Imagine waking up in the morning feeling like Mark Zuckerberg. You have achieved your dream of becoming an entrepreneur. You are your own #boss, you set your own schedule, and you play by your own rules! Most importantly, you don’t have to answer to anybody…! Well, simply because EVERYTHING falls on YOU! DUN-DUN-DUNNNN!!!
Do you ever feel like you’re drowning in your ever-growing to-do lists which are scribbled on post-its, written in your latest fire engine red lip liner, and scribbled on the back side of the envelope your latest cable bill came in?.
In your new role feeling like Zuckerberg you are most likely a jack of all trades and well, staying organized becomes of the upmost importance. Being an entrepreneur means the stakes are much higher, a lost post-it reminding you to send a client an invoice or the lost back side of an avoided bill with a potential client’s contact information is lost revenue out of YOUR pocket.
Currently there are more technology tools than ever to help us to be more productive, stay on task, and keep organized. So with this awe-inspiring amount of tech tools, it can be overwhelming to learn to use them all efficiently. Choosing the right tools also means finding tools that match your personal organizational style. We know your time is precious, so here is a list of some of the most effective tools to keep your life a little more balanced.
Task Management
1. Wunderlist
This program is optimized for desktop and mobile, with apps for iOS and Android, Windows, and OS X. With all this accessibility your reminders are literally accessible anywhere. Some nice features include the ability to create timed reminders and recurring tasks. You can also add notes to tasks, categorize, and prioritize them. Where Wunderlist really steps it up is the ability to streamline collaboration amongst your team through the ability to assign tasks, and check when tasks are completed. All your data is saved to the cloud which means anyone can use at any time.
Well not nearly as fancy or with all the bells and whistles of Wunderlist, it still is a viable option to schedule reminders for yourself. You can even have the reminders emailed to you in advance. Google Calendar also allows you to share calendars among team members which makes scheduling much easier. Google Calendar is also free, which who doesn’t love?
3. Clockwork Tomato
Goodbye ADHD and hello Tomato. Clockwork Tomato that is…
If you have trouble managing your time and staying on task, you need to download the Clockwork Tomato app! This application uses the Pomodoro technique, a method that boosts productivity by breaking down work periods into 25-minute intervals, so you can stay focused on doing and COMPLETING one thing at a time.
4. LastPass
Struggling to keep track of a billion different passwords? Stop wasting time trying to remember all your logins and passwords. With LastPass, you save your passwords, contact info, credit card details, and never have to remember them again. With its auto fill capabilities this application has not only saved my sanity a time or two, but also my time.
5. Notebook/Planner
Yes, I am taking it old school here! Sometimes your best bet is a pen and paper for scheduling appointments and brainstorming. You can take it everywhere with you, dating each page helps to reference past meetings. I recommend durable notebooks like the Moleskine line. Similarly, many people prefer the in your hand planner to write down your future engagements. Whether it is anxiety about a glitch in your electronic calendar, fear of a computer crash, or simply preferring a hands-on approach, sometimes our best bet is going back to the basics of the old tried and true 12 month planner.
6. Kanban Board
Now for some of us more visual people out there, tech tools don’t always meet our organizational needs. So, here is a look at some more hands-on organization tools.
I know we’ve mentioned Kanban Boards in the past, but this is a tool for workflow visualization and honestly could be an entire blog in itself. There are four main components of the board. Kanban Cards are the visual representation of tasks. Each card contains information about the task, its status, deadline, description, etc. Kanban Columns represent different stages of your workflow. The cards go through the workflow until their full completion. Work-in-Progress Limits restrict the number of tasks in the different stages of the workflow. This helps to complete items faster and stay focused. Kanban Swimlanes are used to separate different types of activities.
Maybe you prefer a cork board with post its reminders or writing your tasks on your white board. There truly is something to be said about the satisfaction from ripping up a completed task written on a post it or erasing the task off of a white board.
Accounting
QuickBooks — This online and downloadable program is basically an entire accounting department at your fingertips. It manages customer information, their orders, their contact information, tracks expenses, organizes receipts, prepares tax deductions, invoices customers, and even does staff payroll. Activating a plan starts as low as $10 a month. Now that’s a deal!
Social Media Management
With social media being an effective and affordable way to build and market your brand it is vital to stay consistent and engage your followers on a daily basis. There are approximately 247 million U.S. social media users as of 2019, a number forecasted to exceed 257 million by 2023.
Although knowing how many people use social media is a powerful indicator of the tremendous influence such websites and apps have in our day to day life, how people are using them and who these users are is also telling. A report on social media usage released in 2019 shows that among Americans, younger online audiences were more likely to use social networks than older generations. Social media users in the United States use different social networks for a wide range of purposes. In a February 2019 survey, Instagram was the top social network for viewing photos whereas Facebook was more popular for sharing content. Marketing analyses and knowing your audience can be quite the task. Staying up on your social media requires constant monitoring and updating to stay relevant. Scheduling posts in advance is critical to ensure your profiles are always active. This can be extremely time consuming. To make managing social media channels more efficient, there are some tools to help you.
This is probably the most popular tool. With this tool, you can schedule, monitor, and engage all from one hub. The auto schedule feature is nice because it pre-selects times for optimal impact, saving you the time from having to research it. This program creates streams for your company’s mentions, which makes monitoring very easy. Other tools include; Buffer, Crowdfire, Tweetdeck, and SMHack.
Customer Service
Regardless of your business size, you cannot skimp on customer service. I know what you are thinking, I can do it myself, or I can’t afford to hire someone. These days there are a plethora of options for virtual staff members to meet your business need.
With Zendesk, you get dedicated customer service reps who communicate on your behalf with customers through email, chat, phone or social media. What is also appealing is that Zendesk plans start as low as $5 per agent per month. Other tools include; Zoho Customer Service Software, Fresh Desk Support Software, and Get Cloud Cherry.
Using the tools that make you your most productive self are essential for the sanity and success of any business owner. As a small or big business owner, you’re performing as many roles as you can to get through the day. It can be quite exhausting! We hope these tools will help!
