13th Dec 2010, 09:51 PM | #1 |
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A lot of IM is about doing the same thing over and over... finding what works and repeating it. Of course, this could get unbearably dull and time-consuming if you waste time doing the same little things over and over, so many of us have templates and checklists designed to help us do menial stuff fast. Templates, checklists, and other automation tools are great for being more efficient and making better use of the 24-hour day in which we're all confined. Some examples of commonly-used automation tools are:
The Challenge: Can you prove that you're the ultimate robot here -- the person who has every possible menial task in some kind of template or checklist to speed up efficiency and make sure you don't forget anything? Post your best templates here for free, so other Warriors can download them and benefit from them in exchange for a "thanks" click. On February 1st, the post with the most "thanks" given will win the grand prize. Even if your business isn't all automated yet, that gives you about six weeks to automate it, refine your process, and post. The sooner you enter, the better, of course! Rules: You may post as many templates as you like, preferably using the "attachments" feature or else providing a direct link (no opt-ins allowed ). I recommend that you provide them in the same post if this is the case, or your "thanks" will be split up between several posts. You can edit them later to add more templates if necessary. The tools you provide should be your own creation or created specifically for you – in essence, the same rules as the WSO section apply here. Anything that can be used as an automation tool can be given away here: software, .doc templates, .zips full of checklists, etc. The only requirement is that they help make IM simpler, easier, and/or faster (while, of course, conforming to the WF and WSO section rules). Prizes: Appropriately enough, the person who wins this contest will be rewarded with a bunch of paid templates to help improve their business automation even more! The current prize pool consists of: all my signature banner templates up to that point (minimum 20), all article templates (minimum 5), and any other unreleased paid templates I throw in, plus all of my automation-based WSOs released between December and February 2011 (for instance, my Blogger sites WSO). The minimum prize value will be $100 by the time I'm done, but it will likely be a fair bit higher. In addition, I'd ask anyone who wants to contribute to the prize pool to PM me so I can add their automation-based WSOs and paid templates (must not be available for free anywhere) to the prize pool. This is a great chance to get exposure, as I'll put your name up right here along with what you're offering. This contest is a chance to improve your business practices, get exposure for yourself, your business and products, and the WSO section in general, give back to the community, help out newbies and experienced members alike, and get a sense of personal satisfaction. Now... can you prove you're the robot champion? |
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15th Dec 2010, 07:38 AM | #2 |
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| Cheers Zabrina for your wonderful idea. Pooling resources is one of the best ways to cut expenses in an online business. This is always a win-win situation for all concerned. I consider myself pretty much a "robot" in this sense. I only use standard templates for most of my needs. I'll try and get some nice templates together and post them here before February 2011. |
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15th Dec 2010, 08:12 AM | #3 |
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Stand up for the champion! Zabrina, you are the champion! |
15th Dec 2010, 09:37 AM | #4 |
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So you need to open a big list of url's and are too lazy to bother copying them one by one in the browser? No problem, use http://urlopener.com to open all of them at once. You need to fill out several registration forms with the same information? Just use roboform toolbar to automate the process. Also try simple macro programs to set up automated tasks on your computer, for example, if you need to set up multiple Wordpress blogs, upload themes and plugins, it can be automated via a macro program. Another neat trick I use is save all the frequently used info on a separate .txt file on my desktop that I keep open at all times. Such info as ping lists for blogs, basic "TO DO" things when setting up a new site, the most important backlink sites and more - all written down as a nice step-by-step system on a .txt. This way you will never have to spend time trying to remember what you had to do. And as soon as you have any idea or thought of what you should do in the future, write it down on another .txt file on your desktop. This way you will easily keep track of all your plans. Another neat trick I use is firefox bookmarks, but not like most people do. Check out the pic I attached. Neat huh? Adding that many sites as quick links is easy if you know a simple Firefox trick. When you add a bookmark, click right mouse button->properties and delete the name of the bookmark. Now you are left with a nice icon and plenty of more room for other bookmarks. Hope this helps! I will add more if I remember. |
Time of thinking is over. | |
18th Dec 2010, 01:35 PM | #5 |
HyperActive Warrior Join Date: 2010 Location: Beloved ♥ Israel
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Thank you for starting this helpful thread. Personally I can do with some eBook themes. I'll search my files and see if I can upload something useful on this thread. Good Luck! |
18th Dec 2010, 03:58 PM | #6 |
VIP Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2008 Location: Wisconsin, USA.
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Zabrina, I don't really have any templates to post that would be relevant to anyone else's business, but I like the idea behind your contest so will contribute an idea. One of my sites is a webmasters help site. Because of the nature of the site I get asked a lot of how-to questions. I also sell a lot of different products I've created, which also generates a lot of questions. Sometimes download info has to be sent out as well, like when a customer doesn't click the Return to Merchant link or they get a new computer and need to download a purchase again. That adds up to an awful lot of email. I use Thunderbird for my email client, with the Quicktext plugin. With Quicktext and Thunderbird I can set up canned responses to common questions and also for product information. The canned responses (template replies) can be categorized as you choose (HTML Questions, Product Info, etc.) and the category buttons placed on a toolbar. To answer an email, all I have to do is select the appropriate category button and choose the response needed from a drop down list. To offer you an example, I have about 50 canned replies in my Product Info category. Can you imagine how much time this saves not having to type this info or having to look up download info or passwords over and over? Trust me, this saves a ton of time, and perhaps my sanity. It may be the single best thing I've done for my business as far as a time-saving measure goes. Nice contest idea. I'll check in on it again to see what I can learn. |
Just when you think you've got it all figured out, someone changes the rules.
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21st Dec 2010, 10:57 AM | #7 |
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| I appreciate the kind words, folks, but the thanks really goes to those who contribute their time and templates to help others in this thread. Hopefully more will follow soon! Hmm, I might post a few email templates to help get things started... don't be shy, any hints and links and documents are welcome here. Also... would there be more interest in: A) $100 cash prize, paid via Paypal, plus any automation WSOs people add, or B) The current prize pack, plus any automation WSOs people add? They'll both be worth about the same, but $100 in your pocket is never a bad thing. :p |
23rd Dec 2010, 09:27 AM | #8 |
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This is a great contest. I will create a lot of automation tools and win this. All in!
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23rd Dec 2010, 09:45 AM | #9 | |
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I haven't forgotten this thread. I'll need to find a slot in my schedule to search my files for useful resources. Right now I have, thank God some translations and other freelance jobs on my hands. I hope next week I'll be able to supply a number of downloadables for this thread. You are a beautiful spirit and your words are full of beauty ... you're lovely vibes leave a sweet perfume on every thread you visit. Blessings! | |
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23rd Dec 2010, 10:45 AM | #10 |
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This is my first automation tool for this contest... ~~~ Ultimate Xmas Photo2Slideshow Robot ~~~ - Import unlimited number of photos of your baby/cat/mother-in-law wearing the same Santa Claus hat as last year - Create a fountain of fun and generate slideshows with a speed that will make your wife think you've kidnapped Santa's little helpers and put them to work in your very own slideshow sweat shop And here is the FREE bonus tutorial: (You need to enable macros in Powerpoint to use it.) 1. Open the slideshow 2. Make sure macros are enabled 3. Start the slideshow 4. Press the "Import..."-button on the first slide 5. Select pictures to import and click OK 6. The macro now imports all the pictures, one picture per slide. All the pictures are centered and stretched/resized to fit the slide. Take MASSIVE action now and get the Ultimate Xmas Photo2Slideshow Robot before it gets pulled of the market - or you will get left behind forever. PS. If you download only one product this year... make sure it's this one. PS2. No guarantee, no support. I'm THAT SURE of this Robot! >>> Turbo Backlink Counter 3.0 <<< Is it a train? Is it a plane? Is it a super hero wearing nerdy glasses? No, its the Turbo Backlink Counter 3.0 - and it's here to save your day! Have you ever wanted to check the number of backlinks to a list of url's? Well, the answer to your prayers is here - the Eagle has landed. Fire up your good old Excel, open the attached file (macros enabled), add a list of urls in the left column and hit the button! The software is completely automated and will attract money like a vacuum cleaner in a cash vault. (If the tool doesn't work, chances are there is a reference to a missing file. Have your local college tech wizard fix it for you.) PS. No, you can't afford to hire me to do your dirty work. PS2. You can create timelines and nice charts with this - never seen before features! |
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26th Dec 2010, 04:11 AM | #11 |
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Just updated my post for this contest with a new tool... See above |
26th Dec 2010, 01:46 PM | #12 |
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Greetings! At the moment I only have 5 original graphics which are my own and therefore not under the copyright protection law: These photos I took myself: |
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26th Dec 2010, 03:34 PM | #13 | |
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I'm putting them on Flicker: FrogonRainWindowcloseup | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (This froggie was on our window and croaking up a storm!) additional Cymry | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (I made this doily myself) TattingCloseup | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (A tatted snowflake I made) and finally, Peacock from Gwydir | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (I took this at our ancestral castle in Wales) Dot | |
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26th Dec 2010, 03:50 PM | #14 | |
HyperActive Warrior Join Date: 2010 Location: Beloved ♥ Israel
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11th Jan 2011, 11:02 AM | #15 |
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Wonderful contest!
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19th Jan 2011, 04:55 PM | #16 |
I think I'm getting there War Room Member Join Date: 2005 Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom.
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Looking For Top Amazon Keywords? Look no further NO CHARGE ;-)
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29th Jan 2011, 08:09 AM | #17 |
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1st Feb 2011, 05:02 AM | #18 |
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This contest rocks, thanks a lot Zabrina for this.
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2nd Feb 2011, 03:52 PM | #19 |
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Did I hear my name? Ontopic I can strongly recommend everybody to learn autohotkey. It's brilliant.
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3rd Feb 2011, 08:16 AM | #20 | |
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Not as much interest in the contest as I'd hoped, but the leading post was:
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19th Feb 2011, 09:12 PM | #21 |
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4th Jun 2011, 05:08 AM | #22 |
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Thank you for presenting me with this amazingly great opportunity of winning this uber cool contest here on the Warriorforum. I want to thank my parents, my friends, my colleagues - and everyone else who deserve it - for the chance to help make the world a better (as in this case, a more automated) place. However, I have decided to accept nothing but the honor and I must deny the money. Therefor I ask you to donate this money to a cause that you find suitable. Perhaps something related to Haiti |
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