Establishing an Online eMail Account

There are many reasons why it is a good idea for you to have a web-based email account. The most obvious is that having one allows you to keep your ISP-based email address private and in less danger of being abused by others. It is even more necessary to have a second email account if your Internet access is through AOL. Here are places where you can get a free email account:

GMail.com – GMail is owned and operated by Google.com. It is considered to be the best free email address to have for business-related email communications.

Yahoo! Mail – Part of the Yahoo.com suite of services, having a Yahoo! email account opens up additional Yahoo! community opportunities that you may want to explore in sharing your My Shopping Genie business.

HotMail – HotMail is a Microsoft service and the free account service most well-known to most PC users and people who have used Windows-based programs at work or at home. You should be aware, though, that many programs you may eventually want to join in marketing your My Shopping Genie business do not allow or discourage the use of HotMail email addresses.

Excite Mail – a free service of Excite.com. Excite mail has recently installed a new email program that is much more cumbersome than the old one, although a lot “spiffier” and “Web 2.0-ish”. It is slow to load and difficult to process and organize your emails, and we, therefore do not recommend it — but, it’s there and it is free.

Some of these services have a paid option as well that allows more privileges. Our experience has been that the free level serves our needs.

You can also have a free email account at MyGenieTalk.com if you are in the downline of Gary and Linda Yearsley. You must be registered at MyGenieTalk.com to have a MyGenieTalk.com email address. Just let
Linda know that you want to register at MyGenieTalk.com, and we’ll set your account up, with an email address, and let you know when it is ready for you to use. Complete this form to do this: [coming soon]

Establishing Your MSN Messenger Account

Your sponsor will give you the links to establish your MSN Messenger account to use in conjunction with your My Shopping Genie business.

–Notes Regarding the Installation of MSN Messenger–

If you are now using Yahoo! Messenger, you will be able to install MSN Messenger as well, so don’t worry!

If you already have a HotMail email account, you may use it in configuring the MSN Messenger. You probably already have a Windows Live ID.

If you do not use HotMail or other MSN services, you may not have a Windows Live ID. Click here to establish a Windows Live ID. You will need it to complete the configuration of the MSN Messenger. Read the information below before you start.

If you do not have a HotMail address and do not wish to create one, you can use your MyGenieTalk.com email address when downloading and configuring the MSN Messenger. If you haven’t registered at the MyGenieTalk.com blog yet, complete this form to do so: [coming soon]

After you receive notification that your account is ready, then you can begin using the email account, and you may use it with your Windows Live account as well.

–Configuring Your MSN Messenger–

When the Messenger first opens, it displays the email address you used in establishing your account.

If you are in Gary or Linda Yearsley’s direct downline, you’ll want to identify your connection by placing your name and team in the name field. Select “Options” from the pull-down menu by clicking on the down-pointing arrow to the right of your email address at the top of the Messenger panel; “Options” is at the bottom of the list. In the Options panel you can type your name as you want it displayed to others. Because we’ll be using the MSN Messenger primarily to interact with one another and to share our business opportunity with others, it’s a good idea to put your complete name and team affiliation. Type “Susie Smith/Linda’s Team” (using your name, of course, and no quotation marks).

In the second field, type a slogan having to do with My Shopping Genie, such as “Changing the Way We Shop Online”, “Just G-It!”, or a slogan of your choice.

Display Picture – Please do upload a picture of yourself so we can all get to know one another better! If you need help getting a photo ready for this, please click on “Preparing Photos for the Web” in the “Team Resources” section of MyGenieTalk.com [coming soon]. You may discover, as you grow your business, that many websites that you may choose to use in your marketing provide the opportunity to upload a photograph of yourself. This is an excellent way to build trust and rapport and grow your team more quickly.

Public Profile – The next part of the Options panel will allow you to create or edit your profile for Windows Live. A click on “Edit Profile” will open Windows Internet Explorer and take you to your Windows Live profile page. (If you have an existing profile, now that you are a My Shopping Genie affiliate, you may want to edit it to reflect your new business.) Again, you may upload a photograph, and we encourage you to do so.

You may want to spend a little time configuring your Windows Live space. If you already have a profile established and are using Windows Live space to interact with others on the Internet, you may not want to change your settings. But if you are brand new to Windows Live and MSN Messenger, you may want to set your viewing and communications privileges to only those on your MSN Messenger Contact List (and, possibly, to their Friends). After you become a bit more comfortable using the social interaction features of the Messenger and Windows Live, you can, of course, edit your settings.

Adding Contacts – You’ll want to add your My Shopping Genie contacts as soon as possible. Your sponsor can provide you a list of team members’ addresses so you can add them to your Contacts. First, in the blue section underneath your photo, name, and slogan, there is a line of icons, with a down-pointing arrow on the extreme right. Click this, move your cursor down to “Contacts”, then over to “Create a Group” in the second section and click. Type “My Shopping Genie” to form your Genie business group. (You can also change your color scheme by clicking on the paint brush icon, but it will probably be blue when you first install the Messenger.)

You may add contacts to this group by again clicking the select arrow in the top icon strip and selecting “Contacts > Add a contact” or by clicking the contacts icon with the plus sign on the right at the top of the white panel, just before the up/down arrows. Enter the email address and (toward the bottom), select “My Shopping Genie” as a group. [more to come]