Small business apps are on the rise. I come from a family of entrepreneurs – or hustlers as I like to call them. Several people in my inner circle are also small business owners.
I love watching how technology has evolved and enabling small businesses to act as big businesses, increase productivity, grow customers and more at a fraction of the cost it would have been in yester-years.
Download these Small Business Apps
If you are a small business owner, or thinking of starting one – here’s a list of 15 must-have small business apps.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks makes your accounting tasks easy, fast and secure. Start sending invoices, tracking time and capturing expenses in minutes.
Let’s look at why FreshBook is one of our favorite small business apps.
FreshBooks is the app that will make your small business finances in order. From creating invoices and estimates to time tracking, Freshbooks has your back, making it one of our favorite small business apps.
FreshBooks Features:
Create professional-looking invoices in seconds from the palm of your hand that help you get paid in a flash.
Have your clients pay you securely online directly from your invoices with credit cards and more.
Create and send estimates to clients that easily convert into invoices.
Use the time tracking feature to track time on the job and then assign to a client for creating seamless invoices later.
When creating an invoice, youll receive helpful prompts that remind you to include unbilled hours and expenses.
Track time and tasks by project to easily assign to a client to create invoices.
Capture expenses on-the-go by snapping a picture of the receipt so you can invoice your clients in a flash.
Square
Accept payments from your smartphone or tablet.
Are you one of those people who never has cash? That is totally me. I can’t keep cash for the life of me. Square enables you to accept credit cards from your smartphone or tablet.
This small business app has to be one of the most popular ones. Everyone from my hairdresser to entrepreneurs at the flea market are accepting payments with Square.
Zoom
Meetings and webinars all from your smartphone
Zoom allows you to host webinars and video conferences from smartphone, tablet or laptop. The quality is great and even better is the functionalities. I’ve used Zoom many times over the last few months for a variety of meetings and webinars.
Customer service is always spot on, and while I feel like there is a learning curve to figure out the in’s and out’s – once you grasp what Zoom can do, you can continue to find ways for it to help expand your small business and connect with your customer base.
PicMonkey Photo and Graphics Editor
Create graphics from your smartphone.
I am a huge PicMonkey fan. Need to create a graphic but don’t want it to look crappy (please refrain from using Paint!) – PicMonkey has you covered. Even better news, you aren’t limited to your desktop, PicMonkey has gone mobile.
Invoice 2 Go
Years ago, while having some handyman work done – a gentleman introduced me to Invoice 2 Go. He told me that of all of the apps that he used, Invoice 2 Go was the best of the small business apps for his line of work. It simplified his invoice process and greatly helped when it came to bookkeeping.
Invoice and Estimates on the Go
Send an invoice as soon as you finish the job invoices get paid faster and you spend less time doing paperwork.
- Create an invoice using a wide range of invoice templates. Add your logo or make a new one using our logo creator.
- Win more jobs by creating a professional estimate on the spot. Convert estimates into invoices with a single tap.
- Get paid faster and on time. Easily track when a customer has viewed your invoice so you know when to follow up. Send customers automatic email reminders. (Available on Pro plans and higher).
Pricing for Invoice 2 Go ranges from $49.99 a year to $149.99 a year, depending on client size and invoice needs.
Slack
Reduce emails, increase productivity with slack.
Who here is ready for email to be revolutionized? Introducing Slack. Slack is an instant messaging platform that organizes your team conversations to communicate more effectively.
This is something that I wish in a corporate setting that I could implement for my team. There is so much back and forth – time and time again, I hear how much of a game changer Slack is.
Slack users saw 48.6% fewer internal emails and held 25.1% fewer meetings after installing and using the app, leading to a 32% overall increase in productivity, according to a company survey.
Evernote
Stay organized, digitally.
How I love Evernote, let me count the ways. Professionally and personally, Evernote is my go to app for keeping my life organized. I live and breathe Evernote. Download it, start using it and find the best way for you to use you in your small business and personal life. You can thank me later.
Get Organized
Evernote gives you the tools you need to keep your work effortlessly organized:
- Write, collect and capture ideas as searchable notes, notebooks, checklists and to-do lists
- Take notes in a variety of formats, including: text, sketches, photos, audio, video, PDFs, web clippings and more
- Use the camera to effortlessly scan, digitize, and organize your paper documents, business cards, handwritten notes and drawings
- Use Evernote as a digital notepad and easy-to-format word processor for all your thoughts as they come
Sync Anywhere
Evernote gives you the ability to sync your content across devices:
- Sync everything automatically across any computer, phone or tablet
- Start your task working on one device and continue on another without ever missing a beat
Share Your Ideas
Evernote gives you the tools to share, discuss and collaborate productively with others:
- Create, share and discuss with the people who help get your work done, all in one app
- Search within pictures and annotate images to give quick feedback
Evernote for Business
- Create agendas, write memos and craft presentations
- Annotate documents with comments and thoughts during team meetings, then share with colleagues
- Get your projects underway faster and maximise productivity by letting multiple participants access and work on different aspects alongside each other
DropBox
Dropbox is the place for your photos, docs, videos, and other files.
Keep your files safely backed up and accessible from all of your devices with DropBox. I personally use DropBox to back-up work for a client and send large files that are not easily accessible via email.
DropBox Features:
- Access your files on any device, even if you’re offline
- Create and edit Microsoft Office files from your iPhone or iPad
- Share links to your largest files without using email attachments
MailChimp
Email marketing from your phone.
I’ve been a MailChimp user for years. Their service continually gets better. If you are in need of an email marketing service provider – check them out. With a minimal list, the cost is nothing.
As you grow, you pay – but their rates are highly competitive and overall, I am satisfied with their service for small businesses and the ability to manage my email marketing tasks via my smartphone.
Be Focused
Focus Timer & Goal Tracker for work and study.
Aren’t we all a little ADD? No? Just me? Well if you want something to help you stay on task, the Be Focused app can help you do this.
WunderList
Take your to do list with you everywhere.
Wunderlist is a simple todo list and task manager app that helps you get stuff done. Personally, my team at work uses this, but in the world of small business apps – this definitely is a winner.
Wunderlist Features:
- Add, organize, schedule and share your todos from your phone, tablet or computer
- Set Due Dates and Reminders to ensure you never forget important deadlines (or birthday gifts) again
- Use Subtasks, Notes, Files and Comments to add important details to your todos
- Create lists to help sort your todos for home, work and everything in between
- Share lists and collaborate on your todos with family, friends and colleagues
- Be productive from anywhere, thanks to Wunderlist’s apps for your phone, smart watch, tablet and computer
- Quickly create and search todos with the Quick Add shortcut, just just press CTRL+Option(Alt)+W
- Save web pages and articles for later with the Add to Wunderlist sharing extension
- View today’s todos in your Notification Center with Wunderlist’s Today extension
Learn more about Wunderlist
BaseCamp
Team collaboration excellence.
Using multiple products, chatting constantly, or sending a bunch of emails around makes things more complicated. What’s official? How do I see it all? Where’s the right place to share something? It’s a hot mess. Basecamp let’s you have everything you need neatly organized in one place.
Plans start at $20 per month for 10 projects and go up to $150 a month for unlimited projects.
Insightly
Insightly is an affordable customer relationship management (CRM) and project management application.
Features
- Increased sales effectiveness & productivity. Reps on the go have the most current customer information at their fingertips opportunity, contact, event, lead, project, note info & more.
- Easily create or update prospect & customer info. Has a field rep just won a deal? Mark the opportunity as won directly on your mobile so the sales team in HQ can celebrate.
- Be in the know about your customer relationships. Easily define relationships between contacts through linking.
- Find anything in Insightly fast with global search. Make your meetings a success with quick access to contracts, notes and emails.
- Just attended a conference and have a stack of cards? Scan business cards directly into your CRM as contacts or leads.
There you have it, our list of the best small business apps! Your turn, tell us which apps that are your must-haves for small business.
