Technology: Your 24-7 ally in business success
If you’re just staring out and working hard to develop your small business, you probably already spend a lot of your day glued to your iPhone, BlackBerry smart phone, Samsung Galaxy, or Android phone. So using technology as a partner in business isn’t foreign to you. That’s great news because there are thousands of apps on the smart phone market that can help make the life of an entrepreneur even more convenient. Business owners need to be connected at all times. A deal can go down in the middle of the night or a problem can occur when you’re in another country, so your smart phone is really a lifeline to your businesses prosperity.
The following 5 apps for entrepreneurs are, in my opinion as a business owner, irreplaceable. I use them frequently throughout the day to make business deals, keep track of important projects, touch base with my clients, and even to get paid.
1. Start Up Checklist (for iPhone & iPad)
When I decided to quit my day job for a large corporate and start my own home-based business it’s an understatement to admit that I was scared. I needed a tool to help me set up my small business, a checklist of sorts that would guide me through the necessary things that I needed to get in order. That’s when I found the Start Up Checklist app! This app is a start up entrepreneur’s best friend and business ally. It features an easy to follow 36-step checklist for new business owners so they don’t forget about things like filing out certain tax forms, registering a business name, and etc. With Start Up Checklist, you will find every government resource, grant, and professional tip you’ll need to strike out on your own. Plus, Start Up Checklist also donates 10% of all proceeds made from this app in support of small business loans around the world!
2. TimeMaster + Billing (for iPhone & iPad)
Another app that I rely on multiple times throughout the day, TimeMaster + Billing keeps me connected with my clients and gives both of us an overview of projects before, during, and after they are complete. This app is virtually a central time-tracker t at opens a secure, two-way communication portal between you and your client. This means clients can add inspirational photos, notes, instructions, emails from their team, and you can send draft copy, proofs, track your hours, and keep a running tally on the client’s budget so you don’t go over. TimeMaster even automatically generates an invoice for you at the end of the project.
3. Bento (for iPhone & iPad)
I don’t care if you’re a newbie entrepreneur or a business novice with chains all over the globe, Bento is a unique task management database app that tracks your internal projects. So where task master gave the client a view, Bento keeps the work for internal eyes only—so you can add client notes, import pictures and video, brainstorm, forecast accounting costs, and communicate with your team securely and privately without the client seeing a thing. Plus, Bento allows business owners to customize projects by fields such as task, project name, individual name, price, time, approaching due date, and etc. And if a project is due soon, Bento will send automatic reminders so Jim in writing gets the copy done and handed over to Sharon in design.
4. Square (Free – for Android)
Stuck in a client’s corporate jet to Madrid without your debit machine? Well Square is the smart phone app you need! Never get caught without a cash register again. This app virtually converts your Android phone into a payment accepting cash register using a dongle (or electronic key)—so you can instantly scan clients’ credit cards, transfer cash from one business account to another, or pay vendors from absolutely anywhere.
5. MightyMeeting (Free – for Android)
The MightyMeeting app keeps you looking client-ready—even when you’re not! The hero of all presentations, MightyMeeting lets you upload and store your multimedia and slide presentations, proofs, project files and marketing videos, and all speaker notes so you can access them anytime a meeting unexpectedly pops up. As long as you have access to Wi-Fi, 3G or a 4G wireless connection, you are presentation-ready!
This is a guest post submitted by Melaine Gray of GoingCellular hope you enjoy it!
Author Bio: Melanie Gray is a writer for GoingCellular, a popular site that provides cell phone news, commentary, and reviews of popular providers.