5 Apps for the Busy Entrepreneur5 Apps for the Busy Entrepreneur.
These days, owning a smartphone is not so much about showing off as it is about boosting productivity, especially if one is a busy entrepreneur. This is why there are so many apps targeting business owners and their employees; although, when you think about it, not all are exactly worth the download. To separate the duds from the dynamos, we’ve compiled a list of the five best apps every entrepreneur should use.
Remember everything with Evernote
We don’t know about you, but along with regularly using memory training apps, we’ve been relying heavily on Evernote to organize everything we could possibly imagine losing track of. And we’re not just talking about those typed notes that our secretary regularly gives us. Think receipts, boarding passes, articles that need to be read, task lists, and so on. We also like that this app syncs all our data whether it’s on our smartphone, tablet, or computer. Oh and, lest we forget, Evernote can also save voice memos and even has geo-tagging features so you can view your notes by location and share them on Facebook and Twitter too.
Use Yammer to share ideas with your team
Last June 2012, Microsoft acquired Yammer for a cool $1.2 billion in cash. Described as “Facebook for business,” Yammer is a free app available on both iTunes and Google Play that lets people “collaborate and share ideas together in real time,” no matter where they are. Say you want to join your company’s Yammer network–all you need is a working email address from your company’s domain. For non-employees (e.g. suppliers and customers), you can create external networks so they can communicate with your company.
Similar to Facebook, Yammer features a Newsfeed, where new posts can be seen. Users can also get notifications for private messages, create groups and pages, share files, and take advantage of the search function by adding hashtags (a la Twitter).
Manage invoices using Freshbooks
Like the desktop version, the Freshbooks app “carries your billing cloud database on the go so you could view and control it” while in a meeting or even on the way to the airport. For freelancers, the app’s Timer is a handy feature that measures time spent on a single project and gives an estimate of how much or how little to charge.
Track important projects with Basecamp
Though there are many collaborative task management service apps out there, Basecamp by 37 signals is the one we use a lot, simply because it has a sleek design and an interface that lets users easily navigate through the menus and various items. Like Basecamp Classic, you will need a Basecamp account so you can view all of your projects and check each one’s progress. If you have several projects going on, you can use the search bar and just type relevant keywords to generate the specific project you want to see an overview of. Take note that the Progress screen functions as “a dashboard of everything that has been happening in your projects for today, yesterday, the day before that, and more.” Here, you can check due dates, moved tasks, comments, forwarded emails, new and reassigned task assignments, etc. You can also change views and go to Discussions, Text Documents, Files, Upcoming dates, People on this Project, and Project settings, among others.
SignEasy for your signature-heavy lifestyle
As a busy entrepreneur, there’s no doubt that you’ve received an email attachment that needs your signature added to it. Now the way others do it is: print the attachment, sign it, scan it, and then resend it. With SignEasy, you can digitally sign that attachment so you can skip those tedious steps (read: all of it) just by writing your signature (using a stylus) once on your iPad or Android tablet. This signature is then saved so you can use it for documents in the future.
These days, owning a smartphone is not so much about showing off as it is about boosting productivity, especially if one is a busy entrepreneur. This is why there are so many apps targeting business owners and their employees; although, when you think about it, not all are exactly worth the download. To separate the duds from the dynamos, we’ve compiled a list of the five best apps every entrepreneur should use.
Remember everything with Evernote
We don’t know about you, but along with regularly using memory training apps, we’ve been relying heavily on Evernote to organize everything we could possibly imagine losing track of. And we’re not just talking about those typed notes that our secretary regularly gives us. Think receipts, boarding passes, articles that need to be read, task lists, and so on. We also like that this app syncs all our data whether it’s on our smartphone, tablet, or computer. Oh and, lest we forget, Evernote can also save voice memos and even has geo-tagging features so you can view your notes by location and share them on Facebook and Twitter too.
Use Yammer to share ideas with your team
Last June 2012, Microsoft acquired Yammer for a cool $1.2 billion in cash. Described as “Facebook for business,” Yammer is a free app available on both iTunes and Google Play that lets people “collaborate and share ideas together in real time,” no matter where they are. Say you want to join your company’s Yammer network–all you need is a working email address from your company’s domain. For non-employees (e.g. suppliers and customers), you can create external networks so they can communicate with your company.
Similar to Facebook, Yammer features a Newsfeed, where new posts can be seen. Users can also get notifications for private messages, create groups and pages, share files, and take advantage of the search function by adding hashtags (a la Twitter).
Manage invoices using Freshbooks
Whether you run a virtual office (click here) or not, you’ll need an excellent account management platform Freshbooks where choosing the right invoice templates can be done which makes invoicing process more efficient.. Like the desktop version, the Freshbooks app “carries your billing cloud database on the go so you could view and control it” while in a meeting or even on the way to the airport. For freelancers, the app’s Timer is a handy feature that measures time spent on a single project and gives an estimate of how much or how little to charge.
Track important projects with Basecamp
Though there are many collaborative task management service apps out there, Basecamp by 37 signals is the one we use a lot, simply because it has a sleek design and an interface that lets users easily navigate through the menus and various items. Like Basecamp Classic, you will need a Basecamp account so you can view all of your projects and check each one’s progress. If you have several projects going on, you can use the search bar and just type relevant keywords to generate the specific project you want to see an overview of. Take note that the Progress screen functions as “a dashboard of everything that has been happening in your projects for today, yesterday, the day before that, and more.” Here, you can check due dates, moved tasks, comments, forwarded emails, new and reassigned task assignments, etc. You can also change views and go to Discussions, Text Documents, Files, Upcoming dates, People on this Project, and Project settings, among others.
SignEasy for your signature-heavy lifestyle
As a busy entrepreneur, there’s no doubt that you’ve received an email attachment that needs your signature added to it. Now the way others do it is: print the attachment, sign it, scan it, and then resend it. With SignEasy, you can digitally sign that attachment so you can skip those tedious steps (read: all of it) just by writing your signature (using a stylus) once on your iPad or Android tablet. This signature is then saved so you can use it for documents in the future.
The author juggles being a wife to an engineer and a mother to a witty toddler. In her spare time, she involves herself in getting the word out about office phone systems. Find Monique on Google+.
The author juggles being a wife to an engineer and a mother to a witty toddler. In her spare time, she involves herself in getting the word out about office phone systems. Find Monique on Google+.
