As a small business owner, you wear many hats. From scheduling appointments to doing payroll and taxes, you do it all. On top of that, you have to manage others and oversee projects. Thankfully, these top project management tools and resources can help.
If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you want to make sure your projects run smoothly. And hitting your goals on time is one of the keys to success. Not only that but automating projects helps keep competitors in check. Thus, you should invest your time and money in tools that help you work better.
Jeremy Biberdorf, the owner of Modest Money, recommends collaborative project management tools for all business owners. He calls them “the best and necessary tools to stay relevant in a marketplace saturated with competitors.” Read on to learn about the top project management tools & resources you should start using for your business.
Collaborative Team Environments
In collaborative environments, keeping your team connected will simplify projects.
And as businesses are moving to remote work policies, collaborative environments are more important than ever. That’s because they keep everyone connected. Plus, these team environments allow your workers to stay connected and work on shared documents at the same time.
The best team environments have an integrated suite of applications. Thus, here are some great examples of collaborative team environments.
- Google Suite: Includes Gmail, meet, docs, sheets, slides, calendar, tasks, chat, webinars, and more. In addition, all the Google suite products are integrated so you can edit multiple files at once.
- Slack: While not a full suite of collaborative software, Slack does communication the best. Of course, its core feature is the messaging system with channels. In addition, Slack has the ability to message other companies. It also has built-in video integration, a workflow builder and can integrate with over 2,000 other services.
- Microsoft 365: Microsoft’s platform includes the usual Microsoft Office products. It also includes Microsoft Teams, which keeps everyone connected. Similar to Google Suite, 365 allows team members to collaborate on their work.
Task Management Software
If your business often finishes long projects with many variables and steps, look into task management software. Why? Because task or project management software will make work tasks flow through your team like a river instead of a leaking faucet.
This software can assign tasks to individuals and send reminders. Then, once a task is complete, they can alert the next person their step is ready. Indeed, it is a great system that streamlines many processes.
For instance, task management software is a game-changer for remote creative agencies, enhancing operations and project management. By assigning tasks, sending reminders, and streamlining communication, this software optimizes agency workflow, ensuring efficient collaboration and timely project completion.
Here is some of the free task management software. Note that some charge for extra features or additional users:
- Wrike – Best-in-class work management software. Wrike integrates tools for marketing, project management, and calendars.
- Teamwork – Manage your teams and your projects with cloud-based software.
- Airtable – Project management software that integrates with multiple tools from CRM to databases.
- Orsolo – Organize and track projects and budgets. Custom integration of other apps.
- Trello – Cloud-based, kanban-style project task tracker.
- Workfront – Work management and project management application. You can use Workfront as a full ERP and document time tracker.
- Resource Guru – Project management software thoughtfully tailored to cater to the diverse needs of various agency teams.
One of these project management apps should really light a fire under your team. But which ones are best will depend on your team and work culture. Task management software also helps keep employees accountable while working from home.
ReadWrite.com also has a good list of productivity tools for your business.
Free-to-Use Resources for Your Business
Besides task and project management software, there are other resources to consider. For example, effective business operation is great, but keeping your operating costs down helps, too. If you can keep your costs down and make your team better at the work they do, would you do it?
You are probably thinking, yes, I would love to save money! If that sounds like you, here are some of the top free resources that your business can use:
- Cloud-based CRM (customer relationship management software)
- Hubspot: Easily manage your sales funnel. You can also integrate it with Hubspot’s marketing automation platform.
- Monday: Got a case of the Mondays? Put that to bed with an easy-to-use CRM.
- Capsule: Over 10,000 businesses use it worldwide. Capsule has a simple, easy-to-use interface.
- Freshworks: Boost your sales fast with the great tools this CRM offers.
- Business automation tools
- IFTTT: Capable of automatically adding customers to databases and more functionality.
- Zapier: Connects web apps and moves information between apps seamlessly.
- Mailchimp: Tools to design great marketing emails, automate your marketing, and view insights
- Financial planning and education
- The Motley Fool: Free investing and financial advice for employees and business owners. Plus, try a Stock Advisor subscription for Motley Fool stock recommendations.
- Inventory management
- oDoo Inventory: Free ERP with built-in inventory management.
- Loyverse: Free inventory management and point of sale software. Includes a customer loyalty program.
- Digital Marketing
- Canva: Provides easy-to-use tools to create digital marketing designs for every platform. That includes Facebook, Twitter, and logos for your website. Social media marketing is an area you should focus on.
- Placeit: Tools to create high-quality branding and marketing content for your business. Placeit makes graphic design easy.
Top Project Management Tools and Resources: Conclusion
Whatever type of business you have, chances are, you have room to improve it. Thus, you should give these project management tools a shot. Of course, there is a learning curve when using any new software. However, the benefits pay off with all the time saved. And efficiency helps, too.
Staying up to date with new technology and completing tasks efficiently will help grow your business. Free up time, money, and stress with the top project management programs and free tools today.
