The 5 Apps I Use Daily to Run my Business (That Aren’t Photography Related!) | by Morgan Pirkle, educator and photography at Kept Record
5 apps I use daily to run my business
that any business owner or entrepreneur can use!
This blog post may contain affiliate links. You won’t be charged anything for using these apps, but it means I may earn a small commission! I can personally vouch for all of these apps and I do truly love them + use them religiously.
what are the best apps for running your business more productively? save time + energy with these 5 apps for business owners!
There are a ton of tools I use to run my business, but instead of talking about editing apps like Lightroom or CRMs like Dubsado and Honeybook, I wanted to share with you the phone apps I use every single day that aren’t necessarily just for photographers or event industry professionals! These are apps that people across industries use - even people that aren’t business owners. But if you ARE an entrepreneur, take a break from social media + hop on these 5 apps to run your business more efficiently TODAY. You’ll thank me later!
Asana for small businesses:
Do you ever feel like your brain’s about to explode? Like you have SO many ideas and projects to keep track of that you’re worried you’ll forget it ALL? A few months ago, I had legal pads, post-its, and even a few to-do lists written on the back of those insanely long CVS receipts.
Needless to say, it wasn’t the most effective system. If that sounds like you, I’m about to introduce you to your new best friend, Asana. There’s a free plan + a paid plan (I use the free one!) And I use it for everything - business and personal. Here’s a peek into what types of things I use Asana for:
Communicating with my VA! In Asana there are a lot of ways to organize your information - teams, projects, boards, tasks, subtasks. I created a new “team” for my assistant and I, where a Project board lives containing tasks that she’s specifically working on. This helps me keep it totally separate from projects I work on without assistance and from personal projects! I love being able to drag and drop the tasks to see what’s in progress, and being able to label them as high, medium, or low priority is KEY. This minimizes so much back and forth!
My goals + major milestones! I have a Project called “2021 Goals + Milestones.” At the beginning of the year I broke down my goals into step-by-step tasks, and I can easily come back and check in on them throughout the year. I’m super super goal-oriented, so having them laid out where I can refer to them regularly and track updates is huge.
Personal To-Dos! I have an Asana “Team” named “Personal” - on it, there are Boards like “To-Do” and “Books.” On the to-do Board, I keep a running list of personal tasks to accomplish, like setting up doctors appointments, sending holiday cards, and remembering to buy new glasses. This was SUPER helpful around the holidays when I was trying to track which presents I’d shipped and which still needed to be mailed! On the books board (I know, a total nerd!) I have books that I’m currently reading, read recently, and want to read. I love dragging + dropping them into the “Completed” section!
All in all, Asana is a fantastic tool that I use LITERALLY every day - I have a phone app + there’s nearly always a tab open on my computer with Asana pulled up too!
It’s one thing I truly wish I hadn’t waited so long to start. It’s confusing at the beginning, but it’s well worth the effort once you’ve got it rolling! You may think that if you’re a “solopreneur” that a Project Management tool might be overkill; and you might be right. But really when it comes to getting organized, is there every really “too much?”
2. AUTOMATE + INTEGRATE WITH ZAPIER
Haven’t heard of it? It’s a newer app that is about to CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
Zapier is an integration + automation app. It sounds a *little* dry at first, but it’s a total gamechanger because it helps take those itty bitty tasks off your plate so you can focus on more important things! Even if you’re not a small business owner, this is something super helpful that you can integrate with your work life or even your personal calendar!
If you ARE a small business owner, running your business is about to get a whole lot easier.
My favorite use of Zapier is creating a trigger whenever I get an email containing the word “inquiry.” That means I can turn off my email notifications in peace, and I know that anytime anyone submits a form from my inquiry page I will still get a notification! Zapier recognizes the word “inquiry” and immediately sends me a text message to my phone. This workflow — trigger + action — is called a “zap”
There are a million uses for Zapier - it basically extends the functions of any app by using an “if/then” approach!
Automate different parts of any frequently-performed process through apps like Google Drive, slack, Gmail, Trello, Shopify, Acuity Scheduling -- over 3,000 apps in total.
See this video on How Zapier Works for more.
3. Google Keep
Keep is one of the many many Google apps I adore! (Google Sheets is another favorite at Kept Record HQ!). Often I’ll jot down ideas for captions or blog posts, but it’s also super handy for keeping track of hashtags. I have different notes saved, where I’ve compiled hashtags related to a certain topic - like “Elopement Hashtags” or “Socal Hashtags.” This makes posting so much faster than having to search for them every single time! I love that you can pin a note to the top so that you don’t have to search or scroll. It’s also how I pin my grocery list to the top!
4. Tailwind for Pinterest Creation + Scheduling
Ready to grow on Pinterest? Click here to get 1 Month FREE on Tailwind, the best Pinterest tool out there:
Tailwind for Pinterest. Some months, almost 50% of my total website traffic comes from Pinterest - which seemed like a total pipe dream just one year ago. I do have a discount code for you, but before we get to that you need to hear the REAL DEAL on Pinterest for small businesses.
Here’s a chart showing the overview of my Pinterest growth, as far back as they’d let me look at the data - September 5th, 2019 through February 24th, 2021. I joined Tailwind on January 23rd, 2020 - and that’s pretty much right when any *actual* growth began to happen. Keep in mind, Tailwind and Pinterest are both considered to be a long game - you may not see results for 3-6 months! But with consistent effort, you can absolutely bring website traffic, engaged customers, and real-life dream clients to your website through Pinterest! See my Pinterest here: Kept Record on Pinterest - Elopement + Wedding Inspiration.
Wanna try a free month? Here’s a referral code for one free month of tailwind! (it’s an affiliate link, so I may earn a small credit). Again - this is something I so wished I joined sooner now that I’ve seen how powerful it is!
Pinterest is great because unlike constantly-changing algorithms and dance challenges on Instagram and TikTok, Pinterest works more like a search engine: it’s searching for answers to problems people are having every day.
My advice: offer up truly valuable solutions to questions your potential customers are facing: Where should I get married? How should we pose for engagement photos? What will my dream wedding look like? If you’re not in the wedding + events industry, maybe it’s talking about how your product or service could make a difference in their lives -things like the life-changing Snickerdoodle recipe that will satisfy their sweet tooth in a fraction of the time or the perfect Moroccan-inspired tiles to refinish their kitchen renovation.
If you’re a small business owner or budding entrepreneur, get a Pinterest strategy in place today!!!
5. CHASE BANKING APP - KEEP TRACK OF YOUR SMALL BUSINESS’ CASHFLOW!
The last app but possibly most important app I use - Chase Banking!
I’m a BIG believer in staying on top of your numbers, and I don’t mean just Instagram. Knowing how much is in your bank account (as well as what’s coming in and what’s going out) is essential to running your business, even if you’re in your first or second year of owning a business! Even if you only have two clients right now, setting up a business bank account will help lay the foundation for growth and separate your personal finances as you grow.
With Chase, I have a personal + business account, which are linked so I can easily toggle between the two. I love having the auto-save feature set up, which lets me pull money from any banking account into a savings account at a regular frequency, so that I’m putting money aside for the future without even thinking about it! For credit cards, I highly recommend Chase’s Business Ink card (sign up here!) and the Chase Sapphire Reserve. I use these two strategically to accumulate points that I put towards travel and cashback!
Pro-tip: If you’re trying to cut down the time you spend scrolling through social media, replace your Instagram icon with your banking icon. It will help with the mindless IG check-ins and keep you focused on running your business!
If you’re an entrepreneur + you found this post useful, tell me in the comments! Any must-have apps I missed? Let me know below!
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