As a business owner, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and like you are being pulled in many different directions at once. You are not only in charge of day-to-day operations but any other issues that arise throughout the day in your business. Thankfully, there are a growing number of productivity apps that can help make both work and life easier. Productivity apps can help you streamline operations, manage business expenses, and make it easier to communicate with employees.
In the future we might not prescribe drugs all the time – we might prescribe apps.Daniel Kraft
Stanford University
Productivity apps allow you to do things like tracking expenses, managing your calendar, and creating presentations. Some apps help you manage your email or avoid it altogether. Others automate different aspects of your life so you can do the work that requires the most creativity and focus.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to productivity because it largely depends on how you process information and the details of your work and lifestyle. Productivity apps provide a way to simplify your work and personal life. If there is a task to be done, there is a productivity app that can help you do it more efficiently.
Productivity Apps for Time Management
Many people wish they had more time but what they truly need is the ability to manage the time they have more effectively. Poor time management can take many forms, from procrastination, becoming easily distracted, or simply spending more time on a project than necessary. Wasted time leads to increased stress and anxiety. According to Time Magazine, the ability to understand and prioritize what really matters is important for finding and achieving work-life balance.
Time management apps can help you free up your schedule and focus on getting your work done. Many productivity apps are designed to help you manage your habits and patterns. Some features minimize distractions or block certain websites when you need to get work done. Most are aimed at helping you be more focused and attentive.
According to Entrepreneur, there are only three ways we spend our time: in thought, conversation, and action. Although you may find yourself interrupted or being pulled in different directions, you can choose how much time you spend on each of these three things and how they will lead you to success.
Task-management and to-do list apps can prove helpful for any business owner, no matter what size or type of business you run. They can prove equally helpful for both personal and professional use.
Certain productivity apps allow you to share an unlimited number of lists with anyone you choose. You can easily create and share to-do lists with both colleagues and family members. The list will update automatically so you can see in real time what items have already been finished already. There are also features that let you delegate tasks, set due dates, and add reminders.
Note-taking apps allow you to create and organize notes that can be synced to a variety of platforms. Many apps offer tools like drawing, recording audio and videos, scanning images, embedding spreadsheets, and clipping content from the Internet. Some of the most popular apps like Evernote are free to use the most basic features.
An instant messaging platform like Slack provides instant communication to team members while saving you the hassle of wading through endless emails. You can create group discussions for your team, share files, create discussion channels, and send direct messages. And everything is automatically indexed, archived, and easily searchable. There is also the option to host online video meetings with calling and instant messaging services like Skype or Zoom.
Productivity Apps for Business & Accounting
There are a number of apps specifically geared toward improving your business and helping you better manage both work and assets. Project management services can help keep employees on the same page and give everyone a greater understanding of what is going on in a work project. It is incredibly useful to be able to quickly find out who is responsible for what with a few clicks of the keyboard. This saves you from wasting valuable time trying to track down different individuals and asking unnecessary questions.
Scheduling apps are incredibly helpful because they eliminate the endless back-and-forth with colleagues over scheduling conflicts. You can streamline the process of setting up meetings simply by signing in, setting up an event, and suggesting possible times to your colleagues. They will choose the times that work for them and the app finds the best slot for everyone. These apps often do not require everyone to sign up in order to participate.
Online business accounting apps can be incredibly helpful to business owners because they can save them from unnecessary frustration and a waste of time. Business owners need an efficient way to track the amount of money that is coming and going every month. Many services will allow you to easily track hours, log receipts, and send invoices.
According to Entrepreneur, managing the finances of your business will help determine the direction your business is headed. It also helps you make more informed decisions and makes tax reporting more manageable.
There are also apps designed to help you simplify the process of tracking business expenses. By linking your credit card to your account the app will automatically place all charges on an expense report. Some apps will even allow you to take a picture of receipts and the app will pull out any relevant data so you can make an expense report on your own.
Payment apps make it easier for you to send invoices, receive payments, and process checks. Many of these services are free, depending on the number of features offered.
And of course, there are plenty of traditional office suites to choose from. Many word-processing programs and spreadsheet apps are collaborative and allow multiple people to work on the same document simultaneously. And many are free and offer a good amount of storage.
Identifying Problems and Finding Solutions
The growing popularity of productivity apps has changed how business owners work and make it possible to stay on task wherever you are. They offer easier methods for communicating with team members across the world, allow you to send and receive payments instantly, and make it easier to delegate responsibilities.
Productivity apps are designed to find solutions to specific problems. Some are aimed at taking existing products like email and making them more efficient so it takes up less of your time. Others are aimed at fostering collaboration among employees or making it easier to minimize the distractions of the Internet and increase focus. By using the right productivity apps you can increase your efficiency and get more done.
