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7 Successful Time Management Habits For Online Entrepreneurs
7 Successful Time Management Habits For Online Entrepreneurs
Table of Contents
Preface ................................................................................................................................................. 3
Habit #1: How To Create Habits of Success ......................................................................................... 5
Habit #2: One Word To Ignore And You Will Fail ................................................................................. 8
Habit #3: 4 Ways To Focus On One Project At A Time ....................................................................... 14
Habit #4: 5 Reasons To Turn Off Your Computer And Improve Your Productivity ............................ 16
Habit #5: Why You Need To Create A System And Follow It Every Day ......................................... 19
Habit #6: Why You Should Do Your Most Important Task First Thing In The Morning ..................... 23
Habit #7: 4 Spare Moments To Take Advantage Of When Building Your Business ........................... 25
Final Thoughts ................................................................................................................................... 27
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Preface
Time = life; therefore, waste your time and waste your life, or master your time and master your life.
- Alan Lakein
There may be many ways why we humans are non-equal, but one thing is equal for all of
us: time! There is no more or less than 24 hours in a day for each one of us.
However, how that time is spent during those 24 hours is a completely different story.
For example in my case I go to sleep around 11 PM, wake up around 6 AM, have my day
job from 8 AM to 4 PM and have my personal time off between 4 PM and 11 PM. On the
other hand, on weekends I have all the free time available, since Im not working.
I think that the most valuable part of my day during the weekdays is between 4 PM and 11 PM. And it is not
all the same, how you spend it. This is especially true when you are working on your online business parttime (like me) and try to get it off the ground.
How did I realize the importance of time management?
Years ago I didnt have any goals in my life, because I didnt realize the importance of goal setting.
At some point this changed. I set some goals and now the way I spend my 7-hour free time period makes all
the difference (as well the time on weekends too). When you have limited amount of time at your disposal,
you try to take advantage of it as much as possible.
In order to fully take advantage of my free time, I had to create a system to follow. I have been an athlete
for couple of years (in age group, 35 >) in very time consuming sports like marathon and triathlon, so there
had to be a schedule to follow in my everyday life. Also, my distant dream has been to become a full-time
athlete and a full-time online entrepreneur. This means squeezing all the time possible out of my free time,
so that I have time for other parts of my life as well.
The first book that I read on time management was David Allens Getting Things Done (GTD) in 2007 and
that has been a huge influence on my own time management practices. Although Im not a GTD advocate,
David Allens book and its lessons have been the first steps towards being more organized and managing
my time better.
Based on a true story
This report is based on the habits and practices I use in order to make most of my free time. My tasks are
mostly goal-driven, so those are the tasks that show up on my daily work list. Setting goals in general gives
you good guidelines in what to do in your everyday life. Especially when breaking those high-level ones to
smaller steps (tasks on your daily list), it makes this process even smoother and much more sense.
In my case, family life, sports (triathlon/marathon), personal development and starting-up a personal
business compete from my time. That is why it is essential to have a plan and know what you are doing.
This is also a report of self-transformation. Rather than letting others to control my life (work at the office
for someone else), I have decided to take the responsibility of my own future. Currently, Im going through
a transformation phase, which I believe so many people do, when they get tired to their 9-5 jobs. In order
to pull this transformation through, there has to be a set of daily schedules and structures to follow, so that
things progress as smoothly as possible every day. However, please be aware of, that the structure I apply
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here is based on the limited time available. Until you are your own boss and start doing the things you love
to do full-time, you can set your own schedules as you wish.
Sure, everything is not perfect and tweaking and testing has to be done constantly, but with the tips in this
report, I have been able to reach some of my goals already. Others, while not reached yet, are much closer
now and Im confident, that I will reach to reach them at some point.
Who should read this report?
I have named this report as 7 Successful Time Management Habits For Online Entrepreneurs. Although the
report is geared towards online entrepreneurs, everyone benefits from this information not just
entrepreneurs.
However, I feel that in order to finally move from your 9-5 job to full-time online business owner, you need
to have certain core habits in place to make the shift from 9-5 to full-time online entrepreneurs as smooth
as possible. This makes sure that we make most of our time and eventually reach our goals, instead of end
up noticing, that we have spent years watching TV and gaining nothing but extra pounds.
Im currently building my online business part-time. Since I have formed habits that have enabled me to
take most out of my free, I figured I might want to share them with you.
You may be questioning if some of the habits in this report are true habits. Maybe not, but at least they
lay a foundation for forming one. For example Build a consistent system may not be a habit itself, but it
gives good information about creating a structure, which eventually leads to forming habits.
These are the habits that I have been using. I hope that you find them usable as well!
Have a productive day!
Kind Regards,
Timo Kiander
Web: http://www.timokiander.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/timokiander
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kiander
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/timokiander
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It seems that there are lots of habits to follow, but on the other hand, once you nail them down, you do
them automatically on a subconscious level. You dont necessarily even think about those things
anymore, because they have become your second nature.
So why do you need your habits anyway? Because, if you are like me and have a 9-5 job, it becomes
important to take advantage of your time outside the work, the best way possible. By creating these small
habits, your life has structure and you get things done faster and easier. You are not wasting your valuable
time to small things, which eventually eat all your time when being out of the office.
How to form a habit?
I have heard many times being said, that it takes somewhere between 21-30 days to form a habit. That
means, you are consistently (on daily basis) doing something, and if you break the chain (fail to execute
your new habit even in one day), you have to start all over.
However, I can tell from experience, that sometimes it takes more time than 30 days to make a habit stick,
so this may be dependent on the habit you are trying to achieve.
Also, doing just one change at a time rather than multiple at once is the better way to succeed. However, I
feel that this depends on the situation and what kind of habits you want to execute in your daily routines.
For example, getting rid of too many projects (first habit), so that you have time to exercise (second habit),
goes hand in hand and support each other (you free up your time to exercising activities).
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I can say that Im still learning away from these bad habits (especially the first one), but also I have already
acknowledged that I have them, so that is a start. And actually, I have started forming good ones to replace
the bad ones already, so things are already going forward
Main takeaways from this chapter are:
Acknowledge your bad habits and replace them with good ones
In order to form a habit, it should be done consistently and regularly
Plan your habit before you start building it can you execute new habit consistently in order to
make it stick?
If you break the chain, start over enough repetition will eventually form a new habit
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You have different ways to create and manage your task list, for example on paper, as web-based list,
mobile phone version or having a whiteboard. For the sake of simplicity, Ill describe a paper version here,
since it is the simplest one to implement. All you need is a pen and paper.
Task list characteristics
My task list has these certain characteristics:
(*Exception to the rule: Normally I take Sundays off and dont work on my business. However If I have a
deadline I want to meet, I might work on Sundays as well.)
As an example of this, lets take a look at three days and their task lists, where two of them represent the
typical work day task lists (Monday and Friday) and another represents weekend (Sunday).
Monday:
Friday:
Sunday:
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Only a maximum number of tasks per day: 7 (the total number of tasks depends of the day)
Non-working day: Sunday is my day when Im not working on any projects or there are no sports
activities (*Exception to the rule: if the deadline requires, I might work on my personal projects on
Sundays as well)
Certain tasks are grouped to a certain day of the week: For example all the household chores are
done on Sunday
I dont include self-explanatory things to my list: I could include things like have a lunch or take
out the trash, but why bother, since I know when to do those things anyway.
Tasks that are done are crossed-over
Also, I try to do some low-value tasks on Sundays: for example installing the speedometer to my
bike
Limit the amount of tasks on your daily task list
Now that you saw my daily list, my weekly list might look like this:
My weekly list:
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For me I get the most satisfaction of including these elements to my daily list:
Learning
Working on my personal projects
Exercising
The balancing part is important whether you work on your business full-time or part-time. I believe that
each of those three elements support each other and nurture your creativity which enables you to develop
your business even further.
2. Its not overstuffed
Good to-do list is not overstuffed with gazillion tasks in it. This is something that I had to learn by tweaking
and optimizing it for couple of years, until I got it right.
Fewer tasks there are and more meaningful they are related to your goals, the better you feel about
yourself when you have taken action on those things.
You could overstuff your list with tens of tasks and even if you accomplished all of them, you would just feel
overwhelmed and exhausted. You dont want to choose that route.
For example, when Im working on my business part-time, it is important that I want to include tasks which
bring me the biggest rewards. These include for example blog commenting on other blogs or publishing
content (written/video) to my blog weekly.
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Once you have nailed down your goals and where you want to be in the next 1-3 year timeframe, you
should consistently include sub-tasks related to your goals in your daily plan.
This is the only way to keep the ball rolling and even if you did just something small related to you goal, it is
still much better than doing nothing at all.
Businesswise, those important tasks are the ones that will bring you biggest returns. These could be for
example getting traffic and exposure to your blog, relationship building with others, e-mail list building or
creating new products and services for your audience.
Dont spend all available free time on your tasks
How much you can do on a daily basis (after 5 PM anyways) depends also on your life situation. Are you
single? Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/wife? Kids maybe? Depending on your answer, you
may know how much you can work on your tasks.
For example, if living single, you can pretty much control 100% of your time and how you spend it. Even if
this is the case, you shouldnt tie yourself up completely to your own world in the sake of productivity. You
dont want to become a hermit!
Go outside, exercise, relax and take breaks and have a social life. By this way you can actually energize
yourself and get more things done.
If you live in a relationship or if you have kids, its equally important to spend time with your loved ones.
Have set times when you are working and the rest of the time is spent with your family. When you are done
working for that day, thats it. Close your computer, so the temptation to start doing something again is
not so big.
Take advantage of available time slots or mutual possibilities
Here are some tips to make things even smoother, when living with someone else while you are building
your online business.
1.
What does your spouse do which in turn gives you time to do your tasks at the same time? Think of those
as opportunities to do your own stuff as much as you can.
For example, my wife is studying a foreign language every week. I have seen this as an opportunity to do
my own tasks at the same time. These include doing my workouts, creating content for my blog and
collaborating with others.
2.
Television time
Does your spouse watch TV shows that you are not watching?
This is another time-slot to work on your tasks. There are certain times of the week, when I know that my
wife is glued to the television and that gives me a chance to build my business at the same time.
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3.
Sleeping time
When writing this report, I like to do it the first thing in the morning. This is possible, since on weekdays I
tend to wake up earlier than my wife.
Each day after waking up and having a breakfast, I spend 30 minutes of my time in front of the computer to
do something that is related to my goals (like writing this report).
Morning time in a quiet home is something that I find to be one of the most productive parts of my day.
Main takeaways from this chapter are:
Plan, plan, plan! You need to have goals and your daily tasks are action steps towards your goals
Have three kinds of lists: Goals, weekly list and daily list
Have a balanced task list dont overstuff it!
Fitting together a family life and building your online business may be tough. Try to find time slots
when you can work on your business, for example when your partner is on his/her own hobbies.
Give time for your family as well they are the most important people around you
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You can do the same with any mobile phone set an alarm going off after a certain period of time to notify
you when to stop working.
Setting a timer counting down the seconds and minutes is a very powerful tool, I have experienced that this
helps me to fully concentrate on my tasks and do nothing else during that time.
2. Eliminate distractions as much as you can
Although this is self-explanatory, I still decided to bring this one up. Since majority of people are not able to
concentrate well or are jumpy because of distractions, you have to make sure that your environment is as
distraction-free as possible.
Turning your mobile phone to mute (and turning it so that the display is facing the table surface), turning
off e-mail or at least turning off the notification and turning off the instant messaging client are something
that should be done as soon as you get started.
3. Use certain part of the day
One thing that is closely related to previous section, but which I feel that should be mentioned separately is
using a certain part of the day for getting things done.
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For me, this means early mornings, before going to work. When working on a computer, our home is still
very quiet, since Im the only one awake. It is a perfect time to work on my own projects fully concentrated,
with no distractions.
Get some sleep
There is one thing that is absolutely the most important thing, when it comes to focusing on your projects:
sleep!
4.
Try to work tired and even if you focus on one project at a time, it becomes merely impossible to get
anything done. Therefore it is vital to get enough sleep every night.
If you have troubles of sleeping at night, take a 20-minute nap during afternoon. It boosts your
productivity, focus and creativity tremendously!
5. Finish the project (or part of it) completely before moving on
I wanted to save this point last, since I believe it is the most important one there is: put all your efforts to
finishing the project you are currently working on (or part of it) at first, before starting your next project.
For example, this report is part of my blogs e-mail list functionality. When writing this report, Im in a
phase of launching my blog and I have plenty of other things to do, before it can be officially launched.
One of those other things is to create a Facebook Fan Page for my blog. If I wasnt focused enough, I could
build my Fan Page one day, then do some e-mail list building tasks the next day.
Instead of jumping from one task to another, try to focus on one project or a task at a time. In my case, my
blog launch is a project itself, but for example e-mail list functionality with all its sub-tasks is one big part of
the project, which I want to focus first. When I have completed the list building part I can move to creating
my Facebook Fan Page.
Finally, when my blog is launched, Im ready to do something else. Keeping the focus on your project is a
good way to ensure, that it gets completed.
Main takeaways from this chapter are:
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Does this look like a too difficult diet to follow? I would say that this is something that you have to get used
to first, but eventually things get better. However, as mentioned earlier, we are all individuals and as such,
everyone should consult their doctor or nutrition expert first to learn what kind of nutrition is the most
suitable for them.
This kind of diet makes me more energetic and because of that, I am able to be more productive.
2. Exercise enough
This cannot be stressed enough; you need to exercise regularly in order to keep yourself fit and productive.
I have noticed that exercising is a great way to make me feel good and energized. It has been said that for
regular people, 30 minutes, 3-4 times per week should be enough. But the core principle here is the
consistency.
So what kind of exercise is good then? Naturally as a runner and triathlete, I like to run, drive bicycle and
swim throughout the year. During the winter months I like to go to the gym, cross-country ski and aqua-jog
as well.
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But the best way for you to exercise is to try out different sports and figure out what works out the best for
you. Also, you should consult your doctor or hire a personal trainer to discuss what kind of sport is the most
suitable for you. We are all individuals, so what might be good for me, might not be good for someone
else.
Although exercising is physical activity, it is mental activity as well. I get many good ideas during my training
sessions and feel just awesome after the work-out.
Also, getting some fresh air on daily basis is important too. If you work on your computer all day, it is highly
recommended that you go out and grab some fresh air.
3. Take naps
Sometimes I feel tired after getting back home from work. That is why I may take a nap after coming back
home. Your nap doesnt have to be that long in order to be effective.
The 20 minute nap is the best for me. If you are really tired, you can fall asleep for 15 minutes and wake up
refreshed. However, when the napping time gets longer, my productivity goes down.
I used to sleep one hour (or even more) naps in the afternoon and I was really feeling stuck after waking
up. Also, it took me quite a while (like 15-30 minutes) to recover from my nap. Thats why I was really
excited to realize, that you can feel refreshed even by taking 20 minute naps only.
I have gained the most dramatic increases in my productivity after napping. I believe that napping just 20
minutes maximum does the trick. You are able to load your batteries enough and able to work on your
personal tasks for that evening much easier than without napping.
The last thing to note about napping is the time when you take them. I like to nap sometime between 2 PM
and 5 PM. If it gets later than that, it may be too close to the time when Im getting to bed later in the
evening. So this is something that you should take into consideration, when you decide to take a nap.
4. Taking breaks (10-15 minute)
Working hours and hours without taking any breaks is just madness (at least for me). I seem to be able to
get more done, when I do things in certain time chunks (like in 30 minute chunks) and then take a quick
break between another 30 minute session.
Taking a break clears your mind. Especially if you do something completely different than what you were
doing right before the break, the more effective your break is going to be.
5. Enough sleep
I think that this is self-explanatory, but I still wanted to include this here. Getting enough sleep is
mandatory in order for you to be productive.
Getting enough sleep is mandatory in order for you to be productive.
The amount of sleep depends on the person, but the regular amount for a normal adult is between 7-8
hours. I have noticed that if I get less sleep than this, I have hard time of concentrating on anything and also
I might get a headache because of lack of sleep.
In order to sleep better (thus increasing the chances for better quality sleep), here are some things I have
done personally to improve the quality of my sleep:
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With these steps, you can make improvements to the quality of your sleep.
Main takeaways from this chapter are:
Eat healthy, nutritious food. However, consult a doctor or nutritionist to see the right diet for you
Exercise enough. Figure out the right sports for you (for example, hire a personal trainer)
Take naps, 20 minutes max, if you feel tired during the afternoons
Take breaks between work sessions
Try to sleep at least 7-8 hours per night
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For example, my structure of tasks is pretty much the same on a weekly basis:
Monday- Friday:
Morning
Content creation
Workout 1
(Swimming/going to gym)
Office Hours
Office hours
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Saturdays:
Morning
Workout 1
(Swimming/going to gym)
Miscellaneous stuff from
my weekly list
Sundays:
Morning
Planning next weeks task
list
Brainstorming for future
post topics and outlines
for them
Household chores
As you can see, there are certain things are repeated over and over again. Im building my business every
day except on Sundays.
For example, from Mondays till Fridays I work on my business by creating content, promoting it,
networking with other bloggers and building my list. On Saturdays I work only during the afternoon hours.
On Sundays I work only on brainstorming new ideas for my online business.
(*However, as I stated that if I have a deadline like when writing this report, I work on Sundays as well)
My exercise routine is also very consistent. I do certain exercises on a certain day. Also, my book reading
happens almost daily and during the weekends I try to concentrate more to book reading than during the
weekdays.
Weekends have a different structure than the weekdays and especially the Sundays have the biggest
differences than the rest of the days.
I want to take a complete day off from exercising or and off working on my business (at least lot less than
during the weekdays). Also, that day is dedicated to household chores or random tasks that I want to get
done (but which are not urgent). Sundays are for relaxation as well.
When to do what
You may be wondering, how is it possible for me to have two training sessions in a day and all the other
tasks as well, if I have a 9-5 job? The answer is simple: I take advantage of the early hours of morning to do
some of the tasks.
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There would be no way for me to accomplish everything, if I didnt wake up earlier and do some of the
tasks before going to office. These tasks are basically the first exercise session of the day and working on
my blog.
Becoming an early riser may be something that takes time to get used to, especially if one hasnt got used
to that earlier. But once that becomes a habit, you then appreciate it.
I take advantage of the early hours of morning to do some of the tasks.
I could wake up later, but then I would feel awkward, because I didnt work on tasks that eventually lead to
my goals. That is enough motivation to wake me up early enough (05.45 AM thats during the weekdays,
but NOT on weekends ).
There is another benefit when doing certain things (the most important ones) early in the morning. If I left
all the tasks for the afternoon and for somehow I wasnt able to do any of those then, nothing would get
done that day. However, since I do some of the work already in the morning, Im relieved to know that I
was at least able to proceed a bit, when I did these tasks during the morning time.
Build routines that support your system
With small changes in your daily actions (when done daily), you eventually create new habits, that support
your productivity and your consistent system as well.
I have noticed that these small changes in my daily life make all the difference:
Clean your desk after working. It is much easier for you to start working again with a clean
table.
Have a fixed routine for mornings and evenings; pack your stuff and prepare your clothes
the night before. Create a routine to start your day the same way the same goes for
evenings as well.
Take down notes. This is especially important, if you do something the first time and are
still in the learning phase of something new. Once you have the instructions jotted down, it
is easier to do that thing again perhaps even use that checklist when outsourcing that
task to someone else.
Make checklists. I think this is widely underutilized task that people do. For example,
I set up a new blog by using a checklist I have already created before to make sure
everything necessary is in place before I hit the production phase.
Store your ideas when you are on the move. Or at least if not taking care of them right
now, make a calendar notification, for example to your mobile phone. I use my mobile
phones calendar as a place to store my ideas which can be then used in my future blog
posts or for other content purposes.
Be selfish. Sometimes you just need to dedicate some time to yourself in order to get
things done.
With some small tweaks like these, you can improve your personal productivity in certain situations even
dramatically.
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Keep on tweaking and optimizing your system and routines all the time
You should keep tweaking and optimizing your system whenever you can. Try to see what works and what
not. For example, I have tweaked and optimized my afternoon routines quite a bit, in order to find the most
effective one.
If you think that you have come up with an idea, that would improve your productivity even a bit, test it
and then decide, if it is something that you want to keep.
For example, during my morning activities, I used to watch television when I eat my breakfast (at least
during the weekdays). I decided to stop doing that, because on the other hand I would be able to better
concentrate on my breakfast, but also, because that meant taking couple of extra steps away from my
morning routine, which in turn took some extra minutes away.
Also, there was a much bigger risk for me to actually start watching the television intensively, rather than
just putting it on, thus loosing time.
Because of those reasons, I decided to tweak my own system a bit and see how it works. So far, it has
worked perfectly and Im continuing to execute this habit in the future as well.
Main takeaways from this chapter are:
Build a consistent system that works for you tweak it whenever necessary
Take advantage of early morning hours to work on your business
Build routines to support your system
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For example, I know that I love to learn more about internet marketing and blogging, so I rather spend all
my day by hanging out forums, blogs and watching online training. I feel excited about that topic.
However, I also know that I have to put it as last thing on my list for a given day.
Rather than spending all day just learning, I have to take action on the important things first (like creating
content for my blog).
The reason for this type of order is, that the doing part is the most important task for me, instead of just
watching or learning. However, the feeling associated to doing part may sometimes be less excited, but I
know that I have to do it, in order to progress in my online business efforts.
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Identify your most important task by checking out how you feel about it. Do the important one first
Put the fun activities as last things to do on your list get the work done first and then enjoy some
play However, be sure that there is the fun part as well. Although you are building your business,
occasional pleasure is needed.
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4. Television
I dont watch television on weekly basis that much. Although we both have the same favorite shows that
we love to watch, she might also have a show she is watching but that might not be that interesting to me.
This is something that I take on my advantage. Every time this kind of thing occurs, I work on my own stuff
instead.
Also, I think that in general, watching less television has been a good thing. For example, I have cut down
the amount of news Im watching and that has given me additional time for my weekly tasks.
Find out the empty spots in your daily calendar. By this way you can realize the times when you can
work on your own stuff
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Final Thoughts
I hope that you have enjoyed this free report and can take most out of it! Like I mentioned, these habits are
based on my own experiences and I wanted to give some ideas for you as well, that can be applied in your
daily tasks.
Before I let you go and start implementing these habits, I have two wishes I want to say:
1) Share this report on Twitter with your friends and everyone interested by clicking
this button:
2) After reading this report, send me your feedback. Im more than happy to receive feedback on
how to improve this report even further.
Click here for the feedback form.
Web: http://www.timokiander.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/timokiander
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kiander
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/timokiander
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