Paperclips Are The New Candy
Getting creative with pop-bys

Once a week I spend a good chunk of the day out visiting clients and fostering relationships. We call them "pop-bys" in my office. I usually like to have some sort of snack for them when I stop by - it brightens and fuels their day.

While at the store sifting through all of the valentines candy, I got a bright idea. With everyone's healthy New Years resolutions, why not do something different today? I ran straight over to the office supply section and started to sift through the Post-Its, Sharpies and push pins. I love office supplies and I love when my friends give that to me as gifts (weird I know). I found these cool paperclips ($3.49 at Walmart) that came 100 to a box. BINGO! I spent the rest of the afternoon handing out these circular wonders and they did indeed bring joy to people's stacks of paper.

So I am here to tell you to think outside the box. Don't go with your normal stuff, start walking down different isles at the store. Challenge your creativity. HAVE FUN! You may be surprised what you can do for under $5.

Oh and feel free to drop Sharpies, Post-Its or cool notepads by my office anytime.

Best Free Web Tools

I wanted to share some of my favorite free websites/programs that are useful for marketing and business. 

Feel free to contact me with questions. Have fun!

Jing – http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html

Jing is a simple way to share your screen with others or make a video of your computer. I use it all the time to make training videos for software, but you could easily use it to make a short video tour of your website or even go through an electronic document.  

Jotform – http://www.jotform.com/

Jotform is my favorite website to make online surveys. It is really easy and efficient. We use it to create an online order form for Realtors to order open house flyers.

YuDu – http://free.yudu.com

YuDu is a website that takes a PDF document and turns it into an online magazine. This is what I use for the eScreamer every month. It takes a simple document and makes it look really professional!

Blogger - http://www.blogger.com/

I love Blogger. It is one of the most popular blogging portals and is simple to use.

I also like it because you can brand yourself and design custom templates. 

Wordle -  http://www.wordle.net/

Wordle is a fun site I use to make word art for my clients and friends. Just type in at least 25 words and Wordle will make them into a beautiful picture. Have fun adjusting the color, font and layout. I have a friend who writes children’s books, she typed an entire book in this program and created a beautiful masterpiece.

Dropbox - http://www.dropbox.com/

Drop box is the perfect way to share large files with people. It also keeps large projects organized easily. Say you have a bunch of people working on a project. You could create a dropbox that everyone on the team has access to. Plus, sharing and organizing documents is a breeze. 

Pixlr-o-matic - http://pixlr.com/o-matic/

This is a really cool website similar to one of my favorite iPhone apps “Instagram”. It takes ordinary pictures and adds vintage filters to enhance photos. I use it all the time for marketing or to add special touches to photos of my friends for gifts.