Top 3 Systems You Need to Invest In For Your Small Business

As a small-business owner and solopreneur, you’re doing everything yourself. You don’t need a partner to clutter up your decision-making process; you simply wake up, do the work, and reap the benefits without relying on others. But you can’t do it all alone — using technology is part and parcel of the business and knowing which tools to invest in can make all the difference in the success of your small business. Here are some technologies that you need to consider investing in as you forge ahead in your solopreneur lifestyle.

Project management tools

You may not have any employees or partners in business right now, but you still need to work with people, and you still need to complete projects and fulfill orders. That’s a lot to juggle by yourself. Investing in project management tools can help you improve your client communication, keep better track of your projects, and meet deadlines more efficiently.

These tools have been touted as transformational in terms of how we work and how we view work. Collaboration and project management software allows you faster access to the information you need about your business without having to go on a quest to retrieve it.

Social media management platform

One of the biggest boons to the 21st century’s solopreneur is the advent of social media and the connections you can forge with the community. Small businesses can spend little or no money on social media campaigns (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat are all popular avenues) and be successful at acquiring, engaging with, and keeping potential customers. Having a social media management platform to aggregate your content and keep everything in one place is invaluable, especially for social listening strategies. It can help you improve your SEO strategy, as well, because the keywords in your social posts can be used on your website.

The bottom line: social media is an affordable way to engage with your customers and get your business out in the world, and management platforms allow you to see all of your channels in one place. It makes for more efficient management (and less time spent on each platform as a whole, which can be time- and energy-draining, to say the very least).

Inventory management systems

Many available tools have the ultimate objective of helping you stay organized. From that angle, for product-based businesses, inventory management systems should be a critical part of the infrastructure. After all, you’re keeping products on hand, selling them to customers, and keeping track of even more in the supply chain; all parts of the product life cycle need to be managed in order to create efficiencies in your business. Automated order management with simple software can help you see what you have, where you have it, and how much money it’s worth — as well as information on when you need to reorder certain items or what items aren’t selling at all. A great inventory solution will also integrate with your existing management tools, for even more single-pane-of-glass functionality and better insight into the systems and solutions you’re using. Keep track of your products and fulfill orders more efficiently!

Don’t go it alone

No matter what your business is or whether you’re just starting out or have been operating for years, you need to consider investing in these kinds of tools in order to fully optimize your operations. You can manage your finances, your products, and you’re marketing with ease. More importantly, these tools will allow you to pave the way for success.