As a business owner who helps other entrepreneurs manage their business formation and compliance responsibilities, I’m also constantly looking for ways they can save time, boost productivity and increase revenue.
After all, the more efficiently you can run your company, the better you’ll be able to focus on serving your customers’ needs. Giving clients the best service possible while trying to grow your business is easier when you have the right tools to help you.
Here are a few of my favorite apps and platforms that you might find helpful
Cloud-based Collaboration Tools
Among my favorites are Evernote and Google Drive.
Evernote - Evernote is a blessing for remembering and revisiting things that otherwise might slip from your memory. It is a desktop and mobile note-taking and archiving tool that lets you create text, audio and visual messages and to-do lists so you can easily recall important information and what you need to tackle. One of my favorite features is Evernote’s browser extension that allows you to save web pages, articles, emails and more to your Evernote account for future reference.
Google Drive - With applications like Google Docs and Google Sheets, Google Drive gives you functionality very similar to Microsoft Word and Excel. It makes it very simple to create, organize and share documents and spreadsheets with others, providing “can view,” “can comment” and “can edit” privileges to those with whom you share your files and folders. Rather than send files back and forth through email for feedback and change requests (which can get incredibly messy when you have multiple stakeholders weighing in), Google Drive keeps track of all changes and commentary from team members in a single place.
Social Media Management Tools
Love it or hate it, a strong online presence is a significant success factor for businesses of all types, accounting practices are no exception. Trying to post relevant content on a consistent basis takes a lot of time and effort, especially when you need to bounce back and forth from one social media account to another and then to another.
Fortunately, some user-friendly tools exist to streamline the process of posting on and monitoring your social media accounts. Two that I've found particularly helpful include Hootsuite and Buffer.
Hootsuite - Hootsuite allows you to connect the app to your Twitter, Facebook (personal profile and business page), Google+ (personal profile and business page), LinkedIn, Wordpress, Instagram and YouTube accounts. Then Hootsuite enables you to compose status updates and tweets from within the app, choose whichever social media accounts you want them on, and then publish them immediately or schedule them for a later time. Hootsuite’s dashboard format also lets you view and interact with the activity of the people you follow. So, it not only saves you time when posting but also gives you a way to more efficiently engage with other users and respond to your audience. Another helpful Hootsuite feature is its browser extension (Hootlet), which enables you to compose and schedule posts and tweets directly from the blog post or web page you’re visiting.
Buffer - Buffer allows you to connect and post to an array of social media accounts, including Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest. It also enables you to preset posting schedules that the app will use to automatically assign the posting time to the content you create or share. Like Hootsuite, Buffer has a browser extension that lets you share or schedule posts and tweets while on a web page.
Partner Programs - Partner Programs offer you the ability to add additional revenue screens and new resources for your clients. You can find details on CorpNet's Partner Program on their site and details on many other programs through Insightful Accountant.
Finding the right combination of tools and resources for your business may require some experimentation before you land on what will work best for your accounting practice. I hope my list of favorites helps spark some ideas, and I also encourage you to talk with other business owners about what has helped them streamline their administrative and operational efforts.