When it comes to running any small business, having the proper software is critical. There are so many great appliances for your phone that you can download immediately to help get you more organized and streamline productivity.  

Whether your small business is running a fashion blog or selling handmade wares on Etsy, these applications are going to be a game changer — trust me, sis.

Planoly

Photo: Planoly

This relatively new app allows you to curate and organize your Instagram feed. Not only can you arrange your pics in a preferred order, but you can also schedule your social media posts within the app. And, let's be real, that's what makes this an essential social media tool. Planoly does come with a monthly $9 fee to download, but it is a business investment you won't be sorry about, sis.

Design Wizard

Photo: Design Wizard

A viable alternative to the likes of Canva, Snappa, Crello, Animoto, Magisto, etc., this graphic design program offers a lower cost licensing model, and all of the tool's features are available in its free subscription. The service also has more than 17,000 templates (10,000 free) and over 1.2 million images in its database.

A Color Story

Photo: A Color Story

If you are trying to make your photos pop, you have to check out this app. A Color Story was created from the dream team behind A Beautiful Mess, sisters Elsie Larson and Emma Chapman.

Let's face it, what we ultimately want in apps is to make things easier for us, and A Color Story does just that. I will never claim to be a top-notch photographer, but this app has worked wonders for my photos and changed the quality of my posts. It is free to download, comes with some filters already, but you can always buy filter packs to add to your collection.

BITLY

Photo: Bitly

As a journalist, I love analytics, and I love stats. That’s why I use a combination of programs and sites to dig deep into my site stats and analytics. But I have found the easiest way to track them is by using Bitly. If you have never heard of it, it is a handy site that allows you to take your crazy long link into something super short and straightforward.

Once you have created your Bitly link, you can share it and then visualize where site traffic is originating from. It is perfect for placing in your Instagram profiles or Twitter, or anywhere really that you want to analyze in depth.

TRELLO

Photo: Trello

Last but not least is Trello, a project management software that can help keep you and your business organized. So maybe we don’t have the time to sit in front of the computer and plug away, and we have to take 5 minutes of work where ever and whenever we can. That’s where Trello comes in.

It makes scheduling just a little bit easier to get a grasp on all the different projects and collaborations I am working on. It syncs with your work on the computer as well as notifies you when a team member updates anything. Now if that doesn’t sound like efficient software, I don’t know what does, sis.

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