What mobile app for business can you not live without?
The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC recently published #FixYoungAmerica: How to Rebuild Our Economy and Put Young Americans Back to Work (for Good), a book of 30-plus proven solutions to help end youth unemployment.
A: Yammer for Chatter
Yammer is great for keeping up with what's going on across the businesses. The iPhone and iPad versions are great and easy to use, and allow me to keep up with company chatter on the go.
--
,
and
A: Evernote for Everything
Those thoughts that hit me as I'm about to fall asleep need to live somewhere. Evernote makes it easy for me to jot them down so I can get to work on them the next day.
--
,
A: CardCloud Saves Space
It is awesome to be able to send a business card to someone I just met by email. It really saves carrying them around, and then I am able to capture their email on the back-end. Double win!
--
,
A: Scramble With Friends!
I love Dropbox, Evernote and Google Docs as much as the next person, but all work and no play is a fast track to burn out. I've found playing games like Scramble with Friends, Draw Something, and others, stimulates me creatively and provide a fun avenue in which to engage other entrepreneurs and friends.
--
,
A: ClockworkMod Tether Works
This app is so simple and yet so useful. I travel into NYC on the train a lot and until recently I was stuck without internet access on my laptop. Verizon charges something ridiculous to tether your smart phone for your computer, but using the ClockworkMod Tether app, I can now access the web on my laptop almost anywhere without WiFi! I highly recommend it.
--
,
A: Sticking With Siri!
She may not be perfect, but she's pretty good at dictation! When I'm on the run, there's nothing better than having my "digitassistant" transcribe my emails. Couple that with her appointment scheduling abilities, and she's on my "Employee of the Month" list! And when I need someone to blame my screwups, who better than Siri?
--
Michael Tolkin
,
A: Scan With JotNot Pro
Let's face it -- you'll never meet a young entrepreneur who is fond of paper. We want everything digital. JotNot Pro allows you to turn your iPhone into a scanner so you can take pictures of your receipts, contracts, etc. and easily edit/save them as a PDF on the fly. It also has built-in integration with Evernote, Dropbox, and Box.net for quick collaboration. Great tool for execs on the go.
--
,
A: Hootsuite Helps
Instead of logging into Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, WordPress, and all your other social media tools separately, Hootsuite allows you to see all these accounts at once. I have scheduled status updates a few weeks in advance, and Hootsuite posts to the social media accounts you choose. Busy business owners save time by only logging onto one social media account.
--
,
A: Operate With Dropbox
As an entrepreneur that works out of a virtual office and travels regularly, I highly suggest using Dropbox with your clients. The remote document access prevents having to email documents back and forth, and as a benefit, you can view, share and modify material anywhere in the world, off any device and computer. It's free -- give it a chance, if you haven't already!
--
,
A: Today's Tasks on Google Calendar
I'm a huge fan of Google Docs, but the Google Calendar app is critical to my day-to-day business activity. I'm often on the road taking meetings, and my mobile calendar directs my day.
--
,
A: Camera, Of Course
It may be built-in and obvious, but I couldn't live without the camera on my phone. I take pictures of anything I need to remember and not lose and automatically send them to myself. That includes signage, business cards, brochures, forms and plenty more. I lose paper without fail, so keeping a record of it is a must.
--
,
A: List It on Orchestra
I finally found a to-do list I could stick to with Orchestra. It's beautifully designed, simple to use, and has a slick voice command input for your tasks.
--
,
A: Networking With LinkedIn
LinkedIn is my go-to app. It's constant, self-updating Rolodex. It's beautiful -- who would have thought we'd be carrying our business contacts around in our pockets? You can learn so much about other professionals' accomplishments and abilities. It's a great way to find partners, staff members, and new ideas.
--
,
A: Try Out SocialCam
I've just started using SocialCam and it's awesome. Until now, we'd shoot small videos in our office or on the set of a project via an HD camera, which would require downloading the media, editing, compressing, etc. Now we can do the same with our iPhone in a matter of seconds, and view videos of our friends. With video leading community engagement for most businesses, they've made it easy to win.
--
,
A: Wunderlist Wins
Wunderlist has been a godsend. It allows me to keep all of my priorities for clients and my business with me at all times, on my iPhone, iPad and my laptop. I can also update those tasks from any of those devices and it will automatically sync to the rest.
--
,