Business Tools We Love For 2020

Every small business can relate to “doing more with less.” Just like other small businesses, we count on software tools and phone apps to help us with efficiency, while also striving to keep our costs as low as possible. Here are our current favorite tools and apps that keep us productive.

Dropbox – this is a must-have for us. We share all internal files and client work in our shared Dropbox. It is much easier than emailing files back and forth, and saves us from wasting time digging through email to find the most recent version of a document, spreadsheet, image, etc. (Offers FREE options!)

HoursTracker – we use this app on our iPhones to track the hours we spend on projects. After quickly setting up projects within the app, we can track hours spent per client or per project with a simple “start” and “stop” click each time we work on a particular project. And it’s FREE!

Microsoft Office – as former corporate warriors, we love our familiar Microsoft tools – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, oh my! We can’t live without them!

G Suite – while we prefer to use Microsoft tools the majority of the time, there are cases where we choose to use Google’s suite of tools - Sheets, Docs, Slides, Forms, and Drive. For collaborating with clients or partners, or for setting up tools for our clients, Google has a powerful suite of tools … and they are FREE!

Google Analytics – an easy (and FREE!) way to monitor web traffic is Google Analytics. To enable tracking, you simply create an Analytics account with Google. Once you have an account you can add your website property add use the Tracking ID to start monitoring your web traffic. sources, pages, audience, behavior, campaigns, and so much more!

Mailchimp – there are several email platforms to choose from, but our current favorite is Mailchimp. It’s easy to use, offers a lot of options for customization, and is very cost effective for small businesses.

Canva – while there are many design use-cases for Canva, we recommend using it for designing social media posts. It is an easy way to create great-looking posts that are pre-sized for your chosen platform, while staying on-brand with colors, fonts, and layouts. They have pre-built templates and also allow for customization. And it’s FREE!

AwesomeScreenshot – a FREE Chrome extension, this makes it quick and easy to take and edit screenshots.

Mobiletest.me – ever wonder what a website would look like on a mobile device? This free site makes it easy to look at a website on just about any mobile device you can think of (for FREE)!

Join.me – most of our meetings are in person, but for the occasional times we can’t meet and need to discuss something that requires visuals, this is cost effective web conference option that is super simple to use for both hosts and participants.

On the daily, we also rely on Adobe Illustrator, WIX, Wordpress, and Instagram.

We are evaluating new tools this year, including accounting and tax software, and would love to hear any suggestions. Tell us if you have tools or apps that help your small business!