Welcome back to Self Employed Mum. Thanks for visiting!

I’m a sucker for notebooks despite having a macbook nailed to my knees. They’re great for jotting down notes and inspiration – and if they have a cool cover, more so the better.

I’m loving these vintage library notebooks from Present and Correct. They measure 4.25″ x 5.75″ and have a handprinted wrap around cover. Each notebook also has a library pocket and ticket which you can stick into your book and tuck in stuff like receipts, tickets and other papery things!

Two titles to choose from:

• Basic Robotic Engineering by Anne Droid (silver, gold & white) (my fave) or
• An Encyclopaedia of Poisons by R.C. Nick (black, grey & silver)

£6.50 from Present and Correct. Postage at cost. Worldwide shipping available.

Regular readers will know of my eternal quest (encouraged by Nat) to develop ultra-organisational abilities. As a geek, I’m also a sucker for anything online and techy. Often, I get as far as a road test before giving up, but one online tool I am still using every day, months after signing up, is project management software, Huddle.

UK based, Huddle is an online workspace that you can use to work together with people. I use it to manage my virtual assistant, work with a couple of business partners and liaise with my internet marketing clients. It is this type of flexibility that makes Huddle such a good solution for those organisationally challenged peeps like myself.

Huddle gives you a range of communication options including sharing and storing files online and creating and editing documents online. Discussions can be managed through unlimited discussion forums and whiteboards (like Wikis). You’re able to notify group members immediately of any changes to the workspace, ask for approvals for documents or let peeps know you’ve uploaded files.

Add into the mix a task management facility which links to an online calender (which can also be synced with iCal) and you have a pretty nifty way to keep projects on track. Oh, and there’s also an app for your iphone

My only criticism is that if you have several projects running it can get pricey for the small business to add extra workspaces to their account, but you can take advantage of one free workspace to try Huddle out and see whether it suits.

Are you one of those peeps who spend a lot of time looking for colors to use online?

Do you ever look at a site and think – “ooh! that looks lovely? I wonder what those colors are?”

Then let me introduce to one of my favorite online tools, Colorzilla.

ColorZilla is a plug-in extension for Mozilla Firefox browser and the Mozilla Suite.

Although it’s aimed at web developers and graphic designers with color related tasks, like choosing website colors, it’s a very handy tool which I use more than I thought I ever would.

Once you have installed Colorzilla you are able to get an instant reading of the colors any website is using with just a quick click of the mouse. There’s also a built-in palette browser which lets you choose colors from pre-defined color sets and  you can save the colors in custom palettes available online.

To give you just one example, I’m working on a website for a client at the moment – it’s a second site but needs to have the same look and feel as the original. Getting a list of the colors from the original site would be a tedious job, involving contacting her previous designers, noting them all down, checking for typos etc.. Using Colorzilla I was able to grab the colors from the site immediately and give the new techies an online link to the color palette – problem solved in nano-seconds!

Download Colorzilla and have a more colorful life online…

photo credit: Jimmy_Joe

I have one of the most untidy desks around – but I’m sure it would be a different story if I had one of these cool Campervan Desk Tidies.

Some self assembly is needed but the neat trick is that it is fully customisable with a range of fun stickers.

£5.99 from Gadgets.co.uk.

I’m always on the look out for neat online tools, and if they’re free, all the better. Nat recently pointed me in the direction of Toodledo – it’s an online organisational tool which enables you to record your tasks and “to-do” lists. So last week I registered and took the software for a spin.

Toodledo is online, which is a great boon, if like me you work between a couple of ‘puters, or if you work away from home. Simply log-in to your Toodledo account and your tasks are ready and waiting!

I used the import function to move some tasks from another piece of software. This wasn’t a big success – the imported tasks all ended up as separate “folders” (projects) rather than tasks. I suspect this may have been my fault though – I’m not one of those peeps who really read instructions preferring to feel my way along…

The vanilla version of Toodledo is quite comprehensive for a freebie. It enables you to add tasks to projects (folders) and give a time estimate, due/completion dates, priority etc. So far, so organized. You can also collaborate with others and share your tasks, print your tasks out into a foldable booklet, plus add Toodledo to your mobile ‘phone. There’s a  task “hotlist” which Toodledo will email you every day, and a gazillion different ways to organize your task list too. One really interesting option is the ability to set goals – long term and life time and add those into your task list too!

However the extra “bells and whistles” Toodle do offers are quite intriguing too – I have a tendency to procrastinate, Toodledo has a tool that analyzes dates, priorities, time estimates, and other characteristics to create a customized schedule of the best use of my time. So say I had a spare couple of hours, Toodledo would be able to tell me which tasks to do in this amount of time for the best results.

All in all, I’ve enjoyed my test drive of Toodledo so much I’m probably going to upgrade to the pro subscription for $14.95 – the peeps at Toodledo even make it easy to decide by giving you a week’s free road test of the upgrade options.

Visiting a trade show really helps you to keep up with the latest in your industry – it’s often the best way to discover new suppliers as well as helping you research possible competitors.  Here’s my tips for getting the best out of your first visit to a trade show.

Plan your visit in advance. Sign up early on the website as often this means you get news ahead of the visit of hot new suppliers, seminars running etc. You usually get free or reduced admission too. Then take time to look at the exhibiter profiles and their websites. Make a note of those you’re really interested in.

Be practical. Book your travel in advance for cheap fares. Wear “sensible shoes” as you’ll be on your feet a lot (my faves are current fashion no-nos Crocs ). Pack water and, if you can, snacks – refreshments are usually very expensive!

Bring a bag. Not your best handbag, but something like those cotton bags for life which you can scrunch up inside your latest arm candy for all those brochures and pricelists. There are often available as freebies at the event but pack one of your own just in case! If your destination is Spring Fair, or one of the other mega trade fairs, then a wheeled trolley case (around the size of cabin luggage) is a very good idea. Yes, you’ll feel a prat, but that’s a lot better than having arm ache or having to dump brochures because you can’t carry them all back home.

Arrange to meet people. Trade shows attract folks from all over – many peeps use them as an opportunity to network and meet up with like-minded pals – like those you chat to online but have never met IRL. Others arrange to meet PRs or other suppliers who are also visiting the same show.

Try and pack as much as you can into the day – and don’t forget to enjoy yourself! I always find a trade show revitalises my business mojo!

photo credit: Vincent®