Every small-business person and entrepreneur has about three times more tasks to complete each day than one person can possibly tackle. Thus we’re always looking for another way to cut the time it takes to do these tasks and complete our projects. And that’s why we’re so lucky to live in a time when the super-computers of a few decades ago are now in our hands and in our pockets.
And it’s apps that make these computers so powerful, useful, and fun!
You probably don’t have time (see above) to keep up on what apps are available, or how they can help get more work done. So, as you’re likely taking stock for the new year — how to achieve more, grow our businesses, complete our backlogged projects — I thought I’d help. I made a list of some of the best apps available for small business people — especially, apps that simplify tasks and boost your productivity!
AUTOMATE YOUR APPS
IFTTT (If This Then That) (Android, iOS)
This may be the mother of all smartphone efficiency apps — because it can automate lots of other apps and tasks on your phone. All those tasks you do regularly, over and over? Program IFTTT to do them for you, with fewer moves or even a single click! The app lets you create “recipes” to automate tasks using the logical structure “If this, then that.” IFTTT has lots of different “triggers” to choose from, to trigger actions by other apps, websites and even other devices. For example, you might program “If Mom posts a new Instagram, then Add the photo file from the URL to the family Dropbox.” Or tell IFTTT to automatically invite every new iPhone contact to connect with you on LinkedIn. Or order it to add every new Silicon Valley job listing as it arrives (from a variety of feeds) to your Google spreadsheet. The possibilities are endless! (BTW, it’s pronounced like “gift” without the “g.”)
MANAGE YOUR CONTACTS AND INBOX
Mailbox (Android, iOS)
OK, you already have an email inbox. But the purpose of Mailbox is to help process your Gmail or iCloud email fast, help you prioritize, and make it all really easy. It lets you simply swipe emails to decide what to do with them, and you can toggle to see whole conversations in a chat-like view. One key feature lets you postpone an email you can’t deal with now, but don’t want to forget about; like a snooze button for email, it’ll actually redeliver the email to your inbox later (you set the delay how you want). It also gets smarter based on how you use it (something I’ve often wished my Gmail would do); as you swipe emails into a folder, or trash, or snooze them, Mailbox learns to automate common actions (for example, “always snooze friends’ emails until the evening”).
Humin
Contacts+ (Android, iOS)
Contacts+ can actually replace your existing address book — with a more powerful and community-oriented approach. The app’s makers call it a “place to connect, however you want, with the people you care about.” In other words, it unifies and organizes all your contacts so all your communications are in one place — whether phone, text, email or your social media accounts. Contacts+ imports a photo for each contact (from Facebook or Google+), and pulls in information from various social networks to let you to see all that info in one place. Contacts are sorted intelligently by Frequency (important contacts are prioritized), Recency and alphabetically. From any contact, you easily access the call log and messaging list, which includes threaded conversations. Now instead of spending time sorting, consolidating and searching through your address book, you can focus on your actual conversations.
Humin (Android, iOS)
Humin is another app that captures all of your contacts, but it remembers them in the way you naturally think. When you meet someone new, Humin can remember tons of meaningful context surrounding that meeting and the person, like where you met, what day and time it was, where they work (it learns this from LinkedIn), who you’ve emailed recently and about what topic. So instead of scrolling blindly though your entire contacts list trying to remember the name of that connection, you can search with terms like “met last week” or “lives in Chicago.”
MANAGE YOUR TIME AND TASKS
Timeful (iOS)
Timeful is way more than a calendar app — it could be a life-changer. It can free up your time, help you focus more on things you care most about, and help you create better habits that repeat daily, weekly or monthly, tracking your progress with you. You tell Timeful the things you want to do, then its advanced algorithms will make suggestions when to schedule them. It syncs with your existing calendars, then it puts everything that competes for your time, in one place — your events, to-dos and good habits all appear on your daily calendar. Over time, it learns your behaviors so it can give you advice about how to improve your habits. It will help you find open time to do things you want to do, without interfering with the tasks you’ve already scheduled.
Any.do (Android, iOS)
Any.do is another great time-management app — for making to-do lists, setting reminders, tracking events and keeping notes for getting things done. It aims to sync your daily life, work tasks, and personal goals so you have a more complete, but clear, perspective for moving forward. It’s easy to add tasks either by typing or dictating, and lets you drag and drop tasks into different categories. Its reminders notify you of time-sensitive tasks, and you can set location-based reminders too. And of course it tracks your completed tasks as you mark them finished. It also lets you share and synchronize tasks and other lists with your family, friends and team members.
MANAGE YOUR PROJECTS AND DOCUMENTS
NotesPlus
Evernote (Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Web)
Evernote is so popular it could be considered a classic by now — but it keeps getting better, and if you haven’t tried it you should. It’s like a connected online scrapbook, notepad, reminder list and file cabinet for everything from to-do lists and meeting notes to photos, audio files and web pages. But what makes it powerful is its ability to index everything. All you divergent notes and files can be searched by various terms, can relate to each other by topic or task or time, or anything else you find relevant. And, they’re all searchable and accessible from any device you use, cross-platform, because it’s all stored in the cloud. It also makes it super easy to organize sets of information, share it with your collaborators, and sync all of it so you can work on it together.
NotesPlus (iOS)
On the other hand, if you prefer the feel of a traditional paper notepad, NotesPlus offers a super-simple way to get close to that experience, but with the obvious benefits of digital power. It also lets you take notes in a much more visual way — something a lot of creative businesspeople demand. NotesPlus uses natural gestures, translating them to digital text using vector-based pattern recognition. By the way, it also allows for keyboard entry — and text can be put anywhere on the document. Just like on a plain piece of paper, you can organize ideas, whether written or sketched, just by drawing a circle around them. The app also makes it easy to grab and integrate related photos, images or ideas from the web, with its own integrated web browser.
(Top Photo Credit: Any.do)
