Posts

#Leadership : 18 Tools That Saved Time and Grew My Business…These Affordable Tools and Apps Helped this Entrepreneur See Marked Growth Throughout 2016.

/in /by

We’re getting closer to the end of the year. It’s been a very exciting year for me achieving most of the goals that I’ve set so far. And of course, it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of some tools that have provided great shortcuts.

Free- Biz Man on Cellphone

The tools shared in this post fall under three categories:

  1. Tools that helped me apply a simple productivity system.
  2. Tools that saved me time by paying less money.
  3. Tools that had an impact on my business growth.

Related: 7 Tools to Increase Productivity and Efficiency

Are you ready? Let’s tackle these:

Tools for my productivity system.

There is a system that I’ve been following for more than a year now that has had a great impact on my business. It’s composed of three simple steps:

  1. Plan the right way.
  2. Start the day right.
  3. Take action with focus.

 

Like this Article ?  Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 15K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

Facebook: (over 12K)   http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

Continue of article:

You could check my previous post here to learn more about it, How This 20-Year-Old Built His Business While Studying Dentistry. And if you plan to implement it, check out this checklist.

Here are the tools:

  1. Google Docs: A great tool I use to do all the planning for the tasks I want to accomplish.
  2. Wunderlist: Helps me create to-do lists on the go and great for doing tomorrow’s to-do list.
  3. Accomplish: It helps me easily create my schedule for the day. This is my best calendar app that suits all my needs.
  4. Clear focus: Taking action with focus hasn’t been easier with the help of this great tool.
  5. 7 Min Workout app: Not only does this app have the normal seven minute exercise, but also it have many different variants with different durations
  6. Headspace: A gem tool that changed my focus throughout the day.
  7. Freedom Journal: One of the best journals. I like their app which reminds me to write in the journal in the morning and at the evening.

Tools that saved me time.

Usually, these are resources where I pay a few dollars to save me time or resources where I could save a few minutes by grouping tasks together.

  1. Upwork (formerly known as Odesk): This is not a tool but it is a great way to get low-value tasks done leaving me time to focus on higher value tasks.
  2. 99designs: I’m sure you know how time-consuming design work can be. When redesigning my logo, I spent a ton of time trying to communicate my vision to designers only to receive concepts I wasn’t happy with, which ate into other projects. Using 99designs, I was able to save a lot of time because of the great amount of designs I get. I pick the one I like, ask for reiterations till I like it and then pay.
  3. Thrive content builder: Having a great design that attracts the attention of new readers is very hard. I used to outsource this job, but with this tool, I don’t need to.
  4. Auto Text Expander chrome expansion: Great tool to share common sentences without typing them out completely.
  5. Buffer extension: Publish on all my social networks without entering them one by one.
  6. Pocket: Save important posts that come your way to read them on the weekends.

Related: 3 Productivity Tools to Rev Up Your Business Processes

Tools that helped my business grow.

There are a few tools which help you increase your business growth without much work on your end. These are the tools that helped me do just that this year:

  1. Thrive Leads: This tools helped collect more emails from my website without spending time messing with the code.
  2. SumoMe: It provides you with a great set of tools. I like to use the share, content analytics and heatmap tools. Did I mention it’s free? I’m doing just fine with the free version.
  3. Active Campaign: Creating automation with ease to convert new subscribers and customers has never been easier. Forget infusionsoft with its complexity and the hefty price you pay initially and monthly. You pay a fraction of that with Active Campaign.
  4. Optimizepress: Started using it lately after all the buzz I heard. It deserves every penny of the $97 I paid for it.
  5. Buzzsumo: Great tool to help me identify popular topics and posts in my “industry +” who are sharing it.

Related: 6 Powerful Productivity Tools That Can Supercharge Every Solopreneur’s Workflow

There are many tools out there but these are the ones that had the most impact on my business and my life so far in 2016.

 

Entrepreneur.com | October 7, 2016 | Ahmed Safwan

 

 

#Leadership : Top 15 Apps To Make Your Life Easier Everyday…..2015 was a Year of Huge Advances in the World of Apps. They’ve Gone from a “Fun” addition to a Smartphone to Being a Useful, Necessary & even Revolutionary Way of doing Business, Among other Things.

/in /by

According to Apple, at the start of 2015, there were 1.4 million apps available for download and the 100 billion download mark was surpassed. In addition, by May of 2015, there were 40,000 new apps that were submitted to be released. With the abundant uprise in development and use, it has become almost impossible to spend time figuring out which apps are worth it and which are just not up to par.

Free- Biz Man on Cellphone

I’ve broken it down and found some of the top business apps that will not only help you to be more organized, but could even change the way your business operates, saving you time and money.

Expensify: This app provides an easy to use interface that allows you to scan and categorize your receipts automatically. This app is clean and very intuitive.

Trello: If organization is your problem, Trello is your solution. This app allows you to keep up with ongoing projects without having to hop around to multiple places. You can even interact with others who are working on that project. According to Trello, “Trello is the free, flexible, and visual way to organize anything with anyone.”

GoToMeeting: This app was updated this year and it has made online meetings extremely efficient. It’s fast, reliable, and extremely simple to use, making it an ideal platform to hold meetings and conferences. If you’re always on the go or work with people in other cities, this is especially for you.

Like this Article ?  Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 800K+ Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 10K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

Facebook:   http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

Continue of article:

Apple Pay: 2015 was the year it happened. We can now pay for goods and services with our iPhones. The security features are top-notch and since Apple partnered with Visa, Mastercard and American Express, it is widely accepted in a growing number of places.

Wordswag: Need a nifty little graphic to post online? Enter Wordswag. Take any photo, slap a cool font on it, and you’ve got a professional looking image to post on all of your social media sites. This app allows you to instantly create word art and images with text using their cool font and style options.

Office Mobile: The Microsoft Office suite is one of the most widely used bundles of software in the world. Now you can access it all on your phone, too! Microsoft released the mobile version of their Office Suite, allowing you to create and edit documents no matter where you are in the world.

IFTTT: This app hasn’t received the credit it deserves. It allows you to create your own personalized app by creating “recipes” that will alert you whenever you want. For example, if you want to be emailed every time the Lakers win a game, you could create that recipe. The options are endless and while it takes a little playing around with, it’s well worth it to have a completely customized alerting system.

Asana: This team management app allows you to easily communicate with your employees, no e-mails required. You can assign tasks, keep track of everyday, update projects, and have discussions with your team with the touch of a button.

TripIt: Traveling as you know it has changed for good. Who wants to sift through emails to figure out what flight they’re on, the hotel they’re staying at, and where to get their rental car? This app organizes everything into one place so that you can easily access everything you need. It also allows you to share your itineraries with friends and family, alerts you when other flights that might serve you better come up, and my favorite: helps you snag the best seat on the plane!

RescueTime: This is one of my favorite apps on this list. We are all guilty of spending too much time on social media, and it can be hard to resist. RescueTime holds you accountable by breaking down how you spend your time. It lets you set goals, shows you how much time you’re spending on social media, and even allows you to block certain sites if you’ve been on them for too long.

Square: This is one of the easiest payment systems you can get that requires almost no equipment, can be done from your phone, and is set up completely online. When you sign up for Square, you’ll be sent a small card reader that plugs right into your smartphone. You can send receipts via email and text messages, allow customers to leave tips, and the charge fees are extremely reasonable. This is also a great tool for your employees to use if they’re on the go and making point of sale transactions while out of the office.

 

Forbes.com | January 20, 2016 |  Jennifer Cohen CONTRIBUTOR, I help executives & entrepreneurs boost productivity through wellness.