When you’re managing a small business and trying to do it all, you really need to make the most of every minute.
Sometimes, the difference between a task that takes 5min and a task that takes 1h is simply using the right app.
With so many apps on the market, I would recommend picking the ones that integrate with each other. Things like making sure that your website platform integrates with your email marketing, for example, will end up saving you hours in spreadsheet uploads!
So, without further ado, here’s a sneak peek into my own app “ecosystem”
Calendar
When it comes to these things, people are usually Microsoft or Google. I use Google. My email is hosted through Google Suite (via Squarespace so that I don’t even have to manage it!), and it gives me access to Google Calendar and Drive for easy organisation.
Organisation
Finding the right system to handle your to-do list is really a personal preference. Some use their email inbox as a tasks list (would not recommend, but hey you do you), some like to have them in a notebook for the satisfaction to physically tick the box, you really need to find what works for you.
I usually alternate between:
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good old notebook and pen
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my trusty note app in my iPhone
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proper tasks management app such as Trello and Asana
The last 2 are especially good if you’re working in a team and need to keep track of everyone’s progress across one or several projects.
Whatever you end up going with, just keep in mind that if it takes you longer to organise your to-do list than to actually work on those items, you’re probably not doing it right.
Passwords
Between email accounts, social media accounts and all the different services you use, managing passwords can be a bit of a nightmare. Many end up recycling their passwords to make it easy to remember them, hence creating some massive potential security issues. Your passwords should be unique. I repeat: do not use the same password everywhere!
You don’t have to remember 10,000 different passwords, just use a password manager. A password manager is an app that stores all of your login credentials protected by one strong master password. It can also generate random secure passwords for you to make your accounts even safer!
There are many good ones on the market but I would recommend Dashlane and LastPass (based purely on personal preference). Have a look around, compare the different solutions if needed but do not underestimate cybersecurity, especially if you manage accounts for other people as well.
Website
This website is built on Hubspot. After building many websites on Wordpress, I decided that my time would be better spent working on the business than managing my website. Even though it does come with some restrictions, choosing your website platform is usually a compromise between budget, design constraints, and time constraints.
I did spend quite a bit of time on Squarespace which is easy to use and comes at a reasonable price point but I've since made the decision to migrate to Hubspot. I use a Hubspot as my CRM and email marketing system and it made sense for me to limit the number of services I use by utilising its Content Hub.
The free and starter versions come with a reasonable number of features and, if you are considering HubSpot as your CRM, I would strongly suggest looking at using it for your website as well.
Graphic Design
Do I even need to introduce Canva? Canva is hands-down the best design app on the market. It allows you to preload your brand colours and fonts, to save custom templates and it even connects to file-sharing systems such as Google Drive to avoid the sometimes tedious process of constant downloading and uploading of pictures.
Canva has saved me countless hours and it also allows me to work collaboratively on documents with my clients.
The free version is great but I strongly recommend the paid one, it is worth every cent!
Social Media
Social Media scheduling can take heaps of your time and it’s probably the one task where having the right app can change your life (or at least your work-life).
I’ve experimented with a few of them from Coschedule to HubSpot, MeetEdgar or Loomly before settling on Plann.
Plann allows me to:
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schedule content across Linkedin, Facebook and Instagram
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auto-post to Instagram as well as auto-post the first comment (for hashtags)
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integrate with Google Drive (once again not having to constantly download/upload)
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integrate with Canva so that I can create my posts directly within the app
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save all my hashtags in sets that I can mix and reuse
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visualise my feed at the same time to make sure it all looks nice and tidy
and all of that for $9/mo! Oh and it’s an Australian business, say whatttt?
Proofreading
If you don’t already use Grammarly, get on board now! Grammarly is an autocorrect on steroids! It will check your text in real-time pretty much everywhere on the web and will give you recommendations as well as pointers to make your text easier to read. Even if copywriting is not your thing, Grammarly can be the difference between your email or content looking professional or not.
Other apps I use:
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Zapier for integrations and automations between all my systems
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Clockify for time tracking
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Ubersuggest and SEMRush for SEO tracking
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Leadfeeder to know which companies visit my website
I’m always on the lookout for any app that could make my life simpler and help my productivity so. if you have any to recommend, please let me know!
