You made it!!!  Congratulations!

Now you can take action, actually you have already acted if you made it this far in the series.  To help you pursue your journey to the next level, here is a list of tools that I think every Maritime Emperor needs to make their life easier.

Behind this vault, I have compiled this list of tools that will be your business lifeline.  I will continue to update the list as I find more tools that can help with your new Maritime Empire, which will be built around your knowledge and skills.

So don't lose the combination!! :-)

Please feel free to suggest any tools that you use or if you have any comments or feedback about this list.  I'd love to hear from you.

*Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links to products that will earn me a small commission. These are all things that I have experience with that I am recommending because they are helpful and they are companies that I trust, not because of the commissions that I may earn from you using these products.

I just wanted you to know that.  Either way, there are some amazing tools here that you should check out.

Landing Pages

Formstack - Create individual website and landing pages without knowing HTML or CSS. Perfect for online advertising, market research or social media campaigns.

Premise - A Wordpress plugin that empowers you to quickly and easily build custom, graphically-enhanced landing pages without cost, code, or hassle.

Unbounce - Create, publish and optimize landing pages without I.T.

Optimizely - Simple, fast, and powerful. Optimizely is a dramatically easier way for you to improve your landing pages through A/B testing.

Productivity

Dropbox - The easiest way to store, sync, and, share files online. There’s no complicated interface to learn.

Google Docs - Create and share your work online including documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, and forms.  Easy to use, intuitive, and you can even upload your own documents.

Evernote - Save your ideas, things you see, and things you like. Then find them all on any computer or device you use. For free!

Grasshopper - The best virtual phone system for entrepreneurs on the planet.  Nothing but love for Grasshopper.

Freshbooks - I am loving FreshBooks for invoicing, expense logging and time tracking. I recommend you give it a try with a free account, which only takes a few seconds to set up.

Graphics-Related Software & Sites

Jing - Snap a picture of your screen. Record video of onscreen action. Share instantly over the web, IM, email.

Screenr - Screencasting software, you can capture the contents of your entire desktop at the same time as your video camera, microphone and computer’s audio.  All from your web browser, for FREE.

99Designs - Whether you need a logo, a website, or an icon designed. 99Designs has thousands of designers compete to create the best possible design to meet your needs. All you need is a clear idea of what you want designed and how much you’re prepared to pay for it.

BIGSTOCK - Get easy, affordable inspiration with millions of safe royalty-free photographs, vector illustrations, video footage, audio tracks and Flash files.

Email Marketing

MailChimp - Created to make email marketing easy.  You now have the power to create permission-based email newsletters, surveys, and autoresponders with ease.

AWeber - Create lasting customer relationships for you with email newsletters, autoresponders, RSS to email and other email marketing tools.

Product Distribution & Shopping Carts

Shopify - Based in Canada, Shopify has a super-clean design that makes setting up a store incredibly easy.  It links with almost every merchant provider in the world.      

Big Commerce - All-in-one, feature rich ecommerce platform that allows even the most novice of user create a fully functional online store and sell both physical and digital products online.

E-Junkie - Can be used to sell eBooks and digital downloads. It’s compatible with Paypal Standard, Paypal Pro, Google Checkout, Authorize.net, TrialPay, Clickbank & 2CheckOut. Works like a charm, very low price to use. Comes with a decent affiliate program for your products.

PayPal - Paypal is just ok for selling your own products through them, but you’ll need an account anyways to configure with and accept payments from the above shopping carts.

That's it for now. You should be well on your way to creating an information product or business that will get you on your way to building your own Maritime Empire.  

Where it goes from here, is up to you.  Maybe you will create an iPhone app based on your industry or a consulting business.  Maybe you already own a business and this new product will help you make some money while you sleep.

Whatever it is, it will sure be fun and it won't even seem like work because you are creating something that has to do with something you love and are good at.  On top of that, you are going to be helping others.

Isn't that what business is all about?

Please share your thoughts and comments below.

Oh, wait!!!  I need you to do ONE MORE THING.