5 Incredible Tech Tools for Small Businesses
With businesses competing more then ever for quality employees, and a rapidly evolving online and eccomerce landscape, it’s no wonder that the small business landscape is rapidly changing AND becoming more competitive. This means it’s more important than ever for small businesses to become more efficient to be able to compete. Of course doing this is not just about having the right team, but also the right tools for that team. You need a team that can work together well, whether it’s remotely, in house or both. Whether you are a team of 2 or a team of 200, having the right tools can make all of the difference in team and productivity efficiency. Below I go through 5 must-have tools for any small business to succeed in an ever competitive and changing market.
Why are the right tools for small businesses so important?
These tools will help you stay ahead of the curve by automating small tasks and allowing you to focus on the core.
It will help you be more efficient in dealing with business objectives.
It helps you to be updated in real-time.
It makes communication simpler and more effective
It improves time management.
In summary it allows you to achieve more with less.
5 MUST-HAVE Tools That Will Save Time & Boost Productivity for Small Businesses
#1 Notion: The Perfect Small Business Tool for Organization
Project management systems are a must for any growing business. Whether you are managing client projects, or your own creative projects, having a sophisticated database system is the only way to take things to the next level and keep your team accountable. However, the first place that people get lost is that there are just too many options, and choosing the best one becomes a challenge.
A good project management system is going to be packed with bonus features that allow you to not only manage and delegate tasks, but also streamline your systems from using collaborative docs, to excel sheets and more. It’s also going to give you the illusion of simplicity ( & clean “look”) to help help elevate your from from getting distracted or feeling overwhelmed. It’s powerful yet clean and simple.
That’s why when it comes to choosing the right one, the first option that comes to mind is Notion. It is a flexible and easy-to-handle task management platform that is fully loaded with everything you need, while keeping a simple, easy to use interface. This allows you to get setup and rolling in no time at all.
With Notion you can create boards, calendars, tables, pages, and lists right from the app. It also allows you to communicate with your team, delegate work, and keep track of your business AND personal schedules all in one easy to follow software interface. Not to mention, it doesn’t just work on your desktop, but syndicates with your tablet and phone as well. You have access to every file in your business from literally everywhere.
In conclusion, Notion has simple and friendly dashboards that help you to track progress, execute it well, and helps your team drive for timely completion on every project.
#2 Slack: The Best Platform For Communication
When it comes to communicating with your team, whether it be in the office or working remotely, Slack is where it’s at. Slack is a group messaging/team collaboration app that aims to simplify communication for businesses. Features include open discussions, private groups, and direct messaging, as well as deep contextual search and message archiving, and a very efficient file sharing system. Best of all its simple and interactive interface makes it a pleasure to work with. Between texting my clients and team or using slack to communicate with them, I prefer slack every time.
It has hands down became my favorite way to communicate.
It also integrates with systems we already use such as Notion and Zoom. This can be incredibly effective as we don’t have to leave the the slack environment to hop on a video call.
Another great benefit is that you can have one-on-one communication, group communication, invite guests and full on other businesses to communicate on slack. You can have multiple different group conversations and one on one chat. It’s also accessible from ANYWHERE.
Finally, Slack helps allow you to have an office environment, even if you aren’t working in the office. If your employees are done at 4, then they can have their slack go silent while you can keep sending and communicating with them as need be - with a list of tasks or notes for when they are back on Monday.
In conclusion slack makes communicating between employees, partners, and clients a breeze - while also keeping detailed archives, projects, and conversations all in one easy to use system.
#3 Zapier: Make Life Easier With Automation
Zapier is an automation tool that helps businesses connect multiple programs together to become more efficient. It will even allow you to have a common login for the connected apps. With over 5,000 apps integrated, it more than likely has you covered. So how does Zapier work exactly? Here is an example:
Let’s say you want all of your leads from your email software client to automatically upload to Google database or your CMS.
Zapier can help you do this.
It will automatically connect the programs together with 0 coding required. This doesn’t just save you time, but it removes the human error component too. Therefore with a click of a button it will connect the 2 programs together and automatically upload your new emails as they come in to your designated database. Another example is connecting Notion with a program such as Things3. Whenever a new project gets added to my project manager system, the 2-do lists for that project then get automatically uploaded to my Things3 list - which is my personal online planner I use for my day to day tasks.
As previously mentioned, the best parts of this software is that it requires 0 coding to work. In fact, Zapier is very simple to setup and often times can be implemented with nothing more than a few clicks of the mouse with the most common software.
#4 Squarespace: The Perfect Tool For Small Business Websites
When it comes to creating a website, small businesses can really benefit from using Squarespace. Not only is Squarespace simple to use, but it also comes with beautiful templates, 24/7 help, and best of all, doesn’t require all of the software updates and monitoring that comes with Wordpress websites. If you need something that looks great and simply works (no matter how much you end up neglecting it over time) then Squarespace is perfect for you. It will save you money, time, and plenty of hassle. I build websites on all platforms, but this website - the one that started it all - is on Squarespace.
You can get Squarespace right here as well as their 20% deal they are currently running.
#5 Leadpages: The Most Efficient Way to Make Landing Pages for Small Businesses
Landing pages come in handy for a lot of things. In summary, they capture information from contacts in exchange for something of value. Often times landing pages are used as sales pages, email opt-ins/giveaways, app information, one page websites and so much more. When it comes to creating quick and easy landing pages, it’s tough to beat Leadpages. Not only does it have a long list of attractive, high converting templates for you to use, but it integrates with multiple CMS platforms, email platforms, and more.
I use Leadpages the most for email landing pages. When I need a high converting page for clients, Leadpages is my #1 go-to.
Any small business looking to expand their emails and will benefit tremendously from using Leadpages.
BONUS YOROFLOW: All in One Workplace Automation
Yoroflow is a very reliable and user-friendly workflow automation software that helps businesses automate most of their recurring tasks and helps them to focus on the core business functions. It helps manage projects in a versatile way and is an ultimate tool for project managers.
Here is what you will enjoy with Yoroflow:
Seamless Project Management
Workflow Automation
Task Prioritization
Team Collaboration Tools
Easy Time Tracking
Bug Tracking
Performance Management
Approval Workflows
Yoroflow is an all-in-one tool that can help you take your task management to the next level.
Elevate Your Small Business With the Right Systems
Small businesses are always looking for a change! A change that can elevate their business to newerheights by making their processes more cost and time efficient. As such, technological inclinations are also a must-have factor for these businesses to . Many tools and technologies are available today which can help them simplify the operational tasks as much as possible to eventually save more time and boost their productivity. Defining your business objective first and selecting the right tool next is the key strategy to move on!
