A guest post from Lisa Walker.

If you’re an entrepreneur, finding the time to combine work and play can be a challenge. You deserve to have both a thriving business, the headspace to develop compelling brand content, and the freedom to spend time with your family or your hobbies without having to give up on either one. 

ZenBusiness lays out a few ways to create more time in both your work world and your personal life, but there are also apps specifically designed for maximising productivity and saving time.

Oh, and without further ado, here they are:

Communication apps: A host of apps that allow you to stay in touch and share information with friends, family, and co-workers without having to spend time on work emails or phone calls. The ease of use and the option to have instant notifications make these productivity-boosting beauties the cornerstone of solid collaboration. 

Telegram and WhatsApp are still top-rated communication apps, generally speaking, although many businesses turn to apps with additional project management or communicative features, like Slack. 

Time management apps: These apps help you organize your day, prioritise tasks, and keep track of the time that’s passing so that you can better manage how much work you’re doing. It’s best to use an integrated app for your personal and business life to cover your whole daily schedule and make sure that you stay on top of everything. 

There’s a wide range of options out there depending on your preferences, including habit tracking, to-do lists, recurring tasks, and more. So make sure you think about what you expect out of your time management app before you commit to one, and you’ll find one that suits your needs.

Project management apps: A project management app is a great way to keep your team on the same page. This type of app helps with planning and budgeting a specific project, lets you assign tasks to different people, and shares files or other types of information. 

The best thing about project management apps is that they’re customisable based on the specific needs of an entrepreneur or small business owner. And, you can also create a separate project with home-based tasks that you can share with your family to make sure everything gets done. Try Evernote or Trello to keep all your home or work projects on track.

Essential business apps: The ability to have all of the most crucial business apps on your mobile device will make it easier for you to stay up to date with everything that’s going on in your company at a glance.  

Depending on your business, you might want to be able to access real-time point of sales data, invoicing, or company accounting through apps like QuickBooks.

A good inventory management app will also allow you to transform your distribution business (if you have one) by tracking your stock levels in real-time and identifying any potential issues or errors before they happen—operational hiccups like out-of-stock items or supplier difficulties—through integration with order management interfaces. 

By making the most of all of the handy technology that the latest apps provide us, entrepreneurs can take a break from the day-to-day while still being reachable for team members and customers in case of any emergency. 

If you’ve ever felt like your work was taking over your life, or if you need more time to focus on other things (like family), it may be worth giving some of these a try.

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Photo via Unsplash