Kids never seem that excited when they get socks or a new pair of jeans for Christmas. Santa is very wise. He knows that the “exciting” toys get used for a little while but eventually things go back to normal. Santa realizes that practical gifts tend to last a long time.
That’s why today I’m sharing 9 tools that can help you get unstuck in 2015. I’ve talked about them before and if you still haven’t checked them out, you should.
- Asana — This is what my team uses to track all our projects and tasks. We’ve created templates for projects that reoccur. We can deletage tasks to fellow teammates and follow the progress on each project. This drives the conversation in our weekly traffic meetings.
- Google+ Hangouts — We use the Hangouts for our weekly traffic meetings. It’s great for video chat and screensharing is built in. I’ve also started using it for coaching with church leaders when we’re not able to meet face-to-face.
- Expensify — This is a great app for creating travel expense reports. It imports expenses directly from the credit cards. You can also use the SmartScan feature using the mobile app to import receipts into reports without typing anything. It almost makes expense reports fun.
- Google Drive — This is how my team shares documents. Every church we work with has a shared folder. Every document that’s generated through our consultations is dropped into the folder. Google Drive makes it easy for our entire team to collaborate without having to send large files through email.
- MailChimp — This is the solution we use to manage our email lists and send out the ever-popular monthly newsletter.
- Grasshopper — This service gives us a toll-free business number (844-4UNSTUCK) so that you can reach anyone on the team anywhere they’re located.
- Tripit for Team — With consultants traveling to all parts of the country, Tripit helps us keep track of all our travel itineraries so we know who is going where.
- Highrise — This is our client database. We use it to track every person, church and consultation. We also use it to log every email message and phone conversation we have. If I’ve talked with you, there’s a note in Highrise with your name on it. This is a great solution for small businesses. For churches, though, I recommend Church Community Builder.
- Wufoo — It’s simply one of the best web applications available. Wufoo is what we use to capture information in forms on our website. It integrates with Highrise, so there’s no data entry to update our client database. We also use Wufoo for our online surveys that are a part of the ministry health assessment we offer to churches.
What tools have helped you get unstuck in 2014? Share in the comments section.
Photo Credit: JM Andrade via Compfight cc
