Turn to Reliable, Dependable Devices
Digital tools are godsends as small businesses chase productivity
When productivity hinges on a single click or gesture, entrepreneurs turn to a host of tools — digital and physical — to power their daily workflows.
From sleek software solutions to surprisingly analog hacks, the right tool can mean the difference between chaos and clarity.
According to a 2024 survey by Zapier, 88 percent of small-business owners use at least one automation tool daily. Platforms such as Slack, Notion and Google Workspace top the list for digital essentials.
Yet, beyond the usual suspects, many entrepreneurs point to more unconventional items — noise-canceling headphones, whiteboards or even kitchen timers — as crucial productivity boosters.
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Lisa Sicard, Tom Reid, Ivana Taylor and Iva Ignjatovic are typical entrepreneurs who swear by the everyday tools they rely on, the app or object they can’t function without, and the surprising gear that unexpectedly fuels their focus.
Through her blog at Inspire To Thrive, Sicard writes for international clients and trains and consults with local businesses. She also does social media management, digital assessments and blogs for local clients.
Reid has been chasing the elusive leadership ideal, compiling a work breakdown structure, or WBS. From that he has written “Sustained Leader WBS,” a comprehensive tool for assessing and improving leadership potential.
He has decomposed every part of the work to be done in a project — 229 WBS elements that apply to building yourself into a sustained leader.
Taylor owns DIYMarketers, “committed to helping small-business owners get out of overwhelm.” Ignjatovic is a marketing, strategy and business consultant.
Necessary for Business
Among them they have tools, apps or objects they simply cannot work without.
“Mine is Agorapulse because I manage all my client social media there with posts and responses as well as great reporting,” Sicard said. “Of course, I have my artificial intelligence.”
DIYMarketers has published a related article, “The Best Tools to Automate and Scale Your Referral Network.”
Reid has found there is no single tool for all the challenges that arise in a normal work day.
“You have to be a real problem identifier to know what tool will work best,” Taylor said. “These days AI isn’t even a tool. It’s turned into an integral part of every app.”
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That means learning as many aspects as possible about devices.
“We must know our tools to use them properly for maximum efficiency,” Ignjatovic said. “Agorapulse, for instance, is a very neat tool. I used it before and was happy with it.”
Several important digital or physical tools come into play every day in business.
“Outlook is one of them,” Reid said. “I create a lot of content, so Word is equally important. The computer on which both of those work is indispensable. These are not ‘items’ but systems with many parts working together.
“For instance, my cellphone stopped downloading email,” he said. “It says to contact my administrator, but as a one-person operation, that is me. I have no idea what it is even talking about.”
Start With the Basics
For all digital marketers, laptops and cellphones are their online lifelines.
“I could not do a thing without my laptop,” Sicard said, practically trembling at the thought.
Taylor is only slightly less adamant.
“My project management tool keeps me sane,” she said. “I use it to track everything.”
These tools make a big, measurable difference. A major management consultant firm states that in the United States, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises are just 47 percent as productive as large firms.
“I thought the number would be higher,” Sicard said. “I worked for a big firm. There was so much red tape it took so long to get approvals and then to get things done.”
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Less high-tech, Ignjatovic relies on her notebook–”Yes, paper” — to help her brainstorm and think clearly, finding she remembers better when she writes things down.
“We all do,” Ignjatovic said. “That’s how our brain is wired. It’s scientifically proven by some research.”
Seeing handwritten words helps cut through the clutter.
“I have to log everything,” Taylor said. “My brain is so full of stuff. If I don’t write things down, I would forget the most obvious thing. It’s so annoying.
“I love Missinglttr as a related app,” she said. “I have Zoho Social, but Missinglettr is the best when you have to promote blog posts.”
No matter the tool, it needs to fit within an entrepreneur’s broad scheme for productivity.
“Most of the time we operate within systems,” Ignjatovic said. “Many tools evolved into systems to support more options within.”
Great When They Work
Tools take hold when they become indispensable to a company’s workflow.
“If it is a functional step in a system, it is indispensable,” Reid said. “Right now, I can’t get my fancy printer-scanner to create OCR scans. I have a ton of printed material I do not wish to retype but could use as repurposed content. That one glitch shut down my content.”
Even if a system is complex, a crucial tool should be readily manageable.
“Ease of use means something I don’t need days to train on,” Sicard said. “It’s something I can use right away.”
Without an essential tool, digital entrepreneurs might just as well stare at blank screens.
“Tools have to save me time and reduce stress,” Taylor said. “There’s a bonus if it’s fun to use.”
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To back that up, Sicard has published an Inspire to Thrive article, “12 X Twitter Tools To Help You Navigate X For Better Results.”
“If it’s reliable, intuitive and integrates with other tools I use, I’m sold,” Ignjatovic said. “We do need to learn about all tools, and it’s a shame we don’t have enough time. On the other hand, time is scarce.”
Surprising or unconventional items can markedly improve productivity.
“There’s my introversion,” Reid said. “The more people I can ignore, the more time I have to get things done.”
Contrary to digital ideals, Sicard keeps her to-do list written down and beside her. Others prone to distractions shun music or background noise to be more productive.
“A whiteboard on my wall is great for getting thoughts out of my head and into the open,” Taylor said, also making sure to be properly attired for business. “If I’m too dressed down, I feel lazy.”
Wasted Minutes Add Up
There is plenty of incentive to try anything to stay focused. According to Slack, created to make working life simpler, more pleasant and more productive, small-business owners lose an average of 96 minutes of productivity daily, which amounts to three weeks of lost time per year.
“My kitchen timer keeps me on task better than any app,” Ignjatovic said. “I don’t use it all the time. It’s useful when I’m on tasks that need super focus. That timer is a reminder to stay on top of it.”
Even if they seem to work fine, it never hurts to evaluate or switch up tools.
“When I find something that gets the job done, I tend to stick with it,” Reid said. “I dislike learning new platforms because they disappear overnight — Goodbye, Skype — or do not operate as advertised. One of my boundaries is limiting platforms.”
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Sicard often finds herself verifying performance.
“I’m in the process of looking at three tools, one for Pinterest and two for overall business functions,” she said. “So far, PinGenerator is a winner for me. Normally, I review tools every three to six months.”
Those less sophisticated might stick with tools when they break.
“I feel like I used to learn and conquer quickly,” Taylor said. “Now the tools seem to beat me. I review my tech stack quarterly. If something’s not pulling its weight, it’s out.
“I’ve been a ‘best in class’ person, using a lot of tools for a long time,” she said. “Now, I’ve worked hard to whittle them down to Zoho and a few others.”
Wishful Productivity
Productivity gains could conceivably let small-business owners cut back to four-day work weeks, but such dreams need to be grounded in realistic expectations. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs need to keep monitoring their tools.
“I check mine once or twice a year,” Ignjatovic said. “Stability is important to me.”
Among digital tools or apps every entrepreneur should try at least once, Taylor recommends Canva, “a lifesaver for non-designers like me.”
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Another option is to Google or use other means to see what the competition is up to.
“Try Notion,” Ignjatovic said. “It’s like a productivity playground once you set it up right. It can be confusing, especially when you start using it. I was forced into it and had to learn it because of my client.”
Not being a tech expert, Reid refrains from making any such suggestions.
“I endorse The Right Blogger,” Sicard said. “It’s a suite of 87 tools for writing, marketing, social media, business and much more.”