Eight Apps a Self-Employed Professional Cannot Live Without

Introduction

Being a self-employed professional is probably one of the most rewarding yet tedious jobs one can ever do. Aside from the success and fame attached to having built your own company from scratch, there are a lot of aspects to your business that you have to manage alone; especially if you do not have many staff members that you can allocate these jobs to. It requires a whole lot of self-discipline, perseverance, and organizational skills to be able to manage your business properly, and if you are still a budding self-employed personnel who is lost at times, here are some categories of apps that you can download to make your life a lot easier.

1. Time Tracking

Most self-employed professionals have the luxury of working from home and having very flexible working hours. Though this can be extremely useful, it can also be very difficult to manage your time to ensure work-life balance. Work hours may seep into your personal family time, slowly pushing you over the edge if it prolongs. Therefore, having a time tracking app will help you plan your time properly, giving you the ability to clock-in sufficient hours before wrapping up for the day. It helps you to manage your time well and have a clearer picture of your short term and long term goals, thereby letting you alter your working hours accordingly claims John Stewart the specialist from WorkTime employee monitoring service. It forces you to take a step back and look at the bigger picture, instead of getting stressed out by all the nitty-gritty.

2. Document Management

This broad category includes mobile signature apps and contract management solutions to help you keep track of and store your contracts and documents. These apps will help you to manage your documents, without having to print and carry them around in their physical forms. If your business requires a lot of signing of documents, such apps do provide the function of providing signatures as well, easing the process of lugging around heavy documents. Certain apps also offer push notifications to remind clients in advance of the impending need for contract renewals. This hence makes everything easier and hassle-free, as it eliminates the potential of losing your physical documents and the inability to locate them.

3. Credit Card Readers

Business owners who are always out and about will find credit card readers on your mobile phones a saving grace. Long gone are the days where you need to search your bag for your wallet, before scanning through your various credit cards in order to make a purchase. These mobile apps offer a free card reader that allows you to attach and register your credit card into your phone; proving the ultimate convenience of just a tap on your phone to pay for something. However, do note that these services charge a small fee when a payment is processed.

4. Mobile Document Scanners

Scanning any urgent documents on your printer is nearly impossible; especially when you are always out and about. With these mobile apps, they allow you to use your phone’s camera to snap a picture, convert these documents into a scanned version, and automatically save it on your phone. Certain apps also offer useful tools that are able to read the contents on the document and automatically file the form or information, based on the customizable settings. With these apps, you no longer have to rush home or find a nearby printing shop to scan your important documents for you — you can do it with just a snap on your phone!

5. File syncing and sharing

These apps provide the convenience of storing, syncing, and sharing files with your clients and colleagues from the comfort of your own home or when you are out. It is also an extremely easy process that literally just takes less than a minute. Most apps provide ample space, but if you require more space, you can always pay a fee for an upgrade, depending on your own needs. With such apps, you will no longer have to meet face to face just to drop off an important document.

6. Financial transactions

As a self-employed businessman or businesswoman, financial planning and tracking your finances is one of the most important aspects that you will have to manage. Thankfully, there are apps and tools in the market like a Check Stub Maker that allow you to consolidate all your financial activity into a single platform. They allow you to manage your accounting, financial reports, bookkeeping, invoices, bills, and timesheets online or through your phones. Long gone are the days where you have to manually calculate your monthly earnings and expenses on sheets after sheets of paper, eliminating the hassle of physical copies altogether.

7. Organizational tools

Staying organized and sending yourself reminders is something that every self-employed professional should religiously practice. Since you are the head of the company, meeting deadlines and keeping to your schedule is extremely important for your business to succeed. There are various apps that allow you to take notes and schedule reminders to keep track of your dates. Most of them offer functions like recording voice memos, attaching audio clips, attaching images, and many more to your documents; giving you the flexibility that laptops offer as well. There are also many reliable and secure apps that store your passwords, usernames, and important PINs and numbers, so you no longer have to rack your brains for your different passwords on different platforms.

8. Social media dashboard

You should definitely download one of these apps to help you if your business revolves around a lot of social media content marketing. With a social media dashboard app, you will be able to schedule your posts down to the date and time and automatically get your content published without having to lift a finger. You will be able to get an overview of how your feed looks like, and plan your next few photos. It also offers analytical tools to analyze consumer behavior and offers recommendations to increase viewers for your content. With a new addition to your phone, social media content management will be so much easier!

Conclusion

As a self-employed professional, managing your whole business can be extremely tedious and time-consuming, since each day is limited to 24 hours. With so many things to do, the work-life balance seems impossible for you. However, with these apps recommended for you, you will be saving a lot of time and effort; helping you to get the rest that you need. Furthermore, it also helps to maximize your business strategies and make it extra convenient for you to do work on the go.