As a small business owner, you are probably painfully aware of your own lack of free time. You are busy fulfilling your dreams and running around enjoying the hustle and bustle of life—bringing your business into reality and creating a successful empire out of your entrepreneurial vision. But everyone deserves a break—and the more efficiently your business runs, the more free time you can have to practice self-care and take a rest from the grind. Technology and apps offer a way for you to do more with less and carve out more free time for you and your needs.
By Lucy Reed, Guest Author
Let’s take a look at how mobile apps can help your business improve productivity and get you more time at the spa:
1. Payroll apps
Finding a payroll system that you can use for flexible time tracking while on the go can be a daunting task. However, mobile apps like QuickBooks Time can help you simplify time management and track your employees’ timesheets, all from the interface of your smartphone or tablet. This means you can create, organize, report, and submit payroll right from your pocket no matter where you are.
2. Freelancing or contractor help
Even if you don’t have any full-time employees on your payroll, you can improve your business function by hiring contractors and freelancers to deliver one-time projects and bring a high level of technical expertise. Mobile tools like the SMA Talent On Demand (TOD) app allow small business owners to add talented professionals to their roster—instead of keeping someone on payroll, they can get high-quality work and only pay for it when they need to.
3. Productivity apps
As a whole, “productivity” applications allow you to get more work done in a shorter time, mostly by helping you shave off the time spent doing easily repeatable tasks. Some apps, like StayFocusd, help you stay on target and not wander off into the internet rabbit hole while you’re working—which most of us have surely done at some point. These kinds of browser-blocking apps give you an allotted time to “internet surf” but once your time has been used up, you aren’t allowed to navigate to sites that aren’t work-related—meaning you are forced to focus on the task at hand.
If browser-blocking apps aren’t your cup of tea, there are also productivity apps that function as to-do lists and project management tools. There are even apps that allow you to use Kanban workflows and manage content calendars remotely—which helps you organize yourself and your team when you’re on the go. Trello, for instance, is one of the most popular project management applications, and its mobile app works great on iOS or Android.
4. Travel planning and tracking apps
There are times when you need to pack up and go somewhere new and exciting to bring your business to uncharted territory. Business trips mean business expenses and staying organized is important, so you don’t end up spending more than you have budgeted. Apps like Tripit help you manage bookings and give you insight into how much money you’re spending.
Get more done so you can have less stress
Investing energy into these kinds of applications can create a more efficient, successful business—but the most important thing is that you will now be able to spend more time on yourself and your own needs. Everyone needs a break—build breaks into your daily workload by structuring your business more effectively with mobile apps.
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Lucy Reed has been starting businesses since she was a kid, from the lemonade stand she opened in her parent’s driveway at age 10 to the dog walking business she started while in college. She created GigMine because she was inspired by the growth of the sharing economy and wanted to make it easier for entrepreneurial individuals like herself to find the gig opportunities in their areas. |
