This is the second instalment of our three part blog discussing software to help start-ups, entrepreneurs and anyone in business.
The primary concern for most businesses at the moment is to keep costs as low as possible with the ability to also free up some all important time.
The aim of this blog series is to discuss some of the apps and software on the market that can help by increasing efficiency whilst saving time. The added bonus being that a lot of the software out there can be used for free.
Invoicing Software
This is by far the easiest way to automate an area of your business to save you heaps of time. However, careful consideration is needed to make sure you choose the right software to support your business. If you are using an accountant then we recommend that you discuss the options with them first. They may have a preferred choice for various reasons that you need to take into account.
Despite the many advantages of using invoicing software, there are a few downsides as well. Whilst there are lots of excellent paid invoice software options on the market, the free versions can sometimes come with restricted features which slow down or even make the process more difficult.
Let’s start off with some of the free options out there.
Wave
Wave has been designed specifically for those with little or no accounting experience. It comes with customisable templates to add your logo and select different currencies. It also has a free app so you can receive notifications straight to your mobile device to keep on top of payments. What’s more its 100% free to use so can be an attractive option for start-ups and entrepreneurs with a tight budget.
Boiko
Boiko is attracting lots of attention due to its free plan which, although very basic, is sufficient for the self employed or small business that is simply looking for a book keeping system with the ability to create and send invoices.
You can customise invoices with your branding and set up invoice automation. If you want to opt for the book keeping and invoicing software the two can easily be linked to make the process completely automated. You can also set up bank feeds so your transactions automatically update daily. Boiko can also help you prepare your accounts for self-assessment which, if you dread having to get everything organised for your tax return each year, is a fantastic plus point.
If you’re interested in finding out more take a look at their website
https://www.bokio.co.uk/
If you are looking for an all singing, all dancing tool that takes the headache out of end of year tax returns, and even payroll then there’s some great options. We’ll be comparing the 2 most popular paid for options currently available.
Freshbooks
Freshbooks is a complete accounting solution with fantastic invoicing options. It’s suitable for freelancers, small businesses and larger companies. You can customise invoices and it has a really easy recurring invoice feature. If you rely on time tracking then this feature is available along with expenses, projects, payments by card and lots of useful reports to keep on top of everything.
It’s accessible from desktop or mobile devices and due to its broad range of features, and an impressive user experience, it’s a popular choice for many businesses. It doesn’t have a free plan option but there’s a choice of affordable pricing packages to suit your needs. If you’re interested in learning more take a look at their website
https://www.freshbooks.com/en-gb/ they have a special offer on at the moment with 50% off for 3 months.
Quickbooks
This software is more suited to help the self-employed and small business owners. It streamlines the invoicing process and includes a wide range of payment options, as well as a bank transfer feature. Accessibility from desktop and all mobile devices means you can get paid wherever you are in the world with its multi-currency feature and an option to accept payments.
You can prepare your self-assessment tax return and, for an additional small monthly fee, add their automated payroll feature.
There’s no free plan other than the 30-day free trial, but with the simple plan starting at £12 per month, it’s an affordable option for most businesses. If you want more information head over to their
website. They are currently offering a discount of 50% off their package price for a whopping 6 months.
Time Saving Tools
You’ve probably come to realise that there really is an app for everything. We have tried to pick out some of the most popular time saving tools but as you can imagine there’s masses out there! We will be concentrating on the free software available to help, as let’s face it, running any business can become costly.
Toggl
You often hear the term time tracking and probably mostly associate it with the virtual assistant industry, or anyone who has to charge their clients on a time spent basis.
We actually first came across time tracking many years ago when we first started our legal careers. Time tracking has been ingrained into us ever since so it’s almost second nature for us to work this way.
There’s many advantages to adopting the habit of tracking your time. First and foremost, it helps you to calculate the time it takes doing a certain task. This ensures you are pricing your services correctly and not undervaluing yourself. Another advantage is the time blocking feature so you can practice the
Pomodoro technique which ensures you never spend too long doing something. The advantage of this feature is it enables you to take regular breaks in between tasks. This keeps you motivated and makes you more productive.
Toggl has some great reporting features, one of which shows you your most productive periods of the day across any selected period of time.
You’ll be amazed at how much a small change and targeted technology can help you reclaim precious minutes of your days.
Drag
If you’re sick and tired of trawling through emails each day trying to sift through the junk ones from the relevant then this app may be a lifeline for you. It brings the Kanban process to emails by letting teams visualise tasks on cards attached to boards.
It works directly with your Gmail interface and lets you create lists with descriptive titles. You can make one for tasks you need to do, things you’ve done and more. It gives teams access to emails in one central place so removes the need to forward and cc between staff members. It brings your staff together so they can collaborate and run the entire workflow from your inbox.
Appointy
You’re probably familiar with auto appointment scheduling tools with the likes of Calendly being one of the most popular.
Appointy is a similar concept whereby customers self-schedule appointments with you any time, anywhere. Its versatile interface provides the ability to serve almost any business sector. The free plan offers Google bookings, website integration, Square payments and point of sale, Zapier (connect with over 1000 apps), automatic reminders, mobile app and 100 appointments per month.
MissingLettr
If you are a blog owner or simply have a blog on your website MissingLettr is a great tool. It automatically detects new blogs, scans them and generates social content to use on your chosen platforms. It even helps you find the right hashtags that will work for you. You can then edit them, if required and post away. This tool allows you to save a great deal of time. Sign up here.
Hootsuite
Most businesses use social media as part of their marketing strategy. Hootsuite is a social media scheduling tool which allows you to connect your social media business accounts to the platform. This then allows you to schedule, post and comment to all of your accounts from one central place. The advantage of this is that you can plan your campaigns weeks in advance. Once scheduled you can concentrate on other tasks whilst Hootsuite does the work for you.
Images and videos can be added to the posts. There’s also the ability to add your social media streams and reply to post comments from the Hootsuite dashboard too.
The free plan allows you to connect up to 3 different accounts. If you want to add anymore you have to upgrade to one of the paid plans. The paid plans unlocks features such as insights and reports.
There’s lots of similar tools out there to suit most such as Buffer, Planoly and Later.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our second instalment. Software to help start ups, entrepreneurs and anyone in business. Look out for the third and final instalment next week where we will be discussing marketing and branding tools.
If you missed the first blog in this series then have a read here
Software to help Start-ups, Entrepreneurs and anyone in Business where we discussed productivity tools and task and project management apps.
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