Startup Canada #StartupChats – Productivity Solutions For 2020 Recap

Here is a recap of my first Startup Canada #Startupchat as an entrepreneurial advisor, where last week we explored productivity solutions for 2020:

My advice: #entrepreneurs can find productivity gains across their business by implementing a #techstack that integrates & automates various #sales, #marketing, #accounting, #customerservice & #projectmanagement processes & tasks. I use ActiveCampaign for my marketing, sales & customer service, Wave for my accounting, Paymo for my project management, Google forms as customer feedback channels, Agile CRM to allow customers & prospects to book meetings, and Zapier to integrate all of these software solutions together – push and pull data, moving customers & prospects through automated workflow that saves me time while providing them personalized experiences with my brand, on-demand.

My advice: Yes, I have built a productivity plan. It includes my strategic, tactical & operational business plans which are updated yearly, paired with a solid project management software. By taking the time to write/update these 3 plans all of the details for my business have been outlined & always has direction. @cocacola_ca #StartupChats #StartupWomen

My advice: I used @paymo as my project management software; Paymo functions built-in that allow you to track the time spent per task & logs that time back to each client. It also has a mobile app & is free if you only need one user. I also run @rescuetime in the background on my pc & my mobile as a fail-safe, should I need to verify the time spent in each program. @cocacola_ca #StartupChats #StartupWomen

My advice: @googledocs is a great (& free) option for capturing talk-to-text meeting notes, & since I used @googledrive as my client file manager it is very easy to give the notes a quick read through & save to their drive folder. @cocacola_ca #StartupChats #StartupWomen

My advice: I like @paymo. @Countersoft has a great option as well, with its Gemini tracking & ticketing software. Paymo is free with 1 user or $9.56/user/month. Gemini is $10/user/month. Both paid options can be built into monthly packages @cocacola_ca#StartupChats #StartupWomen

My advice: @SlackHQ is a great option, that offers group calls with screen sharing, workspaces, & chat-like communication options for $8 USD/person, per month, when billed monthly. @cocacola_ca #StartupChats #StartupWomen

My advice: As a solopreneur who will be expanding, I am interested in seeing what the other advisors have to recommend. @cocacola_ca #StartupChats #StartupWomen

My advice: I use @activecampaign as my marketing & sales tool. You can build out funnels to track $ per channel & can set up custom #leadscoring for your business. It also has #websitetracking & #marketingautomation. I have connected it with @agilecrm through @zapier to allow customers & prospects to book meetings as a part of my fully automated lead qualifying process that includes pre-meeting assessments built-in @FormsGoogle@cocacola_ca #StartupChats #StartupWomen

My advice: I use @wave_hq to manage my accounting & offer online payment options to my clients. Wave is free to use as an accounting software with paid options that include running payroll & bookkeeping. Wave can also be integrated with a number of applications through @zapier. @cocacola_ca #StartupChats #StartupWomen

My advice: Being an #entrepreneur is stressful & takes a toll on your #mentalhealth. I like to use @Headspace for meditation & to quite my mind for a restful night’s sleep.@Headspace also has daily courses to help you work on reducing stress, anxiety, prioritization, etc. I also like an app called strides to stay on track with healthy habits. I like @MyFitnessPal & an app called peak. @cocacola_ca #StartupChats #StartupWomen

My advice: I feel the most important thing for #entrepreneurs to do, is to clearly define your 2020 goals & KPIs as a business & measure every task/place you invest time against these goals. Then ask yourself, how are these investments of your time aiding you in reaching your targets? @cocacola_ca #StartupChats #StartupWomen

Closing off:

As #entrepreneurs one thing we universally understand is the need to do more while spending less – why should our approach to marketing be any different?

If this sounds like you, check out my free ebook ‘How to Market a Startup: 10 ways to bootstrap your sales funnel for success. #StartupChats

To check out the awesome advice from all of the advisors who participated in this chat view this thread on Twitter