4 Time-Saving Apps Useful for Every Harried Entrepreneur You can't add hours to the day but technology can do more of the chores that get in the way of actually building your business.
By Pratik Dholakiya Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
As an entrepreneur, the one thing that I consistently wish for is for more hours in a day. Every startup has so many things to get done that getting all the boxes checked each day seems well-nigh impossible. However, I won't give in to the friendly startup chaos. I've found ways to create time where there is none.
Here are four secrets behind my time-stretching shenanigans.
1. Zirtual.
Zirtual is your very own personal assistant in cyberspace. Confused? Well, most small businesses are lean outfits with just enough people to get things going along smoothly. This means, having a personal assistant to run around doing time consuming chores is a luxury most small businesses can ill-afford.
Zirtual offers small businesses exactly this in the form of a virtual assistant. With a Zirtual account, you can delegate non-productive tasks like filing invoices, chasing clients for payments, scheduling meetings into your calendar, making travel bookings, finding contact information for a potential client and so much more. With all your time-sinks out of the way, you now have all the time in the world to focus on what you do best -- growing your business.
2. LiquidSpace.
LiquidSpace is, hands down, my favorite app to locate workspaces in any city in the world. The app offers freelancers, startups and small businesses the option of working in a shared office space without compromising on the quality of office infrastructure.
It hunts down fully-outfitted workspaces to suit every kind of business need -- from a single work desk to multiple desks, meeting rooms, conference rooms to private offices. No more wasting time running from one end of town to another in a new city for multiple meetings through the day.
LiquidSpace is perfect for a startup with just a handful of team members who need to work together from a fully equipped, co-working space, or even for freelance consultants and coaches who want to schedule a client meeting or a training session. LiquidSpace gives you the option of renting spaces by the hour, per day or even on a monthly basis.
Related: Office Space à la Carte Is on the Menu for Some Entrepreneurs
3. CamCard.
I used to dread attending trade events. Not because I am uncomfortable among large, milling crowds (I am), but because I would invariably end up with a stack of business cards from people I don't even remember meeting. This card maze is not just a result of trade events. Even regular meetings with people in your office leads to a gigantic build-up of business cards that are never available when I need to make that all-important phone call from my car outside my apartment.
CamCard puts an end to this mess that nearly every business owner has faced. All you need to do is take a picture of the business card you just received. CamCard reads the data on the card (in 16 different languages) and saves all the contact details for future use. The data for each contact gets updated instantly when your contact joins a new company or changes his number. Contact data is synced across all your devices making it available to you whenever you want it, wherever you want it. You can search for individual contacts in CamCard's address book, add notes about a particular contact or even build your own virtual business card that you can share with your contacts.
Related: 5 Reasons Business Cards Still Matter
4. Flyp.
Ever had those moments when you wanted to separate work from pleasure in every way possible? While it's possible to have physically separate spaces for work and home, what would you do about your phone number? Getting two phones can be a real hassle and most people just resign themselves to using the same phone number for everything.
Not anymore. With Flyp, you can now have a bunch of different phone numbers all parked inside a single phone. All your texts, voice messages and calls for each number get stored in one unified feed. Flyp also offers a unique voice-to-text feature that you can use to respond to callers when answering an incoming call is inconvenient.
The real benefit of Flyp comes in its amazing flexibility. With a dedicated mobile number for work, you offer clients the option of reaching you outside of work hours. However, you still retain the choice of muting the business number when you are immersed in a family activity or don't want to be disturbed.
Related: The Jury Is Still Out on Texting for Professional Communication
