it your vote of approval by clicking the Google +1 button in the Sharebar. Thank You! I truly appreciate you!

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What is a QR Code?

Okay, I admit it, until about a week or so ago I had absolutely no idea what a “QR Code” is. Let alone a QR Code Generator. But I guess it’s becoming a really big deal. This technology is already very popular overseas in Japan and Europe but it is quickly gaining popularity in the United States now also.

You may be more familiar with bar codes, the two-dimensional codes that were first seen on Wrigley’s Chewing Gum in 1974. Today you see bar codes everywhere.

Well, QR Codes are very similar. They are two-dimensional as well but instead of bars they consist of squares and rectangles.

Here’s the exact Wikipedia description …

“A QR code (short for Quick Response) is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data…..”

This little code can come in pretty handy because it saves a lot of time.

For example, your prospect, client or customer can get to your website faster by just scanning in your QR Code with a QR Reader on their smart phone, iphone or virtually any phone. All they need to do is download a free QR Reader application to their phone and then just scan your code.

What information can you put on a QR Code?

Well, it’s pretty much up to you. You can put on there whatever you want it to do. For example you can put your contact information on it, or just plain text, your website URL or whatever.

Where would you put it?

You can put your QR Code on your business cards, flyers, brochures, greeting cards, postcards, banners, notecards, memo pads, and more.  The possibilities are endless. You can even put them on t-shirts or hats as well. Really, really cool!

If you would like to implement this technology into your business you can generate FREE QR Codes right here and find out more information on how to use them.

So why should you care? Because, not only will this new technology make the connection between the online and offline world a lot easier, but before long you will see it pop up everywhere and trust me, you don’t want to be left behind.

To Your Success…

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

P.S. Are you using QR Codes already in your business? Let us know your experience in the comments below.

P.P.S. If you found this post helpful and enlightening please re-tweet and share it with your friends and followers. Thank You!

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They say… “A picture is worth a thousand words,” so blow your audience away by creating eye-catching PowerPoints, kick-butt Webinars and/or dazzle them with videos that are out of this world.

You can do all that with this value-packed Webmaster Graphics Package.

When I saw this I was blown away by the value. I am always looking for great graphics or pictures for my blog posts. Sometimes when I can’t find what I am looking for I create it myself, which is fun, but time consuming.  With this great value-packed package I don’t have to create anything for a very long time.

Here’s what’s included in the Web Graphics Package…

(with more being added all the time)…

• 70 Stunning PowerPoint Templates
• 200+ Power Point Graphics and Backgrounds
• 100s of Additional Bonus Graphics
• 44 Video Broadcast Frames
• Fun Warning and Spoof Slides
• 1600 Roalty Free Web Graphics
• 25 Roalty Free Music Clips

and much, much more.

Click image below for the video and additional information! (Or just click HERE if you can’t see the picture.) Wait till you see this. Your jaw will drop!

If you need graphics to put your webcasts or PowerPoint presentations on High Octane this fully-loaded Webmaster Graphics package may be for you.  It comes with tons of Bonus Graphics too. Maybe you are looking for some cool Twitter backgrounds? Or social media buttons for your blog? No problem, they are included.

It’s a Honey of a Deal!

There are no monthly fees just a one-time membership fee that locks you in for life and every time new graphics are added you can just download them from your back office …at no extra charge. Isn’t that cool?

Avoid disappointment by acting fast! This low introductory price will not last for long. The price has already gone up once but this “web graphics” package is still a tremendous bargain for the exceptional value you get in return.

Enjoy!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

P.S. Yes, if you pay this package from me I will be earning a commission. So thank you very much in advance! I appreciate your business!
P.P.S. If you found value in this post please share it with your friends on Twitter or Facebook. Thank you!

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In the past my husband and I had been using web conferencing software to do live presentations with our prospects and it worked extremely well for us averaging about 7-8 sign ups per 10 people who watched our presentation.

Wouldn’t you agree that people understand things better when they actually see them? Well I do, as I am a visual person.

Now it wasn’t GVO Conference that we used back then but another very popular web conferencing software. The problem was, that this competitor was quite expensive and allowed only up to 15 attendees for a little under $50 a month.

Since most of the time we were doing one-on-one meetings, that was fine. But what if we wanted to invite our downline leaders … or our whole downline for that matter? Then we had a bit of a problem.

When I found out that I can get a 50 seat room with GVO Conference for less than a third of the price I paid at the competition, it was a total no brainer. (Currently it’s even cheaper, just $8.97/month for early birds. Yes, you read that right!)

I have long since wanted to get back into doing online presentations and training again as it was so much fun and I’m so glad that I found an inexpensive solution.

It’s a totally different experience when you can invite a long distance prospect to join you in a web conference and show pictures, even stream videos of your opportunity. Heck, we had even done presentations for prospects in Europe before. It makes it a lot easier to establish rapport as well.

In the past, when a team member or customer ran into a technical problem or couldn’t quite figure out how to do something I either had to explain it over the phone, in an email or take some screenshots. Now I can just invite them into my online conferencing room and show them live, ready to answer any of their questions.

Pretty cool!

So what are some of the features of GVO Conference?

• Audio/Video Conferencing
• Hands Free Moderating
• File Sharing
• Desktop Sharing
• Converts and Presents your Power Point
• Record Full Audio/Video of Presentation
• Chat with Guests
• Show Live Streaming Video
• Presently comes in 5 languages
• …and more

So let’s wrap this up …

GVO Conference gives me a conference room with 50 seats all features included for just $8.97/month (Early Bird Special) PLUS …and I haven’t even mentioned that yet ….the opportunity of earning a residual income when referring others?

Sounds like a great deal to me and I just had to tell you about this awesome business tool!

Oh, and by the way, now you can add cool webmaster graphics to your power point presentations, eye-catching video skins to your videos and more to really help you stand out from the crowd. All for a very low low price!

To Your Success!

Ilka Flood
The EnlightenedNetworker

P.S. So let’s hear it. Have you done online presentations using web conferencing software before? And what was your experience?

P.P.S. If you liked this information please be sweet and retweet and share it. Thank You!

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His latest find, the Google Wonder Wheel. Until a couple of days ago I had no idea that it even existed. Since then I have had a lot of fun with it, just for the heck of it.

What is the Google Wonder Wheel? Its a little search engine tool that lets you drill down your search terms.

You find it in the left-hand menu of the Google search engine after you click “Show options.”

And this is how it works. Let’s say you are searching for “home business”, which is a very broad keyword. It then shows you a wheel with related search terms or keywords and key phrases. Like home business ideas, internet home business, starting a home business, work from home and so on. You can click on any of them to drill further down. It also shows you the results of your search on the right.

Let’s see what happens if we click on “work from home”. . . Cool isn’t it?!

You can just keep on drilling down from there and refine your search until you find what you are looking for.

Pretty awesome tool, huh?

Now, I am really curious. Did you know about the Google Wonder Wheel before I did?
Let me know your comments below.

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Now that you’ve put so much time and emphasis into creating the perfect website or blog for your home business, wouldn’t it be interesting to know what exactly your visitors focus on when they get there? What do they look at first? What second? Do they even pay attention to the things you want them to pay attention too? Wouldn’t it be great to find out? My husband recently shared this very valuable business building tool with me, that lets me find out exactly what the visitors to my blog look at first, second, third, ect.

Attention Wizard is a visual attention prediction tool. A business tool, that points out the hot spots on your page. Pretty cool! It’s kind of a simulator of how the human brain works. Don’t you think it would be kind of cool to get right inside your visitors brain and guide them to the most important info on your marketing blog or business website?

I took a screenshot of my blog and ran a heatmap. It was quick and easy to do and within minutes I found out exactly what my website visitors look at first, second, third and so on.

Although I am pretty happy with the results, I wish I could zoom in their focus a bit more. But, since I am using a WordPress template that won’t be as easy to do as if I would have designed my blog from scratch. However, if you have a squeeze page or a landing page you can definitely zoom in your visitors attention right to the call of action.

I hope this free business building tool will help grow your home based or network marketing business.

Try it out and share your thoughts in the comment box below.

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Twitter List Builder

Every once in awhile I come across a great tool that I just have to share with everyone. TwitterListBuilder is such a tool. It’s pretty cool too!

If you watch the video it will show you how you can easily and automatically build a list of thousands of followers with just a click of a button and 100% FREE. You activate the software by posting one simple tweet and you will automatically follow the seven people below you. And when you send people to your unique referral link they will follow you automatically too. After that, it’s just duplication, duplication, duplication.

But in my opinion that’s not even the best part about Twitter List Builder. To me the best part are the videos. I have seen Twitter tutorial videos before but these are by far the best I have ever seen. You’ll learn step-by-step how to generate traffic, leads and sales from Twitter.

You’ll also learn…

• How to Set Up My Twitter Account
• How to Create a Twitter Background Image
• How to  Add a Custom Twitter Background
• How to Get Tweeps (Followers)
• Learn about Twitter Tools like Twellow, TwitrPwr, Twitter Fox, Tweet Later, Twitter Toolbar, etc.
• How to Combine Emailing & Twitter
• How to Combine Blogging & Twitter (with Twitter Tools for Blogs…cool stuff!!)
• Twitter Traffic Tips
• …and lots more.

I highly recommend Twitter List Builder to anyone who is using Twitter, whether they are just starting out or even if they have been tweeting for a while. The information on these videos is priceless. Twitter List Builder gets a “two thumbs up!” from me.

Have fun!

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