small business apps-dlvr.itWhile spending time building their businesses, it’s no secret entrepreneurs and small business owners do not have enough resources and staff as large businesses. Furthermore, these business owners are busy from sun up to sun down. When every minute counts, busy people have to get extra mileage out of their time and effort.

According to the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, America’s small business owners and entrepreneurs are using smartphones and tablets significantly more than desktop and laptop computers. By utilizing mobile apps, these leaders can focus on sales growth while saving time and money in the process.  Smart business owners use tools and technology today to minimize their time spent in meetings, to help organize daily business activities, and to accelerate their learning curve in areas needed to advance their business growth and profitability. Apps, time management techniques, and online business services help make the busy lives of entrepreneurs and small business owners more productive.

GoodData CEO Roman Stanek relies on Three Organizational Apps

Many services targeting small businesses have mobile apps for busy users to use on the go when they are traveling and physically away from their ‘desk.’ For example, the QuickBooks mobile app is free with a QuickBooks subscription for users to access their business accounting on their smartphones (Read: Why a Cloud-Based Accounting System Makes Sense for a Small Business.) GoodData CEO Roman Stanek relies on organizational apps on his smartphone to stay productive through his busy day. Stanek recommends three apps in particular to organize business travel, meeting preparation, and research and reading required to stay on top of industry trends.

  • TripIt: A travel itinerary and trip planner that makes it easy to pull various travel confirmations together in one place and create a master itinerary for air, car rental, hotel, and other travel reservations with the push of a button. (one of my personal favorites)
  • Tempo: A smart calendar app that enables users to pull various appointments, meetings, contact information, and calendar entries into one master planner.  It has great features such as gathering emails related to a meeting, and the ability to easily email, text or call attendees or meeting organizers, link to Facebook and other social media. It also has the capability to dial directly into conference calls without passcodes.
  • Evernote: An app that can go mobile so users can access their virtual notekeeper from a smartphone, letting users store and organize a multitude of different content including text notes, website addresses, emails, contact information, and more.

Prioritize to be Productive

For busy entrepreneurs and small business owners, wasting time is not an option. They must prioritize in order to be efficient and productive. Time management is at the top of the list to be able to get things done and not drown in busy work. Here’s a sampling of business executives who rely on time management techniques so their time is spent being productive and effective:

  • TestRocker CEO Urvashi Mathur’s time management philosophy focuses on prioritizing and minimizing unnecessary meetings. She selects three things she must accomplish at the beginning of every day and focuses on those.
  • RazorMediaGroup president Marc Ostrofsky’s time management focus is on automation. “Automate at every level possible” he says, and adds that he likes “people, staff and management all on the same channel” to communicate and coordinate.
  • Forza Marketing president Jill Z. McBride subscribes to the same prioritization method as Mathur with a must-do list at the beginning of the day but also has a “touch it once” rule to file, forward, pay, or trash anything that comes across her desk.

Online Business Services

Sales and marketing expert Sam Richter says technology is making it easier for entrepreneurs and small businesses to be more productive than ever before. They are using file sharing services, payroll providers, virtual meeting management, and automated marketing services to grow their businesses and be more profitable and competitive.