We all want to make our businesses bigger, better, faster and stronger. Often, we turn to technology. Have you ever scoured the app store to solve your current issue? It’s probably a good idea. But, reading app reviews and testing apps makes me feel nauseous as I feel like I’m undertaking a grossly time-wasting exercise, which ideally should be saving me time (in the end). It is fair to say testing technology is not my passion in life. So, I have done what most women would do and asked other business women, what are the business apps you could not live without?
Kristy McPhillips, Designer and Owner, Sash & Belle
Square – payments system
Super mobile friendly, take it anywhere, it will take card/cash payments and give you daily, weekly, monthly, yearly reports (no monthly fee and 1.9% commission from each sale and only $59 to buy (cheaper than the banks, which is great for small businesses). It allows you to develop and send invoices, manage employees, be your point of sale in a shop and can interact with your accountancy software.
Plann –a planning and scheduler app for Instagram
It mirrors your Instagram account so you can drag and drop images and move them around until you are happy with the layout. Write your content to go with the image and schedule it, it will then remind you to post the item to Instagram. This helps you plan your feed for the next week, month or more and then you can just sit back and enjoy watching your feed.
Jade Collins, Co-Founder, Femeconomy
Hootsuite – social media scheduling tool
We use Hootsuite to schedule Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Being able to see this planned schedule for all our social media assists with campaign planning. Also having access to the mobile app means sending a quick update to three accounts is easy when you are out and about.
Shebah – all-female ride share app
Shebah is a new all-female ride sharing app for Melbourne, Geelong, Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. It pairs female drivers with female passengers for peace of mind and safety. I love founder George McEncroe’s philosophy to help women flourish as earners, carers and social beings. Having had some scary and negative past experiences taking other forms of transport, this is a welcome alternative that’s also helping put women back into the workforce on their terms.
Lauren Hall, CEO and Founder, iVvy Pty Ltd
Banking apps
From accounts payable to international transfers, we use banking apps every day. Streamlining the payments process, from approvals to visibility to 24/7 access makes the life of an entrepreneur that much easier. Anything that removes the shackles of the office and allows business to cross borders, time zones and traditional processes wins my seal of approval. We’re all about fast, secure, transparent service at iVvy, and banking apps align perfectly with our ethos.
Leanne Boscia, Founder, Boscia Financial Group
Pandora – music wherever you go
It’s always playing various stations and genres in the background when I am in the office – it’s not a business app but this business doesn’t like working without it!
Nicky McEnery, Marketing Director, Social Zest Media
Wordswag – a photo editing app
An absolute beauty. Wordswag links to your phone images and Pixabay (a free stock image site) so you can create beautiful, vibrant and unique images on the go. They offer watermarking options as well as different font types. Confidently and quickly create a diverse set of posts straight from your phone. Alter the image, add filters and save it to your “photos” for future use. Brilliant for life on the go!
Repost – regram quickly and easily on Instagram
For a few dollars use the paid option that removes the ugly “REPOST” symbol at the bottom corner of the image. Keeps your Instagram feed looking clean and encourages appropriate acknowledgement of source, whilst fostering community, sharing and engaging content.
Sarah Donges, Owner, Box for Monkeys
Later.com – Instagram scheduling tool.
I schedule all the social media for Box for Monkeys and Simple Kids Activities once a week from Later to maintain our presence. You can easily add in all your images, see which images have been ‘used or unused’, save hashtags and see what time is best to schedule based on each account. They also now have a ‘link in bio’ option which makes it easy for your followers to click to buy, read an article or see more information.
Canva – graphic design tool
One of the most ingenious apps I know. This is brilliant as an app and on desktop. You can create all your marketing material here from social media tiles, postcards, presentations, flyers etc. There are so many templates to customise or you can create your own using your own dimensions. They really have made it incredibly easy to use and it’s designed by an Aussie woman Melanie Perkins.
Assist sisters from other misters and share how you use business apps to make your business bigger, better, faster and stronger.
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