October 27, 2010
7 Must Have Tech Tools to Make Your Business Life Easier
BY John Paul Narowski IN Productivity 0 Comment
So, you have a million things to do and not enough time to do them in; join the club. Until we’ve figured out how to manipulate that whole space-time continuum thing, you’re going to have to do the most you can with what you got. You’re a busy person, so let’s get right to it. Here’s seven killer tech tools every busy professional should be using if they want to be as productive as possible and make their life infinitely easier.
Hoot Suite: Social Media Account Consolidation
Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are more than just black holes of productivity, they can actually help grow your business. Hoot Suite brings all of your accounts together in one place. You can post the same message across several sites with the click of a button, respond to comments and mentions, follow new people (Twitter) and even schedule posts for the future. Since it’s web based, you can access your account from any computer with an Internet connection or even download a handy app for your smart phone. The service is only $5.99 a month for a basic plan that allows you unlimited social media accounts.
Booked Solid Cards: “Hand Written” Thank You Cards
If you’re in sales or run a business, then you know that little things like thank you cards and follow up notes can mean the difference between more business and no business. But writing these things out is a pain in the rear and people are picking up that your assistant’s exquisite handwriting isn’t yours. Enter Booked Solid Cards. This online service scans your handwriting style and signature and then mails out personalized cards and notes for you. Your customers and prospects get that personal touch from you and it’s as simple as typing an email.
Ovation: Jazzed Up Powerpoint
Turn a yawn maker of a Powerpoint presentation into something that looks like a professional made it with Adobe’s Ovation. With a few simple clicks you can kick your presentation up a few notches with motion, animation, more readable text and awesome graphical backgrounds.
Xobni: Jedi-Like Power Over Email
Xobni, or inbox spelled backwards, works in conjunction with Microsoft Outlook. It makes your inbox easily searchable and can help you find attachments that have been stolen by the email gremlins. Best yet, Xobni lets you know when emails from your most important contacts comes in and when it’s ok to ignore it completely and get some work done.
Gmail: Yeah, Just Gmail
Google’s email platform, isn’t just another free email system. Not only can you search your inbox as easily you search the web, but you can also bring all of your other email accounts under one easy to use umbrella. Have your other emails forwarded to Gmail and then you can set it up so you can respond as any of your email addresses. Example: Your bob@work.com email gets forwarded to Gmail and when you respond you can choose to show the “from” address as bob@work.com instead of crazy_drunken_idiot_on_the_weekends@gmail.com.
Evernote: Life Synchronized
Evernote is web based, has a desktop program and iPhone application, so when you take notes, bookmark a site, save a photo, record voice memos and a whole bunch of other stuff, all you have to do is upload it and it’s synchronized across all three devices. No more having to email yourself stuff when you’re going to work at home, carrying around flash drives or burning files to CD. With Evernote everything is everywhere and you can collaborate with other team members easily too.
Dragon Dictation – Voice to Text Phone App
All you have to do with Dragon Dictation is turn it on ands start talking. Your words get converted into text that can be saved as a file, sent as an email or even posted to Twitter and Facebook. This is a personal favorite of people who may have wider fingers and hate typing on keyboards were made for the Keebler Elves; yes, I am speaking from personal experience.
