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5 Small Business Apps That Will Change the Way You
Work
by Han-Gwon Lung
www.convinceandconvert.com
Han-Gwon Lung is the award-winning CEO and proud co-founder
of Tailored
Ink, a boutique writing agency for businesses that want language
that sells. He was the first hire at Prose Media and got his agency chops at
places such as The Writer and The Economist. His
writing has been published in Entrepreneur.
Today, I used Facebook Chat to
talk to friends, Venmo to pay my partner for lunch, andVanguard to
check on the status of my retirement accounts. There are 20+ apps on my phone,
and while I don’t use all of them every day, they help me stay on top of my
personal life.
But when it comes to work, I’m not nearly as app-savvy. The
number of apps I use on a daily basis is much lower, and I don’t think that’s a
coincidence. Outside of the tech industry, many people (myself
included) are “late adopters” with slightly dated views on how to do work.
(highlight to tweet) It’s hard for us to get used to things likeSlack,
for example, because we’re so stuck on traditional email threads.
There’s something to be said for being as app-savvy in the
workplace as we are in our personal lives. If we were, we could save tons of
time and boost our productivity. Here are five of the best small business
apps that you probably aren’t using.
1. Gusto
There are plenty of payroll, benefits, and compliance
solutions out there. There aren’t many that roll them all into one easy-to-use
platform. Gusto manages to
do just that.Its intuitive interface lets employees easily onboard
themselves, so you can automate your payroll taxes, pick and choose
workers’ comp insurance and health benefits, and keep track of 1099s, digital
signatures, and all financial records—all from your smartphone.
The best part? It integrates seamlessly with most accounting
software, like Quickbooks.
2. RescueTime
Timekeeping apps are a dime a dozen, so it’s easy to ignore
all of them and just keep track of everything you do in a traditional to-do
list or calendar. Unfortunately, this doesn’t actually give you true insight
into how you spend your time during the workday. Most of us spend way too much
time:
RescueTime helps you gain perspective,
so you can spot inefficiencies in your workday, create personal and
professional goals (like spending only one hour per day checking email), and
set alarms that tell you when you’ve run over time on any given task. It even
delivers detailed daily reports, weekly email summaries, and productivity
scores to every team member.
3. Habitica
Gamification has
lost a lot of its steam in the years since it first splashed into the business
scene, but Habitica is an excellent example of
gamification done right. It takes the monotony out of the daily grind by
allowing users to incentivize their habits, dailies, and to-dos. By completing
tasks, players can earn experience points and gold which they use to level up,
buy gear for their avatar, and earn rewards.
It’s perfect for teams and even schools because it
motivates rather than monitors(like a timekeeping app). That being said, it
probably isn’t for everyone, and will probably best fit people who already play
games.
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4. Zip Schedules
Next on the list is Zip Schedules, a
team-based project management app that helps managers both schedule and
communicate with team members and better keep track of attendance. Zip
Schedules allows employees and managers to communicate with one another to find
replacements for last-minute shift swaps, sick days, or requests for time off.
Managers can create schedules from their desktop, tablet, or mobile phone, and
employees have the schedule in their back pocket.
It’s tailor-made for restaurants, retailers, and more
traditional stores where a manager won’t always be around their employees, but
it’s just as useful for office teams that have to work together to tackle big
projects with many moving parts.
5. Nimble
Then there’s Nimble, a different
kind of social media-centric CRM. It’s the first sales and marketing
CRM that works wherever you engage with your customers—including over social
media channels like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. This is an
upgrade to Salesforce’s much more basic email
integration and allows account managers and sales teams to keep leads and
customers top-of-mind at all times, opening up new opportunities for on-the-spot
engagement.
By doing away with data entry, keeping a log of all client
interactions no matter where they happen, and automatically suggesting other
key contacts based on your connections, Nimble is an account-based marketer’s
dream come true.
Work Better, Feel Better
It’s no big secret that being productive at work will make you more successful and
help you leave the office earlier. Yet, for some reason or another, we all make
excuses and fall back into old, uninspired, nine-to-five habits.
Here’s a challenge: Try out one of these five apps (or a different one, as
long as it’s new to you), and see if it helps you finish work even just ten
minutes faster than usual. Stick with it for a month, and see how much more
time you save once you’re familiar with it. Then try another one.
Being willing to adopt simple phone apps like these in your
business life (just like you do in your personal life) will help you work
harder, faster, and smarter. And they just might help you get out of work by
5:00 p.m.
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Another Special Announcement - Tune in to my radio interview, on Rider University's station, www.1077thebronc.com I discuss my recent book, above on "Your Career Is Calling", hosted by Wanda Ellett.
In addition to this blog, Netiquette IQ
has a website with great
assets which are being added to on a regular basis. I have authored the
premiere book on Netiquette, “Netiquette IQ - A Comprehensive Guide to
Improve,
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Charge
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I am the president of Tabula Rosa Systems,
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Over the past twenty-five years, I have enjoyed a dynamic and successful career and have attained an extensive background in IT and electronic communications by selling and marketing within the information technology marketplace.Anyone who would like to review the book and have it posted on my blog or website, please contact me paul@netiquetteiq.com.
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