Being self-employed can be very stressful. When you’ve invested all of your time and money into a startup, for example, the highs and lows are like nothing else – being employed, receiving a regular income – it’s safe but quite frankly, usually a bit dull. Running your own business is quite the opposite; it is substantially more stressful but infinitely more rewarding.

Moneypenny – Answering Service

Mobile phones are also a big part of being self-employed and entrepreneurs can often develop a love/hate relationship with them. Often a vital source of sales leads, the mobile phone can also be a source of constant interruptions.

Using a phone answering service app can provide numerous benefits. For example, the virtual receptionist can filter any unwanted sales calls and route callers to the relevant people in your business. For people who work from home, it can also provide a great way to portray the business more professionally, as many phone answering services offer a dedicated receptionist, who will know your business and act the same as an in-house receptionist, without the monthly wages and paperwork that come with a full-time hire.

If you opt for a 24/7 service, then your virtual receptionist can take all of your calls in the evenings – allowing you some time to relax or spend quality time with the family.

Facebook (News - Alert) Eradicator

Okay, so I’m sure most business-owners are ultra-disciplined and only use social media for business purposes. But for those of us who often get caught in the wormhole of scrolling in a trance-like state, the Feedless mobile phone app and the Facebook Eradicator Chrome Extension can cull any temptation to scroll.

With both of these apps, you will have no newsfeed to scroll through on Facebook. Feedless also blocks Twitter (News - Alert) and Instagram feeds.

Buffer

Since we’re on the topic of social media, Buffer is a great app for scheduling all of your business social media accounts. Used in conjunction with the Chrome extension, you can schedule posts throughout the week and even months ahead if you want to.

Social media marketing is a huge part of reaching prospective clients in 2020. Marketing experts such as Gary Vaynerchuk recommend that you share ‘content’ on at least once per day, on all the major social media platforms. 

One particularly useful feature for Twitter is the ability to ‘rebuffer’ old tweets, modify and share them again.

QuickBooks

Arguably the best accounting app for small businesses. With Quickbooks, you can check the financial health of your business in an instant. With slick, customizable reports for things such as gross profit, you can easily send and track invoices too. Quickbooks is very easy to sync to most major business bank account providers too, meaning it is very easy to get up to date data and cross-reference everything.

For an additional amount, you can also manage your payroll on the app. Very useful when you only employ 1 or 2 people.

There are many other apps that can prove useful for business owners, including the likes of Google (News - Alert) sheets and Paypal and even a wellbeing app such as Presently; the most useful apps will depend on your specific business needs.