Skype is a great tool for any solopreneur, or small business owner. Skype is what they call a "voice over internet protocol", or voip. So, what does that mean to you as a solopreneurs?

It means that you can call skype to skype members free of charge, using your computer. There is also an instant message feature, or instant chat, which I find incredibly useful with my clients.

Because I’m online all day long, my clients find it easy to shoot me a question via Skype’s instant chat feature. I can also send and receive files and links. I hold meetings with clients through Skype.

As with so many social applications, Skype has buttons that let you share with visitors to your blogs, or websites, that you are a Skype user.

I encourage you to look at Skype and consider adding to your online tools. I think you’ll be glad you did. And, if you do…my Skype name is: northsandiegobusiness.

Let me know what you think by commenting….

Technorati Tags: Skype, VOIP

As many of you know I help solopreneurs utilize the internet to market their business. One of the most useful tools I have in my online arsenal is Skype and a valuable extra to Skype, Mikogo.

I’ve set it up for a non-profit organization so they can hold their physical, or as I like to refer to it, terra firma meeting along side a virtual meeting for the attendees that can’t make the terra firma meeting.

Skype, in my humble opinion, is a fantastic tool.  You do need to let the other person finish speaking, but all in all, it’s a great tool. Mikogo only enhances Skpye and extends it one step further.

So, what can you do with Mikogo???

1. Share each others’ screens.
2. Switch presenter – let a meeting participant share their own screen. (awesome feature)
3. Access remote keyboard and mouse control – the current presenter may grant control of their screen to another user at any time.(great for tech support)
4. Transfer files – the organizer and guests can send files of up to 200MB to each other (whooo hoooo so easy)
5. Select applications – Got an open application which is not required for the meeting? Select to hide it.
6. Pause transmission – take a meeting break and suspend the transfer of screen data.

Now, Mikogo has gone one step further and created a fantastic tutorial to help you install and use Mikogo.

Once you have it installed, skype me at northsandiegobusiness so we can play!!

One step towards taking your business more into cyberspace is the ability to communicate over the web. I’m a Skype user, which allows me to IM my clients and associates, as well as make Skype to Skype calls. Skype also has what they call, extras. Extras extend the functionality of the software. One extra, Mikogo, which allows you to share your desktop with others. I put it to the test last night and will really thrash it tonight. So far, I’m impressed!

I had a total of four users join the meeting. We were able to easily watch the desktop being shared. We used a PowerPoint presentation and the lapse between clicking the slides and them visually changing was 3 seconds. One of the features I particularly liked was the ability for me, through a mouse click, to point to a part of the page that was being discussed. It’s hard to sit and watch someone else’s cursor on your screen, it’s nice to be able to interact to a degree with your cursor. It’s the ability to say, look at this!

Did I mention, it’s free? All you do is go to Mikogo, sign up for an account and download the Mikogo.exe software. You’ll also want to download the connect.exe found by tapping the "Join Meeting" in the header.

It’s an easy application to use and it will support 10 people in the meeting at one time.

As a blog coach, I find the ability to share my desktop to be essential, especially if I’m training my client on a program or task. If you have any need to share your desktop, and are a Skype user, this is one extra you don’t want to be without.

If you try it, or are working with Mikogo, let me know what you think by commenting.