As a small business owner, you may find yourself going crazy over the number of things you have to do for work. But don’t worry: if you own an Apple iPhone, you’ll at least have some apps at your disposal – apps which can truly help you stay connected to your business and hang on to a little bit of sanity. While the iPhone is a fun device, it can also make for a great business tool – especially if you’re always on the go.
Here are several Apple iPhone apps with which you, as a small business owner, cannot go wrong.
Money matters
A number of apps let you keep track of your expenses and finances. These include BalanceDo, a productivity app through which you can send customer invoices, track receivables or billings, and manage payments through PayPal. If you want to perform credit card transactions with your iPhone, check out MerchantWare Mobile. (You’ll need a Merchant Warehouse account.) Shoeboxed, meanwhile, is a great free app that allows you to capture images of your receipts, organize them using your iPhone, and store them all online and all for free. You’ll never lose a receipt again.
There are also a bunch of great apps for doing taxes – which can be just as exciting as peeling onion. These apps include the Contractor, Freelancer, Small Business Tax Calculator, which can calculate things like monthly contract rates, annual invoiced amounts, percentage taxes to pay, and take-home percentages; and the OpCenter.VIEW app, which basically allows you to view QuickBooks Enterprise, Premier or Pro data on your iPhone.
Office productivity
You might find yourself having to switch from your iPhone to your desktop or laptop, just to work on important office documents and presentations. But with productivity apps like QuickOffice Connect Suite, you can actually create and edit Microsoft Office documents directly from your iPhone. Your files will be stores on the device or on cloud services like Google Docs, MobileMe, and Box.net.
If all you need is the ability to access and transfer your files and folders, try FileMagnet and Air Sharing. With these two you can transfer through Wi-Fi all your Office, iWork, and PDF files to your iPhone from your PC or laptop – and they’re cheaper apps than QuickOffice Connect Suite, too.
Time management
Time is gold, and if you save enough of it then your small business just may take off the way you’ve always envisioned. With apps like MiniBooks and iTimeSheet, you can keep track of your projects all at once – even with your iPhone turned off – and then bill your clients accordingly. If it’s the time of your employees you wish to manage, then try out the payroll app called SurePayRoll. This tool lets enter payroll hours, pay employees, and manage your payroll with one click on your iPhone; moreover, SurePayRoll helps you beat those payroll deadlines as well as conveniently submit the necessary forms to the government.
Travel
The iPhone can be your handy travel agent. Traveling on business all the time? Check out these apps: the brilliant FlightTrack Pro, which provides real-time flight tinerary updates; Gas Buddy, a mobile source of has prices combined with quick maps; Superpages Mobile, a directory of over 20 million business in the U.S., with extra features that lets you see local event listings, Wi-Fi hotspots, and movie screening times. Find a Taxi, meanwhile, is an app for finding the taxi or limo service based on your location.