Working more efficiently is at the top of many people’s agendas, whether this is so you can get more work done or spend more time doing things outside of work that you love.

A fast and cost-effective way to save time is to find tools that do some of the work for you. The possibilities are endless, there really are systems out there that can do pretty much anything. Find to right one, spend a little time learning how it works and setting it up and you’ll be working more efficiently in no time.

I’ve put together a little summary of my favourite tools to get you started…

Toggl – https://toggl.com/track

Toggl is an electronic time tracking program providing an effective way to track time spent on different tasks, projects or clients. Documenting how time is spent allows you to manage your time better, increase productivity and be more strategic. For example, are you over or under-serving clients based on your ideal hourly rate? Do you spend too much time on non-billable activities that could be outsourced? Other benefits to using Toggl include…

• Simple to use via, you can use it via the website, as an app or as a Chrome extension.
• A weekly email to show your weekly progress
• Customisable reports which can be downloaded to send to clients or other stakeholders
• It’s free to use for teams up to 5

FreeAgent – https://www.freeagent.com/

FreeAgent is accounting software that takes care of your accounts, invoicing and tax. It’s brilliant for keeping everything in one place removing the need for multiple spreadsheets. All you need to do at the end of the year is give your accountant access or pull the required information using the reporting function. Other benefits to using FreeAgent include….

• Invoices can be branded and look professional, recurring invoices can be automated saving you a job each month
• You can set up an automated bank feed so that money going in and out is automatically reconciled against invoices and receipts
• FreeAgent allows integrations with PayPal, Stripe and Go Cardless

Grammarly – https://app.grammarly.com/

Grammarly checks your work for spelling and grammatical errors and makes sure it’s easy to read. It highlights your mistakes and shows you how to correct them, saving you time and making sure your email, documents and presentations are professional and error-free. Other benefits to using Grammarly include…

• It helps you to improve your vocabulary, suggesting alternatives and
• It helps you understand your mistakes with an explanation of why changes are suggested
• You can customise your settings depending on the tone you would like to achieve

LastPass – https://www.lastpass.com/

If like me you have hundreds of different passwords, LastPass is essential. It’s a secure password manager that stores all of your usernames and passwords in one safe place. Once a password is saved, LastPass always remembers it for you. When you need to log in to a website, LastPass enters your username and password for you! Other benefits of LastPass include…

• Creating new passwords for you
• Showing how strong your passwords are
• Allows you to share passwords with others without having to give out your password
• Auto fills out addresses and credit card forms
• Saves time, instantly logging you into websites
• Stronger security as you can use longer passwords that you don’t have to remember

MeetEdger – https://app.meetedgar.com/

MeetEdger is a social media scheduling tool…create your content, schedule it in MeetEdgar and social posts will automatically post whilst you work on other things. Perfect if you struggle to find the time, or remember, to post regularly. Other benefits of MeetEdger include….

• It integrates blog URLs
• It automatically picks quotes from articles or blogs and creates 5 posts
• MeetEdgar allows you to create categories so you can easily schedule different types of content.
• You can connect up to 25 social accounts and 1,000 weekly automisations

All of these tools are all free or low cost, with most giving a free trial so it really is a case of giving a few a try and seeing what fits best for you. There is nothing to lose!

If you’d like a little guidance setting up these time-saving systems take a look at my website for more information about the services that I offer and to book a complimentary discovery call, www.helenporterpa.com