As a business owner your time is your most valuable asset. However, time can often feel like the thing we have the least of.
While it isn’t possible to physically create more hours in the day, we can call on tech to help us get more done, in less time.
Check out the nine apps below that can help you to maximise your day and claw back your time to spend on growing your business.
Instapaper
Can’t find that article you saw while you were commuting into work or making your way to a meeting? Don’t waste time searching for it again when you’re back in the office and download this handy app. You simply save an article to your account when you spot it and you can highlight any bits of text you like while reading your saved articles.
The app lets you share the highlighted text immediately. Once you open the app up again, you’ll be presented with a summary of all your highlights, so everything you need to inspire your next project will be ready and waiting.
Instapaper is available to download for free on iOS and Android.
Todoist
One of the best ‘to-do list’ apps out there. As well as allowing you to manage your own progress, the app allows you to share to-do lists with colleagues and assign tasks to individuals. This means you can collaborate seamlessly with your team, ensuring they are constantly up to speed and with its daily and weekly productivity trends you can eliminate the need to constantly request progress reports.
Todoist is free to download on iOS and Android, as a web app, and there is a wearable iteration too.
Quandoo
Finding a great place to eat for a business lunch can be a tricky task. Quandoo offers an unmatched choice of dining experiences from Michelin-starred restaurants to local favourites. The app uses GPS to show you the eateries in your area and lets you earn loyalty points with those you like the look of.
The app covers restaurants across Europe, Asia, Australia and South America, so you’ll never be short of ideas of where to eat wherever you are.
Quandoo is free to download on iOS, Android and Windows phones.
Doodle
Constantly caught in endless email chains with colleagues and clients trying to find a date for that meeting? Doodle solves this problem, allowing you to get a get date in the diary with just one message, meaning you can spend more time on what matters – growing your business and keeping your clients happy.
Simply suggest the possible dates, send to the participants via the app, email or iMessage and then let them instantly vote on which options work for them. Doodle does the rest, confirming the best date for everyone.
Doodle is free to download on iOS and Android and your colleagues don’t need to have the app for it to work.
Evernote
This is the modern answer to Filofax. Meeting notes, to do lists, articles you want to read, images, PowerPoints, all important ideas – all of these can be filed and organised within the app, and are accessible on the go. No more searching through old file trees or email chains. Indispensable.
Evernote is free to download on iOS, Android and Windows phones.
focus@will
This app is genius. It describes itself as a ‘neuroscience based music subscription service that helps you increase your attention span by up to 400%’. And it works. Put simply, it will curate a playlist specific to you and your needs at that time to help boost your concentration and focus levels.
All the benefits of a Spotify playlist without losing an hour creating it.
focus@will offers a free trial to download on iOS and Android phones, desktop for MacOS and Windows, and can be used with Sonos devices.
Slack
Billed as the ‘email-killer’, this app does just that. It feels like a mix between email and WhatsApp and simplifies messaging with colleagues or clients. You can set up different ‘channels’ so teams or projects are kept separate and all of your documents or conversations for individual projects are neatly filed together. The app has the option to enable push notifications so you’re never out of the loop.
Slack is free to download on iOS, Android and Windows phones.
Upwork
Ploughing time into a task you don’t have the right skills for isn’t productive. Upwork is the world’s largest online workplace, making it faster and easier for you to find and hire talented freelancers from around the globe.
The Upwork Messenger App means you can also keep jobs moving while on the go. The app alerts you when jobs have been accepted or declined, and makes it easy to keep in touch with your freelancers.
Upwork is free to download on iOS and Android.
Asana
Another great project management tool that keeps you appraised of your team’s actions. One particularly handy feature is the in build ‘hearts’ that allow team members to vote on ideas in app and immediately. The app is also brilliant for team morale, individual’s and/or a teams accomplishments are easily viewed and praised accordingly.
Asana is free to download on iOS and Android phones.
Written by Gabriele Ottino is managing director of Doodle
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