Current Top Favorite Web-Based Business Apps
Owning a business is hard work, as I mentioned recently. And as a business owner, I know all too well how much time goes into maintaining your business behind the scenes compared to actually working with prospective and current clients. And if you’re like me, you’re always looking for useful tools to shorten your workflow so you can spend more time with clients! So, I’ve compiled a list of my (current) top 5 favorite web-based business tools, which means you can’t leave them at home, break them, or lose them. Perfect.
17hats. I promise, one of these days I’m going to do a massive review of this program because it is fantastic and when it comes to programs that I cannot live without and will invest into, this is #1. 17hats is basically an entire client management system from start to finish. You can create client profiles and visually see all contact and document history, add projects to each client, email invoices and contracts that can be signed digitally, you can sync with various Google calendars which are displayed within your dashboard, you can see when a client has viewed any things you’ve sent them, you can automate workflow checklist items and set reminders, you can utilize accounting software – it is JAM.PACKED. If you do decide to purchase a license for 17hats, please tell ’em Bethany sent you by using the following referral code: cbrfkrrfcc or by following this link.Thank you!
My Use: Client Management
Price: starting at $17/mo.
App: 17hats, partial functionality released early 2016, continually upgrade for more capabilities
Google….everything. Particularly, Google Sheets and Google Docs. With the powerful-featured Google Drive (where all of this gets backed up), there are so many different applications to make your personal and business life easier, I couldn’t be more happy with what this company has to offer, and at the free price-point, too (though premium upgrades are available)! I use Google Docs just about every day. Because of the ability to format texts (like a Word document text editor, for example), this is where I will write up the foundation for things like proposals, contracts, pricing information, etc. That way I can easily access it from my phone or any other devices connected to the “cloud”, and I can share with any contributors or clients to view or leave commentaries. From there, I adjust documents as I need to so that they fits whatever format I’m using (blogging platforms, emails, etc.). Often this is just exporting documents as a PDF. Google Sheets is great for anything that would require a spreadsheet. Some examples from my own business would be pricing spreadsheets, hour logs, mileage logs, and inventory. I highly recommend downloading the apps for each of these – if even just Google Drive!
My Use: Document and Media Storage
Price: Free with premium services available
App: Google Drive, Google Sheets, Google Docs (and many other stand-alone apps within Google Drive as a whole)
Evernote. Evernote is a collection of online “notebooks” in which you write notes (obviously) that can be categorized (by notebooks and tags). These notes can be texts, images, digital media – it’s incredible. This is particularly useful if you’re someone who has a lot of ideas and needs a place to keep them. This is also the place where I’ll start some blog posts and outlines, copy and paste scripts and code – (email scripts, development code) anything that I constantly need to refer back to. The difference between this and Google docs is that this isn’t just a document editor. It’s all about organizing ideas, so it is formatted as a program to cater more to that need than just writing a paper. I love the app and widget which are both incredibly helpful. I particularly use the widget more often because I’m able to swipe left on my phone and quickly type up a note, which is saved to a defaulted “catch-all” notebook that I can sort later…which I’ll blog about process in the future too. Evernote is also comparable to OneNote if your a Microsoft user! I’ve used it before, but chose Evernote due to a better web-based application and overall design experience.
My Use: Idea, blogging, and script organizing
Price: FREE with premium services available
App: full-service app and widget
Mailchimp. Another popular web application, Mailchimp, is great for email marketing. Mailchimp allows you to create lists (email lists) to which you send campaigns (emails). You’re able to track who opens your campaigns however many times, create signup forms and so much more. I’ve loved how easy it is to create elegant campaigns with so many templates and the ability to create your own templates for later use. Mailchimp also has some wonderful resources on how to send better emails, which is always helpful.
My Use: Email Marketing
Price: FREE with premium services available
App: full-service
Wave. Last, but certainly not least is Wave which I like to say is everything right that 17hats has wrong. While 17hats has an accounting portion and the ability for clients to pay fees online, Wave’s interface is so much more fluid and visually comfortable and I’ve had much fewer problems connecting to my accounts, etc. The overall design and efficiency of the application is so perfect, it’s almost calming just looking at it. Wave allows you to send invoices, create clients, create recurring invoices, pay online, pay your employees, and even has a free receipt-capture app to download onto your phone. As much as I love 17hats and want to do everything I can possibly accomplish with it, I’m still drawn to this for my accounting because it is so informative about a vital part to my business, clean, and easy to use. Definitely am looking to do a review/comparison in the future on this!
My Use: Accounting
Price: FREE with premium services available
App: receipt catcher
There you have it! I’ve spent a lot of time through trial and error refining what programs I trust and have found these to be some of my favorites. Are you using any of these? Have you had a different experience? Let me know! Thanks for reading and have a wonderful weekend. Until next time!
