Are you tired of wasting paper and ink printing unwanted content and graphics from the Internet?  As wonderful as the Internet has been all these many years for finding and distributing great content, there has been one huge flaw up till now that has not been addressed.

Most people that find what they want on the Internet eventually choose to print that information out via their laser or deskjet printer.  The problem is when you print that website out you almost never know what you are going to get.

“Print What You Like“  a Web 2.0 service has finally made it easy to fix an Internet problem most of us have endured for many years.

If you are like me all you really want is to print the content that is most important to you and nothing else. Well your frustration in printing websites is finally over because the printwhatyouwant.com service virtually eliminates the waste in three easy steps.

Step 1

Lets say you are on a website that has content along with full color graphics for ads and a dark background. Depending on how that website was created, printing it could be a paper and ink nightmare.

Step 2

Put that same url/website address in the space provided on Printwhatyoulike.com website and watch the magic happen. PrintWhatYoulike.com will take out all the background color, ads, and anything else you don’t want to print.

Step 3

Print.

It is that simple.

Check out this video demonstration of just how easy it is to use Printwhatyoulike.com

This service has the best of both worlds, not only are you saving money by not wasting paper and ink but your savings stays in your pocket because this service is absolutely Free. Every time I use the service I feel as though I am making a difference in becoming more environmentally contentious. The more you use the service the more you realize how wasteful your old ways of printing websites really is.

Printwhatyoulike.com allows you to print Green while saving you some Greenbacks. I highly recommend you try this service and ask for some of your feedback on how you saved money in the comments below.

All the best

JB

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If you have a linkedin.com account you may want to try their new Linkedin Applications section.  Linkedin.com is a Web 2.0 social media website designed to help you with online networking for you or your business business.

The Linkedin Application suite is currently limited to 9 different applications right now. Company Buzz, Box.net Files, Blog Link, Reading List by Amazon, My Travel, SlideShare Presentations, Google Presentation, Huddle Workspaces, and WordPress.

I have tried all the applications but the ones that seem to work the best without any trouble in loading is Reading List by Amazon and SlideShare Presentations. These application are supposed to be similar to the many Facebook application that help you enhance your experience with the website. Unfortunately Linkedin may need a bit more time to get all these applications up to speed.

What’s great about having these applications on is they allow you to optimize your Lnkedin profile page. Given time these application will allow your Linkedin network to follow your blog posts using the Blog Link or WordPress app. Follow your Tweets with the Company Buzz app and follow your uploaded presentations with SlideShare and Google Presentations.

What’s not so great is the lack of support of these applications if they are not working on your profile page. I have been trying to get answers to why I can’t change the URL to the Blog Link app and why the Company Buzz app won’t show up on my profile page at all. All they give you is a feedback form that says your feedback is helpful but will not get a response.

As impressed as I am with Linkedin as a whole I am less than impressed with the roll out of these new applications. I would have thought that the 9 applications currently available would have been tested on multiple profile pages using multiple browsers. I have tried the applications on Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Crome all with the same results.

Even though I can only get 2 of the 9 to work consistently on my profile page, I still have hope that all of the applications will eventually perform to their fullest.  If you would like to see some of the Linkedin Applications in action please take a look at my profile page below and click on the View full Profile button on the bottom of the page. Oh and please leave me comments on your experience with loading and viewing these applications on your Linkedin Profile page

http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreyalexanderbrathwaite

All the best

JB

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Google is not just about search and email. Google has many online tools that can help your Small Business or Solopreneurship get 2 The Next LEVEL of Success. I have listed the 10 Google tools I use the most.

1. GrandCentral
2. Google Analytics
3. Google Adsense
4. Google Docs
5. Google Reader
6. Google Bookmarks
7. Google Notebook
8. Google Alerts
9. Google Checkout
10. Google Apps

1. GrandCentral: I have written about GrandCentral before in my blog post Solopreneurs Stay In Touch With One Number From GrandCentral With GrandCentral, you can be reached with a single number, answer a call at any phone you want, seamlessly switch phones in the middle of a call, and even know whether a call is important before you take it.

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: No, Indirectly: Yes
Can it save you time: Yes

2. Google Analytics: Use Google Analytics to learn which online marketing initiatives are cost effective and see how visitors actually interact with your site. Make informed site design improvements, drive targeted traffic, and increase your conversions and profits.

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: No, Indirectly: Yes
Can it save you time: Yes

3. Google Adsense: Earn money from relevant ads on your website Google AdSense matches ads to your site’s content, and you earn money whenever your visitors click on them. AdSense for content automatically crawls the content of your pages and delivers ads (you can choose both text or image ads) that are relevant to your audience and your site content—ads so well-matched, in fact, that your readers will actually find them useful.

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: YES
Can it save you time: Yes

4. Google Docs: Create and share your work online. Upload from and save to your desktop. Edit anytime, from anywhere. Pick who can access your documents. Share changes in real time. Files are stored securely online. It’s FREE!

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: No, Indirectly: Yes
Can it save you time: Yes

5. Google Reader: With Google Reader, keeping up with your favorite websites is as easy as checking your email. Stay up to date Google Reader constantly checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new content. Share with your friends Use Google Reader’s built-in public page to easily share interesting items with your friends and family. Use it anywhere, for free Google Reader is totally free and works in most modern browsers, without any software to install.

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: No, Indirectly: Yes
Can it save you time: Yes

6. Google Bookmarks: With Bookmarks, you’ll be able to save time with quick links to your favorite websites. Use Web History to find the sites you visit frequently and bookmark your favorites. Use the Google Toolbar for quick access to your bookmarks and to easily create more. Get your bookmarks on any computer. No matter where you may be surfing the web, your bookmarks can stay with you just by signing in. Keep your bookmarks organized. Add searchable labels and notes to your bookmarks to find them easily and keep them organized.

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: No
Can it make you money: Directly: No, Indirectly: No
Can it save you time: Yes

7. Google Notebook: Google Notebook help you clip and collect information as you browse the web. Clip useful information. Add text, images and links from web pages without leaving your browser window.

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: No, Indirectly: Yes
Can it save you time: Yes

8. Google Alerts: Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:

* monitoring a developing news story
* keeping current on a competitor or industry
* getting the latest on a celebrity or event
* keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: No, Indirectly: Yes
Can it save you time: Yes

9. Google Checkout: Find it with Google. Buy it with Google Checkout.

Want a faster, safer and more convenient way to shop online? You got it. Stop creating multiple accounts and passwords.

With Google Checkout^TM you can quickly and easily buy from stores across the web and track all your orders and shipping in one place. Shop with confidence.

Fraud protection policy covers you against unauthorized purchases made through Google Checkout, and we don’t share your purchase history or full credit card number with sellers. Control commercial spam.

You can keep your email address confidential, and easily turn off unwanted emails from stores where you use Google Checkout.

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: YES
Can it save you time: Yes

10: Google Apps: Software-as-a-service for business email, information sharing and security

Whether your business is moving everything to the cloud, just wants an affordable email solution or struggles to give employees access to critical information, Google Apps will help you stretch resources and work smarter.

Messaging
Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Talk are powerful tools that can save your company money and time.

Collaboration
Google Docs, Google Video and Google Sites complement traditional office software to make teamwork easier. Companies or departments can use these apps on their own to be more productive.

Security for on-premise email
Email security, archiving and encryption, powered by Postini, complement Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes and other solutions. Web security is also available.

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: No, Indirectly: Yes
Can it save you time: Yes

In future post I will go more in dept of how and why I use each of these Google Tools. For now I just want to list the ones that impress me the most.

All the best

JB

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Our nation is in the midst of the largest financial bail out of Wall Street in history. We as tax payers are going to have to collectively pay out almost three quarters of a trillion dollars due to bad real estate loans and greedy heads of major banks. We are now going to have to look after our finances with a fine tooth comb. Every one of our hard earned dollars has to be stretched to the limit.

Keeping track of our finances has become a major factor with the way our economy has faltered. Mint.com is and online money management service that allows you to see all of your online accounts under one umbrella. Whether you have a savings account, credit card or even tracking the balance on some of your investments you can do it all with Mint.com

Mint.com helps me keep track of my three savings accounts, two checking accounts, three PayPal accounts, two credit unions and one investment account. It gives me an interactive pie chart view of all my spending habits. Mint.com also gives me advice on how I can make more money buy analyzing my current bank accounts and making suggestions on others that will give me a higher interest rate of return.

Mint.com takes just five minutes to set up. All you need is the user name and passwords of your online accounts. Security is really not an issue because Mint uses 128-bit SSL encryption to ensure that all communications between your browser and our Web site are secure. You also can’t make any transaction through Mint.com you can only view your account information.

One of the best things about Mint.com is it will send you email or mobile alerts reminding you of various financial matters that go on with your accounts. You can set them on anything from your bank account balance going below a certain amount to your interest rate changing to whether you have exceeded your budgeted spending limits.

Mint.com does all of this and more for free. Yes, Free! I don’t know about you but I love all things of value that are free or just about free. So if you are in anyway concerned about where your money is being spent and saved you don’t have any reason for not signing up for an account right now.

Saving money is crucial in these trying times. Mint.com lets you see where you are spending most of your money and then gives you to tools to keep more of it in your possession.

All the best

JB

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I read an interesting blog post today from Senior writer at Fortune magazine Adam Lashinsky’s Go West Blog. His post, titled “Will Twitter Make It?” gave me a lot of food for thought. Adam is addressing the question many of us are curious about when it comes to Twitter’s business model. Adam is also asking the question why should he and other business people use Twitter.

I myself have had a Twitter account for almost a year now but never used it because I, like Adam couldn’t see why business people would frequent this micro blogging service. I also had to fight the misconception that Twitter was only for those with SMS mobile devices. I fought the urge to Tweet long and hard until my good friend and Social CRM Expert Brent Leary told me how blogs like Mahalo drove major traffic to their website using Twitter.

Driving traffic to my website and blog was something I was definitely interested in doing. I then renewed my Twitter account and have been Tweeting both from my computer using the Twitter application, TweetDeck and with my cell phone using Jott, the voice recognition service. Marketing my business, my blog and myself through Twitter, or “Twarketing” has now been added as a focal point to my current business strategy.

I now have my Tweets show up on my blog using Twitter Tools. I automatically respond to followers and schedule future Tweets with Tweetlater. I even track the links in my Tweets using Tweetburner. Last but not least I do market research on products and services using Summize, which was just purchased recently by Twitter.

I believe that Twarketing will eventually drive those of the more mainstream to become users of Twitter. Early adopters like Maggie Mason who was the 448th person to sign up for Twitter, according to Twitterholic, are already seeing the fruits of their labors. Maggie currently has 6,458 follows and has parlayed those followers into traffic to her MightyGoods blog. Mighty Goods is a shopping blog and one of Time Magazine’s Top 50 Cool Sites of the year.

Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama holds the number two position on Twitterholic with 56,183 followers. The Blog Barack20 credits Twitter as one of the many social media networks that helped Mr. Obama win the Democratic nomination for President.

I believe Twitter will make it. I believe Twitter will develop a profitable business model. I also believe I have an idea of how Twitter can use a current advertising model for one of their revenue streams.

I will look to share that in a future post.

Brent Leary, I think you may have created a Twonster..;-)

All the best

JB

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There are a lot of great tools to keep you in touch with your social and professional network. Most of us use the computer, Jott gives us the power to do the same thing using voice recognition on your cell phone . Jott allows you to send emails to yourself, send email and text messages to your list of contacts, and send messages to different web services like Twitter, Blogger and Google Calendar. Jott will listen to your voice commands and turn you words into text to then be displayed as though you had typed the message yourself.

Most smart phones like the Apple iPhone and the Sprint Instinct have application that can give you some of the same kind of access. Jott uses voice recognition to let the rest of us who still use non-smart phones the same capability.

All I have to do is call the Jott toll-free number and my voice does the rest. The main reason I use Jott is to help me send reminders to myself when I am on the road and don’t have a pen handy, but it can do so much more.

Here is an example of a Jott I sent to my email address

Sent with my voice via Jott:

We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to our selves and our posterity do ordain…

Listen to Jeffrey’s Message

As you can see Jott was able to pick up words that are not that easy to pronounce let alone catch by voice recognition software. If your message is a bit long Jott will generate a link to the audio recording of your message that you can retrieve from the Jott website.

I also use Jott to update my Google Calendar and have just started sending post to my Twitter account.
Jott can help you keep up to date with your favorite blog by allowing you to hear the written words instead of reading them.

Jott lets me hear up to date blog post from Tech Crunch, Mashable and Barack20 when I don’t have the time to get to a computer to read it. If your blog feed is not on the Jott Feed list you can add it and give it a name that will be easily identified when speaking it into your cell phone.

The Jott service is currently FREE to all their users. Their is a quick setup on the Jott website that you walk through in order to store your contacts, groups, feeds and web links. Once that is done you are ready to Jott.

Jott gives busy Solopreneurs and Small Business a voice controlled way to communicate with their social media, emails, groups, blogs and up date their calendar. All done with with a non-smart cell phone.

The Jott service is currently FREE to all their users. There is a quick setup on the Jott website that you walk through in order to store your contacts, groups, feeds and web links. Once that is done you are ready to Jott.

Who do YOU want to Jott?

All the best

JB

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I have only been using the micro blogging tool Twitter for just under a month and I have to say I am hooked. My first Tweet or Twit was on a myspace page that someone emailed me of a lady who makes dresses out of Barack Obama T-shirts, and my latest Tweet was about my testing out a new broadcast email service called Mad Mimi. I can send Twitter updates directly from the Twitter website or from my cell phone using SMS. I can even send them via voice activation using a service called Jott that will take my spoken word and translate it into text on the Twitter network.

Some of you Solopreneurs and Small Business Owners are probably asking yourself why in the world would I need to get a Twitter account and start Tweeting. I said the same thing over a month ago but a funny thing happened when I sent out my first Tweet. I got an answer back in a Follower. A follower is someone who sees what you just put out on the Twitter network, then looks at your profile and then at a push of a button follows all your twitter update from now until they want to no more.

I know it may sound like a religious experience or maybe even cyber stalking and NO it is not. It is more like a voluntary way of telling you that I like what you wrote about and thereafter checking your profile out, I don’t mind getting more information from you.

If you goto a website called Twitterholic.com you can find out who the top 100 people being followed on the Twitter network. Barack Obama is number three on this list. Not only do I follow him but in return he follows me. How thrilling was it to see that the current Democratic Presidential Candidate is following little ole me.

So how can you use this to your advantage as a Solopreneur or Small Business Owner? Very simple. Think of it as Micro Marketing 140 characters at a time. 140 characters is all that you are allowed to post at a time on Twitter so your messages need to be short and to the point. Use it as a way to make timely announcements of your new services or product launches. Invite your many followers to your next event or just share a great website that would help someone in their time of need.

What you should not do is abuse the Twitter network of followers by sending them Twitter spam. Twitter spam is just like email spam unwanted information that serves no purpose. If you do this you will lose followers in a heartbeat. The best thing to do is just be yourself and share topics of discussion your audience of followers would appreciate.

I will do a follow up post on the many Twitter Tools for Solopreneurs and Small Businesses. In the mean time please get your own Twitter account and start sharing. If you share good information you will get a great following.

All the best

JB
twitter.com/jbrath

Had to add this great Youtube video on how Twitter works enjoy.

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Robert Scoble the author of the Blog “Scobleizer” does and in depth interview with Sridhar Vembu the CEO and Raju Vegesna the Evangelist of Zoho. Zoho is number 1 on my list of Top 10 Web 2.0 Sites for Solopreneurs. I use the Zoho Suite almost every day to help run my business.

Solopreneurs and small businesses really need to take a good look at utilizing a service like Zoho in order to keep your business productive and more cost efficient.

Zoho is giving companies like Google, Salesforce and even Microsoft a run for their money. Where else can you get to use an office suite similar to Microsoft Office, Google Apps and Salesforce CRM all for FREE.

Take a look at this interview and let me know your thoughts.

All the best

JB

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If you are a solopreneur or small business owner that is on the go and has more than one phone number you will definatley appreciate this post. What if you can could be contacted using one phone number on any of your main phone devices. Most of use have at least 3 different phone numbers. Home, work and cell and if you miss a call on any one of these numbers you have to get the message from 3 different voice mail boxes.

Enter GrandCentral one number for life. As a fellow Solopreneur I need to make sure I don’t miss a call. But if I do miss a call I don’t want to have to check three different voice mail services. Right now you can get a GrandCentral phone number for Free while it is still in Bata. When someone calls that number it calls me on any of the phones I choose and if I miss the call I can check the messages via my phone or better yet I get an email message and I can check the voice mail via the web.

My favorite feature has to be the ability to screen any of your incoming calls. We all remember the best thing about having our old answering machines was being able to listen to the person who called and decide if we wanted to talk to them. Well you you can do the same thing with your GrandCentral number. When someone calls you and you are unsure you want to talk to them just hit the 3 button on your phone and you get to screen the callers message.

If I decide after listening in on the callers message I want to talk to them all I have to do is hit the Star Key (*) on my phone keypad and I can join the call. What’s great is just like an answering machine the caller can’t hear you or know that you are listening and if you decide you don’t want to talk to them they just leave their message on the voice mail.

I now have one number 404-287-0848 and one number only. Numbers on GrandCentral are going fast so I suggest you get one ASAP.

All The Best

JB

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I have been a Paypal.com account holder for eight years now and I am amazed at how much money I have made using their service. If you are not yet familiar with PayPal and are a Solopreneur or a Small Business owner you are leaving a lot of money at risk. I say at risk because if you don’t have a way to accept credit cards/debit cards for payment on your goods or services you not only risk losing business but you also risk not getting paid at all.

The reason I became a PayPal.com member so long ago is because I had a contract with a major university to complete work on a website I was designing for their building services department. The department head was very impressed with my work and asked if I accept credit cards as a form of payment. I only accepted checks or cash at the time like most small businesses just starting out.

The amount they owed me could only be paid by the department head with his university issued credit card. The department head’s only choice was to send a check request to the director of the department, the director of the department sent a request to the purchasing department who then sent a request to the billing department who then 5 months later sent a check to me.

If only I had a traditional merchant account at that time. Most Solopreneurs or Small Business owners don’t need or can’t afford the cost involved to maintaining a merchant account. I didn’t have enough volume of business at that time to justify a merchant account so I was stuck waiting when it came to check payments from my clients.

PayPal.com to the rescue! Not only can I now accept credit cards of all types including American Express, MasterCard, Visa and Discover Card, I can also allow my clients to send me an eCheck through PayPal.com
PayPal.com also gives you an Invoicing tool that will send out professional invoices through email that will include a link back to PayPal.com to allow your client the ability to pay that invoice with their credit card.

Their once was a very popular commercial that a famous actor at that time Karl Malden did for the American Express Travelers Checks. The catch phrase at the end of the commercial was “Don’t Leave Home Without Them!” Well I do the same with my PayPal.com Debit Card. I don’t leave home without it. You can get a Free PayPal.com Debit Card with 60 days of good standing of creating your PayPal.com account. Once one of your clients or customers pays you through PayPal.com using their credit card the funds are automatically availble via your PayPal Debit Card.

There are so many other great features PayPal.com has to offer it will take more than one Blog Post to go over them. So if you are a Solopreneur or Small Business owner and want to expand the profit potential by accepting major credit cards for payment of your goods or services get THEE to the PayPal.com site NOW!

All The Best

JB

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