Until they invent cloning, we entrepreneurs will have to work smarter with the technology that’s available to us. Fortunately, there are some great tools out there that help us better manage our time and make it more fun to run a business.
All-in-One Social Media Management
You’ve got your Twitter profile. Your Google+ account. Don’t forget Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You feel like you spend more time logging in to these different sites than actually using them. But that’s so 2010. Now there’s no excuse to waste time on visiting each social media site when you have social media dashboards.
One great dashboard to try is Hootsuite. Log in once, and from there, you can schedule updates to all your various social profiles from one place. You can also set up streams for different criteria, such as any mentions of your brand or updates using a particular hashtag. You maximize your time by seeing all the important social data you need in one place.
A Smarter Calendar
Sure, digital calendars like Google Calendar are great, but they’re not as intuitive as we’d like. Sometimes you have other calendars elsewhere, like in your CRM system, and you want all that data in one place. The more calendars you have, the more you risk something slipping through the cracks.
That’s where Insightly’s expanded calendar sync fills the niche. You get more done because you can see all the meetings and appointments you have scheduled on your digital calendar, as well as tasks and deadlines from within Insightly. And you’re just a click away from viewing customer profile information that you might want to review before your next meeting.
Savvy Financial Management
As a small business owner, you may not have a ton of accounting activity, but you do need a way to manage your finances quickly and easily, especially if you don’t have your own accountant. Accounting software is great, but not all accounting platforms are created equal.
One that goes beyond the basic management of income and expense is FreshBooks. With it, you can send digital invoices, get paid faster online, and view reports on your profit and loss. But there are other perks that make it more appealing than others: if you track the time you spend on client projects, you’ll appreciate the Time Tracker feature. Just let the clock time your activity, then automatically add that time to your next invoice. FreshBooks has partnered with other financial service providers like ZenPayroll so you can do even more, like pay your staff and take care of payroll taxes without breaking a sweat.
There are so many time management tools out there for you to choose from. Find the ones that make sense for your business, and see how much time and energy they can save you!
