It only cost a dollar at the Dollar Tree, but it has made me money time and time again. It's a kitchen timer.

What do I do with this wondrous business tool? I can use it to remind me of meetings. It helps me get there on time. Let's say I'm working at my computer and I know I have a meeting in one hour. What I do is set the counter so that it warns me of when I should leave the office. If it takes me half an hour to get to the meeting, I'll set the counter to go off ten minutes before I need to leave. This tells me to make no more calls nor send any more emails. It's time to get out the door and into my car.

I also use the timer to warn me of eBay auction closing times. If I have an item I interested in bidding on, I'll set my timer to go off five minutes before the auction closes. This gives me time to visit eBay, log in, and check out the latest bid. If the current bid is less than the highest bid I've determined to pay for the item I stay with eBay and bid during the last few seconds. Then I reset my timer for the next item.

Quite often I receive business calls about business training videos, but I have to gather information about the product for the client, so I tell them I'll call them back in ten or fifteen minutes. The timer always works.

You can set the timer for up to 99 minutes and it has a 59 second Countdown Timer. It comes with its own battery. For a dollar, it's a great tool.