Top 6 Apps I Use For My Business

Here's a quick list of apps that I use everyday for my business. I'll give a brief description of each and touch on what I like specifically. Some of these are pretty standard and some of these I've mentioned before in other blog posts. Some of these apps are available on both smartphones and tablets, some are not. For simplicity's sake, I use these apps on my Android phone exclusively therefore I will include links to each app from the Play Store.

6. Kies Air by Samsung Electronics

If you have an Android phone, then you'll need to have this app in order to share files on your phone and computer with each other. I like the Air version best because I don't have to connect my phone to the laptop and wait forever to be able to save pictures onto my laptop. Everything is organized as it is on your phone, so navigating is simple. I take most of my photos with my phone since the camera is really boss, so this makes things more convenient for me.

5. Pages Manager by Facebook

I run a business page on Facebook and a lot of the time I'm trying to share content from my phone. This allows me to keep track of how my page is doing when I'm not near my laptop. I can fulfill orders easier, communicate with customers easier, and post photos of WIPs and finished products directly.

4. USPS Mobile by the United States Postal Service

This is great for when people don't give their full nine digit zip code when placing an order. A lot of people aren't aware that they need the extra four digits when shipping something, but alas, you do. It makes things simpler for the post officers to organize the massive amounts of mail they receive daily and pin point the exact location of your address. It gets especially more necessary when shipping to a customer living in an apartment complex. Really, this is more for helping the post office than myself, but I do use this app a LOT!

Aside from finding the extra four digits, I calculate shipping rates very frequently. With the steady increase in international shipping, this helps me prepare for what I should expect when paying for the shipping.

3. Time Sheet by Florian Rauscha 

I love this app so much that I made a special blog post for it. Just to reiterate, I enjoy being able to keep track of my progress on how quickly I create an item. Also, it gives me an idea of how much I should charge for my time.

2. The Official Etsy App by Etsy, Inc

This one's a no-brainer. If you have an Etsy shop, you need the Etsy app. I can relist items, create new listings, look at other listings - the works. It has a very simple page setup that helps you keep track of new favorites and likes, sales, and how much money you've profited without having to swipe a lot or jump between pages. Plus, there is a very satisfying *cha-ching* sound every time you sell an item.

1. PayPal Here by PayPal Mobile

I sell at a lot of conventions and farmer's markets. More and more people are now coming to expect local artisans to accept credit cards at their booths and tables. Be prepared to have either the PayPal Here or the Squared Up apps. Both are relatively the same. They charge the same percentage from every transaction and have virtually identical accepted forms of payment and policies. The only main difference is that the PayPal credit card app accepts PayPal payments as far as I know.

Timesheet - Time Tracker App Review

A friend of mine let me in on an app that he's been utilizing with keeping up with his projects. We both run Etsy shops and spend a lot of time creating things. Sometimes we crafty types lose track of the hours spent and aren't exactly sure what to charge for the time we put into our amazing products. Thanks to this app we can now use a simple timer to help keep track of that time for us. There are timer apps out there, but what really sets this app apart is that it separates your projects to help you track your time and you can add how much to pay yourself per hour. You can make several projects and it will organize it all for you and even export it to Microsoft Excel.

Here's what the product description says on the page:

Timesheet allows you the recording of your work with a simple push of a button. You can easily add breaks, expenses and notes. Manage your projects and export your data to Microsoft Excel. Clear overviews and statistics will give you the best working experience.

Here's where the app falls a little short; the app can be a little confusing to navigate around. When I first started playing around with the app it seemed like I could only create one project. When I realized that I had a spelling error that I wanted to fix it took me a few minutes to figure out how to edit the project. After completing the project I wanted to start a new one. I didn't realize that I needed to tap on the top drop menu and select Projects, then hit the add project button. The confusing part is that the add project button is seen on the top of both the Projects and Timesheets pages. Whenever I was on the Timesheets page and I wanted to add a project it wouldn't allow me to edit the name of the project. 

It didn't take too much time to figure my way around the app. I tried tinkering around with the Export, but was unable to e-mail the file to myself. The other options for Exporting are AT&T messaging through the cloud, Bluetooth, E-Mail, G-Mail, LAN, and Wi-Fi Direct. 

One thing that could really bring this app together is an option to take photo progress along with the description of progress. You can keep track with your overall happiness with your projects which I'm not really into. I can see how it may be useful for other people, but for me it seems a little useless. 

The best part of this app is that it's FREE! It's available in the Play store for the Android and Tablets. Check it out here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rauscha.apps.timesheet

Blog from phone?

This entry is coming to you straight from my phone! How cool is that? I won't give any official opinion on this app yet until I do this a few more times. So far the concept is very appealing, but I hate the autocorrect on my phone. If I wasn't respelling every other word then no one would have a clue what I was trying to say. That's a phone issue though and has nothing to do with the Blogger app.

Anyhoo, super excited about this. I'm going to start doing blogs for events for an Etsy group I'm a part of. Now I can write them while at the event!