For those who opt to run a business without the help of others, the journey is rewarding yet hard. Everything falls on you. From the day to day administrative tasks to marketing and finances, you’re responsible for making sure that things get done. That’s a lot of pressure on the back of one person, but lots of people take on the challenges of being a solopreneur every day.
You might be wondering how that’s possible. However, with the right set of skills, and essential applications and software on their side, they manage quite well. If you’re a solopreneur who’s stressed out to the max, here are some of the top business tools you can invest in to ease the tension:
Productivity Solutions
Time is money. The more time you can spend pushing your business forward the more money you’re likely to generate. When you’ve got so much on your plate, however, maximizing your time can present some challenges. You either spend a little time on all tasks or invest too much time in another causing productivity and quality to decline.
There are task management apps that essentially help you to prioritize major projects. The applications allow you to list things you need to do in order of importance, track how long it takes you to complete certain tasks for more efficiency, and even send reminders when you have projects coming due.
Another productivity tool worth looking into would be schedule management. For solopreneurs who often schedule phone calls, in-person, or virtual meetings with their clients, keeping up with your schedule can be challenging. You end up overbooking yourself, missing opportunities, frustrating clients, and losing business. A schedule management application, however, syncs with your personal and professional calendars. It allows clients to schedule appointments online based on your availability in real-time so your time is not wasted.
Marketing Solutions
Marketing is a huge part of operating a successful business. Business owners must continually keep up with growing trends and demands amongst their target audience and align their marketing strategies. Being able to spread the word about your products or services is essential to generating leads, increasing visitors, and increasing revenue. Marketing, however, is multi-faceted and requires a great deal of time and attention.
There are marketing solutions that can reduce your workload as a solopreneur. For social media, there are marketing apps you can use to create and schedule content, respond to followers, and review all your social media platforms from one location. This makes it easier for you to connect with your audiences while maximizing your time.
Email marketing is still a very effective means of reaching your target audience. Sending out newsletters, promotions, tips, and more gets consumers interested in what you have to offer. However, trying to send out email blasts on your own can be quite a tedious job. You can instead use email marketing software or applications to simplify your job. You can create content, customize mailing lists, and schedule when each mailing is to be sent out. The software even allows you to manage your email list, keep track of which content is most popular, and more to boost your marketing efforts.
Accounting Solutions
To stay in business you have to be able to effectively manage your finances. However, with all the other work you have to get through, the finances often take a back seat. It can take you weeks to send out an invoice for work you’ve completed and months to generate reports for business loans and income tax purposes. The longer it takes you to generate these documents, the longer it takes for you to get paid. Not to mention, failing to submit accurate financial records could result in tax fines and penalties or delay you getting approved for a loan.
There are tech solutions that can handle this for you. There is advanced accounting software that allows you to create professional invoices, generate quotes, send out recurring or one-time invoices, record your sales and expenses, and create financial reports for projections, taxes, and business loans.
Whether you’re a blogger, web developer, social media manager, or some other solopreneur, running a business of any type on your own is a lot of work. Keep in mind that while it can and has been done, you’re only one person. To avoid burnout or business failure, it is often recommended that you look into business tools like those above to take the load off your shoulders so that you can focus more of your time and attention to the areas of business that matter most to you.
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