If you are an entrepreneur, then you are aware of the importance of time management. There are only 24 hours in a day, which means you must manage your hours properly to be able to get a lot of work done.
With so much on your shoulders, you need to get organized. How do you achieve that? You do it by becoming tech-savvy and incorporating productivity apps to help you remain on the right track. Below are 12 essential productivity apps for entrepreneurs.
1. Evernote
Evernote makes it on the list because of one simple reason, besides being your little note book for scribbling your thoughts: Its freeware version is available for Web, iOS and Android. Stay organized across all your devices. Sync files, save Web pages, capture photos, create to-do lists and record voice reminders. What more do you need? Apart from all this, you can also search your tasks on the go.
2. DropBox
DropBox delivers instant connectivity and enables the sharing of photos, documents and videos with any laptop or mobile device through the free cloud-based file-storing service. This app is extremely handy for sharing files with your team, which prevents back-and-forth emailing. With the version control feature, you have a convenient way of sharing the latest version with your team.
3. Audible
Ever wondered where entrepreneurs get their ideas from? Surely, they aren’t born with them! Any established entrepreneur you come across is probably very well-read. Hint: Take a chance at reading books and gaining knowledge to spruce up your mind. To help you do just that on the go, try Audible. It lets you listen to books without having to actually focus on reading while you are out travelling or just doing chores.
4. TripIt: Travel Planner
Being an entrepreneur means a lot of travelling. It gets hard to keep track of travelling schedules and bookings. With TripIt you no longer have to worry, because it organizes your travels by forwarding your booking confirmations to an email address.
5. Lastpass
“Errr…so what was the password?” With so many things on your mind, it can be cumbersome to remember passwords that are usually a combination of various letters and numbers. With a freeware version available for PCs and Macs, Lastpass is your personal-password manager, and form filler, that frees you from remembering your passwords. It costs $12 for the premium version that is available to download on your mobile device.
6. Any.Do
Want to enter tasks on your iPhone? Use Any.Do. With its simple interface, you can add tasks either by speech or typing. If you’re logged on to your Facebook account, you can even share tasks with your contacts. Want to be alerted about a task? Add an alarm, and highlight it so that it takes precedence over other tasks. You can also add further notes and put them in a personal or work folder. The app also allows syncing with other devices to make sure you are always at the top of your game.
7. CamCard
Entrepreneurs attend several conferences during the year where they meet useful contacts. Exchanging business cards is the norm in conferences, but it is also very easy to lose a business card and, ultimately, a business prospect! Don’t let this happen to you. With CamCard, you can take a picture of your business card and have all the details automatically uploaded into your phone contacts and other email accounts. Because of its accuracy, you can be assured of flawless scanning. The best part is that you can sync data across other devices too. The app is usually free for iPhone, but its cost on other mobile phones is $3.26.
8. Flowdock
A mix of chat and inbox tools, Flowdock is a convenient way of collaborating with team members on various projects. The best part is that the app works on most browsers and mobile platforms, and it gives you features such as drag and drop, file uploads and activity streams. Your team members can get instant updates about any change on the project to which they can respond through chat messages.
9. Instapaper
The Internet is filled with blogs and articles. Amp up your creativity by reading new posts at a time that suits you. Through Instapaper, you can save an interesting article to read at a more convenient time and in a reader-friendly format.
10. Expensify
While travelling, you probably want to keep your receipts to claim office expenses once you get home. But why go through the hassle of keeping all these receipts when a smartphone can do the same for you? By using your phone’s camera, you can take pictures of your receipts as a digital record in chronological order. Expensify also lets you log mileage, meal expenses and other business-related travel costs.
11. Upwork
Screening through resumes and tracking applicants can be cumbersome. You want to hire the best possible people for your company without wasting too much time scanning resumes. So use Upwork to help you perform these tasks; the app helps you manage the entire hiring process. This allows you to spend more time hiring instead of doing manual paper-work sorting out resumes.
The app is also online so it receives all resumes in one place and tracks each candidate’s progress through application stages.
12. Zoom
Probably the most effective method for remaining in touch with all your employees, Zoom has become an office norm for instant communication and connectivity. With its app version available for mobile phones, connectivity has taken a new form by allowing entrepreneurs to schedule and attend important business conference calls on the go.
Bottom Line
By using these productivity apps, you have a better chance of organizing a systematic approach for performing tasks. There are many entrepreneurs who are striving for success. However, only a few stand apart on the basis of their work ethic and capacity to grow by incorporating smart apps in their routine.
Allow yourself a competitive edge by incorporating these handy productivity apps to enhance your company’s growth.
