Being an entrepreneur might sound like a cool and glamorous career, but as anybody who’s done it knows, it can also be tough. It requires serious hard work, oftentimes long hours, and a whole lot of drive. Still, there’s no question that there are also some major upsides (working for yourself on a project you love and created? That’s pretty amazing).
But there’s one area of being an entrepreneur that can make your life much easier – using apps. There are millions of apps to choose from (not like we counted, but hey), and it can be overwhelming to figure out which ones to download. So we’ve saved you some time and hand-picked the very best apps for entrepreneurs so you can forget about looking at app listings and focus on keeping up the entrepreneur grind.
Ready to dive in?
Slack – For Communication
Chances are good you’ve probably heard of Slack already – the most recent figures put it at over 8 million users every single day. (Here’s the proof). But it really is a fantastic app for any entrepreneur. Rather than having endless email threads, Slack is a quick and simple communication channel, with chats that you can divide into different channels based on conversation topics.
Let’s say you have some messages you want to send to everyone on your team. Those go to the ‘Team’ chat. You can then also have specific chats for people like ‘Marketing’ or ‘IT’ for messages for a smaller group, plus you can directly message individual users. Lots of teams also use a ‘Non-work’ channel for little announcements or sending each other silly GIFs. Slack makes it super easy to send quick messages in an organised way, so you’ll be able to find that one thing you mentioned last week. Plus it’s just for work, so you won’t get distracted with the giant mess that your inbox can become.
Website: slack.com
Pocket – For Researching
There is so, so much great advice out there for any entrepreneur. But that means it’s easy to spend an entire day just reading advice and not actually getting much work done. Pocket can help you from falling into an endless internet hole – because it lets you easily save stuff to check out later. It can cover articles, photos, videos, and content from 1500 different apps. Then, you can catch up on it later from any one of your devices, even if you’re offline. Next time you see something interesting, just add it to Pocket and then set time aside later to enjoy it.
Website: getpocket.com
Buffer – For Social Media
If you do any social media marketing for your business, Buffer is amazing to schedule all your content. It’s intuitive to use, and it means you can plan out a big block of content all at once. This means you can “set it and forget it” – and least when it comes to selecting which content to publish on your social media networks. Don’t forget to check in and interact with your community regularly!
Website: buffer.com
Asana – For Managing
Nope, this isn’t a yoga app; it’s an app for managing your projects. It lets you organise, track and manage the tasks you’ve got on your plate at the moment. One of my favourite features is the calendar view, where you can see all your assignments and due dates organised.
It also has a nice project progress view that has a graph showing how much you’ve completed on your project. It’s a great way to remind yourself of how far you’ve come, plus motivate yourself to keep going further.
Website: asana.com
Dropbox and Google Drive – For Storing
Rather than endlessly emailing files back and forth, it’s easier to just work with your fails directly online. That’s what Dropbox and Google Drive let you do. Having your working files stored in the cloud avoid mixing up files or working from an older version of a deck without realising it. Both have free versions that let you store up to a certain amount. This makes them great for teams that are just starting out, or if you just want to try them out without committing to paying at first.
One tip: Add a to-do list here for your team (I like using an online Excel file so I can highlight the most urgent tasks and easily see what’s on my plate).
Website: dropbox.com
Website: google.com/drive
Neat – For Accounting
This app is great for entrepreneurs who would rather spend their time on things other than bookkeeping. It almost goes without saying that your businesses’ finances are super important (but we’ll say it anyway because they really are!). Still, they can often be one of those tasks that are both a headache and a time drain. This simple app lets you organise your expenses, sales, and more and clear look and what’s happening for your business.
Website: neat.com/solutions
Hatch – For Concentrating
Time management is important for almost any job, but it’s essential for entrepreneurs. There are lots of apps out there to help you stay focused, but one we particularly like is Hatch. This little app is actually designed to help kids take breaks from their screens. But who’s say it can’t help you take a break either?
You set the virtual egg timer for the amount of time you want. If you successfully manage to complete the time without using another app, your egg hatches into a cute animal. OK, it’s a little silly! Still, big tasks that seem insurmountable at first are much easier to get done if you say ‘I’m just going to work on this for 20 minutes’. Hatch is a helpful reminder on your phone to stay focused.
Website: gethatch.app
Trello – For Coordinating
Another great project management tool, Trello lets you sort your tasks into different boards and easily track them. It’s simple, which is one of its major upsides. (How many times have you tried to open a new app that promises it’ll change your life but it just has too many options?). You can use it to visually see what you’ve got to do for different elements of projects. Or, you could divide your boards into ‘Doing’ ‘Done’ and ‘Not Started’ lists. It’s up to you, so use it however makes the most sense for your project.
Website: trello.com
Hooks – For Catching Up
Push notifications are the double-edged sword of the app world. On the one hand, they’re an easy way to get instant updates on everything that’s going on. On the other hand, they can fill your phone up with distracting but enticing messages. Hooks lets you follow just the topics and people that you care about – meaning you only get notifications that you’re interested in. This is a great way to still stay connected without getting distracted.
Website: gethooksapp.com
Proven – For Recruiting
Hopefully, at some point as an entrepreneur, you’ll need to start hiring extra hands as your business grows. That’s where Proven comes in. This app makes it super easy to organise your hiring. It lets you post your job listings to lots of different sites where job seekers are. Then, once applications start rolling in, you can quickly group them into ‘yes’, ‘no’, and ‘maybe’ lists. Having all your job applicants in one place and sorted by lists means you can save major time, and focus on finding the best candidate for your growing business needs.
That brings us to our list of the best apps for entrepreneurs. Which one of these apps is your favourite? Have we missed out on must-have apps? Let us know in the comments!
Website: proven.com
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