As a small business ourselves, we know that time is money and so we are always looking for ways to streamline our operations and make our processes more efficient.
Read on to discover our top tools for running your small business efficiently.
Canva
This is a consistent and easy to use design tool which we use to create all of our pitch decks, training documents, proposals, social media assets and podcast artwork. There are many different formats you can use to create content for multiple different platforms, including Instagram stories and LinkedIn posts. The branded templates function allows you to save your logo and brand colours to use in future designs to ensure they are all visually consistent. All Canva files are saved in the cloud so you only ever have one version too plus you can set up teams to have internal and external access.
LastPass
Given we all use so many platforms and therefore have lots of passwords, it’s very challenging to remember them all. With LastPass, you only need to remember one ‘master’ password that unlocks a digital vault containing all your passwords, bank card information and more. It’s a great tool to save your brain capacity for more important things plus the tool is encrypted to keep your information safe.
Xero & Dext
We use Xero as an end-to-end accounting system to keep track of all our invoices, payroll and bank feeds. The platform allows you to send automated repeated branded invoices to clients and set up follow up reminders if customers haven’t paid by various dates. This makes month-end a lot faster with reconciliation and offers less room for human error. Dext is a receipt capture software that works in tandem with Xero to allow you to quickly capture expenses on the go so you never miss a transaction or lose a receipt. We find this keeps our accountant happy… which can only be a good thing.
Google Drive
Gone are the days of emailing several versions of one document within your team and losing track of edits with Google Drive. Instead, it houses all of your documents, spreadsheets and presentations in the cloud, meaning you only ever work on one version. Drive is particularly useful when working with remote teams and the various functions within Docs, Sheets and Slides allow you to suggest edits, see each item’s version history and more. As part of Google Workspace it’s a really affordable solution to have email and file storage in one place.
Email schedule send function
Available with Gmail, Microsoft Outlook and Mac Mail, the schedule send function allows you to draft an email and choose a future date and time for it to land in your recipient’s inbox. For us, it’s particularly useful for drafting our press pitch emails and choosing a time for them to arrive with journalists when they are most likely to be checking their inboxes.
We would love to hear about your recommended tools too. Email us via hello@fallowfieldmason.com