If you want to work less and relax more, as well as grow your business, but only have a small budget available to you, it pays to make use of the many great, low-cost tools that are available for entrepreneurs. Apps and other software are a small-business owner’s best friend, as they are very easy on your wallet, and pack a big punch when it comes to saving time, money and energy. They can also help you achieve better results. Read on for some top tools you can utilize today.
Evernote
If you haven’t joined the more than 100 million people around the globe who are already using this software, now is the time to download Evernote. The program is one of the best when it comes to organizing and keeping track of information, and is perfect for business use, whether you’re in the office, at home, traveling, or otherwise on the go.
The system allows you to do things like:
- Organize your notes and ideas
- Keep your bookmarked articles and websites together
- Collate voice memos, receipts, invoices and the like
- Keep your appointments, to-do lists and other data up to date
Evernote is a free app that works on pretty much any type of device you can think of; and it syncs between all of them. It allows you to search quickly through all of your saved details by name, keywords, tags, or written text.
Expensify
If you hate the thought of having to spend time collating your expenses each month or quarter, then consider utilizing Expensify. This tech is suitable for both iOS and Android operating systems, and makes it quicker and easier than ever to get your expense claims in order.
The app links to your credit and debit cards, and will automatically upload each of your card-based transactions to an expense report for you. If you pay by cash, it’s also easy to stay up-to-date — all you need to do is snap a photo of the receipt on your smartphone, and then sync this to the app. From there, Expensify will extract the data it needs from the image, and add the details to the mix.
The system handily integrates with a wide variety of accounting, payroll, enterprise-resource planning and customer-relationship management software. This list includes Xero, QuickBooks, SAP, Salesforce, and Oracle.
AwardWallet
If your work involves a lot of travel, a good app for you to take a look at is AwardWallet. This system saves frequent travelers time and money, is free to use, and works on both Android and Apple devices.
AwardWallet takes the hassle out of keeping track of and earning points and miles with hotels, airlines and other businesses. Rather than needing to juggle lots of different logins, websites, emails, apps and the like for different loyalty programs, you can use AwardWallet as a “one-stop shop.” It will automatically track the points and miles you have accumulated with various companies, so that you always know what you have available to use, and will help you to never forget to add more to your total.
As well, the software can take relevant information from the various plans you’re a part of to upload your upcoming travel plans, and then alert other people (such as your family or colleagues) to your itinerary.
Podcast Addict
If you try to stay up to date on the latest business and industry news, but struggle to find the time to read as many blogs, articles, or books as you’d like, you might like Podcast Addict. Use this free app and you can listen to podcasts when you’re on your way to the office, out walking the dogs, cooking dinner, sweating up a storm at the gym, completing odd jobs around the house, and more.
Simply add the Podcast Addict app to your smartphone or tablet and then search for and download your favorite, or newly-discovered, shows. You can create and save your own playlists of shows that you want to listen to each time new episodes are ready, as well as scroll through a helpful “trending” search feature when you want to get ideas of new podcasts to add to your list. This is a great way to learn about beneficial business topics and the latest news, in a timely way.
Hootsuite
We all know that, in this day and age, one of the best ways to market to potential clients, network with relevant contacts, and provide top customer service is through social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and the like. However, for many business owners, regularly finding the time to post and stay current on these networks, as well as juggle them all, is a real challenge.
That’s where one of the best free tools to grow your business, Hootsuite, comes in handy. Hootsuite is a leading platform for social media management that simplifies the process of handling multiple profiles. Once you have set up an account, you can use the software as your single dashboard. The app will save you time and stress, since you can manage all of your social profiles from the one place, as well as automatically find and schedule content.
