A few years ago, the Cowboy surprised me with a new bicycle for my birthday.

I was bouncing up and down with excitement like a little schoolgirl.

You see, my old bike was a Giant Yukon. A mountain bike.

But we don’t live near mountains. (Maybe a few foothills…)

In fact, I never did ride a trail on that thing. Instead, we’d ride on the roads near our home and a few miles out, on rural country roads.

I’m not sure if you cycle, but riding on pavement with big ol’ fat tires can be… well, tiresome.

I’ll never forget the feeling I had when I first took my Fuji Absolute out for a spin.

As I rolled down the asphalt road with the wind whistling past my ears, I felt as light as a cloud.

It had been years since I had a road bike.

I simply liked the idea of a mountain bike. Adored those big, fat knobby tires.

Pictured myself as a rough-and-tumble cyclist.

Yet I never rode on rough terrain.

So basically I had the wrong bike for the job.

Tools are the same way.

If you don’t have the right ones, your marketing will stumble.

Outdated tools will simply complicate your workflow.

You’ll waste your genius brainpower trying to motor up the un-motorable.

(Yes, I just made up a word.)

There are easier ways to get things done.

Here are my favorite productivity tools: 

Productivity Tool #1: Desktop Publishing – Serif’s PagePlus

Microsoft Word stinks on ice when it comes to inserting graphics and positioning them just right.  The Cowboy introduced me to Serif PagePlus, which made creating graphics and documents a breeze.

Much more affordable than Adobe’s InDesign. And a heckuva lot easier to learn, too.

Productivity Tool #2: Accounting – FreshBooks

FreshBooks also is a simple solution to keep track of your accounting instead of an Excel spreadsheet.  Plus it has a great online timer that allows you to easily track your projects. Solid reports, too.

Productivity Tool #3: Cloud Storage – SugarSync

SugarSync is a great cloud storage solution. No more emailing docs to yourself.   It’s one of the best ways to back up, sync, and access your files from anywhere.

Productivity Tool #4: A Goal-Setting & Achievement System – The SELF Journal

And last but certainly not least, my new passion, The SELF Journal.  It’s a grand 13-week productivity journal.  You set a main goal and it provides space for you to create progress goals, action steps and tasks.

Plus a daily calendar so you can schedule everything to make it all happen.

I’m discovering that I need to write it down in order to get it done.  And make those “appointments” with myself. Otherwise, I just mow on through my day without accomplishing the truly important stuff.

Speaking of important stuff, have you set goals for your marketing?

And do you have the right tools to help you reach those goals?

If you’re not sure, why not schedule a 30-minute marketing chat?

I may have just the right tool to get you flying down the road of success.

Like greased lightning…
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