When you run your own trade business, your life involves a lot of long days being on job sites while managing projects, staff and clients.  There probably are not enough hours in the week for you to deal with all the issues that arise while keeping your customers happy, and taking time out of your schedule to manage your business is probably the last thing you want to do.

Thanks to a variety of online software companies, running your business is now a lot easier.  You can efficiently manage your projects, employees, finances and records all through your computer or your tablet, freeing you up to focus on your clients.

Here are three online software companies you should consider adding to your technology toolbox.

Xero (xero.com)

Unless you’re an accountant, anything to do with finances probably isn’t on your list of fun activities.  You don’t want to spend your time writing up invoices and chasing down clients for payment, or tracking and reviewing your expenses.  You want your energy to go to an exciting project or finding a solution to a client’s problems.

Xero lets you do just that.  It offers a user-friendly invoicing system that allows you to accept payments through the software.  You can connect Xero to your bank account so transactions are imported to your Xero account daily, meaning you don’t have to manually enter them.  You can even manage your inventory and conduct bank reconciliation through the program.

All those stressful accounting tasks are taken care of, with minimal effort from you.

Receipt Bank (receipt-bank.com)

As Receipt Bank astutely notes, you didn’t go into business to do paperwork.  Receipt Bank makes it easier for you to keep track of your expenses, including storing receipts, classifying expenses, reviewing data, and sharing the information with your accountant.

It connects with other accounting software, including Xero, so you don’t have to manually share information between various programs.

Leave the paperwork to the experts and focus on the activities you love to do.

ServiceM8 (servicem8.com)

ServiceM8 makes project supervision more efficient and easier to control.  You can track a project from the first time a client calls you for information to the moment their invoice is paid in full.  The software allows you to manage your employees, provide quotes for potential clients and record notes and other project data.

You don’t even have to be on the job site to see where your staff is or keep up with an ongoing project, you can simply check through the software.  You can also schedule your appointments and receive reminders about upcoming meetings.  ServiceM8 can even help you make dispatching decisions about your staff, figuring out who is closest to a jobsite or can reach a client quickly.

Final thoughts

For many business owners, the management is the least fun aspect of business.  It drags you away from the work you love doing and drains your time and energy. Using technology to help you out in areas that you don’t enjoy is a way to ensure those tasks are completed correctly.  Adding these technology tools to your toolbox makes running your business easier, more efficient and more enjoyable.

Get in touch with us to find out how we can help your trades business.