Back to School: 5 Tools to Automagically Get Back into the Game This Fall

Long before the last hot dog has been served and the pool toys are back in the shed, you should be thinking about your fall game plan and how to equip yourself for the short run to 2017.

If it seems too early, think again.

A recent survey shows that 80% of small business owners and entrepreneurs regularly cite quality of life as a major issue: More work and less play doesn’t equal a life of quality.

Plus, while working, many business owners don’t maximize their time because they handle all their processes manually. That, in turn, affects the quality of their play.

Put processes and technology in place now to ensure that by September you can easily focus on high-level business initiatives while resting easy because everything else is automated, has a process, or both.

There are dozens of software companies and vendors you can use to save time in various aspects of your business, your job, and your life. Here are five of my favorites that take care of core business tasks that take the most time out of your day: social media, CRM, design, content marketing, and project management:

1.             Wrike for marketers 

Wrike has introduced a marketing project management tool designed around the typical marketing workflow, which often includes briefs, requests, assignments, reviews and approvals. Wrike has figured out every step needed for a successful campaign and filled every gap along they way, including key integrations with tools such as the Adobe Creative Cloud, so you to complete all your work in the same platform.

2.             ONTRAPORT

You can save time and money with ONTRAPORT’s all-in-one business and marketing automation platform. Their recently released ONTRAPORT Basic lets small business owners literally start from day one with a system that will power their business for years to come, including web pages, email templates, powerful CRM, and SMS marketing. If you want to get back in the hammock, this is the automation tool for you.

3.             Design Pickle

Access to a graphic designer and a steady flow of amazing designs — think infographics to support your articles and templates for your campaigns — is a huge burden for small business owners. Design Pickle solves that problem with unlimited graphic design help for the day-to-day needs of marketers and small businesses. It’s like having creative on staff.

4.             Likeable Local

Likeable Local, my own software company, gives time back to thousands of small business owners who have better things to do than social media by automating short form content, advertising, and landing pages. With the affordable Likeable Hub, you can transform your small business into a #LikeableBusinesses with social media automatedfor you, across the four major platforms: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. 

5.             CoSchedule

More than 10,000 content marketers and bloggers use CoSchedule to automate their article posting. The company provides a comprehensive Editorial Calendar that lets you pre-schedule your blog posts including the social media connected to each post. You can literally upload your article with images and photos (or link to them) and schedule each for months ahead. Think about an extended trekking trip to parts unknown — with CoSchedule it’s not a problem; everything triggers automagically.

These are five awesome tools, but now it's your turn! What are your favorite tools to automate processes in your business? Please let me know in the Comments section below - and let me know if you're ready to get back to school and back to work! 

Dave Kerpen is the founder and CEO of Likeable Local and the NY Times bestselling author of The Art of People. Looking to save time and automate social media for your business? Learn more about Likeable Local here.