If you don’t have superhero organisational skills when you start your entrepreneurial journey, you will most definitely acquire them along the way. Sink or swim, it’s that simple. But luckily some brilliant people have come up with some equally brilliant apps to help you streamline your success.
We have chosen these to help you with 10 core areas of managing your business from the comfort of your office, coworking space or home.
1. Tracking your time
By far the easiest app we have come across to track time, create invoices and generate reports is Noko. The app sits on your phone or the dashboard of your computer, and everything is manageable within a couple of mouse clicks.
2. Organising your thoughts
Evernote is platform that has been around for over a decade and while the world seems to be divided into two groups about it – it’s ability to archive your digital life and store everything from newspaper articles to competitor websites all in one place with the click of a button is the reason it is still a clear winner.
3. Streamlining your projects
Trello has come out on top of the project pack (for now) because of its easy-to-use interface, well-designed mobile app, affordability, and simple team management.
We also recommend ToDoIst for quick tasks and reminders on-the-go.
4. Managing your marketing campaigns
MailChimp is an easy-to-use platform that allows you to seamlessly set up well-branded landing pages and newsletters that will deliver your brand directly to the inbox of your customers, and your potential customers, reminding them of why you are so great, what you can offer them, and how they can stay in contact with you.
5. Accessing your office from anywhere
You’ve most probably got some part of the Google ecosystem in your tool kit. Most notably, we love Google Drive for allowing us to easily organize, access and share our files from anywhere in the world. And, Google Analytics for allowing us to track all of our digital efforts, making sure that we are putting our time and money in the right places.
6. Keeping your accounts
Trying to find efficient accounting apps with sleek interfaces which connect to banks outside of the United States can sometimes be difficult to find but Invoice2Go, founded as a side business by Australian, Chris Strode is now used by more than 200,000 micro and small businesses around the world. Pretty cool going.
7. Getting paid
Undisputedly, PayPal and Transferwise are the most used and trusted of the payment services. We love Transferwise for its transparency. If you head over to their site, you can check their conversion rates against the world’s biggest banks. They also offer a Mastercard for you to use with the account.
8. Creating beautiful graphics that convert
If you haven’t yet got your own in-house design team, we recommend Canva as the best intuitive design platform that allows you to fill those creative spaces and make simple, good-looking graphics. As a bonus, it was also created by a fellow Australian, Melanie Perkins, who designed it from her house when she was just 19 years old!
9. Scheduling your social media
We’ve found that Later is the best if you are looking to visualise, curate and schedule your Instagram feed, or Planoly if you also have shoppable items or Pinterest. And Buffer is the best for scheduling the rest – Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
10. Finding some Zen
As much as we love productivity, we are still human, and we must find time between the grind for a little quiet clarity, free from the demands of the day-to-day. Head Space is by far the most widely used because of their easy-to-follow guided meditations and the gradual way they help you grow your practice.
Well that was quite a lot to get through! As we said, there are many many apps out there, and we didn’t even get to touch on learning apps like Lynda or DuoLingo – but we hope there are a couple of new ideas here that will help your business growth. Let us know what your favourites are.