What do you do when you wake up and realize you have too many email accounts with various services and no idea how to simplify?

Start with a big piece of paper.

List those pesky accounts and why you have them:

1. myname@verizon.net • address with home internet service provider–using it for official purposes and it’s listed on various accounts
2. myname@epa.gov • Official work e-mail (using it on LinkedIn.com as well)
3. pseudonym@gmail.com • Primary personal e-mail
4. myconsultingpractice@yahoo.com •  I created this account because I lost my login to a gmail account created long ago ie. myconsultingpractice@gmail.com and wanted to lock up the name
5. myname@myconsultingpractice.com • I’m thinking of launching a business venture in the future and bought the domain, it came with email accounts
6. myname@me.com • I set this up when I got an iphone and wanted to use MobileMe
7. myname@yahoo.com • I belong to several Yahoo! Groups and used it to create my Flickr account

Now take a moment to think. You need a strategy. What are your goals? What needs are you trying to meet?

Goals:

• Simplify my record keeping
• Separate business and personal accounts
• Create a professional web presence that’s independent from my job
• Reduce email related stress

Needs:

• Keep track of passwords and logins
• Remember about the emails seldom used
• Avoid checking a bunch of email accounts unnecessarily—who has time?

Can you think of other needs and goals or email accounts that could be added to the list? If so, add a comment below and I’ll walk through a potential strategy next week.

In the mean time, sign up for Chaos To Clarity’s free weekly newsletter and get your very own password keeper–it already has a section for email and you can create your own sections as needed. Print it out, carefully enter the relevant logins and passwords,  keep it in a safe place, and feel a bit more in control immediately.

Help! My Email Accounts are Out of Control is a post from: Chaos To Clarity™. ©2009 Chaos To Clarity, LLC. All rights reserved.

As you connect with more and more people on Facebook, take control of your privacy. Everyone doesn’t necessarily need to know everything about you. In this video I’ll walk you through the basics of Facebook privacy.

Take Control of your Facebook Privacy Settings is a post from: Chaos To Clarity™. ©2009 Chaos To Clarity, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Enjoy these 5 lucky links on business blogging from our collection on delicious. Do you have another one to recommend? Let us know by adding a comment. Link Friday is a regular feature.

1. 101 Tips from 50 Small Business Bloggers – Great roundup of small business tips from successful small business bloggers. Includes inspiration and guidance on a range of topics.

2. 9 Things to Do To Make Sure Your Next Blog Post is Read by More than Your Mom – Take action and get results with these tips for getting your fabulous posts noticed.

3. 21 Untapped Traffic Sources – Great ways to get the word out about your business blog.

4. 26 Places to Find Free Multimedia for Your Blog – Blogs are great for capturing interest, now add some multimedia and capture your reader’s imagination as well.

5. 7 Bad Writing Habits You Learned in School – Business bloggers usually aren’t writing for the classroom, so your communication choices should reflect the norms of the social Web, be professional, and provide valuable content.

Blogging for Business: 5 Lucky Links is a post from: Chaos To Clarity™. ©2009 Chaos To Clarity, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Like 55.6 million adults today, I like to stay in contact with friends through social networking sites like Facebook. Being able to keep up-to-date with a large group of people in a format that is easy and relaxed is very welcome. One need only invest the time in order to stay connected with friends.

An interesting application available on Facebook recently came to my attention, when I noticed a friend added it to his Facebook page. The application is created by TripAdvisor the wonderful website for travel information, where one can share one’s own experiences and learn not just from a generic travel guidebook but from actual traveler’s giving their opinions and observations. “Cities I’ve Visited” can be added to your Info or Profile page on Facebook for your friends to view. The application allows you to “pin” cities on a world map and specify if you’ve visited, plan on visiting, and/or if you can advise friends about the area. You can also share photos from your trips and adventures through the various cities.

As someone who enjoys traveling, this simple application is most appreciated because I can happily share my travel experiences with my friends – including those who might like to inquire more about them. Also, any future plans for travel are displayed and any friends who might be interested in a similar jaunt can inquire and instead of traveling by yourself or with a few people you could possibly end up with a large group traveling together.

“Cities I’ve Visited” is just another fun way of connecting with friends. If you love to travel as much as I do and you’re on Facebook, consider adding it on your Profile or Info page. Have fun and happy travels!

Planning Travel with Cities I’ve Visited on Facebook is a post from: Chaos To Clarity™. ©2009 Chaos To Clarity, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Meetup.com is a great website /service that makes it easy for people to get together locally and “Do something • Learn Something • Share Something • Change Something” as they say on their website. Meetup.com lets you connect with other people who share your interests, and you (usually) meet face to face.

Meetups are a great addition to your social networking efforts—nothing replaces getting out and meeting people face to face if they’re in your local area. Since all the information is online, you can easily search for groups you’d like to join. You can also start your own group and use the site to manage it.

We recently had a great presentation/conversation about social networking with local entrepreneurs from the DC Spotter meetup group.  It’s a great group organized by Lee Odess and supported by Jennifer Odess (married entrepreneurs who were recently featured in the Washington Post Business Section). The group’s mission is to support the entrepreneurial and professional goals of young professionals in the DC metro area.

So find your group. Or start one. Face to face networking can be an important addition to your online efforts, not to mention fun.

Face To Face Networking with a Digital Assist from Meetup.com is a post from: Chaos To Clarity™. ©2009 Chaos To Clarity, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Enjoy these 7 lucky LinkedIn® links from our collection on delicious. Do you have another one to recommend? Let us know by adding a comment. Link Friday is a regular feature.

1. LinkedIn SuperGuide -Tutorials, Tips and Tools – Answering the power user call is easier with this wonderful collection of resources from Interactive Insights Group.

2. Social Media Sonar » Blog Archive » Can LinkedIn Work for You? (part 1 of 10) – Check out Sean Nelson’s updated blog post series on making LinkedIn work for you. Most people never take advantage of all LinkedIn has to offer, what will you do?

3. LinkedIn® Job Seekers and Professionals Video Series – Chaos To Clarity’s very own video series to get you started with LinkedIn covers setting up an account, getting started on your profile, and telling a compelling story.

4. YouTube – LinkedIn ‘09 Grad Guide – 09 Grads need all the help they can get–here’s a video to put LinkedIn into perspective.

5. Write Your LinkedIn Profile for Your Future – Chris Brogan suggests creating a profile to fit your future–odds are you won’t keep doing what you’ve done in the past. A future-oriented profile has power, it’s way more than a recap of what’s come before.

6. LinkedIn™ Snipers: Beware! 5 ways to lose your account – Great cautions to keep your LinkedIn account in good standing from Nate Kievman, an expert on marketing yourself and your business on LinkedIn.

7. 4 Minutes to Optimize a LinkedIn Profile for SEO – Remember the search engines when you create your profile. Hubspot has a great video to help with your SEO (search engine optimization).

7 Lucky LinkedIn® Links for Job Seekers and Professionals is a post from: Chaos To Clarity™. ©2009 Chaos To Clarity, LLC. All rights reserved.

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On Monday night I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Tai Goodwin, The Career Makeover Coach, for her Diva Toolbox Radio Show, Career Makeover Strategies. Tai helps people find their way to the career that’s right for them and she’s a great interviewer. I recommend her series highly and plan to tune in myself in the future.

We talked about telling your story on LinkedIn® and ways you can use the LinkedIn platform effectively. Developing an effective profile is an important first step. An effective profile tells your story in a way that helps you connect with your reader. People connect to emotions and personal qualities. Using vivid language to talk about your work experience and the qualities that your actions reveal can move you out of the land of resume-speak and into a conversation more suited for social networks.

It’s crucial to keep the medium in mind when you’re crafting your message. Social networks are growing at phenomenal rates because people crave connections, an outlet to express themselves, and ways to add meaning to their lives. Biologist and Conflict Theorist Mary Clark identifies three basic human needs—bonding, autonomy, and meaning. People share these basic needs across cultures, time, and space.

Social Networking meets ALL those essential needs.

When people participate in social networks they’re looking for interesting, engaging people, information, and experiences. If you want to catch their attention as a job seeker, professional, or entrepreneur, then you need to be in the conversation. Participation on LinkedIn includes keeping your profile up-to-date and letting people know what you are doing, but it doesn’t stop there.

LinkedIn also offers Groups to help you connect to likeminded people, and an answers section to help you connect with others by asking or answering questions of people that are like you and those that are completely different. Asking and answering questions contributes to the overall conversation, whether you do it in Groups or in the Answers section.

Take the time to craft quality questions and answers and share valuable information with your network and you will raise your professional profile and standing in the LinkedIn community. Not to mention the potential of connecting with people who can support your professional and business goals. We are all our own marketing departments these days, so take responsibility for marketing yourself by making great contributions to the conversation and telling your story.

Leveraging LinkedIn for marketing yourself or your products is a hot topic. Want to know more? Have a look at Nate Kievman’s blog or his join his “Linked Strategies Group” on LinkedIn. If you’re interested in the idea of engaging very specific groups that you don’t belong to, but perhaps want to learn from or connect with (like venture capitalists, for example), check out Nate’s book LinkedIntoMarketing to learn how he followed his business needs, engaged different groups, and developed relationships as essential parts of his method for success with LinkedIn.

What’s Your LinkedIn® Story? is a post from: Chaos To Clarity™. ©2009 Chaos To Clarity, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Looking for all 3 videos in our LinkedIn® Job Seekers and Professionals Video Series? Look no further—here they are.

Get started! LinkedIn® Job Seekers and Professionals

LinkedIn® is the social networking site for job seekers and professionals. Are you there yet?

If not, don’t worry. This video will help you sign up for LinkedIn® and get your privacy settings in order. Digital Survival™ is all about taking charge of your computer and your web presence—that includes protecting your privacy and understanding the implications of the choices you make about computers and the Web. When you put your best foot forward right from the start, you’ll feel more confident and know that you’re making the system work for you.

Get Started on Your Profile: LinkedIn® Job Seekers and Professionals

After you’ve signed up and taken charge of your profile privacy settings on LinkedIn® , it’s time to take a look at the different components of your profile. We’re reviewing many of those today so that you can start collecting your information and thinking about how to present yourself. Digital Success™ demands effective communication as much as understanding technology and our changing social context.

Your Profile Story: LinkedIn® for Job Seekers and Professionals

Life is complex and often complicated. The story you tell doesn’t have to be. If you’re a professional or job seeker, it may be obvious that your digital survival demands a web presence these days—and LinkedIn® is a great place to be.

In this video, I hope to get you thinking about options for telling your professional story on LinkedIn. I give some direction, encouraged you to plan sensibly, and leave you space to work out the details. One way or another, every field on LinkedIn offers you a chance to shape your message. Take full advantage of it.

LinkedIn® Job Seekers and Professionals Video Series is a post from: Chaos To Clarity™. ©2009 Chaos To Clarity, LLC. All rights reserved.

You might be interested in:

• Get Started on Your Profile: LinkedIn® Job Seekers and Professionals Video Series
• Your Profile Story: LinkedIn® for Job Seekers and Professionals Video Series
• Get started! LinkedIn® Job Seekers and Professionals Video Series