No matter how you slice it, running a business is one of the most stressful things you’ll ever do.

Whether it’s dealing with cash flow, finding and retaining customers, scaling your business, or something else entirely, as a business owner, you’ve got a to-do list that never seems to end.

And with all of this on your plate, it’s easy to get overwhelmed, disorganized, and stressed out.

What’s more, if you’re working with a remote team, like I do, then things can quickly get even more difficult to deal with.

But, as I’ve learned over the years, if you make use of the best organizational tools for business, coupled with some solid planning and patience, you can become more productive, get everything organized, and in doing so, relieve much of your business-related stress.

I don’t claim to be immune to this sort of stress, but after more than 20 years of working in this industry, I’ve got a pretty good system in place that allows me to relax and achieve much more than I could in the past.

Since this is what I’m most familiar with, and it’s worked so well for me, I figured I should detail some of the stress-reducing business tools we use here at eVision Media to keep everything organized and accomplish more.

So, if you want to learn about some of the best organizational tools for business, and how they’ve helped me and my team, then keep reading.

9 of the Best Organizational Tools for Business

No matter what kind of business you own, it’s impossible to keep track of everything, and trying to keep it all organized can feel practically impossible.

But in my experience, if you make use of the best organizational tools for business, you can streamline your business operations and make everything a lot less stressful.

With that in mind, here are nine of the best time-saving and stress-reducing business tools that I use to keep eVision Media operating smoothly:

1) Microsoft 365

At the top of my list of tools is Microsoft 365, which used to be called Microsoft Office (just in case you’re wondering).

This software suite is an integral part of nearly all my daily operations, and the apps I use most frequently are:

Outlook

My Outlook is pretty much always open, as it’s the hub of my operations for my emails, calendar, and tasks.

Whether it’s through the use of email templates, automation options, or meeting scheduling, this tool allows me to be significantly more organized and productive.

I also use Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) for my email so I can use Outlook on my iPad and iPhone as well, which allows me to keep all three devices synced at the same time.

Excel

Say what you will, but I love lists and keeping things organized.

At this point, I’m basically addicted to using Excel to manage many of my day-to-day operations.

Whether I’m using it to track progress on marketing and social media tasks we’re completing for clients, or for tracking our content marketing efforts, I can’t live without Excel!

Word

If you own a business today and you’re not using this tool, I don’t know what to tell you.

Word offers a ton of useful features, including templates and themes, collaboration options to track comments and changes on documents, and document management capabilities, making this tool a must-have organizational and productivity powerhouse.

2) Evernote

Evernote is a note-taking and task-management software that allows you to create and archive notes, which can include photos, videos, and saved web content.

I started using Evernote several years ago and have never looked back. What a gem it is for keeping me organized!

There’s a free version and a paid version, but so far, I’ve only needed the free one.

In any case, I love this app, as it helps me to keep track of things like:

Current Projects

I use this notebook to track all of our website development projects, content marketing campaigns, and social media management tasks.

I just love how I can create checklists in Evernote to ensure I have all my bases covered as we work through each part of a project.

And because we can have as many as two dozen projects running at the same time, this system is invaluable for keeping me on top of things without me having to always rely on my memory.

Leads

This is where I can easily take notes as I’m speaking with a potential client, so I make sure to do proper follow-up and don’t forget any details.

Resources

I use this notebook to save website links, tools, and YouTube videos I want to remember and reference at a later date.

Notes

I’m always coming up with new ideas and need a place to jot them down, so this notebook is an ideal place for me to add things like newsletter ideas, tips I’ve learned from webinars, and the like.

Daily Tasks

This is basically my to-do list. I find this one the hardest to keep up with, as sometimes my tasks are completed so quickly, they don’t even make it onto the list!

Evernote also has a handy voice recording feature that I haven’t gotten into the habit of using, but probably should.

Another feature I don’t use much is the ability to share notebooks, but since my team and I use a separate project management tool, I haven’t found a need for this yet.

An alternative to Evernote is OneNote, which comes with Microsoft 365, but I’m a creature of habit and haven’t taken the time to explore it enough and see if it would work better for me.

Why try to fix what’s not broken, right?

3) Project Management

There are a ton of great project management platforms out there today, with each offering slightly different features and functions. Here are a few of the most popular options:

Trello, for instance, has a great notification system, and is quite user-friendly.

Asana, on the other hand, has arguably the best collaboration tools of any project management platform.

Monday.com is also great for real-time collaboration, and it’s one of the cheaper options out there, which makes it great for startups.

To manage our projects, our team uses a centralized project management system called EGroupware.

This is a completely secure, privately accessible system, which allows us to manage our entire team’s daily activities at an operational level, including connecting with team members, managing tasks and contacts, and more.

It may not have all the bells and whistles of some of the newer project management apps, but it’s 100% free open-source groupware, which makes it great for businesses that don’t have any budget for this sort of thing.

4) Time Tracking

For time tracking, most of our team uses a free software called Toggl Track.

Although there is a paid version, we use the free version of this app, and it allows us to track how much time we spend on clients’ tasks down to the exact minute.

This is extremely important for us to stay organized since we charge in 10-minute increments!

Another free time tracker we sometimes use as an alternative is called Clockify.

5) Email Marketing

For our email marketing, we’ve been using Constant Contact for several years now.

It’s quite a robust and affordable platform that allows business owners to send out professional emails with great deliverability rates.

Currently, it has a free and paid version, but keep in mind that the free version paywalls many important features, like scheduling emails, personalizing them, and resending them to non-openers.

However, depending on what you need it for, the free version might be just fine.

But luckily, there are many different email marketing services to choose from.

If you don’t want to pay for a mailer, a great option is MailerLite, as it gives you access to most features, even with the free version.

There are also a ton of other options, as well, including AWeber, ActiveCampaign, and Mailchimp, although I wouldn’t recommend that last option, as it’s not very user-friendly and lacks some of the features offered by other mailers.

6) Publer

When it comes to social media, one of the absolute best ways to reduce stress, be more organized, and accomplish more is to use some sort of scheduling software.

To keep organized and sane with our social media efforts, typically we use Publer, which allows us to pre-schedule many of our posts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Hands down, every business owner and entrepreneur using social media for their marketing efforts should use some sort of scheduling software (there are lots to choose from), not least because it will save you tons of time.

7) Hightail

We often need to send or receive large files to or from clients, which are too big to send via email, so we have a Hightail account that allows us to do this.

I much prefer using Hightail over Dropbox, as it’s quite a bit easier to use, which is extremely important when you’re dealing with clients who aren’t too tech-savvy, as we often do.

8) Team Communications

When communicating with my team outside of our project management system, typically I use either email or Discord, which is a free instant messaging software that facilitates file sharing, text, voice, and video communications.

It’s reliable, free, and allows us to keep everyone on the same page by providing timely updates to our team members.

A great alternative to Discord is Slack, which is slightly different, but it facilitates nearly all the same features.

9) Pen and Paper

Call me old-fashioned, but there’s just something about putting pen to paper.

Despite the long list of software and systems I use every day, I still like to have a notepad and pen handy so I can jot down quick notes on the fly if need be.

I don’t know about you, but for me, there is nothing more satisfying than striking a red pen through tasks on my list as they’re completed.

Need some help organizing your business? Why not set up a free 30-minute consultation with me to find out how we can help?

About the Author, Susan Friesen

Located in the lower mainland of B.C., Susan Friesen is a visionary brand strategist, entrepreneur, and founder of British Columbia’s premiere boutique web development and digital marketing agency, eVision Media.

With over 20 years of experience in the industry, she is an expert in helping businesses establish their online presence and create a strong brand identity.

Her passion for empowering entrepreneurs and small business owners to succeed in the digital world has earned her a reputation as a leading authority in the branding and marketing industry.

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