Your support helps keep our site running! We might earn a small referral fee when you purchase from links in this post, at no extra cost to you, which we REALLY appreciate. All opinions remain our own as always.
5 Mobile Apps To Simplify Life For Busy Entrepreneurs
Sometimes, we need a bit of extra help with balancing schedules, keeping our to-do lists on point and making sure we don’t overlook anything important. This list of 5 mobile apps (all of which are free- hooray!) can make a REAL change to simplify life for busy entrepreneurs (or any busy person, for that matter).
We all have times where life is just super busy and chaotic, especially when running a business (or three). Our schedules are full, our days are short and it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything. Smartphone technology can be a super-genius lifesaver (even despite the temptation of Gardenscapes and Angry Birds). So without further ado, let’s take a peek at the 5 fave apps that simplify life, save me time and help me keep my sh*t together as a busy mom, entrepreneur and generally awesome person.??? (BTW, I do not represent or get ANY payment or perks for recommending these, this is my own opinion, biased only by what actually works to simplify my life.)1. Time Tune (Android only, sorry iPhone friends)
TimeTune is my all-time favorite app, which is why I’m listing it first even though it’s only available on Google Play.
This mobile app is NOT a calendar, it’s a routine optimizer.
So basically, you can create routines (what time you get up, shower, work, etc) and set reminders for each activity. I LOVE this feature because my phone literally tells me at 10 am every day to stop working and go eat breakfast.
While this might not sound revolutionary, it is, in fact, a lifesaver!
In my opinion, this app is the ultimate necessity to simplify your life and organize your EVERYTHING.
Since I’m super CRAZY busy, I will absolutely NEVER run out of work to do! It’s so fun being an entrepreneur, but this is a serious flaw in the master plan of having no boss. So every day when my phone says, ‘go eat!’ or ‘time to pick up kids,’ I can remember to drag myself from the laptop and resurface into the real world.
Nothing else works quite as well. I’ve set up calendar events to plan out my day using multiple different calendars, tried to make routines on habit-checkers, even went to town on Excel sheets and printed it for my wall.
What I’ve discovered is that eventually we just stop noticing those little notifications at the top of the phone- but I will ALWAYS HEAR my Time Tune notification telling me precisely what I’m supposed to do and when.
It’s like shiny gold at the end of my frazzled rainbow.
2. Trello (Android, iPhone, desktop/web)
Trello is my next favorite time saving, life-organizing app, and is for Android or iPhone. It’s basically a supercharged Google Keep with infinitely more features.You can create dashboards for all of the different ‘sections’ of your business and/or life.
So, for example, I have a dashboard for each of my businesses, plus a general to-do one for my mom/wife life. I even have one that I add all of my vacation-planning stuff onto. On each dashboard you create cards, and each card holds checklists, images, documents, and files. You can add links and tag everything to find it quickly later on.I have a card where I keep a running checklist of updates I need to make on my website, for example, and a card where I save all of my work-related Google docs so I don’t have to dig through my Drive on my phone.
The best part of this mobile app is that everything syncs on the cloud, so if you open Trello on your phone, whatever you add will update when you open Trello on your laptop, which is a powerful tool for busy entrepreneurs.
You can even share boards or cards with others- perfect for sending the latest meeting notes to your employees (or that shopping list to the hubby). While this might sound a bit complicated (all these dashboards and cards and lists…), it’s actually super easy to navigate, very user-friendly and the ultimate organizing powerhouse. And although it doesn’t have the elaborate communicaitons & tools of similar apps like Workplace or Asana, I find that those are just too much clutter for smaller businesses like mine.3. Evernote (Android, iPhone, desktop/web)
Let me tell you about my love-hate relationship with Evernote. First of all, if Trello ever develops the ability to write full notes in the cards (instead of checklists, comments and attachments), Evernote is dead to me. I’ll full-on run for the hills and never look back. But until then, I’m stuck with Evernote, which you can get on either Google Play or the Apple App Store. For the busy entrepreneur, this app is perfect to simplify your work load.This app has the glorious ability to type full notes, put checklists within them, add images in them (like embedded throughout the text, not just as an attachment), and more. It all saves and syncs together.
In fact, I’m typing this blog post rough draft on Evernote, because it’s just so smooth to type and the look and feel is really just smoother to me than Google docs and other similar apps. But, Evernote (bless its heart) has some SERIOUS drawbacks.
For example, there’s a (not very generous) limit to the amount of data it holds per month without costing money for the upgrade. Ugh.
I like to have my images in the blog posts as I lay them out, so this is a definite problem, cuz I’m super cheap and don’t pay for anything if I can avoid it. Also, the app itself has some glitches which can be totally random and absolutely infuriating when trying to maximize your productivity.
But until something better (and still free) grabs my attention, I’m stuck here. Evernote is like that messy college roommate that you’re always cleaning up after, but you love them anyway.
So, after listing all of it’s faults, why I am including it here?
Because Evernote is still the fastest and most simple mobile app to create documents (blog posts, for example, or perhaps chapters of the latest ebook) in one shot, with saved progress and synced data across multiple devices, making it invaluable for busy entrepreneurs, despite the glitches.
Pssst… if you’ve found something with all of these features for free, but without the glitches, please let me know in the comments section! *wink wink*
4. Calm (Android, iPhone)
My next fave mobile app has got to be Calm, which you can get whether you’re rocking an Android or an iPhone. Even though the free features are pretty limited (boo), there’s enough content to serve most of my basic chilling-out needs. For example, when my mind is running at full speed at 1 am, there are some great sleep stories and soothing sounds that can help me relax and drift off.And some days things are just extra anxiety-inducing, so a five-minute stress meditation really hits the spot.
This app is pretty straightforward, and I like it better than Headspace, which seems to be gaining momentum but the organization and app features just don’t hit the spot for me. ?
Besides, I’m a total sucker for the nature sounds, and I love that there’s a huge (free) selection to choose from when I need to slow my roll after a long, busy day. It’s simple, easy to use, and quick to get open and running, when I just have a few minutes break to spare.
5. Spotify (Android, iPhone)
I’m not including Spotify for its amazing music database, although I do love it for that…but rather for the ease of finding podcasts to listen to when I’m walking (or even sometimes when I’m showering if I’m hooked on something in particular).I’m currently learning how to speak Spanish using the Coffee break Spanish channel on Spotify.
Like seriously, I’m learning a freaking LANGUAGE while walking to pick my 10-year old up from school. Talk about a total time-saving score! And, it helps that it’s available on the PC, Android or iPhone, and it syncs to my Alexa speakers around the house! There are all sorts of podcasts on Spotify, from learning new business stuff, to some stress-relieving comedy, and all kinds of completely random topics. (And they say all successful entrepreneurs have a love of learning new things, so this app is perfect!) While I do have the paid plan (because I really, REALLY love my music and I get a killer student discount), the free features work just fine for most things.I especially love that you can create playlists of your favorites or subscribe to channels.
This is perfect for those busy entrepreneurs trying to catch the latest episode of their fave podcast without searching through the entire playlist. Ain’t nobody got time for that! (Come on, you’ve got to simply, simplify, simplify, when every minute counts!) Playlist shortcut to the rescue!
CONCLUSION
So there they are, all of my favorites summed up for you, to simplify your life (and business) in various ways, from time management to learning and relaxation. In case you forgot (or just don’t want to scroll back up), the five mobile apps are: Hopefully, these apps help simplify YOUR life a bit too, and save you some time to kick even more butt as an awesome entrepreneur.And feel free to comment your favorite app below- because we can all reap the benefits from being more productive.
Maybe we will even clear up enough time to squeeze in an actual full episode on Netflix at night once in a while, right?!
Hey, thanks for reading!Â
Got a question? Comment below! I’d love to help! 🙂
If you enjoyed this article, PLEASE check out our Youtube Channel, and be sure to check out our other helpful work+life articles, case studies and how-to’s to optimize your business and life!
Watch Our Videos For More Great Tips!
Click the red box to subscribe to our YouTube channel!
(without leaving the page!)
I wish that the Time Tune was available for the iPhone because it sounds a really detailed and neat way to organize my day!
Me, too! I am hoping they expand it to iPhone soon, they are rolling out a lot of new stuff, so fingers crossed! 🙂
Thanks for sharing all these great apps. I used Evernote and it is very helpful.
That is wonderful to hear! What did you like about using Evernote? We would love to hear more about it.
Very helpful post. I’ll have to try some of these apps to help keep me on track!
I need to use Calm more often. Especially in these times the Calm app would be beneficial.
I definitely have used it more this past week. I know there’s a few similar apps out there but so far Calm is my favorite! 🙂
Trello is a brilliant app, I am using it myself as well. It’s so good in keeping track of the tasks you need to do and also keep the team informed with your progress.
Yes, this is one of my favorite features! It’s much easier when the whole team is on the same page. 🙂
I need them actually to simplify my life. Thanks for the suggestions though, I need them.
Glad to help! <3 Thanks for reading! 🙂
I love Trello! It really helps to streamline and visualize my workflow. I also recommend Notion, it allows you to create pages and organization system in so many different layouts!
I haven’t heard of Notion, but it sounds right up my alley! I’ll definitely check it out! Thanks! 🙂
Great article. Thank you for the recommendations. Someone told me about Trello. Still confused how to use it though.
May I ask you what is confusing about using Trello to you, I’d love to help if I can! 🙂
Thank you for these tips! I know some of these apps will definitely help me keep organized.
I’ve only heard of a couple of these, thanks for the suggestions!
I’m glad you found this list helpful! 🙂 Thanks for commenting!
Thanks for sharing informative article and your suggestions. Looking forward to your next article.
I’ve only tried Spotify from the lists but I’ll check others out
Awesome I hope you find some that you really like! 🙂
I am a fellow spotify user. I really like it. I find some of the other apps didn’t work for me or I didn’t find a use for them in my schedule.
It’s definitely interesting how each app benefits different users! 🙂 What is your favorite app that you use?
Very useful. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I like the Calm app. Like you said, it could be better, but it serves its purpose in helping me stay calm when times are hectic. Thanks for sharing!
I think this app is going to be a lot more useful over the next few weeks, for sure!
I am a trello user. I love your sharing will share with my husband and try other apps too.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the article! Thank you for reading and sharing! <3
Nice! Another amazing article from you. As usual I learned something new from it. Thanks a bunch! 🙂