In a previous post, ‘Idea to Action‘, I introduced the Smart Passive Income website and shared a story of quickly turning an idea into a ‘live’ online business.
This post has a similar theme. There are hundreds thousands (millions?) of apps out there that can make your life easier and more productive. There are apps that:
- allow you to coordinate meetings with your colleagues (bypassing the painful game of ’email tag’) – check out Doodle,
- allow clients to directly book a meeting with you by accessing your online calendar (Calendy),
- create a project plan and share a range of resources with your project team (Basecamp),
- allow you to ‘clip’ and collate a wide range of media including text, images and web content (Evernote), and,
- allow you to create your own ‘Sharepoint’ equivalent, for file storage, knowledge base / Wiki creation and online collaboration (Notion).
These apps are easy to access, quick to learn and often free. I would encourage you to get into the habit of sampling them. You will quickly determine which ones are a good fit and which ones you can ‘let go’.
Survey Monkey v TypForm
Quite often you will find there is an established market leader in a specific field and a steady stream of ‘copycat’ apps that attempt to build on the key features of market leader whilst offering some form of innovation. For example, Survey Monkey has been the undisputed market leader in online surveys for many years. Today I discovered TypeForm, Survey Monkey’s ‘next generation’ rival. Both are excellent but TypeForm uses a more visual and contemporary user interface.
AngelList
AngelList is a website that promotes itself as the place ‘Where the world meets startups’. It offers an intriguing insight into the world of entrepreneurship, introducing new businesses, advertising jobs and providing opportunities for investors (i.e. Angel investors!).
I subscribe to their periodic newsletter and find it a great way to keep myself informed of new products and platforms. If you’re keen to stay on the ‘bleeding edge’ of innovation, AngelList is a great way to do it.