What’s in a name? Possibly your online identity. If you are forming a social media strategy, one of the items on your checklist is choosing a name. Rather than log into several dozen sites to see if your super-cute handle has been used, try NameChk.com.

NameChk scans all the popular social media platforms for you and tells you if a given name has been used. Granted, the name used might be yours (they don’t know that), but at least you can see which platforms still have room for your clever pseudonym.

Technology marches on — and so does the need to manage it! Even with all the cool stuff on my computer, I still find myself frustrated with repeating the same tasks over and over. Enter AutoIt to save the day (and my blood pressure).

This Microsoft Windows automation tool can speed you through repetitive tasks, giving you more time for what’s really important. While it could be considered a tool for the geek crowd, you really don’t have to learn how to write code because it has a macro recorder.

Turn on the recorder, then do the task once manually. Turn off the recorder and — voila — you have a script for doing that task. Save it to a file and all you have to do is double-click the file to run it.

Here’s a sample of what the tool produces:

Send("{LWINDOWN}e{LWINUP}")
WinWait("My Computer","")
If Not WinActive("My Computer","") Then WinActivate("My Computer","")
WinWaitActive("My Computer","")
Send("{ALTDOWN}d{ALTUP}c{SHIFTDOWN};{SHIFTUP}\clients{ENTER}")


This script opens the Windows Explorer application and then directs it to my Clients directory. How many times a week do you think I might do that? Right. Now you get the time-saving value of this little gem.

One of the best ways to save time is to delegate. Properly done, you can multiply your efforts by spreading work and save your energy for the most strategic work — work which presumably only you can do.

There are a number of firms that provide virtual (remote) assistants.  I have used both offshore and USA resources. Individuals that work for these firms will perform a wide variety of tasks for you from updating websites to sending flowers to your wife.  If you can state your needs clearly, they can save you a lot of time and potentially money as well. If you’re not in the habit of being crystal clear, however, you can frustrate yourself (and them) in the process. This is true even in local face-to-face delegation but it is a more acute problem in the offshore model where you face cultural and language differences.

Tim Ferris (author of The Four Hour Work Week) has assembled a list of firms through which you can hire a remote assistant. Some firms have areas of specialty (Agents of Value) while others are more general (AskSunday).

For work that requires a high-touch phone presence (scheduling sales appointments, for instance) or discernment about American culture (we speak more slowly in the South), I recommend using a local person. Check out Cindy Filer’s Innovative-Outsourcing for superb USA-based virtual help.