Entrepreneurship is quite tasking. However, working with the right tools can make it easier. The most frequent challenges many entrepreneurs face come from issues that using effective software can fix.
According to a survey, entrepreneurs spend about 68% of their time on daily tasks. They get to spend only 32% of the time on strategic planning and tasks that can actually grow their businesses.
However, the reality of the internet age is that software can help an entrepreneur with these daily tasks. If you’re an entrepreneur who’s been in business without using online tools, the Covid-19 pandemic must have highlighted the importance of using software for you.
There’s a lot you could do with the right software. You can create an online database for your business, manage your calendar, track your finances and do a lot more. Tech has proven to be the entrepreneur’s best friend; let’s show you the tools you need to make the most of it.
Table of Contents
The importance of software tools for entrepreneurs
Software tools are essential for any entrepreneur that will improve their work processes. There are many benefits, but we’ve narrowed it down to three key points.
- Client management
With the right software tool, you can create and manage a standard customer database. However, this doesn’t have to only be a list of your customers. With a database, you can store details about your customers that will improve your relationship and service.
These details could include client purchase preferences, service history, and credit history. The more you know about a client, the better you can serve them. With client management software tools, you can easily achieve this.
- Finance Tracking
Finances are a big deal for entrepreneurs, and for a good reason. However, many entrepreneurs don’t have the required accounting knowledge to handle their finances properly. A finance management software can help you here.
For instance, budget tracking apps can help monitor your business’ expenses.
You can also stay atop your tax history and responsibilities with tech tools. This way, you can account for every money that flows through your business. You don’t even need to employ a proper accountant until you can afford one.
- Team Communications
Entrepreneurship thrives on communication. Team members need to interact with each other on projects they’re working on. However, individual communication channels can be costly and complicated because of the absence of integration.
Many software tools can simplify an entrepreneur’s communication. You can chat, share files, and even hold conference meetings on audio and video. Many services offer these packages free, but the best offers are all paid.
5 Best software for entrepreneurs
You may ask, what’s the best software for an entrepreneur? We’ve selected the five best software to answer this question.
Piktochart is a great software for entrepreneurs. You can use it to design multimedia content for your business. It is a visual communication tool, that helps you create infographics, reports, presentations, social media graphics, and brochures easily.
With its customizable feature, you can include your brand logo in your designs to create the ultimate branding experience. This software is perfect if you have only a little experience designing graphics. It has a simple user interface that you can use without any training at all.
There are multiple design templates you can choose from and modify in record time. Despite its ease of use, you also get a demo guide to using the software.
Piktochart has a free account that is a little limited but still great for use. However, the paid plans offer better deals such as 1GB storage and HD video exporting. For $16.50/month billed annually, you can get your team this tool.
Have you heard of knowledge base apps? Document360 is an excellent one. A knowledge management software is a self-serve repository of information about a product, service, department, or topic maintained by a limited group.
Document360 can help you build a self-service knowledge base for your SaaS products. You can create how-to guides, tutorials, system docs, and release notes. If your business website has a FAQs page, Document360 is great for constantly updating the questions and answers.
Its integrations and extension features are excellent. You can connect your third-party help desks, analytics and collaboration tools, and translation services seamlessly.
Document360 has a 14-day free trial that doesn’t require you to input your credit card details, unlike other software. The subscriptions cost start at $49 monthly, depending on your business type. You can save up to 20% if you accept annual billings.
The more you pay, the more team accounts you can have with more extensive storage.
Slack is every entrepreneur’s ideal communication platform. This software has great features like messaging, voice, and video calls on rooms called Channels. You can make a chat public or private for only invitees.
Team members can also share the files they’re working on with each other. Furthermore, Slack allows you to collaborate with teams from other organizations. You don’t even need to leave your Channels for this.
Slack’s application integration is topnotch; you can integrate other apps, including Google Drive, Dropbox, and Office 365, within the app. Slack’s also big on data protection; your interactions are safe on this software.
If you’re a start-up entrepreneur, you can use Slack’s free option. However, its paid subscription plans offer better deals. For instance, you can integrate an unlimited number of apps, unlike the free version that allows only ten app-integrations.
Get this software for $6.67 or $12.50 monthly for small and large businesses, respectively.
Google Docs is great for entrepreneurs that have multiple staff collaborating on a project at once. For instance, when your team needs to prepare a presentation or make a pitch.
With Google Docs, they can work on different project areas on the same document, chat about the project on the document, make comments and track changes.
With Google Docs, you don’t have to go through the hassle of handling multiple documents. Furthermore, you can access your files from any device with an internet connection.
You also don’t need to be scared about losing your document’s changes; you can always access a file’s revision history. Google Docs offers significant storage space on your Google Drive cloud.
Employees can use this Google software on Android, iOS, macOS, Blackberry, and Web Browsers, and it’s free.
Wave, the company, provides financial software for small and medium businesses. Their double-entry accounting software allows small businesses to track income and expenses. You can also monitor your payroll, scan receipts and track your taxes with this software.
Wave also has invoice software that lets you create and send professional invoices. With this feature, you can take charge of recurring billing and automate necessary payments. The app can also sync your expenses and balance your books in preparation for tax time.
Of course, bank and credit card details are sensitive data. That’s why Wave’s bank data connections are read-only. They further secure this data with 256-bit encryption, so your finances are safe.
Lastly, the Wave software is free. The company gets its revenue from the financial services it undertakes.
Tips for choosing the right software
Choosing the best software for your business can be a challenge with the many different choices on the market. This guide will help you narrow your software options to what’s really important for your business so that you can make the best software choice.
- Rank your business’ needs
The first step to getting the best software is prioritizing your needs. Determine the most vital issues for which you need software. It could be accounts-keeping, knowledge management, or logistics, depending on your entrepreneurship stage.
Doing this will help you ascertain the right software to satisfy these needs.
- Identify the most reliable software vendor
Next, choose the best and most reliable manufacturer of the type of software you need. Different software have different features, merits, and demerits. Choosing the best will be challenging.
Read user reviews of the different software and conduct your research to see the top picks on the market. This will help you know what options other entrepreneurs prefer and why.
- Check your budget
As an entrepreneur, your finances are important, and you may not be able to afford to invest in pocket-draining technology. Buy only software you can genuinely afford, and ensure that it is feasible to use it in the long run. Can your budget conveniently accommodate the fees of the software?
Where possible, choose free options. Long-term subscriptions are also cheaper than monthly offers. Finally, make sure you’re buying the software for the right reasons.
- Access your team members
The software is for your team, so you must consider them as you plan to invest in it. You can sample their opinions to see how open they are to switching software or trying out a new one. You should assess their skill level to see how well they would adjust to new software.
You must also check to see that the business can afford the necessary training they need to adapt to the new changes.
Conclusion
Efficient software can be a game-changer for you as an entrepreneur. The right software will help take care of recurrent tasks while you focus on building your business. An entrepreneur actively seeking means to make their work easier is a smart one.
Try out the tools we have listed above to get you started on the path to improved productivity.
About Carson Derrow
