As online entrepreneurs, we use many business apps. When choosing a new app for your business it can be difficult to distinguish the good ones from the not so good ones. There are so many choices.
One of the lessons I have learned is that it’s SO easy to want to try all the shiny new things. I really have to hold myself back sometimes. (All the shiny things!) I’m a techie and LOVE new apps that make great promises. Instead of jumping in on something new, I complete research: read reviews, check out all the features, look for integrations, watch videos and even check out the support channels. Then I make a decision.
To help you choose an app that will work for your business, I am sharing eight of my favorite apps.
A shiny new app for me! I was using TimeTrade for my scheduling system and it did the job. No bells and whistles and it felt like it hadn’t been updated in forever. AppSumo was offering Book Like A Boss at an awesome price and after doing my research, I decided to make the switch. I love that you can customize everything to match your branding and embed it right on your website. It will sync with your calendar. You can even use it to sell your digital and physical products. One of the features I really like is that it will send out meeting reminders via email and text.
Honestly, I used to use Skype. I still do sometimes, if that’s what my client prefers. I have found that Zoom works better for me. It offers integrations with other systems (like Book Like a Boss). Zoom is great for team meetings and you don’t need an add-on to record the meeting.
Always have backups. Seriously. Always. Dropbox works perfectly for my needs. I’ve upgraded to the Plus plan so I don’t have any worries about running out of space. You can download the desktop app so you can sync your files but if you have limited hard drive space like I do, you can always use the web version. At the end of the day, I copy all in progress files to Dropbox so I never worry about losing anything. It’s easy to share files with clients and team members. You can also create a link to share a file with someone without an account.
Freshbooks has been my go-to app since the very beginning. I use it to track my time and send all my invoices. Everything is so easy. I love automation so one of my favorite features is that it sends out my recurring invoices for me. I don’t have to remember. And, if my clients choose, they can have Freshbooks automatically bill their invoice to their preferred payment method.
Another business app I’ve had since the beginning is Google Workspace. I like using my branded email in Gmail and scheduling appointments in Google Calendar. More than that, I love that I can collaborate with clients at the same time right in Google Apps. Google Apps works for just about everything and you don’t have to install extra software on your computer.
ClickUp is my most recent shiny new app. I’ve used Asana for several years now and for the most part, have been happy with it. Like Asana, ClickUp offers a phone app and web app but ClickUp also offers a desktop app. So, I could eliminate an extra tab from my web browser. Another feature that I love is that you can create templates to reuse again and again. In Asana, I had to create a dummy task that I duplicated when I needed it again. Too many times, a client or team member closed out the subtask assigned to them in my dummy task. I had to constantly monitor those dummy tasks. I’m still learning all the features but so far, I’m very impressed. I’ve moved all my internal projects and tasks into ClickUp. It’s only a matter of time before my client work moves there too.
If you work with a team, Slack is awesome for collaboration. I really love that it moves conversations out of email (where it will get lost in my inbox) and into a channel delegated to the topic. It’s searchable and you can favorite important notes so they are easy to find later. It can make the lonely world of working from home feel more like working (almost like in person) with your team. The integrations here also make things easy to share or to hop on a Zoom call for a video chat.
Ah, Data! Finding ways to store data that can be easily retrieved without a bunch of work or duplication is what we all are looking for, right? Enter Airtable. Okay, so it might not be as robust as Microsoft Excel – at least in terms of calculations and graphs. It can store images, links, and multiple choices per cell. You can even link the data to other tables. It really feels like more like a database. It’s great for planning blog posts, social media posts or even podcast programs. If you aren’t ready to invest in a CRM, you could even set up a base to work that way for you. It can do so much more.
Finding the right app for your business can be a major time and frustration saver. It can help your business run smoothly and keep things easy to manage. Was there an app on my list that could help improve your business?
I wasn’t paid to share any of these apps and none of the links are affiliate links.