Recently I was talking with a business colleague about the challenge of doing business these days. "With all the ways to connect with people these days," he complained "I just can't seem to keep up with it all. Between Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, I think we have maxed out our time and energy."

I understand what he is talking about to a large degree. As a virtually solo entrepreneur, I face many of the same challenges my friend does. How to get everything done and stay in touch with everyone on my list while still managing the transaction (money making) parts of my business. But of late I have added a couple of tools to my life that have really been helping me get a handle on things.
 
The first is an automated marketing calender. It doesn't actually do everything for me but reminds me when it is time to do a particular task so I no longer have to remember it on my own. From updating my Facebook status to writing in my blog, it emails me a reminder when it is time to get moving on something. This allows me to stop worrying about these tasks until they are due so I can focus my time on other things. Big help! (Let me know if you want me to set one up for your business!)

One of the other tools I recently discovered is a service for Twitter. Tweetlater.com actually allows you to schedule tweets to be posted today as well as down the road as far in advance as you like. You can create recurrent scheduling for tweets if you like as well set up auto-responders for new followers and even auto follow everyone who follows you. You can also manage multiple twitter accounts in one place - much better that switching back and forth between accounts!

The key for me with using both of these tools is that they are helping me to delegate in a way, to let go of having to manage every single part of my business and letting "someone else" do part of my job for me. True, they aren't exactly like having employees in the exact sense of the word. But they are both working for me while I sleep and doing other things that are essential to my success in business and overall happiness. I encourage you to try both ideas out and start enjoying a simpler life!