- April 14, 2017
- Category: News
Small business owners, whether working in a busy office, on the road or from home, can easily get distracted – and overwhelmed. From email (and text) messages bombarding their inboxes and smart phones, to having to stop what they are doing to attend meetings or put out fires, to the temptation to check social media, it can be hard – make that nearly impossible – to stay focused and complete tasks on time.
And while many entrepreneurs claim to be excellent multitaskers, research has shown most are not.
So what, if anything, can small business owners do to stay focused and on top of things? Following is a list of free or inexpensive tools (listed alphabetically) that can help.
1. Active Inbox
A Gmail plug in that allows you to organize your inbox as tasks. Small business owners like it because whatever project management system you use, a lot of tasks actually happen via email. And Active Inbox allows you to keep track of project-related emails and easily follow up with people. The app works particularly well for entrepreneurs who are followers of David Allen’s Getting Things Done® method.
2. Asana
“Asana is a great tool to organize and stay up-to-date [on] projects, assign tasks to team members and keep track of everyone’s progress, including my own,” says Steve Benson, founder & CEO, Badger Maps. “Getting reminders about due dates and being able to add comments and links back to relevant docs on Google Drive makes it very valuable for us and helps me manage more efficiently.”
“Asana lets you list and organize tasks, as well as assign tasks to teammates,” says Craig Bloem, founder & CEO, FreeLogoServices.com. “It also helps you track project status and communication. Any messages you send through the interface are saved in a conversation history, providing helpful background information on each project. You check off items as you complete them, and when you do, the tool even shoots a little unicorn across the page to celebrate your accomplishment.”
3. Google Calendar
“I plan everything on Google Calendar,” says Ophélie Castelot, communication manager, Space Designer 3D. Google Calendar helps business owners – and workers – “stay focused on what needs to be done and have a better understanding of exactly how much time is needed to complete a task. Plus, you can share a calendar with your coworkers, so everyone can see what the others [are doing].”
4. Google Keep
“This simple, straightforward app can help [you] keep track of many projects,” says Rhonda Waterhouse, an entrepreneur with three businesses, including Daisy Yoga. “The colored rectangles act like expandable sticky notes. I have one for each project and even one for home. And I can check off items as I complete them. Recently Google added a feature to allow users to pin important notes to the top. This is the best to-do list I’ve found!”
5. Nimble
“Nimble [a popular social CRM app] allows me to add all my contacts into this neat and well-organized CRM system,” says Vicky Llerena, founder, Social Vibes Media. “Once you upload emails, the system is smart enough to recognize social media handles for each contact. It’s great to segment my lists, set reminders for follow-ups and put a face to the name when I am about to give a friendly follow-up call to my prospect.”
6. ProsperWorks
“If your job relies on building and maintaining relationships with customers, partners, leads or anyone outside of your organization, a CRM solution is a must,” says Mark Lee, partner, Hokku PR, who recommends ProperWorks, which seamlessly integrates with Google G Suite.