Smart phones give us access to the world on the go, right in the palm of our hand. I think it’s safe to say almost everyone has a smart phone, and most people would feel lost without one. I wonder how we all ever got on without them, they give us so many benefits and apps that can do almost anything. If you have a home based business, a smart phone is essential, but do you know all of the benefits it can bring you? Let’s talk about all the great things your smart phone can do for your home based business.

Scheduling

All smart phones have a basic calendar for us to use for appointments and keeping track of important deadlines. You can edit your calendar and add alerts that remind you of things you need to do as well. Scheduling appointments or organizing your time to get important tasks done has never been easier. Simply use your calendar to input information for appointments and when you need to see if you’re available for a certain date, just click on the calendar for easy access.

Credit Card Services

With all of the advanced technology we access every day, you wouldn’t be surprised to know that there is a service that allows you to turn your smartphone into a credit card transaction machine! You can easily accept payment from credit cards by using a service like Square Up. With Square Up you will receive a small credit card receiver that plugs into the headphone jack of your smart phone. To allow customers to use their credit card, simply slide the card through the reader, and your good to go. It works with Apple phones or Android phones as well.

GPS

All smartphones come with a GPS built right in, you no longer need an actual car mounted GPS anymore. It’s incredibly simple to use, and if you’re trying to get to a certain destination, but aren’t sure of the address, you can search for it by name and it will automatically find and guide you to it. GPS is a must for home business owners when needing to meet with clients or customers, but don’t know how to get to them.

Organizing Time and Resources

When you need to get organized with your time and resources, you can use a multitude of different apps that are designed to do this. If you don’t really want another app on your phone, you can simply use the calendar that your smartphone already has on it. A great app that I like personally is Todoist. This handy app works across all devices, smartphones, computers and tablets. You can also use Todoist for business, it’s created just for business owners and makes life much simpler.  If you would like to check out Todoist and see what it can offer your business and personal life.  Need a great app that allows you to manage your customer relationships and more? Contact us for a demo.

Web Browsing

With your smartphone, you literally have information about everything and anything at your fingertips. Think of your smartphone as a mini-computer, you can browse the web for anything your home based business needs. For example, let’s say you’re at your local home office supply store and need more information on a certain product or want to check other stores prices on a particular object. You can easily pull up your web browser on your smartphone and do a quick search. So easy!

Email

Smartphones are capable of setting up your email account and notifications on your smartphone. Most smartphones have an app that says email, and all you need to do is click on it and enter your information for your email account. Once it has your information, all of your emails will be sent directly to your smartphone and you will receive a notification. With this handy app, you will never miss an important email again.

I hope this gets your wheels turning! Now go ahead and take advantage of the tools you have at your fingertips.

Burnside | A technology professional with more than two decades of experience writing.  He has served as contributing author for ‘Talking Tech’ Column in the Pride of Durham News Paper(NC), and has an ongoing contribution here on CyrilBurnside.  He is a professional services consultant with PC99Solutions, an IT consulting firm for small business. Contact us today and watch your online business grow.