When you own a small business, there are so many different projects and processes that you could be working on at any given time. It can be difficult to keep every aspect of your business running optimally.
Luckily, there are several business apps that can make your workflow much more manageable. New applications can help you complete projects quicker with better results, keep track of financial and other records, and improve communication among your team members.
Many of these applications are available for free and are perfect for freelancers and startups. The purpose of this article is to show you some of the best free apps you can use for your business.
What Apps Do Entrepreneurs Use?
The best apps for your business will depend on the type of business you run, your daily tasks, and the size of your company. While one application might be essential to one business, it could be irrelevant to another.
For example, if you have a distributed team, you'll need communication software to make video calls with your remote employees and productivity apps to handle your workflow. These types of applications might not be as important for a team that occupies the same physical space.
20 Free Apps for Entrepreneurs
Applications are all about making your business tasks more convenient and less time-consuming so you can get more done and make more money. Most of this software can function as mobile apps and be used on a variety of mobile devices like iPhones and Androids.
In the next few sections, we'll introduce you to some free apps with the power to enhance your company's business processes.
Free Productivity Apps
Productivity apps can help you do things like make schedules, assign tasks, gather research, and view progress. Below is a list of some quality, free productivity apps.
- Asana and Trello are project management tools that let you create projects, split them into tasks, and assign them to different departments or team members. You can track the progress of your tasks in real time and drag and drop them into different stages depending on where they are in development.
- OneNote and Evernote are apps that help you organize research, infographics, and notes. They let you create project notebooks and divide them into sections. You can add written, video, or audio content to your notes and share projects with other team members over the cloud.
- Google Calendar is an app that helps you schedule and organize events and meetings. When you create an event, you can add details, links to webpages and video conferences, and even maps to event locations. You can share events with your team over the cloud.
Free Communication Apps
Communication apps let you interact with your team over a variety of different channels. Communication software is especially important to distributed teams that work together from all over the world. Here's a list of some great free communication apps.
- WhatsApp and Slack are messaging applications that let you send messages to individuals or departments within your business. In addition to instant messaging your team, you can also send them voice messages and photos. You can even video chat if you need to.
- Zoom and Skype are video conferencing services that let you host and attend virtual meetings with your teams. You can also use them to conduct presentations and share important information with clients.
- Google Hangouts lets you make conference calls. Its layout is easier to use than Zoom's but it doesn't have quite the functionality that Zoom does. For example, it only allows one attendee to share their screen at a time, whereas Zoom lets multiple attendees share their screens at the same time.
Free Content Creation Apps
If you run a marketing team or handle the marketing for your own products, a big part of your job is creating targeted content that attracts and appeals to your intended audience. Your content can include blogs, social media posts, and Google Ads. Below is a list of apps that can help you create attractive content.
- Canva is graphic design software that has an assortment of templates you can use to create social media posts, advertisements, marketing emails, and business cards. It also lets you connect social media pages (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter) and file-hosting software (e.g., Dropbox, Google Drive) so you can publish or share your designs directly from the app.
- Unsplash is a service that allows you to find images for your marketing content. The images on the app are royalty-free, which means you don't have to make payments to the photographer for using them.
- Pexels is another app that lets you find royalty-free images. However, it also has a huge selection of high-quality, royalty-free videos you can use.
Free Learning Apps
Learning apps help you broaden your skills and knowledge base. You can use them to gain knowledge about a variety of topics. Here are a few free learning apps that you can use in your business.
- Audible lets you listen to audio recordings of popular books. With the app, you can gain knowledge or training passively while completing work tasks. While the app's basic plan is free to use, you will have to buy audiobooks.
- Coursera lets you take classes and view tutorials on thousands of different topics. While you can typically audit classes for free, you will have to pay for them if you want certifications.
- Duolingo is a platform that makes learning a new language simple and fun. The app gives you short, engaging lessons on a variety of languages, followed by quizzes to test your knowledge. As you learn, the lessons get more advanced.
- Kindle lets you download and read books on your laptop, smartphone, tablet, or Kindle device. Although the app is free to use, you will have to purchase books to download.
Free Financial Apps
If you're not a trained accountant, keeping up with financial information can be frustrating. You have to keep track of things like operating costs, budgeting issues, and taxes. Financial apps can help simplify the process of keeping accurate accounting records.
- Mint helps you set and manage your budget for business expenses. You can connect your bank, credit card, and online financial accounts (like PayPal). Mint will track your spending and send you reminders when you're about to go over your budget.
- Square lets you take credit card payments with your mobile device. While the app is free to use, it does charge 2.75% for each transaction you make using the software. You may also need to purchase a reader that can read contactless cards.
- MileIQ tracks how far you travel on business trips and tells you how much you can deduct for each trip on your taxes. You can legally deduct $0.56 on your taxes for every mile you travel for business.
Easily Manage Your Small Business Finances With Skynova
While entrepreneurship can be fulfilling, it can also be extremely challenging. If you're going to be successful, you need to make sure you're aware of all the resources that can help you keep up with your competitors. By strategically using apps in your business processes, you can save your company time, effort, and money.
Chances are, dealing with accounting and administrative tasks for your small business isn't the best part of your day. Managing finances can be super time-consuming, boring, and confusing for small business owners.
Skynova's accounting software can help make accounting processes like managing your income and tracking your expenses faster and simpler. See how our free templates can help you create professional accounting documents like invoices, estimates, and bids in minutes.
Notice to the Reader
The information in this article is designed to be an introduction to a few free apps that can be used for your small business. It's not a comprehensive list, nor is any of the information in this article meant to be a substitute for expert advice. Always consult a professional before making any big decisions that can affect your company's bottom line.