Have you ever been presented with new technology that professes to make your work-life easier to manage and more productive, and then thought to yourself, “Nah, I’m good?”
You may want to reconsider.
If you’re having trouble keeping track of your time and productivity levels, one of these apps could help. Here’s a rundown of some of the most popular choices:
HoneyBook (honeybook.com)
Jenna Kutcher of “The Goal Digger Podcast” loves it, so it’s gotta be good, right? HoneyBook was created to help “creative entrepreneurs and freelancers book more clients, manage projects, and get paid—all in one place.” The customer relationship management software is billed as being “like your own personal assistant.” Access ready-to-use templates (invoices, contracts, proposals, brochures, etc.), manage your bookkeeping, build out automated workflow actions, track your time, and generate reports and charts that give you a bird’s eye of your client leads, projects, bookings, and financial performance. HoneyBook isn’t cheap—it costs $40 monthly, or $400 for an annual plan. But it’s a great app to add some professional polish to your documents and client management, which can also free you up to focus on what you’re getting paid to do.
Trello (trello.com)
Project management app Trello is organized around the creation of “boards,” “lists,” and “cards” that help teams work more collaboratively and productively, from start to finish. Start your project on Trello by creating a “board”—similar to a visualization or mood board, but for team project management. Next, add “structure” to the board by creating lists, what Trello also refers to as a “collection of cards” that organizes ideas, tasks, or updates. Based on the cards you’ve created, you’ll fill in the content. For example, if one of the cards is titled Key Dates, you’ll add those key dates for everyone to follow. Add more detail to the cards with functionalities that allow you to add files, checklists, due dates, comments, and more. Trello might not put an end to the unproductive “this-could-have-just-been-an-email” meetings, but it’s a start.
GSuite (gsuite.google.com)
GSuite just makes communication and collaboration easier, inherently boosting productivity. GSuite offers different features depending on the level of service needed—$6 per user per month for its basic plan, $12 per user for business, and $25 per user for enterprise-grade. With each plan, GSuite offers additional layers of customization, storage, security, and admin controls with its lineup of communication, collaboration and task management apps, like Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, Photos, Calendar, and Keep that will help you get work done. If you need it just for yourself as a freelancer or solopreneur, tap into many of these same Google apps for free to collaborate with clients, vendors, or colleagues.
Todoist (todoist.com)
Are you still keeping tabs on your to-do list with post-its or desk blotters? Time to check out Todoist. Amazon, Facebook, Disney and WeWork use the task manager app, a 2019 Editor’s Choice by Google. Todoist lets you assign tasks and due dates, set priority levels and reminders, and sync up other apps like Google Calendar, Slack, Workflow, and Dropbox, among numerous other features, all in the name of helping you keep track of what you need to do to move a project forward. At the end of the day, check the Your Productivity view, which gives you a satisfying (that is, if you actually got work done) infographic on your task completion and productivity levels. Todoist is free for starters, $3 per month for pros, and moves up to $5 per month for business teams.
Asana (asana.com)
Asana’s tagline: “Make more time for the work that matters most.” Workflow management platform Asana has productivity written all over it—companies like Airbnb, NASA, and The New York Times use it. Asana offers free and paid plans—basic is free, premium is $10.99 per user monthly, while business-grade is $24.99 per user monthly. (Asana also offers an enterprise-level subscription, which, presumably, comes with a higher price tag.) To get started, users can create project plans on which to collaborate using an array of templates, from content calendars and event planning sketches to product marketing launches and RFPs. And from there, the customization is seemingly endless. Overall, Asana’s goal is to help you manage and monitor daily tasks and to-dos, project plans, deadlines, and team collabs and assignments, from strategy to execution at-a-glance, so you can more effectively and efficiently reach your business goals and avoid sitting through yet another needless update meeting.