5 Must-Have Apps for Small Business Owners

As a small business owner, I know how fast-paced life gets and how hard you work to keep track of everything necessary to keep your company running smoothly. The world we live in is ever-changing and since the inception of the smartphone and the app world, it is possible to stay even more connected to your business than ever before. And while there are many apps out there, I’m sharing my top apps for business to help you make this year one of your best and most efficient yet.

1. Strides

Number one on my list is an app you may not find others mentioning. It’s called Strides and if you followed me for any length of time then you know I’m a huge proponent of goal setting. In fact, I’ve set some pretty hefty goals and attained them all by writing them down. Which is where Strides comes in.

This app allows you set goals and a timetable by which to achieve them. Think you don’t need that? I beg to differ. In fact, a Harvard study found that only 3% of MBA students had written goals, while the other 97% did not. The difference between the 3% with written goals and the 97% who did not is staggering! The individuals that took the time to actually write their goals ended up earning ten times the income of those who did NOT write their goals!

GOALS MATTER! AND WRITING THEM DOWN REALLY MATTERS!

So, the first app I’m suggesting every business own download immediately is Strides. You can easily write your goals and track them as you work toward growing your business.

2. Hurdlr

Next on my list is the “road warrior” Hurdlr. This mileage tracking app can help you keep tabs on your business trips. Not only does it rack up your miles, but it also helps you track your expenses (if you take the time to enter them in manually)! Additionally, it offers you the benefit of summarizing your state and federal taxes. And that’s just on the free version.

If you move into the premium realm, for just $5.99/month or $3.99/month if you pay annually, you can add features such as automatic income and expense tracking (you will need to link to your financial accounts to utilize this feature). In the paid version, you will also see real-time calculations for state and federal self-employment taxes, which can be sent directly to your CPA. Or if you are the DIY type, you can even file your taxes directly in the app. This app can definitely keep you driving your revenue in the right direction.

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3. Square

My next app will be familiar to most small business owners. This company mobilized the ability to accept charge cards. Square is an industry leader in the accounts receivable area. They started out with a small credit card processing square that easily attached to your phone. However, this company has grown into so much more at this point in the game. Collecting payments is just the tip of the iceberg. You can schedule appointments, manage inventory, and track both customer payments and employee hours.

Gone are the days of processing a Point of Sale only when a customer is in front of you. Now, you can send invoices and receipts via text or email. You can schedule cards to process directly without you ever needing to punch a number in. The app easily integrates with most accounting software and gives you concise analytics on the various services or inventory offered by your company.

One of the best attributes to Square is the fact that it is completely free! Of course, some features will cost you extra but for the most part, much of what you get with Square is at no additional cost! There really isn’t much to complain about when comes to this “jack-of-all-trades” app.

4. Slack

Communicating quickly within a company isn’t always the easiest goal to achieve. That’s where Slack comes in. The instant messaging platform for small businesses allows employees to effectively communicate without encumbering their inboxes on e-mail. It works like a chat room for your entire company. Not only can you assign various channels, but you can also directly communicate with individual employees.

The most powerful feature Slack offers is its ability to integrate with most third-party services, meaning you don’t have to email every Google drive link to another co-worker. You can simple slack the message over via the Google Drive App, making it easy to find all your Google Drive links in one place.

You can also easily search messages to easily find exactly what you are looking for fast. With this feature, it can quickly organize and streamline all your company’s communications. Slack is certainly a valuable tool for managing all your team’s communication efforts.

Slack is also a free app. You will only need the paid version if you want to have access to over 10,000 messages.

5. Freshbooks

If you’re looking for an easy way to track and manage your invoices, then look no further than Freshbooks. You can quickly and easily create professional looking invoices, all while you are on the go! Once an invoice is sent, you can easily track when a client has opened your it—meaning fewer claims of not receiving the bill, because you will already know they did.

This cloud-based service has one of the highest ratings for customer service. With roughly five million users, that is certainly quite the accomplishment. Like many other accounting apps out there you can accept payments and track expenses. Users can easily link to bank accounts to allow for automated expense tracking. You can use the online payment gateway to accept credit cards or PayPal for settling accounts.

One of my favorite features with this app is the fact that you create P&L statements and many other customizable business reports. If you work by the hour for clients, Freshbooks gives you the ability to track your hours with precision. Need to communicate with employees throught or clients, you can do that through the app. The features are just so many that you don’t want to be without it. Freshbooks is definitely bringing a fresh outlook to accounting, which allows you to focus on your passion—your business and your customers.

Apps Galore

This is list is anything but exhaustive. However, it will help you get a jump start on running your business in a Financially Simple™ manner! If you have questions on how these or any other apps may help your business, let me know! Reach out to me here or on any of my social channels! As always, make it a great day!

Here at Financially Simple™ we want to help you make informed financial decisions for your small business with confidence. In doing so, we might recommend products and services that offer us compensation when you use them. This compensation is used to help offset the cost of creating the content we give to you for free. We will, however, never suggest products/services solely for the compensation received. As stated before, our goal is to make understanding money for you the business owner, your family, and anyone visiting this website—financially simple.