Entrepreneurs are known for their innovative use of tools to drive business success, but some of the most impactful resources are often the least talked about. From embracing mindfulness with Ten Percent Happier to leveraging emotional intelligence for leadership, we’ve gathered the unique insights of fifteen founders and CEOs. Discover the lesser-known tools these entrepreneurs consider instrumental in managing their businesses.
- Embrace Mindfulness with Ten Percent Happier
- Streamline Operations with Floranext
- Boost Exposure with Featured.com
- Optimize Onboarding with Loom
- Foster Collaboration Using Miro
- Organize Tabs with Workona
- Optimize Funnels with Finteza
- Streamline Workflow with Scoro
- Prioritize Emails Using Snooze
- Automate CRM with Streak
- Plan Efficiently with TeamGantt
- Manage Projects with Asana
- Simplify Finances with Wave Invoicing
- Automate Tasks Using Make
- Leverage Emotional Intelligence for Leadership
Embrace Mindfulness with Ten Percent Happier
When I started my career over 40 years ago, I never imagined the importance of looking after myself. But I learned the hard way that if you don’t take care of yourself, the impact can easily damage your business. Running a business is hard work and is undoubtedly stressful.
Ten Percent Happier is a mindfulness and straight-talking meditation app. It addresses questions such as how meditation can boost your productivity and whether practicing mindfulness will blunt your competitive edge.
I started using the app three years ago, and it has helped me become more self-aware and learn how to handle stress better. I have become a better person and team leader. More importantly, I’m less likely to burn out. I know my limits and have a clear roadmap for staying on course.
Fred Winchar, Founder, Certified HR professional, MaxCash
Streamline Operations with Floranext
When I first started my florist business, I quickly realized that managing everything from inventory to sales was becoming overwhelming. That’s when I stumbled upon Floranext. I heard about it through a fellow florist who raved about how it transformed her business operations. Intrigued, I decided to give it a try, and I must say, it’s been a game-changer for me.
Floranext offers a variety of features that have streamlined my daily tasks. I primarily use it for managing my inventory, processing orders, and handling customer relations. The point-of-sale system is super intuitive, which makes checking out customers a breeze, even during busy holiday periods. Its inventory tracking feature has also saved me a lot of headaches; I can now easily keep track of what I have in stock and get alerts when I’m running low on popular items. Plus, the reporting tools have provided me with invaluable insights into sales trends, helping me make better purchasing decisions.
My experience using Floranext has been overwhelmingly positive. Initially, there was a slight learning curve, but their support team was incredibly helpful in getting me set up and answering any questions I had. Once I got the hang of it, I found it not only improved my efficiency but also allowed me to focus more on the creative aspects of my business, like designing floral arrangements and connecting with customers on a personal level.
Since implementing Floranext, I’ve noticed a significant improvement in my overall business performance. Our order processing time has decreased, which means happier customers and potentially more sales. I’ve also seen an increase in repeat customers, as the system allows me to keep track of their preferences and offer personalized services. I believe Floranext has not only helped me manage my business more effectively but has also enhanced the customer experience, which is what it’s all about in the end!
Sophie Marasco, Founder, Thanks A Bunch Florist
Boost Exposure with Featured.com
One lesser-known tool that has been instrumental in my business management is Featured.com. I use it to grow the exposure and occasionally gain backlinks for my website. By sharing my experiences as an entrepreneur, marketer, and engineer, I can reach top publishers who publish my articles and attribute them to my website. It’s an excellent tool for connecting domain experts with publishers and amplifying their voices.
Zeyuan Gu, Founder, Adzviser LLC
Optimize Onboarding with Loom
Loom is an underutilized tool among business executives. However, from our experience, it can be highly beneficial because it streamlines the onboarding process, cuts meeting times, and improves productivity.
We can make detailed video tutorials using Loom so that new team members always have access to visual instructions and onboarding materials, which greatly speeds up their integration into the team. By stating processes and expectations in these videos, we can ensure uniformity and quality across the board. Loom also does away with repetitive in-person training sessions. Once a video tutorial has been recorded, it can be used repeatedly so that each new employee receives consistent training without us having to repeat ourselves.
Additionally, Loom has significantly reduced the frequency and duration of our meetings. Instead of gathering everyone for discussions, I can simply record Loom video instructions or updates. My colleagues can then respond at their convenience through Loom videos. This not only saves time but also ensures clear communication and easy revisiting of the message later on, making us all more efficient.
Finally, Loom’s capability to be used on the go means that crucial information can be shared and accessed regardless of location, thus promoting responsiveness and agility within workflows.
For business leaders aiming to optimize operations and uphold high standards, Loom is a powerful ally with significant potential to usher in remarkable results.
Barkev Meserlian, Founder and CEO, Barkev’s
Foster Collaboration Using Miro
As the owner of a recruiting platform, one lesser-known tool that has genuinely changed the way I manage my business is Miro. When I first discovered Miro, I thought it would just be another digital whiteboard.
However, it quickly became an invaluable space for my team to brainstorm, strategize, and visualize our clients’ needs and candidate journeys. The joy of collaborating in real-time—drawing sticky notes, adding images, and mapping out ideas—creates an atmosphere bursting with creativity.
It’s not just a tool; it’s a virtual gathering place where our concepts come to life. Seeing my team’s excitement as we develop new strategies together is incredibly rewarding, and I love how Miro fosters a sense of collective ownership over our projects. It reminds me that we are in this together, working collaboratively to make a difference in people’s lives by helping them find their ideal roles.
Amit Doshi, Founder & CEO, MyTurn
Organize Tabs with Workona
One tool that has truly revolutionized my day-to-day productivity is Workona. As someone who connects with numerous data sources and juggles various projects, managing browser tabs can quickly become chaotic. Workona offers a remarkable solution by organizing tabs into dedicated workspaces. Each workspace is a project hub, allowing easy switching between different tasks without losing focus.
What sets Workona apart is its ability to save and restore entire work sessions. Imagine closing your browser without worrying about losing important tabs. The extension ensures all your research, dashboards, and tools are just a click away when you return. This functionality has proven essential for seamlessly managing our complex projects, ultimately helping me stay organized and focused on driving the company’s success.
Mary Tung, Founder & CEO, Lido.app
Optimize Funnels with Finteza
I use Finteza to build and optimize our conversion funnels. The platform provides us with advanced analytics and detailed marketing data analysis within one dashboard. It effectively evaluates the exact percentage of low-quality and high-quality traffic data in real time. It also detects bot traffic and highlights bottlenecks in our marketing process.
Finteza allows us to see how well our conversions are going and whether we are getting the expected results from our campaigns. It tracks conversions by channel and keyword, making it easy to attribute revenue generated to a specific ad. The platform offers everything a marketer needs to build effective conversion funnels on landing pages. You can also quickly analyze user behavior from different sources and create visual reports to better understand your target audience.
Dan Ben-Nun, Founder & CEO, Adspace
Streamline Workflow with Scoro
In my role as an entrepreneur, I think Scoro is a tool that doesn’t get enough credit. Scoro is a comprehensive business management software that serves as a one-stop shop, which is perfect for streamlining workflow. Everything is integrated into a single program, which makes monitoring team results and progress incredibly straightforward. The software includes dashboards and reports that provide a clear view of what’s happening at any given time.
Team collaboration is greatly enhanced through its digital workspace, where detailed metrics and KPIs aid both managers and team members in making data-driven decisions. Scoro wraps project management, CRM, financial summaries, and much more into one neat package. This integration simplifies management tasks and helps keep everything running smoothly, making it an essential tool in managing my business effectively.
Rosana Tejada Crespo, CEO, Tejada Solicitors Law Firm
Prioritize Emails Using Snooze
One lesser-known tool that’s been instrumental for us is Snooze for Gmail. While many are familiar with standard email features, this tool has transformed how we manage our inboxes. It allows me to schedule emails to reappear at a more convenient time, which helps prioritize tasks and manage my workload more efficiently.
For instance, I can snooze emails until I am ready to address them, ensuring that important messages aren’t lost in the daily shuffle. This small but powerful tool has enhanced our team’s organization and responsiveness, making it easier to stay on top of critical communications without being overwhelmed. It’s a game-changer for maintaining productivity and staying focused on strategic priorities.
Chris Putrimas, CEO, Teak Warehouse
Automate CRM with Streak
As operations evolve and teams scale, it’s important to keep everything under control. “Under control” here means managing all the pending tasks, follow-ups, and prioritization. That’s why my personal favorite in the last few years has been Streak. This CRM tool seamlessly integrates with Gmail, allowing you to track if the email sent was opened by the recipient.
Besides, you can use collaborative features, set up reminders, and utilize reporting with this tool. It has become really helpful for managing critical email negotiations with business partners, clients, and stakeholders.
I always go for the solutions that would somehow solve my daily pain points in automating and streamlining processes. This tool perfectly works as per expectations.
Ann Kuss, CEO, Outstaff Your Team
Plan Efficiently with TeamGantt
TeamGantt is a little-known program that has been quite helpful in running my company. Gantt charts are a well-known planning tool, and this program is essentially a contemporary version of them. It allows us to add as many resources as we like to a task, and we can use the program’s filters to get more specific information about each resource.
We can assign work in a way that best suits the needs of our company, preventing burnout and maintaining efficiency. Furthermore, we can quickly and easily make changes because everything is controlled by an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. The way we handle projects and deadlines has really improved since we started using this application.
Adam Klein, Certified Integral Coach® and Managing Director, New Ventures West
Manage Projects with Asana
As an entrepreneur, one tool that our organization has implemented for use across the company is Asana. We use this multiple times throughout the day as our main project management tool for creating tasks, setting deadlines, prioritizing work, assigning tasks to team members, and tracking progress. This allows our team to work smarter day in and day out, not harder.
Addie Graham-Kramer, Chief Executive Officer, The Event Company, LLC
Simplify Finances with Wave Invoicing
Wave invoicing has made all the difference for me. I work with many contractors, and it keeps track of all my paperwork, payments, receipts, etc., to ensure I am ready for tax time.
Dave Rietsema, CEO, Matchr
Automate Tasks Using Make
As an entrepreneur, one lesser-known tool that has been instrumental in my business management is Make. This powerful automation platform has revolutionized the way we handle repetitive tasks and streamline workflows.
Make allows us to:
- Connect various apps and services we use, such as Slack, Google Sheets, Airtable, ChatGPT, and HubSpot.
- Create complex automations with multiple steps and conditions.
- Schedule automations to run at specific times or intervals.
- Monitor the execution of automations and troubleshoot issues.
By leveraging Make, we have been able to:
- Eliminate hours of manual data entry and transfer between systems.
- Ensure data consistency and accuracy across platforms.
- Accelerate client onboarding and project kickoff processes.
- Streamline reporting and analytics generation.
- Enable our team to focus on higher-value, strategic work.
For example, we automated our lead qualification process by connecting our web forms to Make. When a lead submits a form, Make automatically:
- Creates a new lead record in HubSpot.
- Notifies the appropriate sales rep in Slack.
- Sends a personalized welcome email to the lead.
- Schedules a follow-up task for the sales rep in Airtable.
This automation alone has saved us countless hours and ensures no leads slip through the cracks. Make has become an indispensable tool in our tech stack, driving efficiency and productivity gains across the business.
Entrepreneurs must leverage automation to stay competitive. Make is a hidden gem that I highly recommend for business owners looking to work smarter, not harder.
Brogan Renshaw, Managing Director, Firewire Digital
Leverage Emotional Intelligence for Leadership
In my role as an entrepreneur, one lesser-known soft skill that has been instrumental in my business management is emotional intelligence (EQ). While often overshadowed by more technical skills, emotional intelligence has profoundly impacted how I lead and grow my business.
Here are a few ways emotional intelligence has been particularly useful:
- Improved Communication: Emotional intelligence has helped me become a better listener and communicator. By being attuned to my team’s emotions and non-verbal cues, I can address concerns more effectively, foster open dialogue, and create a supportive work environment.
- Conflict Resolution: With a high EQ, I can navigate conflicts and disagreements more skillfully. Understanding the underlying emotions and motivations of all parties involved allows me to mediate and find solutions that are acceptable to everyone, maintaining harmony and productivity.
- Empathy: Being empathetic helps me connect with my team, customers, and partners on a deeper level. It builds trust and loyalty, which are essential for long-term business relationships. Empathy also allows me to create products and services that genuinely meet the needs of my customers.
- Adaptability: Emotional intelligence equips me to handle stress and change more gracefully. By managing my emotions and staying calm under pressure, I can make better decisions and inspire confidence in my team, even in challenging situations.
- Motivation: A strong EQ helps me understand what motivates my team members. By recognizing their individual drives and aspirations, I can tailor my leadership approach to inspire and motivate them effectively, leading to higher morale and better performance.
- Self-Awareness: Being self-aware allows me to recognize my strengths and weaknesses. This insight helps me seek feedback, continuously improve, and build a balanced team that complements my skills.
Vignesh Wadarajan, Entrepreneur, Vignesh Wadarajan