In the 2020s, businesses are increasingly moving away from the older office-based model and moving increasingly toward the newer, less geographically-based concepts. One of the things which has hastened this economic revolution is the widespread use of the cellphone and of learning to manage small business in a mobile way.
The cellphone has become ubiquitous with…well, everything. It is where you call friends (of course) and family, but it’s also where you play games. You read news on it — but you also read books. Just 15 years ago, the idea of listening to music on your phone was revolutionary; now, the only folks who have a phone which doesn’t play any music at all are folks who are purposefully trying to be retro for the sake of being retro.
Modern phones have processors more powerful than the processors which took astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s.
Increasingly, the cellphone has even become the key component business for many small businessmen and women. As it has grown in both centrality and usefulness, entrepreneurs have been finding ways to incorporate it into their everyday working lives and to manage small business from their phone.
For those of you who still have yet to realize how massively beneficial a cellphone can be—and how you can effectively manage the entirety of your small business from your phone—we figured we’d put together a list of just a few ways it’s possible for you to do so. Read on for more!
Manage Small Business from Your Phone: What Your Phone Can Do for You
The first and shortest point we have is a simple one: it’s important to remember that your phone is effectively a computer. Many modern phones have processors more powerful than the processors which took astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s.
If you are still thinking of your phone as something you call your brother with or crush candies with, you’re doing it wrong. Your cellphone is, like anything else you use to business done, a tool. If you’ve ever used a multitool, using your cellphone only for calls and internet browsing would be like using only the screwdriver portion of the multitool, while ignoring all the multitude of other possibilities.
With that, let’s get into some of those possibilities. First off…what your phone actually comes with!
Taking Full of Advantage of Built-In Apps to Manage Small Business from Your Phone
Whether or not you use an Android phone, an iPhone, or a Windows phone (hey, it’s possible!), your phone definitely comes with some apps- some of which you probably have not even touched since you first turned your phone on. But they’re actually incredibly useful and deserve at least a quick look.
The biggest part of this cellphone revolution is that those who use it right and navigate correctly are going to save some serious cash.
Transitioning your business to being centered around your cellphone is going to take all sorts of planning and organization- and some of those apps can help you with that! Effectively all phones come with a calendar app. It’s free, and oftentimes incredibly simple. Yet by and large, most people just sort of ignore it. Maybe at most they’re going to use it to see what the date is, but that’s usually it.
? Calendar
Starting to build your organizational structure around the calendar app is a really really clever idea. Your phone is always with you, which means you’ll never need to carry around extra agenda books or the like. You can schedule calls, work events, non-work events; for all of those events you can set reminders and make sure that you never forget what you need to do. If you use a phone which can easily transfer information from itself to your laptop and/or computer, it’s even better. Now you don’t have to use the one that’s built into the phone- there are plenty others available on app stores. But it might be a good idea to look into it.
? Notes
One major concern folks usually have with going to digital when it comes to organizing is that they just “like the feel” of paper, or something along those lines. I’m one of them! Or at least I was. But the fact of the matter is it just makes more sense to go digital, and your apprehension and/or discomfort at using digital probably comes solely from the fact that you just don’t use it all that much. It’s cheaper, easier, lighter (the app doesn’t exactly add much weight to your phone, or take up any space in your bag) and just all-around easier.
⏺ Voice memos
Voice memos are also critically important. Need to leave yourself an important reminder- but you’re driving? Well, no typing on the Notes app!! But with a voice memo, you can easily do so. And speaking of the Notes app- on modern iPhones, it has been expanded massively. With newer updates, you can leave notes for yourself of course, but you can also leave detailed outlined notes (with bullet points and the like) and can even use your Notes app as a mobile scanning device with which to scan documents and easily send them from the app via WhatsApp, Messages, email, or through over apps.
? Document scanning
The scanning quality is also high quality and can be used for on-the-go scanning of important/official documents (I’ve literally used it for this purpose!). No more needing to run home and quickly scan things, no more needing to duck into a neighborhood print shop to pay for scanning papers- just do it with your phone!
The Abandoning of Geographic Restrictions
We’ve touched on this point briefly before, but it’s really worth mentioning- the idea of being able to completely abandon the stationary and bulky printer/scanner combination, or being able to abandon being tied to a computer at all- that is a huge, monumental shift for how you can do business.
You can effectively manage small business from your phone and use it to rethink the entirety of how business gets done. Get rid of the idea of sitting in a single space all day- use the spaces around you instead. Meet in your local coffeehouse if it’s low-key; if it’s a high-value meeting, then rent out a coworking space for the day. The biggest part of this cellphone revolution is that those who use it right and navigate correctly are going to save some serious cash. You want to make sure that you can count yourselves among them!!
One of the key benefits of being able to reject geographic restrictions (and of moving to your cellphone as your main device) are the opportunities which open up otherwise. One of the keys is being able to move more into the digital world. Which brings us to…
Internet-Based Mobile Phone Systems (and their apps!)
One of the other benefits of the move to cellphones has been the advent of new small business phone systems which basically put everything online. Small business owners now can use central hubs offered by these phone systems to contact their employees, leave notes for their employees (and vice versa), and set up and maintain auto-attendants (among many other things). But what is truly revolutionary about these newer systems is that they have apps from which you can do most of the work you’d be able to do from a desktop.
Manage small business on the go with MightyCall’s virtual phone system
Take MightyCall’s phone system and its app, for example. The phone system allows you to share information with employees in a seamless and easy way, and can be accessed from any internet-connected device. And that includes phones- which is where the free mobile app comes in. From the app, you can do whatever you need: make and receive calls (naturally), manage your call status, listen to voicemail and call recordings, read and reply to texts, check your call statistics, edit the Business Contact Book, and more. It truly allows you to do what we’ve been talking about throughout this entire article: run your business from your cellphone.
Manage Your Documents with Google Drive
Finally, another point we’ve been hitting on is that your cellphone is essentially your computer nowadays- and that means in all forms. One of the issues with smartphones for a long time was that, though they were internet-connected, moving files around was difficult. Nowadays, with cellphones able to have their own USB ports and with the advent of apps like Google Drive, that dynamic has changed…well, dynamically! Google Drive allows you to seamlessly share, open, and save files into a “cloud”- easily accessible by whomever you’d like to access it, but secured against those whom you would not want access to it.
Get Access to Cloud Tools
Cloud or web-based tools are a great choice for business since there’s no software needed to download. Most Cloud tools are incredibly cost-effective as well, with many freemium or low-cost options available.
Since most Cloud tools come with mobile apps, you’ve got a sure way to manage small business from your mobile phone. Be it finance, marketing, sales, communications, or any part of your daily business routine, it’s probably available on mobile apps.
Need help picking the right Cloud tools and mobile apps for your small business? Check out these Best Cloud Business Tools as Reviewed by Entrepreneurs
Make the move and manage small business from your phone
There you have it: your cellphone is the full package and allows you to easily manage small business from your phone. Powerful like a computer, able to transfer documents like a computer, allows you to organize your business and connect with your employees and clients like a computer, able to transfer documents and important pieces of data like a computer- the cellphone has become the modern computer. And in the early 2000s your small business wouldn’t be caught dead without a computer playing a key role in it- so why are you ignoring the full capability of the cellphone? Make the switch today- and make your life a lot easier too.
