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What would you do if you had more time?

  • Work more?
  • Play more?
  • Spend more time with loved ones?
  • Exercise?
  • Read?
  • Sleep?

The following list of apps and programs is what I have found over the past year and a half that has given me back my time.

Not only did I get my time back, which now frees me up to coach other painting contractors and run mastermind groups, but they also helped me to increase my business 79% in 2015, the year I implemented them.

Google Boomerang:

  1. Boomerang allows me to tag outgoing emails to alert me when they have been read.
  2. Boomerang also lets you delay in sending an email by scheduling your email to be sent at a certain time.  This is great for those night owls or if you want to be sure your email is right at the top of someone’s inbox
  3. Have you ever received an email but was not on your “to do” list right now?  Well, Boomerang allows you to send it to yourself at a specific time. How is next Tuesday at 2 pm?”

Facebook Ads Manager:

In today’s ever-changing social media world, Facebook has found a way to put all our Facebook ads, campaigns, and results in one easy to manage place.

No more searching and you are now able to see directly the cost of touching every user that you interact with and which campaigns are working or not working for you.

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Skitch:

Being in a very visual industry where notes and pictures are essential for a smooth project, Skitch allows us to draw, circle, use arrows, and take notes on a picture or document.

This allows our customer and/or crews to know exactly what the plan is, visually.

T-Sheets:

This software makes us MONEY: RELATED: How I Found $12,487.50 During Lunch

  1. Instant timekeeper from anywhere in the field.
  2. GPS location of all my employees.
  3. Breakdowns and wrap-ups of all my employees clock ins and outs to the minute and per job TASK.
  4. Discount for prepaying the year in advance.

iWriter:

  1. 500 word blog articles written for just $9.00 each. ( Select “Ultra” )
  2. You can accept or reject any article that is sent to you.
  3. This is a great option for blogging if you do not blog or you need to fill in blogs when you are busy.
  4. You can also edit the blogs to make them more personal to your company.

Estimate Rocket:

I have never been too Techie, but this piece of software makes it easy to follow up and allows us to look the most professional to our clients.

  1. Instant on-site estimates produced in minutes
  2. Customer Service that is second to none; in fact, it is almost immediate–even on weekends
  3. Easy to learn, easy to input information and retrieve for additional proposals to the same or similar customers
  4. Did I mention awesome customer service?
  5. Different level of price structures depending on usage needs
  6. Automatic follow-up campaigns for reminding your customers that you still would like their business– all customizable, if needed

RELATED: Top 3 Things I Love About Estimate Rocket

Pipeline Deals:

There are many CRMs (customer relationship managers) on the market and I was looking for an easy to use one (as I mentioned, I am not a “techie”).

  1. Instant reporting of where MY MONEY is being generated from
  2. Easy to use file for each and everyone of my customers
  3. Calendar for scheduling, if needed
  4. Numbers, people, deals, and all the information that is needed to run a business

Basecamp:

  1. No more employees guessing what work needs to be done. All the information need for every project is right at their fingertips.
  2. Easy to format templates for repetitive types of projects and tasks
  3. Pictures, Text Documents and Files fully editable on each and every project (Accessible (if I choose) for my customers to view see the progress of their project.)
  4. Project scheduling calendar.  Schedule multiple crews and or projects –all color coded

GroupMe:

This app keeps our team connected in a closed group, even if you are not a texting kind of person.

A user can be in multiple groups, reminders can be set on the individual groups chat for upcoming events.

It also tells me every morning that I look Great today.

Honorable mentions:  These are a few apps I used or am starting to use and cannot comment in depth, as my full knowledge and use of them is limited, but did find them or am finding them very use full and valuable for the cost.

  • IRUNURUN: I used this for a few months to challenge others in accountability. Great to use if you need to be more accountable
  • Post Planner: This is a social media engagement app that lets you “set it and forget it” with also a large volume of samples to use for engaging your followers.  We have just started using this and give it 2 thumbs up.
  • Pushbullet: Lets you text from your home computer or laptop, in case you are not running on Macs and iPhones.

What tech do you find most useful to your company, as you generate more time to do what you love?

About the Author

Ron Ramsden is the owner of the successful Ramsden 1-800-PAINTING, who implemented the DYB SYSTEM, and crushed it in 2015, and now coaches other painting contractors around the nation to do the same.