A lot of small business owners struggle with certain tasks when they really don’t need to. There are so many apps that can help keep a small business running no matter if you’re on the go or in the office. For example, a small business owner should have a good calendar app, an app for viewing and editing spreadsheets, an app that helps you pay taxes, an app to receive payments through your phone, and an app to help you create promotional images. Here are our picks for the best apps for small businesses.
A calendar to keep you on track
First and foremost, to run a small business you need to keep up with all of your appointments, deliveries, and meetings. A good calendar app for a small business should not only keep you on track, but also be super easy to use.
On iOS, you can’t find a better calendar than Fantastical 2. It will work with your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, and uses 3D Touch and Force Touch. We really love this app because it’s intuitive and easy to use. You can use your voice to set up reminders and alerts, which makes Fantastical 2 incredibly useful. For example, you can say “reminder,” “to do,” or “task” to to set up an alert, list, or task you need to remember. The geofence feature will alert you to a reminder when you get a certain location — like the office supply store or to a client’s office building — so you’ll never forget an important detail.
On Android, our favorite calendar is the CloudCal app. With its unique pie chart grid-like system called “Magic Circles,” you can instantly see how full your day will be. The circles can show at a glance if you have a time slot double-booked or two events that overlap. It is also compatible with other apps that you use for your business, like Google, Exchange, Outlook, Google Tasks, Uber, Maps, and Waze.
An app that helps you pay your taxes
Paying taxes is the bane of all small businesses. The help of a great app can make things a little easier. Qapital is an app that can be set up to automatically add money to a savings account whenever a certain activity is achieved. You can link it to your business account to save a percentage of each client payment or sale. Those savings can be used to pay taxes when your quarterly payment time comes around.
An app for payments, accounting, and billing
Many small businesses sell items at swap meets, conventions, or at a client’s office. Taking payments while you’re on the go should be super easy and with the right app it can be. Square is hands-down one of the best mobile payment, accounting, and billing apps out there. Their fees are low and it has an offline mode for when you’re getting spotty data service. When you sign up with Square you receive a free card reader that plugs into the headphone jack on your phone. The Square mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) app is also free. You just pay a flat fee when a card is swiped or a percentage plus a few cents when you manually enter card information. Even better, data isn’t stored on your device, so your clients stay safe. Pair it with the Square Invoices for even more flexibility.
Take care of spreadsheets with this app
Spreadsheets are part of every small business owner’s life. If you’re on the go and need to open or edit a spreadsheet, you need an app to help you out. Microsoft Excel (iOS and Android) has always been the king of spreadsheets and this still holds true when it comes to apps. You can use the Excel app to create, edit and share spreadsheets, plus you can use it to create awesome pie charts and other graphics to visualize receivables, debt, and more. Our favorite feature is that you can invite others to edit spreadsheets and charts, which can be super helpful if you have an accountant or employees.
The best app for creating visuals
Creating a quick visual for a blog post or social media post is a task that comes along frequently when you run a small business. To create images and share them quickly, there’s no better app than the Pixlr (Google and iOS). This app can help you make photo collages, edit photos, add stickers, text, and borders to images, and much more. Its versatility makes it stand out among other apps which typically focus on just one type of photo editing. It’s also very easy to use.