One of the biggest challenges when starting up a business is the administrative part. There are just so many things that happen behind the scenes that it seems impossible to manage them all properly. From social media management to accounting, human resource management to project tracking, small business owners are often inundated with various admin tasks.

This is why using effective tools and applications is vital to the running of any business.

To help you out with the different aspects of your business, here are 5 must-have tools for small business owners.

• Project Management: Trello

Trello is one of the most popular team and project management tasks in recent years. With its simple, easy-to-use interface, many business owners find it to be an effective way to keep track of their ongoing projects. Using Trello, they can easily ask for updates from their employees regarding the status of each task, and at a glance, see which tasks are still ongoing and which ones have been completed.

Also check out: Asana

• Communication: Slack

What makes Slack special is that it was created particularly with business or office communication in mind. By allowing you to create public channels, private groups, message threads, and private messages, Slack offers maximum communicative flexibility. With Slack, communicating with each member of your team becomes more effective. You know which channel to visit if you want to say something about a particular subject. You can even search all channels or an individual channel if you want to go back to a particular conversation.

Also check out: Skype

• Social Media Management: Hootsuite

Hootsuite gives you the ability to monitor your social media activity without the hassle of switching across multiple tabs. With Hootsuite, you can post across various social media channels, interact with your customers, and keep track of all social activity in one simplified dashboard.

Also check out: Tweetdeck

• Cloud Storage: Google Drive

Google Drive is one of the best free tools for any type of business. With Google Drive (and Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, etc.), you get a cloud storage space and a wonderful collaboration tool all in one convenient package. Collaborating directly on your documents, spreadsheets, and presentations is easily done with Google Drive’s tools, and you can see everyone’s changes, notes, and comments in real time. It definitely beats editing a document, emailing it to a coworker, and waiting for them to send it back to you with their suggestions.

Also check out: Dropbox

• Cloud Accounting: Wave

When you’re just starting out, it can be tricky to find a good but affordable accounting tool. Good thing there’s Wave. Wave offers free invoicing, payments, and other accounting solutions to entrepreneurs, so you don’t have to worry about shelling out a lot of money to get a reliable accounting tool. You can also connect your Wave account with other commonly used business tools such as PayPal or your bank account so that you don’t have to manually input all your data.

Also check out: Xero

The tools mentioned above are just a few examples of the hundreds, even thousands, of tools and apps available in the market today. If those mentioned above are not for you, you can always check out other options before deciding on the best tool for each specific business function.

 

 

Next: 7 Email Marketing Tips For Small Business Owners

 

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