Manufacturer of Hydraulic Presses
It’s hard running a small business. Handling payroll and taxes, making sure you have the most current specs, getting your messages, keeping on top of your travel and expenses and other critical information in your machine shop can feel like a full-time job all by itself.
Take advantage of these 5 apps to help you stay on top of information overload and streamline your day.
Dropbox—Share Your Files
Dropbox is a reliable way to share files across all of your devices, including your computer, tablet and smartphone, and it works with all operating systems. Want to make sure your updated specs on a job are correct? Add them to Dropbox and your customer can check them over. You control who sees what, whether it is a client, supplier, employee or family member.
Dropbox has a basic plan that is free. It also offers a free trial for paid versions.
Gusto—Pay Your Workers
Previously called ZenPayroll, Gusto makes it easy for a small shop to pay employees. But it’s not just payroll. It does all tax filings, local, state and federal. It does workers’ comp and benefit deductions automatically. It also sends out an email to each worker with a digital pay stub. It works with a range of financial software, like Xero, Freshbooks and Quickbooks.
This is a paid app, with a base price of $39 plus $6 a person.
Pushover—All Your Messages in One Spot
Do you have a smartphone, or even two, a tablet, maybe a smart watch? It can be hard to keep track of your messages. That’s what Pushover does, organizes all messages and notifications from all of your devices. It collects them in one common area, up to 7,500 a month. It sends you a notification so you know you have a new message.
The cost is $4.99, a one-time fee.
TripIt—Consolidate Your Travel Plans
Going on a sales trip to drum up business for your machine shop? Or trying to bring some type of order to your family vacation plans? TripIt can help. This app collects your plans into one master itinerary. It doesn’t matter if you used a computer or tablet to buy your tickets, you can look over the details on any device.
You forward all your travel-related emails to TripIt and the app organizes them. It will also help you get directions to the airport, check the weather and view delays and departure times.
The basic plan is free. TripIt Pro, with additional features, is $49 a year.
Expensify—Track Your Expenses
Once you’re on your trip, track all of your expenses on Expensify. Take pictures of your receipts with your phone and the app will pull out the essential info. Later you can use this data to quickly put together your expense report. Or you can link a credit or debit card and the app will put the charges directly onto the report.
Expensify is $5 a month for each user.
