When you’re an entrepreneur or other career professional, anything that saves a few extra minutes in your day can be immensely valuable. Fortunately, there are several technologies and apps that can help you manage your time, boost your productivity, and keep you organized. Lightning Clout can be an exceptional resource when it comes to putting yourself out there on the right foot.
“I don't believe in luck or in hard work without the so called "work smart". It's not all about how you work hard but it's about how you manage your time, resources, mind to work together for a better output.”
― Jayson Zabate
Scheduling Your Days
Even if you have an unpredictable schedule, having a plan can help with time management and ensure key priorities are appropriately addressed. According to Hewlett Packard, scheduling apps that can help you include Calendly, which features a free online booking system; HubSpot Meetings, which provides a CRM platform, contact lists, and templates; and Doodle, which allows you to coordinate meetings with multiple people, even those in different time zones. RescueTime is another great option. It tracks the projects you’re working on and then makes suggestions on the best times to work uninterrupted, schedules focus sessions when distracting websites and apps are blocked, and overall helps you better plan your day. Finally, Any.do helps you plan all your professional and personal tasks; you can create lists that are then synced to your calendar across all of your devices.
Staying Organized
The best time-management strategies start with organization. Knowing where documents, contacts, contracts, and work products are at any given time allows you to access anything you need at the touch of a button. Consider a virtual helper application that provides a central repository for work products and lets you to work with others in an organized fashion. According to Tech Radar, apps like RingCentral Office can manage your calls and offer other communication features that will make your life infinitely easier.
Collaborating With Others
As an entrepreneur, you can work with remote staffers, consultants, freelancers, and independent contractors via an app like TaskRabbit, which has a wealth of freelance specialists from a variety of industries. A project management app that supports collaboration can be invaluable for keeping teams on track. CROOW helps customize and automate workflows; Teamwork is great for collaboration and client management; Wrike allows for remote scheduling and project management; and Notion consolidates your business’s documents, spreadsheets, and project files to make collaboration seamless. Many apps have free or trial versions, so experiment with a few of them to see what best fits your needs.
Managing Travel
When you’re traveling for business, you’re likely juggling flight itineraries, boarding passes, car rental agreements, and hotel reservations, all while gathering your work and personal materials and belongings. You can make all this work easier on yourself by using travel apps. FLIO offers airport maps and Wi-Fi codes; MileIQ tracks your travel for business expenses and deduction purposes; and Expensify lets you track your expenses. Google Translate is another must-have, especially if you’re traveling internationally.
Financial Management
As an entrepreneur, you likely manage a number of financial matters including product ordering, inventory management, and accounts payable and receivable. Finance and accounting apps like QuickBooks, FreshBooks, Sage, and Wave can help you manage your money in a seamless manner. In addition to keeping you on track with your budget, being organized in the money department will also help you when it’s time to file your business taxes. Even if you decide to utilize a tax prep expert, having all your information in one place will make the process easier.
Document Management
Scanning applications can be useful to entrepreneurs in many ways. You can scan and instantly send documents right from your smartphone, so you don’t have to run back to your office and shuffle papers when a client needs something at a moment's notice. This is a quick way to send contracts, bills of sale, proposals, and other key business and financial paperwork. You can also use scanning apps to store commonly used documents like at-a-glance product sheets, price lists, and contact lists.
Organization and time management can help a business startup get up and running. Your time is incredibly valuable – and as such, the more functions you can streamline, the more time you’ll have to focus on building your business, cultivating clients, and providing high-level service.
Lightning Clout helps entry-level to mid-level professionals develop an empowering voice in a supportive environment. The company strives to help clients become well-equipped and more knowledgeable when making career decisions. Visit the site to learn more or reach out for a consultation.
Co-author: Lucy Reed
Website: gigmine.co