I use an array of online tools in the day to day running of my business, all which save me time and streamline the work I do so why not share these with you to help you enhance your processes and productivity.
I know many of you will be feeling overwhelmed by your current workload?
Feeling a bit unfocussed, losing hours in your day by juggling?
Are your days full to the brim but you’re not really ticking anything off?
Maybe you’re ready to streamline your processes or you’re simply stuck with where to start in getting your processes online.
I’m sure you can relate to some of these, but I’m here to help you change that.
After digesting this blog, I want you to leave you feeling equipped with some simple tools that you can implement straight away in your business. Tools that you can implement to save you time, streamline the work you do and that are really going to help when you start to grow and build a team.
It makes sense to support our productivity with the massive array of tools that are available to us. The best tools make it simple and easy to improve efficiency whether you’re working in an office with a team or working from home on your own or with virtual support.
With a focus on collaboration and project management – the tools Im going through today are simple and easy to use so you do not become bogged down in administrating it all.
Most are free at entry level and offer the features you will need to be getting started.
Google Workspace
With an array of features, Google Workspace offers a wide range of web-based app services to help with communication, collaboration, and storage.
Google Drive
You can create documents, sheets or slides all very similar to the Microsoft products we are so used to. People who are used to using Microsoft will find the transition to using Google Docs very smooth. This tool is perfect for collaborative projects because many people can work in the same documents at the same time, from their devices, so it really aids collaboration. People who have the link to the document can view it, directly edit it, or add suggestions, depending on the permissions they are given. It lets you keep all your data secure and in one place.
You can upload all your documents on a cloud, Google Drive, then access them whenever you want to, from all your devices.
You get 15 GB free for all the images, videos, and texts you want to store and share (Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos), but you can also upgrade to a larger plan.
Google forms
You may need to create forms such as booking forms, enquiry forms, onboarding forms, feedback forms – these can all be branded, very easily shared and the data is really easy to review.
Google Calendar
A simple online calendar that helps you create and maintain a weekly schedule in just a few clicks. You can create schedules for yourself, or with your team. With Google Calendar, you’ll also be able to schedule meetings, organize events, add attachments, and make Google Meet video calls.
Slack
Slack is an online communication tool. I use Slack every single day for comms with my team and my clients – it replaces the noise of what’s app and emails, once projects are live.
It takes away the need for emailing every single question, is much more collaborative with real time messaging, file sharing and integrates with over 2200 third party integrations.
Trello
Trello is a simple project management platform, perfect for anyone who likes to organize information in a visual way.
The platform is very easy to use, and the free version lets you create multiple boards and customize them to suit your needs.
Trello is a suitable solution for getting you more organized, using cards and lists to organise your business.
One of the things that’s most satisfying about using Trello is checking items off your to-do lists and moving cards from column to column, i.e., from to-do, to doing, to done
Calendly
A super practical tool for scheduling meetings and appointments is Calendly. One of the crucial benefits of this tool is that it prevents back-and-forth emails you exchange when booking meetings, trying to find a time to suit each party. You simply need to set your available hours during a week in Calendly, then anyone who wants to schedule a meeting with you will be able to see when you’re free. You can also set some buffer time, to ensure you take breaks throughout the day. This can be for one type of meeting or many, setting specific days/times you want to hold those meetings. It also syncs with external calendars making sure you never become double booked – speaking both ways between the two platforms.
Loom
A great little tool that allows you to video your screen. The benefit of using loom is if you are trying to explain something to a team member or client you can actually show them on your screen, you can hit record and show them what to do or what you need them to do which is a million times easier to explain via video then back and forth on emails.
A really straight forward way to explain something.
If there are tasks you are explaining to various people over and over again you can create a library, simply grab the link and pop it over to someone. This has been one of the biggest time saving online tools to improve produtivity that I use!
Last Pass
Do you keep forgetting and changing the passwords you have for multiple accounts? If you’re familiar with this problem, last pass can solve it. This app helps you store all your passwords and login data in a safe place. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about getting locked out of your accounts. All your info is encrypted and made a secret, even from the software itself.
All you need to remember is the master password to Last Pass.
Last pass can also generate optimal strong passwords using their password generator.
When working with my clients I need access to various platforms they are using such as calendly, emails etc – they can share their details with me via last pass with all the information needed such as the URL, Username & password however it’s Last Pass that holds this I do not see passwords so it is all very secure.
Canva
Canva empowers you to do things yourself with your visuals. Canva helps you design everything from social media posts, flyers, and stories to CVs, e-book covers, banners, logos, and presentations, instantly. You can also make GIFs, animations, videos, all with set templates sized to fit each requirements i.e Insta post v FB post.
Canva is free to use and open for everyone. You can use it for creating compelling designs for social media, marketing campaigns, or projects.
You don’t need any prior experience as a graphic designer to use Canva. With a variety of tools and layouts available, you can swap between fonts and images to create a professional design. You don’t have to be a techie to use these features. In just a few clicks, you can create an engaging design, the only thing you need is creativity.
Once happy with your logo, colours & fonts you can create a brand kit – this makes it so much quicker when working on future designs as you can quickly pull through colours and fonts rather then looking back at previous designs. For example I have over 20 different brand kits for various clients I can quickly swap between.
You can create your team on Canva so that they can have access to your designs. You can determine the kind of access your team members have through the shareable links.
HelloSign
If your onboarding process includes a contract / agreement / T&Cs then this is for you.
You are probably spending time producing paperwork and obtaining signatures, being sent grainy photos or dodgy scans of signed contracts.
Hello Sign can reduce the time spent on this and speed up the onboarding journey using the automated system in which completed documents are seamlessly passed from person to person.
It can help you send and sign agreements up to 80% faster and produces a legally-bound document for all parties with an audit trail to provide proof of document access, review and signature. A really secure and reliable solution for obtaining signatures for your most important documents.
The best bit is it has a built in reminder work-flow to prompt users to make sure they get documents signed and stops you spending time chasing unsigned documents.
Zapier
More advanced online tools to improve productivity include Zapier, allowing you to connect several tools and supports automation.
First, you need to choose a trigger — a routine in a particular app. Then, set one or more actions that are supposed to happen automatically.
For instance, when you receive an email in Gmail (trigger), you want Zapier to copy all attachments to Dropbox (first action), and alert you in Slack about these attachments (second action). Zapier allows you to automate repetitive tasks very easily – a more advanced tool that takes time to pick up and realise its full potential but its a game changer!
Dubsado
Dubsado is an all in one CRM & business management tool designed to streamline your onboarding and offboarding procedures with automation whilst giving your clients a first-class experience.
It creates a client journey like no other.
Capture your leads and nurture them in one place. Create seamless workflows that can automate your client process from the moment of the initial enquiry, right the way through the project and then offboarding. Dubsado offers one place to curate proposals, forms, questionnaires, contracts, invoices, canned emails and schedulers, with endless workflow options to tie it all together.
It is an all in one solution combining the processes of Calendly with scheduling, Hello Sign for legally binding contracts, google docs/slides for proposals and documents, and integrates with Xero & Quickbooks to link invoicing & accounts. It can automate up to 88% of your business with the complete Dubsado Setup. No more chasing, invoices, manually sending contracts, questionnaires & inputting clients into your CRM system. It really does elevate your highest customer experience.
This is very much an overview, I don’t want you to go away thinking OMG I’ve got to implement all of this right now – you really don’t.
It’s important you understand how these online tools work and more importantly how they can work for YOU, they are designed to make your day to day business simpler and more efficient, working harder for you.
If there are any that have jumped out and you would like to know more about then I am more than happy to jump on a call to chat through and make sure it’s the right tool for you and give more guidance on how to start using it in your business.
Have you enjoyed this blog about Online Tools to Improve Productivity? I would love you to share it with you audience or those who may find it useful.
