Do You Run Your Business From Your Smartphone?

We’ve heard that computer manufacturers are seeing declines in the sales of computers and that’s been attributed to the power that we hold in our hands in our smartphones. Do you run your business from your smartphone? Many of us check email, make reservations and communicate with clients through their phones. Do you?

Are you using your smartphone with, perhaps, an extermal keyboard that essentially turns the phone into a computer that allows you to work on documents and perform other actions you may have only once done at your computer? If so, you’re not alone.

Do You Run Your Business From Your Smartphone?

With new phones hitting the market that are in the $1,000 range, it’s easy to see why you’d be looking at your phone to perform at a higher level than you may have in the past.

If you’re running your business from your phone, here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Use apps from reputable companies. You can perform word processing with Microsoft, Apple and Google apps right from your phone.
2. If you’re using your phone for business, you need to password protect the phone AND your apps and documents.
3. Invest in insurance and back up your phone. This business device needs to be protected from loss or damage and you need to be able to access your information if the phone is lost, stolen or damaged.

Here are some apps we love:

1. Receive payments from Square, PayPal Here, Quickbooks and others.
2. Manage your money with QuickBooks, Excel programs, Wave and Intuit Online.
3. Keep track of your schedule with a Google Calendar, Acuity Scheduling, Timely.
4. Track customer relations with apps such as Zoho CRM, Salesforce or Infusionsoft.
5. Document sharing and storage apps include, Google Drive, Hightail Spaces, Dropbox and others.

This is a very short list of apps you can install to help you run your business from your smartphone.

One thing we do caution — when you run your business from your smartphone you have continual access to your “office” in the palm of your hand. When this occurs you need to be diligent in turning the phone off and stepping away from the “office” so you remember to have a life!