Abilities:

• Use a barcode scanner or manually enter items to log inventory items in your home or business
• Keep records of your items, including which have been loaned out
• Create wish lists and gift lists, as well as shared shopping lists

Great for:

• Keeping track of your belongings (either personal or business), including items you have loaned out or checked out to employees
• Keeping track of items for insurance purposes
• Analyzing inventory by type or price

Cost: Free

Challenge: Get caught up trying to schedule appointments (no one else to answer phone)
Solution: Time trade
Solution: Doodle - Create polls so people can vote when planning times and schedules.

Challenge: Accepting credit card payments
Solution: Square - Accept credit cards from anywhere using your cell phone and a small plug-in device (very portable and easy), for just a small fee (2.75% of total).

Challenge: Too many tasks to keep track of
Solution: project management software (like Evernote, OneNote, Zoho Project, Basecamp, Batchbook, Sugar, Microsoft Project).  If you have a lot of tasks, projects, or “hats,” you need a way to keep track of all your to dos. Common features include task reminders, division by projects, lists and sublists, sharing, calendars, Gantt charts, project lead designation, dashboards, and wikis.  
Solution: CRM (like Zoho)

Abilities:
•  Set up a schedule online with available appointment slots
•  Systems tailored to industry (sales, marketing, customer service, retail, and education)

Cost: starting at $49/year

1. Start your day by spending 15 minutes planning your to-do list.  A to-do list serves as a reference that allows you to stay on task, so you spend more time getting things done instead of trying to recall what you need to do.
2. Organize your business cards and make it easy to reach out and follow-up with your contacts.  Implement a CRM tool if you do not have one yet and it will be even easier to keep track of important details and reminders connected to your contacts.
3. Follow the “2 minute rule.”  If you have a task that can be accomplished in 2 minutes or less (like answering an email or paying a bill), do it right away, rather than put it off for later.
4. Create an efficient workspace to ensure you can find what you need, when you need it.  If items you use often are within easy reach, it will cut down on the time you spend walking back and forth to retrieve supplies.
5. Schedule blocks of time to return phone calls, read and respond to emails, and be available to your employees.  Investing the time to respond and interact allows you to be proactive with your time, rather than reactive and constantly interrupted.
6. Make the most of apps.  Think about a challenge or situation that leads to a loss of your productive time.  If you spend a great deal of your time on the road, consider a traffic app that will help you avoid back-ups and delays.  Does trying to remember passwords take up your time?  Use a password manager app.  With a little research you’ll find, “there’s an app for that.”
7. Manage your social media efficiently by using apps like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to provide an easy dashboard-like view of your social media conversations throughout the day.  Tools like these enable quick management of your various accounts from a single source.  You will be amazed by how much time you save now that you won’t have to log into six different sites each day to see your messages, news, etc.
8. When possible, delegate tasks or responsibilities that someone else can handle.  We can’t always do it all ourselves, so when you need to, ask for assistance.

You’ll love it for:
•  Taking notes on your tablet or other touchscreen device
•  Cold weather when you don’t want to take off your gloves
•  Durability and storability
•  Speed and accuracy

Cost: under $20

Available at: our Amazon store

Abilities:

• Access, create, and edit up to 500 notes
• Once you reach this limit you can still view, delete, and sync your notes
• To continue taking and editing notes, you can upgrade OneNote Mobile for Android to unlimited use through an in-app purchase.

Great for:

• Busy professionals
• Business owners
• Researchers
• Cooks
• Parents
• Students
• Teachers

Cost: Free

1)  Post a task (deliveries, office work, shopping, chores, handyman work, etc.)
2)  ‘Rabbits’ make offers and the lowest bidder will be assigned the task
3)  You pay when the task is done

Why it’s unique:
Each of the ‘Rabbits’ go “through a multiple step application process which includes an essay, video interviews and a background check before being selected to run Tasks.” Here are a few things that set it apart:

• Saves You Time - At Innovatively Organized, we love to help people save time, and delegating tasks is one of the easiest ways to do that.
• Easy to Use – The website is very user friendly, allowing you to post your task quickly. They also have an app.
• Fast Turnaround – Need to get a project done same-day? We enjoy that TaskRabbit allows you to set a deadline for your project, which keeps you organized of course!
• Competitive Prices – We like that you don’t have to worry about over-spending since bidding is involved, you are more likely to receive a competitive price.

Stay tuned for a detailed look at our experience testing TaskRabbit.

Abilities:
•  Lists best times for you to fall asleep based on when you want to wake up
•  Makes sure you don’t interrupt sleep cycles

Great for:
•  Feeling better rested and refreshed
•  Improving time management

Cost: Free

And here’s an interesting article on tricks to set your alarm so you wake up more peacefully!