Probably, the ultimate test we face as entrepreneurs is staying on top of everything. You have to respond to messages, make sure your website works without a hitch, organize corporate events, stay in contact with your network of suppliers – all this without getting sucked in the digital vortex of social media, cat videos, and memes. Is it humanly possible at all?
Luckily, it can be with a little help. We’ve put together a list of most helpful digital tools that will assist you in the supervision and coordination of all aspects of your business, lifting at least some weight off your shoulders.
Google Docs
Google Docs is essential software for transparent collaboration – it allows different levels of access (view only, comments, edits), and simultaneous work of several contributors in real-time, so it’s very dynamic.
Google Docs keeps the history of edits and comment treads in the cloud, so you can overview the entire process and see who contributed what. Moreover, you can keep several iterations of a draft – all accessible without deleting anything. Brilliant! If I had Google Docs back in my college days, instead of looking for a service that would write my paper cheap, I would just send my essay as a Google doc to my straight-A classmate and asked her for comments.
Evernote Scannable
Everyone knows about Evernote, yet they don’t know everything about it. Evernote is so much more than a simple note-taking app. It’s an entire framework of software designed to promote planning and productivity. One often-overlooked gem in this family is Evernote Scannable.
This versatile scanner application allows you to scan, save, and send notes, records, business cards, meeting memos, and other business papers. Moreover, they can be stored in the cloud so you can effortlessly access and edit them whenever you need it without cluttering your smartphone. I definitely recommend it if you are a multitasker who is always on the run. Again, I wish this were available when I was a student!
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a well-known spreadsheet system to keep and process various data – from columns of numbers to big writing projects. Far from being merely a place to create neat tables, Excel is a powerful toolfor handling big volumes of information and creating new data from the input. Once you try playing with various formulas, you will never see Excel as you did before.
Still, if you don’t want to delve deeper and all you need is diagram making, information sharing, and some basic data handling – Excel with it’s revamped user-friendly interface never fails to deliver.
QuickBooks
One of the most important areas of any business is bookkeeping. You cannot let this side of things slide if you want to keep business afloat.
QuickBooks is an accounting app geared towards small-to-medium business, so even if you are a solo-preneur, you won’t find it unwieldy or redundant. You can use it to manage all financial dealings of your company – accept business payments, manage bills and payroll functions. According to your preferences and unique needs of your business, you can opt for a cloud or on-premises solution.
Typeform
Typeform specializes in online forms, polls, and surveys. Your business may need it for many reasons – to survey the market, to get feedback from your customers, to keep up with the level of job satisfaction in your company, to crowd-source ideas. In short – anything to do with collecting data from people.
The ease of customization allows creating highly-targeted surveys to get feedback from your clients and establish relationships with them through microcopy in your brand’s tone of voice. The beauty of the interface is an added bonus that makes Typeform a pleasure to work with.
Mailchimp
Email marketing is ever a work in progress and Mailchimp is the best automation tool for this. With an abundance of customizable templates for emails and landing pages, it will significantly improve the results of your marketing efforts right from the start.
Mailchimp offers flexible subscription plans to suit your business needs. You may begin with an afree-of-charge starter pack of essentials as a new business and as you grow, upgrade to more robust plans with advanced features.