Top Business Tools for Efficient Entrepreneurs

In order to succeed as an entrepreneur in today’s world, you need a few things: Guts, grit, brains, and the ability to take risks — just to name a few.

But even the smartest entrepreneurs need a little help now and then. That’s where professional tools come in.

No matter what type of business you’re running (or dream of starting), the right tools can help you communicate more effectively with your team, become more organized, look more professional, and save lots of precious time.

Let’s take a look at some of the top tools for entrepreneurs in a few key entrepreneurial areas.

Best Team Communication Tool: Slack

Imagine being able to reach everyone on your team via instant message and live chat, with dedicated channels for specific teams and topics. You’d have less email, better organization, and an archive of all your most important conversations. That’s Slack.

According to Slack, it’s “where work happens.” And they aren’t joking. Slack is an extremely powerful communications tool that you can use for just about everything. From internal team communications to external support requests, Slack can easily handle it all.

Slack also allows file sharing so you to send files and attachments just like any basic email service. And it’s able to integrate with common applications such as Google Drive, GitHub, and more!

Not only that, but it’s pretty essential for teams on the go. Slack isn’t only available as a web application, but it also works wonders as a mobile app. That way team members can send text messaging as long as WIFI is available.

Honorable Mentions:

• Trello – Trello is like a virtual corkboard that you can use to assign tasks, keep track of your progress, or set reminders — all to help you optimize your productivity. Set up different boards for different aspects of your work and neatly organize via drag and drop methods.
• Basecamp – Basecamp is a full-sized project management tool. It’s a web-based platform that has the ability to neatly organize your entire company. Basecamp does take a little time getting used to though. And while it has a mobile app, I wouldn’t recommend it. The beefy program doesn’t translate well to a lightweight app.

Best Video Conference Tool: Zoom

Communication is the key to any successful relationship, and that includes your professional ones. Zoom really shines here. It’s a lightweight web-based platform that can handle up to 100 separate video participants and lets people call in from a phone when needed. So addressing your team becomes a breeze.

But that doesn’t mean every participant is cluttering up the screen at once. Zoom’s recognition software determines who is actually speaking and makes them front and center.

And all of this is available for free! Now, the free version does come with a limited time period for conference calls. But once the time is up, you can just hop right back on with no cooldown period. You can also opt for a paid plan which eliminates the time restriction and offers a bunch of extra add-ons.

Honorable Mention:

• Skype – This is one of the original video call platforms and it still holds up in a pinch. However, many users are finding Skype to be a little clunky and outdated. Plus, Skype and Microsoft updates do have the tendency to eat up more computer RAM than necessary, causing performance issues.

Best Writing Improvement Tool: ProWritingAid

There’s probably a good chance that you're going to have to do some kind of writing along your entrepreneurial path in order to grow your business. Whether it’s a blog, parts of a book, or a well thought-out email… somebody is going to have to read your writing. That why it behooves you to edit and properly proofread.

But what if you just aren’t that great when it comes to the written word?

That’s where ProWritingAid comes in. It is hands down the best editing, proofreading, and writing improvement software available today. It includes spell checks and grammar checks, style checks, tone checks, vocabulary support, and more all in real-time!

This is one paid software that you really need to get your hands on. For more info, check out my full in-depth review on Kindlepreneur.com.

Honorable Mentions:

• Grammarly – Grammarly is another good pro tool when it comes to editing and proofreading. It’s similar to PWA just not as in-depth. They do happen to have a leg up on PWA when it comes to plagiarism checks though as those come standard as part of Grammarly’s premium options.
• Hemingway Editor – Hemingway Editor is a free, lightweight web-based tool that really hones in on how reader-friendly your writing is. It accomplishes this by highlighting complicated sections of text you might want to take another look. Just copy and paste your writing into this handy tool and see where you stand.

Best Social Media Organizational Platform: Hootsuite

Social media is one of the most powerful ways to get your brand in front of your target customers. What started out as a simple way to communicate between friends, classmates, and loved ones has quickly evolved into a worldwide phenomenon where even world leaders can communicate directly with their constituents.

That being said…staying active on social media can help your brand stand apart. And Hootsuite is a great tool that can help you do that.

From just one platform, you can plan and produce social posts for the Big 3 sites (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) along with Google, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Just sync up your accounts, and social media has never been easier.

Honorable Mention:

• SmarterQueue – SmarterQueue is extremely similar to Hootsuite, and it does have the ability to re-queue posts — although I don’t necessarily recommend spamming the same post too many times. And if you’re looking for YouTube…Hootsuite is the way to go.

Best Email Service Provider for Blogging: ConvertKit

If you have a website, there’s a pretty good chance you’re also going to have a blog. Blogs are wonderful places to start building a targeted audience for whatever service or good you plan to provide. Simply get people to subscribe and start building an email list you can send emails to whenever you want.

But having all these addresses is one thing. Managing them is a whole new animal.

Thankfully, ConvertKit makes life easy for you. It’s an easy-to-use tool that helps you grow your email list with a professional opt-in form builder, organize your subscribers through tags, automate your marketing with email funnels, and reach your subscribers through easy to send broadcasts.

Honorable Mentions:

• Mailchimp – Mailchimp is another great option and it has a free tier. I would definitely recommend this if you are managing multiple subscriber lists or are looking for that extra design element in your emails.
• GetResponse – GetResponse is solid, low cost email tool with a surprising number of features.

Tools Make Your Journey Easier and More Efficient

If you’re ready to up your entrepreneurship game, keep one thing in mind: You don’t have to go it alone.

Using pro tools such as these can not only make you more productive, but can help you run your business and take your company to new heights.

Make the wise choice and invest in some useful tools that will help you reach the goals you are working so hard to hit.

Cheers!

If you’re ready to up your entrepreneurship game, keep one thing in mind: You don’t have to go it alone. #Youpreneur Click To Tweet