This past year was all about making changes to my systems and processes. 2014, thanks for helping my business grow and focus on what's important.
Here's my list of top 7 favorite business tools I used in 2014.
1) Social Media management with MeetEdgar.com
Edgar is an app that allow you to create a whole library of social media posts, connecting to Facebook personal profiles, Facebook Pages, Facebook groups, Twitter, LinkedIn personal profile and LinkedIn Company pages. Did I mention Facebook GROUPS? That's just plain awesome.
Your library is broken up into categories that you define. For instance, mine has a quote image that goes out M-F, Current Blog Post, Older Blog Posts, Questions, Tips, and Use Once (where Edgar will only use the post once).
You define your own schedule for each connected social media account, on a weekly basis. It can be modified and tested for peak performance through the statistics area. It also links into your Bitly account for link shortening and you can track and measure each link's stats.
You can also use an Edgar bookmarklet for any browser (plus there's an extension for Chrome) for grabbing interesting articles you find on the web and adding them into your queue.
This tool saves me hours of time each month, and comes with a 60-day money back guarantee. Best of all, it was created by LKR Social Media, founded by Laura K Roeder, a social media expert. She knows what a user wants and needs from a social media tool.
2) Evernote as a digital filing cabinet and a replacement for having to remember everything
My husband has a freakish super human power to remember every conversation he's ever had. Seriously. It goes without saying here, I'm continually called out on any BS, and he is my companion to all useless knowledge (like celebrities names) that I can't hold onto in my head. He's been lovingly replaced (as the font of all knowledge at least) by my elephant friend, Evernote.
This year I stepped it up big time with my Evernote use. I upgraded from the free account (a great starting place) to a premium account and now I push everything I need into Evernote.
I use it on my phone a lot–not just for business, but also for home management. Does it remember where my daughter hid her new coat? Well, no. But pretty much everything else.
It's my go-to tool as the searching/indexing is amazing. All of those PDFs you get from signing up for someone's email list–I dump those in Evernote. If I do a search on “email marketing tips”, BAM – 43 notes with that term show up. You can stack notes and notebooks together and link to other notes within notes.
I did purchase Natasha Vorompiova's Evernote for Small Business (affiliate link), and that helped me immensely to organize all my information. It's a mini course, PDF, video training, and templates all rolled up into one neat, easy to execute package. Read more about my review of Evernote for Small Business here.
3) ONTRAPORT for Marketing Automation and World Domination
I know, I'm a consultant for ONTRAPORT (affiliate link), but this system truly amazes me on a daily basis. My clients are using it in so many creative ways. It's a CRM (Customer Relationship Management), email marketing, landing pages, membership websites, affiliate marketing, shopping cart, and order fulfillment automation tool all wrapped up into one tidy system. This year I've truly enjoyed creating new ways to get my clients to their goals with ONTRAPORT.
When you're ready to leap off of MailChimp or Aweber, I hope you'll consider ONTRAPORT for your business needs.
4) Freshbooks gets you paid
Oh my goodness–Freshbooks (affiliate link) is my go-to tool for keeping my accounting on track. I started using it mid-2013, so this has been the first full year of Freshbooks accounting. No Excel drudgery! The report functions are so detailed–everything is pre-built, so I only have to modify the variables of time or client. It keeps me up-to-date on what's outstanding and what's been paid. It sends payment reminders automatically.
I keep all my time tracked through Freshbooks so I have hard number data on how long it takes to complete a typical engagement based on the project type, and my own efficiency. Freshbooks has helped me with my tax filing, keeping all my expenses logged, and gives my a great one-look snapshot of where I am currently.
5) Contractual.ly for easy contract signatures
This is a new tool I just implemented two months ago. Previously, I had all of my contracts built in InDesign as templates and I would customize them on a project by project basis, create a PDF, email it to the client, and ask them to print it, sign it, scan it and then email or snail mail it back to me. This required a lot of extra work for the client. I did try a PDF signature service, but I wasn't happy with the results. I wanted something that would save my clients more time.
Contractual.ly allows me to upload the templates, customize them in their application with fields and then send an invitation to the client to sign as well as accept my electronic signature. It's a much smoother process all around. I still make customizations, but my basic templates are readily available in my account.
6) Asana keeps all projects on task and on time
I've moved all my project management over to Asana. I find that Asana helps keep me on track, helps keep the communication within one place (rather than wasting time searching through mountains of emails), and gives my clients full visibility into where the project is, what's left to be done, and what's been assigned for them to complete.
Asana has a great training library on how to use the tool, and it really functions as a giant To Do list. There's a very low-tech barrier when using this tool, so it's easy to pick up and run with it.
7) Productivity (or lack thereof) tracking with RescueTime
RescueTime is a free app that I installed on my main computer. It sends me weekly productivity reports–letting me know how productive I've been and how much time I whittled away on Facebook. It's my weekly thank or spank report and keeps me striving to do better!
What's your favorite tools that helped your business in 2014? Leave me a comment below.
