By Brett Farmiloe
To help entrepreneurs work more efficiently from home, we asked CEOs and founders to recommend their favorite tech tools for home businesses. From project management platforms to Zoom videoconferencing, here are the tools successful leaders rely on to drive their businesses forward.
Favorite home tech tools for collaboration and project management
Airtable
"Operating a remote business like ours would be simply impossible without Airtable. This is a collaborative cloud tool that allows me to sync up remotely with team members on everything from day-to-day workflows to project pipelines. It has been a major boost to our productivity and organizational needs as a team. Without an in-office whiteboard to keep track of things, we’d be lost. The Kanban view and ability to pass things off to other users is particularly useful for our business workflows.
"Plus, Airtable has integrations with all the major Google apps (Docs, Sheets, Calendar, Gmail, etc.), which we leverage. Airtable integrates seamlessly with these other essential tools, making it a core part of our business operations."
—John Ross, Test Prep Insight
ClickUp
"One indispensable tech tool that our hybrid team relies on is
ClickUp. Operating in a part-home-based, digital-first environment necessitates effective project and task management. ClickUp stands out for us as it serves as an all-encompassing platform, streamlining project management, time tracking, communication, and calendar scheduling. Our retainer client management is significantly enhanced by ClickUp’s capabilities, allowing us to track progress, prioritize tasks, and stay on top of deadlines seamlessly. Its integrative features enable us to create a virtually collaborative environment, aligning team members no matter where they are based. By providing a singular view of all ongoing tasks, ClickUp allows us to optimize our workflows and maintain high levels of efficiency and productivity."
—Matt Janaway, Marketing Labs
Evernote
"Running a home-based business is not for disorganized people, especially when you're flying solo. There's always a to-do list a mile long and about a hundred ideas buzzing around. And that's where
Evernote swoops in to save the day. While it may seem like a simple note-taking app, it's almost like a digital version of the brain that helps keep everything in check. "Evernote syncs across all devices. This means whether one is cozied up on the sofa with a tablet, out and about with a phone, or in 'work mode' at a home office computer, all notes and lists are right there."
—Juliet Dreamhunter, Juliety
Google Workspace
"We manage a small group of international freelancers, and with
Google Workspace, outputs and deliverables can be quickly managed in real-time. Also, because of the platform's versatile tools, there's no need to subscribe to multiple software programs from different developers because Google Workspace already has the essential tools needed for collaboration: email, cloud storage, document editing, presentations, online meetings, and even tools for building websites. More importantly, Google Workspace easily integrates with other productivity tools, such as Asana, which is great in making business workflows more efficient and streamlined."
—Jonathan Merry, Moneyzine
Notion
"I use multiple AI and non-AI tools to run my solopreneur business entirely remotely.
Notion is the one that glues it all together. I use it to document everything from systems to key business goals, through branding guidelines, competitor analysis, financial tracking, and more. It sort of acts as my business's second brain."
—Karim Bel Hadj Soulami, Creme de la Karim
Other essential home tech tools
video conferencingwww.allbusiness.com
Accounting: QuickBooks
"QuickBooks is a useful tool for keeping our books up-to-date and helping us manage our business's cash flow by tracking income and expenses. It also helps us understand the financial health of our business—without us having to spend a lot of money. A background in accounting is not necessary to use this tool. It has a user-friendly dashboard that provides insight into a business's cash flow, expenses, profit, and revenue. In addition, it features accounts and online payment receipts for remote employees."
—
Young Pham, BizReport
Scheduling: Calendly
I quickly learned that with remote work, a great calendar and scheduling app is a must. With
Calendly and many other scheduling tools, you can build calendar rules and set time blocks based on your ongoing and daily availability. Rather than going back and forth countless times trying to find a time both parties can meet, teammates, clients, and anyone else can look at your schedule and book a time slot that suits you both. All you need to do is share a link! When you work from home, it's essential to cut out those time-consuming conversations so they don't take over your day and ruin productivity."
—Jack Underwood, Circuit
Social media management: HootSuite
"We use
HootSuite to automate nearly all aspects of our social media, and to save hours every week for social media posting and channel management. We only have to spend a few hours getting everything uploaded and scheduled, and it takes care of the rest. To save time and improve our efficiency even more, we upload all of our content in batches so that we can tag and schedule everything in bulk."
—Jonathan Elster, EcomHalo
Videoconferencing: Zoom
"One indispensable tool for running my home-based digital marketing agency is Zoom. The need for seamless, real-time communication is paramount in my business, and Zoom has played an integral role in bridging gaps.
"I recall one particular instance when a client, based halfway across the globe, wanted a quick strategy revision meeting. Thanks to Zoom, we could get on a video call within minutes, sharing screens to collaboratively tweak the plan. This immediate face-to-face interaction helped us effectively resolve the issue, contributing directly to a successful campaign that improved the client's ROI by a significant margin."
—Ryan Steinolfson, Accelerate Marketing
About the Author
Post by: Brett Farmiloe
Brett Farmiloe is the founder and CEO of Terkel, a Q&A site that converts insights from small business owners into high-quality articles for brands.
Company: Terkel
Website:
Terkel.io
Connect with me on
LinkedIn.
