The thing is that even small companies can get difficult to handle. If you're a business owner, you always have a lot to do and look for ways to improve your efficiency. Luckily, there are plenty of mobile apps that get you organised and help you make the best of your hours. Whether you run a grand online website or a little eCommerce shop, you can use various business apps to handle different tasks like customer relationships, marketing, productivity tracking, etc. Using the apps will help you hone your skills, keep your customers happy, and get your finances in order. And guess what? These benefits will boost your startup income. So, without further ado, let's take a closer look at the best business apps out there in 2021.
Code School
If you're running a small business, you might not have the budget to hire a developer to build your app. So why not do it yourself? More people than ever make purchases via smartphones, so having an app for your business is an effective revenue booster.
Code School is perfect for beginners to start bringing their best app ideas to life. You'll learn how to use Swift to make iPhone apps via step-by-step video instructions. You'll also get an idea of how to use various user interface details. These videos are made incredibly easy to follow with all code examples explained in detail. The best part is that you get to download sample codes covered in tutorials. It enables you to start practicing writing code right away. So if you've got an extra ten minutes from your lunch break, we would encourage you to learn to code. It's easier than you think, and the additional revenue (from your company's app) makes it worth it.
HubSpot CRM
It is a great platform to manage customer relationships. Just because you've left your laptop doesn't mean you should stop working. For small business owners who are always on the lookout for getting ahead of the competition, HubSpot CRM enables them to continue working via smartphone everywhere. You can even access your contacts when you're not on the Internet. The app gives you to accelerate your meeting outreach via emails to close more deals. And get this: you'll get a detailed ID for every caller on your screen. It helps you to stay on top of all business communications. Even if it's just for a second, seeing the details of a client who is calling you makes you more effective in negotiations. Because let's be honest, business owners have to make a lot of phone calls during the day, and it's easy to forget what each prospect requires to make the deal.
The app is completely free and customisable, and you can also transfer contact data from trusted third-party sources.
Thingthing keyboard
This app helps your multitasking by turning your smartphone's keyboard into a shortcut between your device's services and applications. The thing is that although it's cool to have many different mobile tracking apps to track your productivity, it can get difficult to navigate between them all. The Thingthing keyboard allows you to link all the accounts on apps and services to provide a shortcut between them. It's perfect if you need to retrieve an image from Dropbox, switch between your business banking app and the personal one, or check your availability in the upcoming days.
And here's where it gets interesting: Thingthing allows you to instantly access your social media and draw images from Instagram or Facebook to share via mobile messages. Sending messages is a big part of our everyday communications. But if you're in a hurry, it can be quite painful to navigate between different apps and find the necessary content for your message. Thingthing reduces this friction.
Tomato Timer
This app is an online stopwatch. So what makes it noteworthy? It divides your worktime into periods of 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of rest. And these tried and tested intervals boost productivity. It's called the Pomodoro Technique, and the idea is to work with the time you have instead of feeling pressured by it.
The thing is that you might think that in stressful situations, it's best to work long hours straight to get everything done as quickly as possible. But working without pauses can slow you down. Plus, we tend to lose our creativity under pressure. Reminding yourself to take a 5-minute break after every 25 minutes of work keeps you more focused on your task. It also provides you with a moment of relaxation that makes the brain more effective in coming up with solutions.
The app allows you to set a custom audio tone and modify the work-rest intervals. If the 25 to 5 Pomodoro intervals aren't working for you, then try 23 and 7, for example.
Toggl
This app keeps track of your work activities and time on the phone for you to analyse them later. The cool thing about Toggl is that it uses machine learning algorithms to get smarter. The more you use it, the more personalised suggestions it gives. The app starts to recommend you new things to track based on your other entries.
Google is one of the best productivity apps for startups because startup builders have many different tasks to handle during the day. It's easy to get disorganised. With Toggl, they can fill the time slots with projects and clients and get a clear overview of how much time they spend on them. It enables them to see if they're spending enough time on priorities or not. So, in a way, Toggl can be thought of as a proper project management app.
As a bonus, the app is super easy to use. You can start tracking your activities with a single tap on the play button.
PicMonkey - a great app for online casino affiliates
This app allows you to edit your photos for social media marketing. And quick editing is especially vital for an affiliate marketer. That's because your success does not actually depend on the amount of money you can spend on social media ads. If you're promoting online casinos, for example, you should focus on creating custom images with captivating graphics and texts. It's a much less costly (and more effective) strategy than ads. And PicMonkey gives you all the needed tools to create your images. The touch-up tool, eraser, sticker maker, design maker, and photo editor are just some of its functions.
The thing is that affiliates are an integral part of online casinos' marketing plans. And it doesn't cost you anything to become an affiliate. However, you do need your website where you promote the casino. And! You need to drive traffic to that website via social media. A cool photo with added graphics is a potent way to attract attention and make people click on your page. And every time you get an online casino a new customer, you earn a commission.
Plus, PicMonkey allows you to export your pictures directly to Facebook and Instagram, making it a convenient tool for all affiliate marketers.
TripIt
This nifty little app collects travel details and alerts you about flight changes etc. Depending on the type of business you're running, you might have a lot of traveling to do. And everyone who travels knows how time-consuming the ever-changing schedules can be. With Triplt, you'll get an early enough warning about changes so you can plan to do something productive with the extra time. Learn coding with Code School, for example.
And if you need a place to eat that wouldn't be too far from your airport gate, Triplt gives you accurate suggestions on where to go.
BizConnect
This app is a business card app that can scan cards with excellent accuracy. It even captures social media links from the cards, recognises unordinary fonts. Next, the app stores all the captured information (including company, title, name, logo on the Holder screen). And an options menu that opens up next to contacts enables you to email or call people without even taking out their card.
Plus, it's worth mentioning that scanning the card is made super easy. You do it by pointing your smartphone's camera on a business card and pressing a big scan button at the bottom of BizConnect's interface.
iScanner App
This app lets you photograph a document and convert it into a JPEG or a PDF. You can think of it as a portable scanner. It turns your smartphone into a digital office where you can scan, save, and share files in TXT, JPG, and PDF formats. It's especially suitable for a small business owner who needs to scan fax papers, notes, contracts, receipts, and checks all the time. Now you can store all the information in digital files tightly on your phone.
Gusto
Gusto is one of the most powerful accounting apps out there that handles taxes, payroll, etc. Yes, we'd even recommend it more than the highly effective PayPal business app. PayPal is great for managing your invoices and simplifying accounting, but Gusto comes with some incredible extra features. For example, the app also organizes your onboarding checklists. You can now store your new-hire applications, e-signatures, and offer letters in one place. And check this out: Gusto allows you to calculate the payroll taxes with only a few clicks. It saves small business owners a lot of time and enables them to focus on improving their startup. And increase their revenue.
And now it's your turn to start using the apps from the list, become more effective at work. Some of these apps will help you stay more productive, some help to get more clients, some help you with the financial side of things, etc. They're all worth trying. And most importantly, they'll all help you boost your startup income. And isn't that what you want?
What apps have helped to boost your startup's income? Let us know in the comments on our social networks.
Thomas Glare is a web designer with a whole wealth of experience running into decades. He has practiced both as an IT expert and currently works as a freelancer. He shares his knowledge through books, journals, and his website.
