I know, I know, I haven’t written a blog for some time. Consider my wrists well and truly slapped. In my defence, it’s been hectic. School went back and ever since then things have been a bit of a blur. It’s hard to get that work/life balance right. It’s especially difficult to make sure you still look after your own business as well as supporting your clients in theirs. So here are my favourite shortcuts, a mixture of software and apps that help me, not just in my business life but in my personal life too.
I hope they help: –
I literally could not survive without this password manager. It’s a life saver. There is no way I could remember or securely store all my passwords without this programme. I would be lost without it. You can install it a Mac/PC or through the app store. Even better, it’s free. Of course, there is a premium (paid) version but I’ve never needed to upgrade. For anyone who’s never tried a password manager I hugely recommend it.
Now this one I use for business and personal. It’s a great cloud based solution for storing files, photo’s, videos etc. It works along the same lines as Google Drive (which I also use). The free version does have a limit but even after that it’s very reasonably priced. You can share folders if you need others to have access to any work documents etc. You can access it via the desktop or web address. A quick and easy cloud storage solution.
This is a great app that I use to communicate with some of my lovely clients. It’s free and allows us to communicate with each other on the go. It’s basically a business version of WhatsApp. It allows me to keep my personal and my business communications separate. It’s a great alternative to text/email or messenger.
So that’s three of my favourite business timesavers. Now here are 3 of my personal ones. Although I do use one or two for business as well.
I love this tool. Again, it’s free which is great. It’s basically a computerised to do list/project tool. I use it for, well literally my life. It’s like an electronic version of my diary and to do list. I put everything on here both personal and business. I just love ticking things off. You can also share lists/tasks with others so it’s great if you want to share a list with a client or if they have things they need to do to facilitate you in your job. I also use Trello as a more extensive project management tool, so another one to take a look at.
I discovered this app in August of this year and well what can I say. It’s great. It’s a savings app. It links to your bank account and it works out when and how much you can afford to save. When it was recommended to me, I was a bit cynical. I’ve always been a pretty good saver any, so I thought why would I need this. However, so far, since August I’ve already saved over £150 without even noticing it’s happened. You receive a notification on your phone of what you can save and when and you decide if you agree or not. You can also refer family/friends and receive interest on your savings. It’s a great way of saving without really noticing. So far, I’ve introduced 2 family members to it and they’re raving about it too.
Finally, this has been amazing. This is a savings prompt that you can install on your PC. Whenever you search for a site it will tell you at the top those that you can save from. You can link your children’s accounts to it and it means that you’re saving for your children while you’re shopping. Some of the biggest names are involved such as eBay, Amazon, Tesco. So, while you’re Xmas Shopping you can be earning cash for your children. You also get a referral fee and if you have grandparents they can earn for your children too. It’s a great way of building up your children’s savings.
These are just a few of the apps/software that I use to help me juggle the challenges of modern day life. If you have any others, I’d love to hear them.