Money-Saving Tech Options for Small Business Owners
As a small business owner, you have a lot on your plate. You’re busy overseeing marketing, networking with potential clients, and communicating with your customers when they need you.
You may feel like you’re on the job twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. That’s why it’s so important for you to take any chance you can get to simplify processes so you can give yourself a break without sacrificing quality or productivity. No, you may not be able to afford to hire employees to deal with every aspect of your company, but you might be able to find some tech or software that will take up some of the slack for you.
Social media marketing.
Marketing is tricky because if you aren’t careful you can end up pouring capital into campaigns that don’t yield results. At the same time, marketing is essential for your company. So you need to find a way to invest in affordable marketing with a high likelihood of positive results. Especially for a small business owner or freelancer without a lot of capital to play around with, you need to be cautious and strategic in your approach to marketing. This is why social media marketing can be a huge money-saver. Creating and boosting ads on social media can be quite inexpensive; however, you should still use analytics to figure out the habits of your target audience so you don’t waste time on campaigns that go nowhere.
Whatever kind of social media presence you have, photos are going to be a big part of how you engage viewers. Vistasuite is a great tool for simplifying storing and sharing photos between team members so your social staff (plus other employees) won’t have to manually track down and send photos to each other every time they’re needed for a campaign. Learn more about Vistasuite here!
Time and task management software.
Small business owners and freelancers who self-direct need to be careful about how they manage their time when there’s no one to hold them to it. Poor time management means you will begin missing deadlines, and this could eventually have a negative impact on your reputation and reviews. Additionally, you need to be precise about how you calculate time spent on projects to make sure you are neither overcharging nor undercharging clients. Using a time tracking app or software can help you use your time wisely as well as save you the trouble of trying to keep track yourself.
Planning and event timeline
The most important aspect of planning is to give yourself enough time. It’s incredible how time vanishes when you’re up against a deadline. For larger events, you should ideally give yourself 4-6 months for planning and execution.
If the date is flexible, check for any potential clashes. You don’t want to book a venue, only to find out that your event clashes with an important religious holiday or that a key guest speaker is unavailable that day.
To ensure everything goes smoothly, we recommend creating a master plan and timeline that incorporates all the key deadlines in the lead up to the event. This will also help you to designate tasks to your team. Your timeline could include: submission of permits, insurance policies, confirmation of any guest speakers, marketing and promotion key dates, invites sent out, rsvp deadline, and a detailed timeline for the actual day.
Automated bookkeeping and payroll.
Keeping up with your accounts can take a lot of time and be mentally exhausting. Plus, busy business owners may accidentally miscalculate if they are disorganized, distracted, or in a hurry.
Small business owners and freelancers who worry that hiring an accountant is beyond their budget might want to consider bookkeeping software. Especially if you have some employees and are trying to keep track of payroll, using an online platform can take away a lot of the guesswork and save you time. If you upgrade to a full service payroll platform, you will be able to keep your system better organized, and also have the benefits of automatic scheduling and rapid direct deposit.
Business management software.
You may also be interested in software that will give you access to fully integrated business management systems. A good software package will give you the assistance you need with document sharing, time management, team collaboration, and invoice management. Also look for programs that offer you templates for different documents and records to save you the time and trouble of looking for them or, even worse, trying to create them from scratch. Many of these management programs are extremely affordable for small businesses, too.
It’s important for you to be budget-savvy in your business management but remember that sometimes spending a little money now can help you save a lot down the road. Investing in these and other tech options can be a smart financial choice for a small business owner or freelancer and may pay off in more ways than you initially imagined.
Don’t miss an update!
Have every Vistasuite blog post delivered directly to your inbox.
Vistasuite puts real-time visual communication in your pocket. It's a single hub where internal and external photo sharing joins forces and project management lives in one place, so you can finally collaborate with the right people, at the right time. Learn more.