To-Do Lists Made Easy With Followup.cc

Crossing an item or task from a to-do list can be pure ecstasy for some business owners.  But creating and managing task lists can consume a lot of time, and finding ways to organize your daily to-do list can help you get more done. Followup.cc is a new service that is ideal for small business owners.

Followup.cc is a simple and fast application that allows you to create a reminder by copying the Followup service in the TO, CC, or BCC section of an email. It takes a little bit of thinking to understand the structuring, but after that it’s a snap to use.

For example, if you just scheduled a meeting for three hours from now, you would send an email to: 3hours@followup.cc.  You might be confirming this meeting with a colleague; if so, you could put the 3hours@followup.cc in the CC field or BCC or even the TO field.  The service explains that many people appreciate the ability to show their colleague or customer that an appointment reminder has been set.  Followup has easy-to-learn formatting around time: mi = minutes, h = hours, d = days, w = weeks, mo = months, y = years.  There are a few other tips you can find on the FAQ page.

Two additional parts to the service that I really liked:

• Snooze Links.  You know that handy button on the alarm clock that allows you to sleep in for just 10 more minutes? Followup.cc has a “click to snooze” link that lets you archive the reminder message and set it to remind you in 30 minutes or more. Handy.

• I also liked the way reminders pull the relevant conversation to the top of your inbox. A downside is it only works  with Gmail, Hotmail and other conversation-based e-mail systems, not with  traditional applications like Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird.  Perhaps in the future.

• The feature I loved the most was the “bookmarklet” that you can drag to the  browser bookmarks you have set. With this tool, if you are on a website and click the Followup bookmark button, it pops open a window that asks you when you want to be reminded and keywords or tags you want to remember.  You can then send yourself the website page (with hyperlink) that you want to read later, with keywords to prompt your memory, at a scheduled and more convenient time. Great way to maintain focus.

If you make a mistake in setting an appointment, you can head to the Web-based calendar and change it there.  Even better, if you and a customer change the appointment and you copy Followup.cc in the CC or BCC line again, it will update the existing appointment via e-mail.  The free account comes with 30 reminders a month; after that, Followup.cc starts at $5/month. Overall, it’s a great service to check out to improve your daily to-do list process.

Learn more about Followup.cc.

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