Harnessing Technology for Productivity: 20 Tools Recommended by Entrepreneurs

Within the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship, productiveness instruments are very important. We’ve gathered insights from CEOs, founders, and different tech-savvy leaders to share the instruments which have revolutionized their workflow. From centralizing duties with Notion to automating e mail advertising with Mailchimp, discover the highest twenty productiveness hacks that these professionals swear by.

• Centralize Duties with Notion
• Streamline Communication with Slack
• AI Instruments Improve Content material Creation
• Todoist Simplifies Activity Administration
• Captions and ChatGPT Increase Advertising
• Google Duties for Easy Activity Administration
• Teamwork and Hunter.io Optimize Workflow
• AI and Zapier for Automated Effectivity
• Evernote for Complete Be aware-Taking
• Google Calendar for Rigorous Scheduling
• Hubstaff and ClickUp for Crew Productiveness
• StayFocused Blocks On-line Distractions
• Movement AI Manages Good Scheduling
• Beeminder Enforces Productiveness with Stakes
• Canva Simplifies Skilled Graphic Design
• Google Analytics Informs Content material Technique
• Automation Transforms Startup Operations
• Asana Centralizes Challenge Administration
• Google Suite Streamlines Enterprise Operations
• Mailchimp Automates E mail Advertising

Centralize Duties with Notion

Notion is my go-to instrument as an entrepreneur. It serves as my central hub for organizing ideas, concepts, and duties. Its versatility in dealing with varied duties—from creating Kanban boards for challenge administration to organising wikis for info sharing—streamlines my workflow considerably. 

The standout function, nonetheless, is its database performance. I can view and manipulate quite a lot of information in quite a few codecs, catering to completely different wants. I take advantage of Notion as a catch-all; something that crosses my thoughts goes into it.

Scott Gabdullin, CEO and Founder, Learo

Streamline Communication with Slack

Slack has been a game-changer in facilitating seamless communication inside my workforce of music lecturers. With devoted channels for concert events, classes, and basic discussions, Slack ensures centered and arranged conversations. The power to share recordsdata, hyperlinks, and schedules in actual time streamlines live performance preparations and lesson planning, holding everybody on the identical web page.

Options like direct messaging and group calls allow fast clarifications and discussions, fostering collaboration no matter geographical limitations.

General, it’s a instrument that enhances coordination, minimizes misunderstandings, and boosts productiveness amongst my music workforce.

Alan Senejani, Co-Founder, Digital Advertising Director, LVL Music Academy

AI Instruments Improve Content material Creation

As a content material marketer, I take advantage of a mixture of AI instruments which have confirmed to enhance my each day productiveness. I don’t imagine in one-click article writers, however I take advantage of a number of instruments that make my course of of making content material a lot sooner.

Perplexity is a kind of instruments, an actual lifesaver relating to conducting in-depth analysis. It helps me rapidly discover related info, for instance, related research or statistics, saving me hours that I used to spend Googling and trying to find it myself.

HyperWrite is one other instrument in my arsenal, considerably rushing up my writing course of. With a wise AI assistant and quick Sort-Aheads, it helps me draft high-quality content material in a fraction of the time it used to take.

I take advantage of many different instruments for various functions too, resembling for search engine marketing or branding, and introducing each new instrument has a transformative impact on my workflow. They permit me to focus extra on inventive technique and fewer on time-consuming duties like analysis and writing. I’m wanting ahead to the brand new innovations within the AI business that we’ll inevitably see in 2024!

Juliet Dreamhunter, Founder, Juliety

---

Subscribe to The Begin, the E-newsletter Constructed for Entrepreneurs

---

Todoist Simplifies Activity Administration

I’ve had the chance to work with a plethora of instruments to reinforce productiveness and effectivity. Amongst these, one instrument notably stands out for its simplicity and effectiveness: Todoist.

Todoist is a job and challenge administration instrument that shines with its ease of use and intuitive interface. What has notably aided me is the best way Todoist permits the structuring of each day duties and long-term initiatives. With Todoist, I can effortlessly plan my day, set deadlines, and prioritize duties. This has allowed me to remain organized and centered, even throughout the busiest intervals.

Some of the useful points of Todoist is its potential to combine advanced processes right into a easy and manageable system. This has considerably improved the effectivity of my work, permitting me to take care of an outline of my initiatives whereas managing each day particulars. Furthermore, its collaborative function has enabled me to work successfully with my groups, guaranteeing clean communication and clear job distribution.

In abstract, Todoist isn’t just a job administration instrument, however a real accomplice in managing my advertising initiatives. Its simplicity belies unimaginable energy and suppleness, making it an indispensable instrument for any entrepreneur trying to optimize their effectivity and productiveness.

Guillaume Le Port, Webdesigner, btg communication

Captions and ChatGPT Increase Advertising

The 2 expertise instruments which were game-changers for me as an entrepreneur are an app referred to as Captions and ChatGPT. As you realize, as an entrepreneur, now we have to put on all of the hats. Nicely, advertising and promoting are usually not my strengths, and these two instruments have allowed me to plan out my week with prompts for content material. 

So, when on my devoted day for content material batching, it makes the method that rather more environment friendly and efficient. Now, I’m able to ship out constant emails and submit persistently on social media with out having days, weeks, or a month go by, leaving my viewers questioning if my enterprise nonetheless exists.

Kenston Henderson, Sr., Chief Empowerment Officer, Stay With Lyfe, LLC

Google Duties for Easy Activity Administration

I reside in Google Duties. It’s not that it’s the most effective or most superb utility; it’s extra essential that I take advantage of it solely to handle each single factor that comes into my queue. Slightly than choosing the proper system, decide a system and keep it up. That is the last word and most boring effectivity hack.

Trevor Ewen, COO, QBench




Teamwork and Hunter.io Optimize Workflow

Teamwork is my most important instrument of alternative for challenge administration. It’s how I set up initiatives and assign duties to my distant workforce. The time-tracking function lets me understand how a lot time workers spend on their work, and I can depart feedback with suggestions and productiveness ideas.

One other indispensable instrument for me is Hunter.io. It’s my absolute must-have for e mail outreach when constructing backlinks. Its e mail finder function saves me worthwhile hours that I might in any other case spend manually trying to find contact info.

Nikola Baldikov, Founder, InBound Running a blog

AI and Zapier for Automated Effectivity

I make the most of a killer combo: AI and Zapier. It’s like having an additional workforce ten occasions our measurement, however extra environment friendly and dependable. This synergy lets us sidestep the each day busy work, which frees up my time to give attention to progress.

Justin Silverman, Founder and CEO, Merchynt

Evernote for Complete Be aware-Taking

I take advantage of task-oriented to-do checklist instruments. As a productiveness junkie, I’ve tried a bunch of to-do checklist apps to handle the endless duties of entrepreneurship. I began with Any.do, then moved to Trello, performed round with Habitica, and even gave Wunderlist a go. 

Sadly, most to-do lists focus extra on ticking off small jobs slightly than fostering in-depth pondering. It appears extra satisfying to test off easy duties than to spend 3 hours fascinated about a job earlier than even including it to the checklist. That’s why I wanted a to-do checklist that comes with a powerful note-taking function to assist set up my ideas. For me, that instrument is Evernote. 

In my expertise, Evernote is among the high note-taking apps obtainable. Evernote is nice for me as a result of it shops, organizes, and searches all my ideas, notes, voice recordings, photos, recordsdata, and anything I put in it. It’s cloud-based, so I can entry it from any laptop, smartphone, or pill. I additionally use it to categorize and set up my notes utilizing Evernote’s tags, geolocation options, notebooks, and stacks of notebooks.

Valuable Abacan, Advertising Director, Softlist

Google Calendar for Rigorous Scheduling

I’ve carried out some intense productiveness hacks with Google Calendar synchronized throughout gadgets. Not many individuals have tried this, but it surely labored nicely for the 2 months I did it. I scheduled out my total day in calendar blocks: breakfast, Pomodoro classes, areas that I might use to take calls, and free areas for leisure.

Then, I caught to this with out lacking a calendar block. On weekends, I might haven’t any scheduling.

Throughout gadgets, I might get notified when a brand new block was to start, so I might wrap up the block I used to be engaged in. I used to be wildly productive throughout this time. Nevertheless, after two months, the rigorous schedule started feeling monotonous, and I ended as a result of I wasn’t having fun with it.

There’s a simplicity to productiveness that always goes unacknowledged. The easiest way to be productive is to benefit from the work sufficient that you simply wish to do it. In the event you don’t have that luxurious, the second-best possibility is small chunking.

I take advantage of the Pomodoro method to small-chunk duties—unenjoyable and fulfilling—to be productive with out burnout. Scheduling the best way I did works as nicely—particularly for sprints. You’ll be hyper-productive for 2-4 months. Then, you’ll need a break from the schedule.

Edward Sturm, Fractional CMO, Edwardsturm.com

Hubstaff and ClickUp for Crew Productiveness

Make the most of varied productive instruments (like Hubstaff and ClickUp) to spice up your effectivity!

With so many functions available on the market, discovering the one that may be your effectivity accomplice is essential, and I’ve lastly discovered my productive toolkit.

Firstly, I make the most of Hubstaff. Its detailed analytics and time-tracking capabilities allow me to watch challenge progress and workforce productiveness successfully, guaranteeing each minute counts.

I additionally use Google Calendar to allocate time slots for varied duties and conferences, guaranteeing a well-organized and productive day. This deliberate scheduling helps stop burnout and retains me centered on enterprise progress and private well-being.

Lastly, my workforce and I’ve began utilizing ClickUp as our challenge administration instrument. Its complete options provide a panoramic view of initiatives, deadlines, and workforce duties, streamlining challenge administration and enhancing workforce coordination.

All these instruments collectively type an ecosystem that helps the varied points of my work.

Madhurima Halder, Content material Supervisor, Recruit CRM

StayFocused Blocks On-line Distractions

The actual productiveness take a look at is if you’re engaged on your self and your corporation with correct self-discipline. I gained’t think about being productive simply by earning money for another person; the true productiveness comes if you’re making processes and duties environment friendly for your self. There are a great deal of distractions round us, particularly when working from dwelling.

To remain hyper-focused and be sure that I’m not losing my time, I’ve downloaded a Chrome extension named StayFocused, which merely blocks out all of the nonsense, time-consuming web sites from my desktop and permits me to open solely those that want my focus and a focus. Certainly, apps like YouTube might help in analysis, or we might must order pressing merchandise from Amazon, however not between the ten a.m. to 4 p.m. hours that I’ve set on the StayFocused extension.

There are occasions once we merely can’t resist and must open WhatsApp, YouTube, and so on., on our desktop, however turning off these productiveness instruments would make you are feeling responsible and set off an impulse to return again to regular, no-distraction working.

Alex Mastin, CEO and Founder, Residence Grounds

Movement AI Manages Good Scheduling

As an entrepreneur, I closely depend on AI-powered good calendars and scheduling instruments. One among my favourite instruments on this space is Movement. Its AI-driven good calendar capabilities revolutionize how I handle my time. 

With its intuitive interface and superior algorithms, Movement effectively organizes my schedule, adapts to my preferences, and intelligently suggests assembly occasions. Its potential to easily combine with different instruments and apps ensures a clean workflow and minimizes administrative overhead. 

This instrument has considerably elevated my effectivity by automating scheduling complexities and offering a holistic view of my commitments, empowering me to navigate my entrepreneurial ventures extra successfully.

Mike Stuzzi, Founder, Mike Stuzzi

---

Verizon Digital Prepared: Offering Entrepreneurs the Abilities and Data They Want

---

Beeminder Enforces Productiveness with Stakes

Earlier than utilizing Beeminder, I’d typically procrastinate or inconsistently evaluation competitor actions, which is a key facet of strategic planning. With Beeminder, I set a purpose to dedicate 4 hours each week to this job. 

Over three months, I noticed a 30% enhance in strategic insights gained, a 25% enchancment in response time to market adjustments, and a 15% uptick in focused advertising effectivity. The instrument’s monetary stake ingredient stored me persistently engaged; lacking every week would value me $5. The common competitor evaluation led to extra knowledgeable decision-making and a greater understanding of market tendencies. 

Research in behavioral economics, notably on loss aversion by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, validate Beeminder’s strategy: The potential for monetary loss is a stronger motivator than potential good points, a precept central to Beeminder’s purpose enforcement technique. Don’t belief me—take the helpful job you might be too lazy to do and begin working with it utilizing Beeminder.

Itay Malinski, Founder and CEO, AlohaDigital

Canva Simplifies Skilled Graphic Design

Canva has been a game-changer for creating fast, professional-looking graphics for my enterprise. As somebody who isn’t a designer by commerce, Canva’s user-friendly interface and huge template library have allowed me to provide high-quality visible content material simply. It’s been instrumental in enhancing our advertising supplies and social media presence with out the necessity for costly design software program or outsourcing.

Hardy Desai, Founder, Supple Digital

Google Analytics Informs Content material Technique

Social media analytics software program like Google Analytics helps us monitor our content material efficiency and make adjustments in keeping with what’s working for us. Whereas Google Analytics isn’t solely centered on social media efficiency, it may provide built-in and insightful analytics about person habits, establish conversion targets, and phase our content material extra successfully. It is best to select the instruments that finest match your corporation targets, as business, scale, and buyer base all influence technique. 

For us, video content material on Instagram engages our viewers greater than different content material sorts, and we are able to monitor impressions and the way typically content material is shared utilizing a set of analytics software program. For our purchasers, as a distinct instance, we measure marketing campaign efficiency based mostly on the kind of progress or outcomes they’re searching for. For extending consciousness, measuring impressions, feedback, shares, and conversions are useful efficiency measures. For rising conversions, we would have a look at how successfully distinctive content material motivates a lead or click-through.

Kevin Miller, Founder, kevinmiller.com

Automation Transforms Startup Operations

Our startup is dedicated to harnessing the ability of automation to optimize our operations. For instance, our Advertising Division makes use of AI instruments like Rev and Jasper, which permit us to provoke content material items with better effectivity and creativity. 

Equally, our Finance Division makes use of a classy accounts payable and accounts receivable automation system. The platform has optimized our total billing course of with clients and facilitated smoother transactions with our distributors. Adopting these automation instruments has really remodeled our workforce and allowed us to scale for main progress in 2023, considerably decreasing the time we spend on guide, repetitive duties. 

These instruments have critically enhanced our productiveness and the effectiveness of our operations. Talking from my expertise as a Content material Advertising Supervisor, leveraging Jasper and Rev saves me roughly 20 hours per week.

Katie White, Content material Advertising Supervisor, Centime

Asana Centralizes Challenge Administration

This yr, I started utilizing Asana, and it’s been a game-changer for my productiveness!

Each morning, once I log into Asana, I do know precisely what I want to do this day to make progress towards my mid- and long-term targets and keep centered on what really issues, which wasn’t the case earlier than I included it into my routine. It centralizes all my info, initiatives, and deadlines, giving me a transparent overview of all enterprise actions and transferring items. I’ve additionally saved all SOPs in Asana, simplifying delegation and facilitating communication with workforce members and freelancers.

For me, Asana is actually the one productiveness and challenge administration instrument that retains issues easy, intuitive, and user-friendly with out including pointless complexity to planning. But, it nonetheless has all of the options entrepreneurs would possibly want. It has develop into the spine of my enterprise—I take advantage of it each single day and may’t think about operating my enterprise with out it.

Ana Colak-Fustin, Founder, ByRecruiters

Google Suite Streamlines Enterprise Operations

As an entrepreneur, my go-to productiveness instrument is Google Suite. It’s a easy but highly effective set of functions like Gmail, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Calendar that seamlessly combine into my workflow. These instruments have considerably improved my effectivity by offering a centralized platform for my workforce’s communication, collaboration, and doc administration.

Whether or not it’s drafting proposals in Google Docs, coordinating schedules by Calendar, or sharing recordsdata effortlessly on Google Drive, the suite streamlines my enterprise operations. It’s additionally cloud-based, so it means we are able to entry it from wherever, fostering collaboration amongst workforce members, and the real-time updates function has been a game-changer for staying on high of my initiatives.

Johannes Larsson, Founder and CEO, JohannesLarsson.com

Mailchimp Automates E mail Advertising

For e mail advertising, Mailchimp has been my most well-liked instrument. Its ease of use in creating e mail campaigns, managing subscriber lists, and analyzing marketing campaign efficiency has been invaluable. The automation options, resembling welcome emails and customer-journey workflows, have helped in personalizing our communication and rising engagement.

Tom Golubovich, Head of Advertising, Ninja Transfers

Photograph by Wrightstudio | Dreamstime.com

---

Most Learn: What Is the Common Revenue of a Subway Restaurant Franchise Proprietor?