Remember when teachers used to tell you that you’d need to be good at math, as you can’t carry around a calculator in your pocket? Well, now you can, as well as your emails, invoices, and much more – all from a pocket-sized phone. Though we’re not saying that younger generations shouldn’t listen to their teachers, what we are saying is that it is time to start embracing things that could make your job that much easier to declutter both your toolbox and office.
Why embracing technology as a tradie is important
You may not know it, but customers are becoming more and more adept at utilising technology, and it’s crucial that you can keep up with them. Staying up to date is the key to leaving a long-term lasting impression, without making them feel like they’ve gone back in time with how you manage your processes.
The 4 Key Areas
1. Accounting and Bookkeeping
Still sending physical invoices to your customers and stashing purchase receipts in your glovebox? There are hundreds of reliable apps that can help to manage your day-to-day business operations and save hours of time.
We’d recommend trying a few apps such as:
2. On the worksite
Though most of your tools should be kept locked up in your toolbox away from sketchy blokes like Garry while on smoko (no, just us?), there’s a few reliable apps which can be taken out right from your pocket, such as:
3. Storing Important Information
Filing systems can still be useful for backing up important documents and information, but they’re gone in a matter of minutes if any kind of disaster strikes. Before you go to ‘touch wood’, create an account on a cloud-based storage system such as Google Drive or Dropbox. Not only can you store all of your must-have files such as site plans, BAS and payslips on these platforms, but you can also share them with anyone who requires a copy within a few simple steps.
If you’re not sure how to set them up, there are plenty of handy tutorials online that can walk you through every step. It might seem easier to put this one straight in the ‘for later’ or ‘too hard’ basket, but you’ll thank yourself for getting onto it sooner.
4. Social Media
We wouldn’t blame you if you hated the idea of using social media to promote your business, but it is quickly becoming one of the quickest ways for customers to find you from far and wide. As little as one post a week is enough to show others that you’re in business and thriving, and it could take as little as 10 minutes to post a great update.
Many social media-savvy businesses are even starting to utilise some of the top platforms to communicate with their customers and other businesses around the world.
Try downloading the following apps and see which ones are a good fit for you:
- Tiktok
- Snapchat
What are your thoughts?
Whether it’s a little or a lot, using technology both at home and on company time is incredibly important. Though with anything there are always things to be cautious of, the benefits here outweigh the cons and it’s sure to save you both time and money in the long run. We might be a little biased as a technology platform built by tradies for tradies, but from the number of tradies we speak to each day and the feedback we get from them, we think you’ll agree.
Our platform has been specifically designed to alleviate some of the biggest day-to-day headaches, such as invoicing, scheduling and payments.
We’re set to launch our app in 2022, but for now you can visit our platform here.