Category: Productivity

Managing your to-do lists and managing your team at the same time is a pretty complicated task. Ask any entrepreneur or business owner and I’m sure they will agree! In today’s ever-changing world, we are (almost) required to use one or more tools to stay productive a.k.a. keeping track of your important tasks and managing your team’s performance. In this post, you will discover the importance of having the right tool for your business and more importantly, my personal recommendation on the best tool that solves all your to-do list (horror stories) and your team under one roof.

But before that, let’s get down to the basics.

What is a to-do list?

A to-do list is a simple yet effective way to keep track of your tasks. It can be as simple as a piece of paper with a list of things you need to do, or it can be an online tool that allows you to track your tasks and progress.

Why do you need a to-do list?

There are many reasons why you need a to-do list. For starters, it helps you stay organized and focused on your tasks. It also allows you track your progress and see how well you are doing. Finally, it can help you tasks and keep track of your team’s performance.

What makes a great app to manage your to-do list?

There are many features that make a to-do list great. However, the most important feature is its ability to keep track of your tasks and progress. Additionally, a great app should be user-friendly and allow you to add, delete, or edit tasks easily. It should also have a dashboard where you can see your progress at a glance.

10 important features of a to-do list:

1. The ability to keep track of your tasks and progress

2. User-friendly interface

3. Easy to add, delete, or edit tasks

4. A dashboard to see your progress at a glance

5. The ability to share your to-do list with others (sharing is caring, while getting more work done faster)

6. The ability to assign tasks to others

7. The ability to set deadlines

8. The ability to add notes or comments to tasks

9. The ability to prioritize tasks

10. The ability to track your team’s performance (if you are managing a team)

What is team management?

Team management is the process of managing a team of people. This includes setting goals, assigning tasks, and tracking progress. It also involves communication and collaboration between team members.

Why do you need team management?

There are many reasons why you need team management. For starters, it helps you stay organized and focused on your team’s tasks. It also allows you track your team’s progress and see how well they are doing. Finally, it can help you stay on top of your team’s performance and ensure that everyone is working towards the same goal.

10 important features of a team management tool:

1. The ability to keep track of your team’s tasks and progress

2. User-friendly interface (hey, don’t make it over-complicated!)

3. Easy to add, delete, or edit tasks

4. A dashboard to see your team’s progress at a glance

5. The ability to share your team’s to-do list with others

6. The ability to assign tasks to others

7. The ability to set deadlines (timeline is important for a thriving business)

8. The ability to add notes or comments to tasks

9. The ability to prioritize tasks

10. The ability to track your team’s performance

What is the best tool for managing your to-do list and team (that I recommend)?

The best tool for managing your to-do list and team is Taskade. Taskade is an all-in-one tool that helps you manage your to-do lists, tasks, and team. It is simple yet powerful, and it has everything you need to stay productive.

What makes Taskade unique?

There are many features that make Taskade unique. However, the most important feature is its ability to keep track of your tasks and progress. Additionally, Taskade is user-friendly and allows you to add, delete, or edit tasks easily. It also has a dashboard where you can see your progress at a glance. Finally, it can be used for both personal and team use, which makes it perfect for everyone.

Free account for everyone (for life)

The biggest selling point that Taskade offers is the free-for-life account. You can literally start Taskade without a credit card, and make it accessible for your entire team.

Apart from that, the free account offers the following features:

• Unlimited Tasks & Projects
• Unlimited Folders & Teams
• Unlimited Members & Guests
• Templates, Calendar, Repeat Tasks
• Real-time Collaboration

Now, this is fairly sufficient for most entrepreneurs and small business owners. The ability to use Taskade almost immediately upon sign up makes it extremely easy for members to understand, adapt and use the software effectively.

Taskade is available as a mobile app too

Looking for the cherry on top? Taskade is also available on mobile. So if you’re constantly on the go, or find yourself working outside the office more often than not, the app will come in handy. You can create tasks, collaborate with team members, and track your progress – all from your phone or tablet.

Availability of paid plans

Taskade also comes with paid plans that start from $5 per month per user which offers additional features such as large file uploads, 2-way calendar sync, and advanced permission.

The paid plans are suitable for businesses that need more features and collaboration tools. If you’re running a small business, the free plan will suffice. But if you’re managing a team of 10 or more people, the paid plans might be a better option.

Summary

To sum it up, Taskade is a great tool for managing your to-do list and team. It is simple yet powerful, and it has everything you need to stay productive. The best part is that it is available for free, which makes it perfect for everyone. So if you’re looking for a tool to help you manage your to-do list and team, I recommend you try Taskade.

You can try it for free by clicking here.

Are you looking for a free video-conferencing app similar to Zoom due to the limited 40-minute timeframe of the app? Then we have got some good news for you! 

We have brought you the top 5 Zoom alternatives for video conferencing that include all the essential features for an enhanced user experience.

With many people opting for remote jobs, virtual meetings have become exceedingly crucial and require high-quality, feature-rich apps to conduct online conferences smoothly. Although Zoom provides enhanced security and encryption, several other video calling apps have enhanced functionalities.

The Top 5 Zoom Alternative Video Conferencing Apps

There are many alternative apps currently available in the market for video calling with features on par with Zoom. You can also get an extended time limit with many of these apps.

So, check out the top 5 Zoom alternative apps for video conferencing below.

Missed

Missed is an all-inclusive video conferencing app that does more than just video calling. The app is highly functional and comes with various features, including an online meeting with screen sharing, appointment scheduling, and payment processing. 

The app also has a fully automated calendar where you can book, reschedule, or cancel appointments with just a few clicks. In addition, the digital whiteboard feature of the app that you can use during video calls will make your presentations more interactive and engaging. 

The app is compatible with almost all devices, including iOS and Android platforms.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams offers several features, including video conferencing, file sharing, and chatting. It is an integrated business app that provides something similar to an in-office experience. 

Although it is only functional on Chrome or Edge, the video conferencing tools include screen sharing, background customization, chat functions, shareable recordings, live captions, and participant lists.

Cisco WebEx

WebEx is a well-known video conferencing app that provides crisp and clear video calls and instant messaging services with plenty of additional features. You can use the app for free and benefit from the high-demand features like presentations, background noise removal, instant translation, and emojis. 

The app also offers high-grade security, and you can hold a meeting with up to 100 participants in a 50-minute timeframe. If you want more features and extend the time limit, you can upgrade the app.

Google Meet

Google Meet is one of the popular Zoom alternatives for video conferencing and offers free and paid options for its users. The free version of the app can have video meetings with up to 250 participants and 300 participants for the paid version. 

In addition, you can record meetings and conduct conferences with the app. It also comes with features like filters and custom backgrounds. You can easily access the Google Meet app as it is integrated with your Gmail account.

Skype

Before Zoom, Skype was the go-to video calling app and is still widely used by people all over the globe. You can conduct meetings with 50 participants without an account. In addition, you can send links to join your meeting. 

The app also comes with a chat option during meetings. The app is compatible with almost all devices, and you can access it without installation through the Skype web interface. It also has end-to-end encryption, so the chances of breaching it are less.

Final Thoughts

In this article, we discussed the top 5 Zoom alternatives for video conferencing. It will help you get the best video calling app with essential features for an enhanced user experience. All the apps mentioned here are free to use; however, you might get limited features. 

So, if you want to have more participants and additional features, you can go for upgraded versions of these apps.

Business intelligence (BI) tools help businesses make better decisions by helping them track and understand their customers, sales, and other data. But what are business intelligence tools? Business intelligence tools are software used to collect, store, and analyze data to help organizations understand business performance. These tools allow businesses to make better decisions by providing meaningful insights that would not be possible without the use of technology.

Business intelligence tools include custom dashboards, reporting tools, data mining, and analysis software, and text analytics software. Keep reading to learn more about business intelligence tools and how they can help your business.

What are the benefits of using business intelligence tools?

Business intelligence (BI) tools are software applications that allow businesses to collect, organize, analyze, and report on data. BI tools can help businesses improve decision-making, optimize operations, and compete more effectively.

There are many benefits of using BI tools. Some of the most notable include:

Increased efficiency and productivity – BI tools make it easier for businesses to find and track important data. This allows employees to spend less time searching for information and more time actually doing their jobs.

Improved decision-making – BI tools provide businesses with a variety of analytical reports and performance metrics that can help them make better decisions based on data rather than intuition or guesswork.

Optimized operations – By tracking key performance indicators (KPIs), BI tools can help businesses identify areas where they can improve operational efficiency and reduce costs.

Competitive advantage – By using BI tools to better understand their customers and competitors, businesses can gain a competitive edge in the marketplace

What are some common pitfalls to avoid when using a business intelligence tool?

Business intelligence (BI) tools are great at analyzing data so that businesses can make better decisions. However, there are some common pitfalls to avoid when using a business intelligence tool. One such pitfall is relying on the tool too much. While BI tools can be helpful in providing a deeper understanding of the data, they should not be used as the only source of information.

Another common pitfall is not understanding how to use the tool correctly. It is important to have a good understanding of the tool’s features and how to apply them in order to get the most out of it. Additionally, it is important to ensure that data is properly cleansed and prepared before being analyzed by a business intelligence tool. Otherwise, the results may be inaccurate or misleading. Finally, it is important to remember that BI tools are only as good as the data they are analyzing. If the data is inaccurate or incomplete, then the results will also be inaccurate or incomplete.

How can you choose the right business intelligence tool for your organization?

Business intelligence (BI) tools give organizations the ability to gather, process, and analyze data to help them make better business decisions. When choosing a BI tool, you need to consider your organization’s needs and how the tool will fit into your overall business strategy.

Some things to consider when choosing a BI tool include:

• The size of your organization
• The type of data you want to collect and analyze
• How you are planning to use the data
• The level of expertise in your organization
• Your budget

BI dashboards provide a snapshot of key performance indicators (KPIs) so that managers can see how their organization is performing at a glance. Reporting tools allow businesses to generate custom reports based on the data that is most important to them. Data mining and analysis software allows businesses to drill down into their data in order to find trends and patterns. Text analytics software extracts meaning from unstructured data such as emails, social media posts, and customer reviews.

The benefits of using business intelligence tools include data-driven decision-making, increased efficiency, enhanced customer service, and reduced costs. By understanding what is happening within their business, organizations can make changes that will improve performance. BI tools allow businesses to track progress over time so they can identify areas where they need to make changes and improvements.

In 2021 we witnessed immense growth. We had a crazy bull run in the stock markets and startup space.

2022, on the other hand, was and continues to be a bloodbath. Every day the stock market seems to plummet to new lows. 

All of this, paired with inflation, and war, has negatively affected startups. Funding that VCs gave out to everyone the previous year has dried out. Well-known companies such as Coinbase are rescinding offers from freshers.

Does this mean startups are dead?

Do online businesses have a chance to come out of this catastrophe? The answer is still yes!

The only thing that has changed is that startups need be profitable businesses. And that’s a good thing.

Startups still have the most significant advantage — they don’t have to go through hundreds of people, managers, and processes.

They can execute fast without hindrance. This hasn’t changed and will never change, funding or not.

But for a startup to come out on top, it must use the best tools available in the market. While startups thrive on chaos, organized chaos is an entirely different monster. Organized chaos is what makes five people Startup into a Unicorn.

If you are a founder or a part of a startup, use these tools to beat the competition in these perilous times.

A Tool To Understand Your User’s Behavior

Understanding how your users interact with your product is essential. It is important to know where your users spend most of their time and how they navigate across your app.

This information helps your designers and developers make better products.

To get this information, you need an analytics tool. And what better tool than Google Analytics.

It has been in the market for years and has been tried and tested by the best companies.

Google Analytics lets you analyze many things, such as website traffic and page traffic. You get an idea of how your user has landed on your page and their demographic.

The best part is the ease of integration. You just have to add the GA SDK to your app, and you’re done. It’s that simple. You can modify everything to your needs.

You can also determine how users interact with different components. You can get information on what buttons and links your user clicks.

In general, you get four types of data with Google Analytics.

You get user data that pertains to demographic, age, etc.

Session data keeps track of a user’s visits and time spent.

You get information on the pages a user visits.

Finally, you get event-level data. This lets you track buttons, videos, links, etc.

A Tool To Keep Your Customers Happy

Customer satisfaction and retention make or break your product. If your customers aren’t happy, they won’t use your product. It’s that simple.

You can only keep your customers happy by taking feedback, responding, and implementing.

Telegram and Discord channels are not the best way to proceed. If you’ve played Chinese whisper, you know how details are missed as they pass different people.

The same applies here. The issue will get hazy by the time it reaches the developer. The customer might have a problem with updating his profile. The developer will hear something else from the customer relations team.

This is why you need a CRM for your developers to stay in touch with your customers. You need a DevCRM. You need to use DevRev.

Photo from DevRev

When you use DevRev, your developers become like stakeholders. They own a piece of their code and are responsible for it.

Customers can raise complaints through chat. Developers can respond to it and raise tickets or issues directly on the DevRev platform.

This allows for speedy feedback and fixes.

With the customer at the center, you provide a big push to your startup.

A Tool for All Things Design

Design is integral for good products. Users want to come back when you create a satisfying user experience.

Figma is the best tool out there for design. Anyone can start designing with their Web app. It’s great to collaborate on designs with team members.

You can also use Figma to design all of your social media banners and logos. You can create the right ones for each page.

Handing designs over to developers is easy. Developers can make use of the inspect and design buttons on the right to get every detail. They can export assets in PNG and SVG with a click of a button.

You also get many extensions with Figma. For example, one extension lets you export your Figma design directly into HTML and CSS.

Figma has also partnered with Slack. Now you get alerts about your Figma files, teams, and projects in your desired Slack channel.

You can change your Slack channels according to your specifications. Different channels can receive updates for various Figma projects.

Design is one of the pillars of a great product. Figma is a tool that lets you create beautiful designs!

A Tool To Keep Things Organized

While startups are incredibly flexible, they still need a little direction. That’s why most startups create deadlines for features.

Trello is a tool that helps teams create deadlines, organize workflows, and more. It makes use of visual boards to manage everything.

These boards are then broken down into lists and cards. It is very easy to consume information and quite fun too.

Trello makes tedious tasks such as research, sales, and training exciting.

Trello also offers multiple integrations such as Github, Slack, Google Drive, Salesforce, etc.

You can use Trello with your other tools for optimum productivity.

Trello is a great, easy, and affordable tool that can help your startup stay organized.

Final Thoughts

Bear markets do not affect great startups. Great startups make use of the best tools in the market.

Use the above tools to fast-track your startup’s progress to beat the competition.

Want to get more done at work? Here are some great tips to help your focus and increase productivity. 

1. Avoid multitasking

Many people are usually under the impression that they can effectively multitask. But nothing could be further from the truth. While you might think that handling multiple tasks at once helps to increase your productivity, it actually only slows you down and there is a scientific reason behind this. Instead of being focused on the different tasks at hand at the same time, your brain has to switch between the tasks. 

2. Eliminate distractions

Distractions are everywhere – both in our personal and professional lives. If you want to improve your focus at work, you need to first identify the main source of these distractions. If I am not wrong, your main source of distractions at work is most likely your phone. Did you know that your memory, intelligence, and attention all decrease every time you look at your phone – even if it is switched off or on silent mode? This is according to various studies. So, if possible, keep your phone away from sight while you are working. Alternatively, consider using an app like Focus to block your distractions. 

3. Schedule breaks

You may have never noticed this, but your attention and retention tend to diminish after only 25 minutes of concentration. You can use this newfound knowledge to your advantage by implementing the Pomodoro Technique. This is a time management system created by Francesco Cirillo. This technique involves breaking your workday into 25-minute chunks separated by 5-minute breaks.

After four cycles, it is recommended that you take a 20-minute break. Why this technique is so effective is due to the fact that your brain understands that it only needs to keep focused for 25 minutes and then enjoy a short break. 

7 brain hacks to refocus your attention

In addition to those useful tips from Jim Kwik, we have also provided some useful brain hacks for you to try out.  After all, you can never know whether something works until you try it. 

1. Keep a distraction notebook

One of the key reasons we get distracted is coming across something we deem important or fascinating, for example, a coupon for Panera, an article about fitness, etc). This is why it is helpful to always have a distraction notebook with you at all times while working. 

A distraction notebook allows you to note down everything that you’d want to come back to later. Thus, after you are done with work, you can go back to your distraction notebook and check whether there is something you’d want to get into. 

2. Automate some of your decisions

Among other things, Steve Jobs was famous for wearing the same outfit every day. However, what you may not have known is that Simon Cowell, Micheal Kors, and Grace Coddington do too. All these people wear the same things every day to avoid wasting time making a decision about what to wear that day.

So, take a step back and think about some of the decisions that can be automated, for example, what to eat for breakfast or lunch. When such things are already cared for, you don’t have to spend time worrying or thinking about them, thus, you are able to focus more on work. 

3. Have a recovery ritual

While the concept of having a recovery ritual is typically recommended for adults suffering from ADHD, it can prove to be very helpful if you struggle to concentrate. Here are some common recovery rituals:

Walk up and down the stairs

Do one-minute stretches

Meditate for two minutes and unwind

Do a quick tidy

Anytime you get distracted while working, you can rely on your recovery ritual to help you refocus. A recovery ritual helps you to feel more energized and allows you to focus on the task at hand. 

4. Occasionally shift your workspace

Did you know that a change in your working environment can help you re-energize? By disrupting your typical pattern, you help brain to reboot and stimulate its creativity. To prevent my productivity from stagnating, I choose to move around two or three times in my workday. 

While this might be more difficult if you work in a traditional office setting,  you can still move and spend a few hours at a vacant desk, or in an empty room or conference room. 

5. Always finish what you start

Often, we tend to jump to a new task if it seems more exciting or more important. However, if we kept on doing this, we would never get anything done. While I don’t mean that you stick to a 5-hour project without taking a break, you should, at the very least, spend an hour or so on it before transitioning to the next. Use Track Time 24 to plan your time effectively.

6. Begin with what seems more difficult

Besides aiming to finish what you start, you also need to start with what you don’t think you can finish. In most cases, people procrastinate because they feel overwhelmed by a particular task or project. In case you are feeling overwhelmed by anything, it is always better if you can get started at it. 

Remind yourself that you are only going to spend 10 minutes on a complicated task before you take a break. In most cases, you will be able to get into a flow and work on it for even longer than you initially expected. After starting something you have been avoiding to start, it becomes way easier to continue with it. 

7. Try a shortcut to focus

This is perhaps the simplest tip on the list. For this, you just need a Hapbee Band and press play on focus. Hapbee is among the most popular wellness wearables. It uses a safe magnetic field technology to transmit signals to your brain and alter how you feel.

Technology advancement has made the world reliant on cloud-based systems. Our phone systems have not been left behind either, and today, we have multiple cloud-based phone systems.

Google Voice is one of the most common and among the best we have today. This is because of its amazing features, cheaper pricing compared to other phone systems, and the ability for one to take their phone with them everywhere they are.

However, Google Voice might not be the best alternative for every person due to some limitations. If you are thinking of using this phone system for your business, here are a few solid reasons to think about first;

Privacy

Just like other Google products, privacy is a topic of discussion with the use of Google Voice. Using this phone service for your business means that you are exposing your private business information to Google.

Every call that you make and even text messages sent between you and your clients are stored in Google servers. Even though it is rare for Google to expose your business data, it is one of the biggest companies in the world that is often targeted by cybercriminals.

However, if you are concerned about the privacy of your business, you can look at these Google voice alternatives. You will find one that meets your privacy requirements as well as those of your business.

Google Voice Support

Most of the time with any other phone service provider, you have a number that you can call whenever you are facing any issue. You also have an email address where you can send your frustrations and have someone help you.

However, this is not exactly the case with Google Voice. Google does not provide its customers with direct customer support for most of its services, including Google Voice. This can be frustrating especially when you have an emergency.

They, however, provide an online help page where you can find answers to some of the most common questions that they receive. You can also type in your issue in a search box and get results related to the issue you are facing.

Reliability

Google is one of the most stable tech companies in the world today. However, sometimes things go wrong with technology. We have witnessed several Google service outages in the past decade, meaning that Google Voice can also go down.

Now, imagine a situation where your business relies on Google Voice for all its communication needs. You have not shared any other contact information apart from an email address – which might also be provided by Google – with your customers.

Then one day the service goes down. This would mean that your business is brought to a halt due to reliability issues with Google Voice. Even though it is important to connect with your customers, you will not be able to do so when Google Voice has issues.

Emergency Calling Services

Google Voice was launched in 2009, and up until 2016, you could not make emergency calls on the phone service. Fortunately, this has so far changed. You can now make emergency calls by using the phone application of your device.

However, emergency calling is not available to Google Voice users in case the service experiences an outage, when you lose your internet connection, or when you are experiencing a power outage.

Google advises its users to look for an alternative phone system in such situations when they want to make emergency calls.

Advertisements

What would you feel when you have to first view an advert on Google Voice at a time when you want to make an important call to a client? Well, that might be the situation in the future for those using Google Voice for business.

In 2019, Google started testing ad placements on voice searches within their Google Assistant service. Even though this is not Google Voice phone system, it shows that the company is continuously exploring new avenues for ad placements.

In addition, Google has access to your business information, something that could be vital in their monetization plans. Just like they use content from your Gmail messages to determine the ads to show, they can also use Google Voice to do the same.

In conclusion, Google Voice is an affordable phone service for businesses of different sizes. Even though it offers them a wide range of features and benefits, it is important to think about the limitations discussed above before using it for business.