As a busy business professional and Mum to a young daughter, I find it’s important to make the best use of my time, and get as many of my admin tasks set up and automated so I can get on to the next thing on my to-do list as well as help my clients. In my last blog post, I shared tips on how to manage your time better which you can read here. For example, minimising distractions by turning off notifications on your phone, prioritising your tasks by priority, even taking regular breaks! While these are all very useful tips and something that I follow I also love using online tools that help me be more proficient and efficient in my business. Today I thought I’d share with you some of the apps and tools I use and how they may also help you!
Tools I use
Buffer – Buffer is a social media management tool that helps me manage content across my social media accounts. The tool allows me to share posts to several platforms, upload images, add a caption, appropriate hashtags, and links then schedule to the desired date and time. By scheduling a month’s worth of social media in advance, I don’t have to worry about what to share on my social media feed each week and I have more time to focus on other tasks.
Miro – Is an online collaborative whiteboarding platform that allows teams to brainstorm with digital sticky notes, video, chat, share presentations, plan and manage agile workflows. This helps teams work effectively together. It’s like being in the same room and having a planning meeting but online.
Cloud storage (Dropbox/Google Drive) – if you are looking at a cloud storage service where you can store your photos, videos or files “on the cloud” then you can’t go past Google Drive or Dropbox! I use both of these platforms. Each platform has an app so you sync from any device – mobile, computer or tablet to the cloud. This saves space on my hard-drive, lets me share files with people in my team or other collaborators quickly & securely, and without clogging up their inbox! I often create a shared folder in Dropbox which I then share with a client so I can gain access to their images, files and other content that I need to work on their tasks. It is a much easier and convenient way of keeping content saved in one place and allows clients to update files to the folder whenever they need to.
Slack – is an online messenger app that allows you to message others in real-time. This also allows you to create channels so you can have specific conversations for different areas of your business. Types of information that can be shared include images, files, links, as well as screen share, and make video calls all on this platform! This really is an all-in-one communications platform, which I am a big fan of! Depending on the size of your business, you can get access to either a free version or pay for a subscription. Slack is available through the website, or the app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store or Apple Store.
LastPass – LastPass is a password manager app that I use to securely store login and password details for all the programs I use. It also allows me to share my login details to someone like a subcontractor who may need access to one of my accounts, without them seeing my login and password details. All stored passwords are encrypted. LastPass is available online or via a Chrome Browser extension.
Zoom – you may be well familiar with the online conferencing video platform Zoom. I use Zoom for all of my discovery calls and when onboarding new clients. Within Zoom, I can send a link to a client to a private meeting room where we can meet and discuss upcoming work or projects. It’s also great for team meetings or networking online when you can’t attend a face-to-face event or conference. It saves me time and money, as I don’t have to leave my office or spend money on hiring out a meeting room. I have recently started offering Zoom Technician support where I help clients with setting up conferences, making sure all invited participants have checked-in, setting up break-out rooms and sharing of online polls. If this service is something that interests you, please get in touch with me.
Asana – is a project management app where I can create, share and track tasks, set deadlines, delegate work to staff members and share information such as images, files, or links. I can even integrate Asana with other tools that I use in my business, e.g. Slack comments can turn into an actionable Asana task with just a few clicks!
Note, this post is in no way sponsored or paid for by any of the apps or platforms that I have mentioned here. I hope you find these tools to be of some use in your business. Are there any particular online tools that you love to use?
If you need help with finding the right tools for your business, book your 30-minute call, and we’ll see what I can do to help you.
