There’s no denying that small business owners are stretched for time when it comes to successfully running their business. Each day, companies are creating time-management tools to help make running a business easier. And while these tools won’t help to turn back time, or even slow it down, they will help you with time saving strategies.
To help you sort through which software and apps are best for you and your business, we’re providing you with a list of our top 5 time-saving tools.
1. Basecamp
With Basecamp, your projects will practically manage themselves. As one of the more popular project management services, the software focuses on communications, idea sharing, and workload allocations. Basecamp offers email notifications for when team members post comments or upload project files. And with a mobile app, Basecamp allows you to manage all of your projects on the go and out of pocket.
2. Rescue Time
How do you know that the time you are spending is actually productive? Rescue Time is a simple analytics tools to help you understand and monitor the time spent online. To start, tell Rescue Time what you consider to be productive (online brand management) and what’s not productive (online shopping). After each week, Rescue Time provides an in-depth report and shows you the time spent on certain websites. This gives you an idea for which habits you need to break and where to constructively spend more time managing your small business.
3. Catch the Best
Make the hiring process that much easier. With Catch the Best, you’re able to collaborate with the rest of the team by sharing, rating and tracking job applications and resumes. This team-effort style of hiring helps to ensure the best-fit person fills the empty shoes.
4. Google Docs
Similar to Basecamp, Google Docs is an online collaboration and file management service to help make your life easier. Upload and manage all of your documents, presentations, or spreadsheets to the cloud for easy retrieval at a later time. With it being Google, the service ties in well with your existing Gmail account and won’t cost you a penny.
5. PhoneTag
Have you missed multiple phone calls and do not have the time to go back and listen to each and every one? PhoneTag is a service that will convert voice messages to text format, and then send them to you via email. This is fantastic! Think about how often someone may leave a phone number, address, or driving directions, and writing it down may take 2-3 playbacks? Now, you’ll have all the detailed information in text format, making your life much easier. Worried that the voice may be muffled or lost in translation? Each email contains an .MP3 file of the recorded message for your reference.
Have you used any of the services above? Or maybe you’re currently using another time-saving tool in your small business? Let us know which software or apps work for you by commenting below!