Starting your own company could help you create a sense of financial freedom unlike anything else in the world, but this process can be quite challenging as well. During your first few months of business, you will most likely rely quite a bit on technology to keep yourself organized and moving forward. Here is a quick look at a few mobile apps that will help you maximize your self employment income, navigate through tax season, and keep up with modern marketing techniques.
Most VoIP systems are designed for larger companies that need to create dozens or hundreds of user accounts, but those programs can be quite pricey. Google Voice is a great alternative for self-employed entrepreneurs who only need a single account and limited features. After downloading the app and connecting it to your Google account, you will be given a new number you can use to make and receive calls. You can also create a custom greeting, carry out conference calls, or even record your calls.
Evernote
No matter how good your memory might be, there will come a point when you have too many things to keep track of at once. Instead of writing down those thoughts, you can use Evernote to securely store and access them on all of your devices. This simple app allows users to quickly take notes, share thoughts, or save files for a later time. In addition to writing notes, you can also use this app as a digital clipboard to save pictures, videos, or entire websites.
Cam Scanner
Losing an important document could devastate your income or even land you in serious legal trouble if you are not careful. While it is vital to have hard copies of all important documents, you can also save those files digitally with Cam Scanner. Cam Scanner uses the camera on your phone or tablet to save a file and upload it to a cloud server. Each account comes with a small amount of cloud storage, but that can be upgraded if you find yourself nearing the data limit.
MailChimp
As a self-employed entrepreneur, your marketing budget is most likely very tight. In addition to having an eye-catching website and being active on social media, you should also consider email marketing. This style of marketing has an excellent return on investment as long as it is carried out correctly. As a free user, you will be able to send 1,000 emails per month to your contacts. You will also have a full suite of contact management tools to ensure you are sending the correct emails to each contact. The app itself has a number of unique templates for surveys, sales, and newsletters.
Wave
Every self-employed individual must have a secure program to store and organize their financial information. Wave remains one of the most popular accounting apps because it is easy to use, very secure, and free. It connects directly to your personal and business accounts so that you can effortlessly keep up with your finances. You can create unique categories for all of your transactions to help you keep track of expenses, income, and other reports. As an added bonus, business owners can send digital invoices with just a few taps of the screen.
mSecure Password Manager
With all of these apps and accounts, it won’t take much to forget a password or have one’s accounts hijacked. According to the National Small Business Association, over 44 percent of small businesses have had a cyber security breach within the last two years. Instead of storing all of your passwords in a single file, this app allows you to save them in an encrypted digital vault. As soon as your phone goes idle or you exit out of the program, you must automatically sign in again to access your passwords. You can also use another device to lock a user out of the app if your phone is lost or stolen.
Weebly
Without an eye-catching website, keeping up with your competition will be nearly impossible. If you are not quite ready to invest in a more comprehensive website, then you might want to consider creating a few pages with Weebly. You can use Weebly to build up to ten unique pages on your site with a drag-and-drop layout. It allows you to create a simple and elegant website in under an hour. Those who decide they are ready to upgrade their site or change their address can purchase a paid account for a year or longer.
There are now hundreds of thousands of mobile apps on the market, and many of them are designed specifically for self-employed professionals. These few options should help you take your business to the next level while protecting all of your hard work.