8 Tools To Simplify Your Professional Life
With the onset of winter around the corner, your days are about to feel shorter, and your calendar is about to feel full(er) with all of the holiday party invitations and obligations that are sure to start coming soon. You might be wondering what you can do to make your professional and personal life a lot easier.
Apps can often complicate our lives – they are just one more thing to install, learn, and monitor, instead of simplifying things for you. However, the eight apps below are designed to lighten your load and help you shine, even in the dark days of winter.
Check out my recommendations below and then tweet me at @Ethos3 to let me know what apps you recommend. Cheers!
1. Workflow: Powerful automation made simple
What is it?
Workflows connect apps and actions together to automate things you do on your device. To build a workflow, just drag and drop together a series of actions.
How To Get It?
Download at the App Store for $3.99
Additional Information
3 tools that techies are using to boost productivity
2. Unroll.Me: Save time on email
What is it?
Unroll.me is the easiest way to manage your inbox. Unsubscribe instantly from all of the email subscriptions you don’t want – with one click. After unsubscribing from what you don’t want, combine what you love into a beautiful digest called the Rollup.
How To Get It?
Sign up here.
Additional Information
70 Apps Every Professional Should Know About and Use
3. Do Button: Do more with just a tap
What is it?
DO Button empowers you to create your own personalized button with just a tap. Save time and control the world around you with Recipes that connect your button to Philips Hue, Google Drive, Nest Thermostat, and hundreds of Channels you use every day.
How To Get It?
Download at the App Store for free.
Download at the Android Store for free.
Additional Information
The Button That Does Whatever You Want It to Do
4. Hop: Email Messenger
What is it?
Hop runs email at the speed of instant messages. When you Hop, threads turn into back and forth, real-time conversations without all the old-school subject lines, signatures and faux-letter formality. In addition, Hop sorts your incoming mail into active conversations and everything else. Friends and colleagues stay in your line of sight, less-important emails stay in the background so you can focus on the messages that matter.
How To Get It?
Download at the App Store for free.
Download at the Android Store for free.
Additional Information
70 Apps Every Professional Should Know About and Use
5. Focus Booster: Get More Done
What is it?
Based on the pomodoro technique, focus booster will empower you to maintain focus and manage distractions. Stay focused and fresh to get more done. Sessions are automatically recorded in your timesheets so you no longer have the headache of trying to recall where your time went.
How To Get It?
Try it for free here for 15 days.
After the first 15 days, focus booster is just $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year.
Additional Information
10 Online Tools for Better Attention & Focus
6. TripIt: All your travel plans, in one place
What is it?
Keep all your travel plans in one place and access your itineraries anytime, on any device.
How To Get It?
Try TripIt Pro for 30 days — free of charge. Then it’s just $4.09 a month (billed annually).
Additional Information
The 20 Best Apps for Small-Business Owners
7. Flowvella: Create Beautiful Presentations
What is it?
Captivate your audience with an interactive presentation which is fun and engaging to explore. Add links and navigation or a table of contents to encourage viewers to interact with your ideas and to follow their interests. Whether you’re building a linear slide show, or non-linear product catalogs, its simple with FlowVella.
How To Get It?
Download at the App Store for free.
Download at the Mac Apple Store for free.
Additional Information
Flowvella Demo: 5 Features of the Presentation Software
8. VWO: Visual Website Optimizer
What is it?
Visual Website Optimizer is a simple to use A/B testing tool that makes it easy to create different versions of your website and landing pages using a point-and-click editor (no HTML knowledge needed!) and then see which version produces maximum conversion rate or sales.
How To Get It?
Sign up for a 30-day free trial here. Plans start at $49/month.
Additional Information
15 Must-Have Marketing Tools for 2015
Conclusion
Like these recommendations? Check out some of my other lists here:
15 Blogs and Resources For Creative Business Leaders
7 Great Presentation Design Resources
6 Podcasts Business Leaders and Presenters Will Love
