payday

In every entrepreneur’s life comes a moment when the work that needs to be done increases to the extent where you need to prioritize. So identify the areas that matter the most and which only you can do, and outsource or automate the rest.

Luckily for you, innovative business owners have created products that help you free up some time and automate your workflow.

There are so many tools out there thanks to technology, and once you give a few a try and find the right ones for you and your business, you’ll be able to stop worrying about repetitive and tedious tasks, and focus more on what you do best.

Here are 5 such tools you’ll find useful:

1. Onlypult

As we all know, Instagram can become a powerful marketing machine and brand builder if used in the right way.

But instead of having to be there at the specific times of the day when it’s best to publish content, why not schedule these in advance and know they’ll appear just in time for your audience to see them? What’s more, there won’t be any annoying notifications, but non-push ones.

You can enjoy a 7-day free trial and see how much time it saves you and how easy it is to use. Learn more about Onlypult’s features here.

Also check out these 3 apps for analyzing Instagram data.

2. Calendly

That’s a tool designed to make scheduling appointments and meetings easier than ever.

All you do is set your availability and create custom links for specific clients. Then, each person who wants to contact you just picks a time period you’ve listed as free and creates an event in your calendar.

No need to send multiple emails, lose potential clients, make them wait or use the phone. Anyone using this particular scheduling software swears by its simplicity.

Start with a 14-day trial period and see how you’re able to get more work done and simplify communication with clients and staff.

3. Basecamp

Moving onto project management, which is another aspect of the business you must automate as early as possible.

Basecamp is one of the best options as the features it offers can solve almost anything you’re struggling with.

From organizing tasks, prioritizing and assigning each, to having a separate page and discussion for each topic and adding all the necessary files there for anyone involved in the project to see and use.

You also have the freedom to chat in real time and share and organize any type of files. Easily keep track of deadlines and set milestones, with the option to add people to each and notify them right away.

You’ll receive notifications about anything that concerns you, so no need to even think about a project when you’re not working on it.

4. 17hats

Sometimes, even if you automate some aspects of the business, you still end up wasting a lot of time doing administrative tasks.

For example, you may often need to remind clients to pay you, or spend time creating different responses, contracts or invoices.

What about tracking your expenses and trying to manage your money? Even if you have a bookkeeper, you still need to take care of some things. You may also get lost in spreadsheets and notes when tracking all the areas you should manage.

Not anymore. 17 hats’ purpose is to help you stop using tens of apps and let you stay sane and on top of your game.

It’s an all-in-one business management tool that takes care of client correspondence, tracking payments and getting paid on time without annoying the client, capturing leads, bookkeeping, and building templates for the documents you use the most so that you never repeat the same thing twice.

Use it free if you just want to test the basic options, and upgrade when you see the benefits.

5. SumoMe

A set of tools that comes in the form of a plugin for your WordPress site and helps you build an email list, grow your traffic and optimize through analytics.

You can install a scroll box, smart bar or welcome mat to invite visitors to join your newsletter.

The heatmap and Google analytics will give you information about where people are coming from and what they are doing once they land on your website.

To encourage them to share your content, you can add beautiful share buttons, or install the image sharer and highlighter.

All these are free to use, but there’s also a premium version with even more features.

Which tool will you give a try today to make your work easier?

washingtonpost.com

On April 14, 2015, women across the country were posting various memes and status updates with the hashtag #equalpayday. This date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, women working full-time only earn approximately 78% of what men earn.

We desire to earn more, but unfortunately we do not put ourselves in a position to earn more. We should be making steps every chance we get in order to be deemed equal. Beside your social media stance, what are you doing to make sure you are earning what you are worth? The following tips will help prepare you to get that equal pay you’ve been tweeting about.

Do Your Salary Homework

There are several resources available to assist you in determining what the average salary is for your position.

Salary.com provides a comprehensive list of any and every position in a field, as well as required skills and salary details. It also allows you to compare different levels of a role to see where your skills position you.

Glassdoor.com provides actual salaries for actual positions within companies. It also gives you the ability to perform your search based on your position and location to find out what the actual companies in your area are paying as reported by previous and current employees. As a bonus there are also company reviews.

Recruiter is an industry-specific recruiter who can quickly assess your experience and let you know the average salary for a position.

Quantify Your Value

You should always keep track of any accomplishments at work.

Did you add to the bottom line?
Did you lead a number of projects?
Did you implement a new initiative?

If you are going to express to someone you are worth more than what they are offering you, you have to be able to express why.

Negotiate

Many of us accept whatever is offered to us whether it be during the offer of a new job or a raise without even exploring the possibility of negotiation. Keep in mind that you have every right to negotiate if you have a valid reason to believe you deserve more. If you are confident in yourself and prepared with your research, what you are able to contribute and your accomplishments, you are in a better position to express that to the decision maker.

Also, keep in mind that negotiation does not solely have to be about your annual salary. Determine what matters to you most, is it flexible working hours, more vacation time or a promotion with more responsibility? These are benefits that you should be able to ask for if you know you deserve them.

Remember, no one else is going to see your values or your contributions unless you make them aware. You don’t get what you don’t ask for.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]