Loving Lately - My Favorite iPhone Apps
Most side hustlers know that it's important to find time to work, no matter where you are. Because I am constantly trying to grab a spare minute to get some work done wherever I am, I end up working on my phone A LOT. Being able to work anywhere, anytime, is a major benefit. In this month's Loving Lately, I thought I would feature some of my favorite iPhone apps that help me get work done while I'm on the go.
Here are my favorite iPhone apps:
Google Drive.
I use Google Drive as my main hub for storing all of my documents and photos. I love that I can easily collaborate with anyone just by sharing a Google Doc or spreadsheet with them, that's definitely an added benefit over other cloud storage solutions like Dropbox and Box, with those it can be difficult for two people to edit a document at once or to edit on your phone. Being able to access and edit my work from any computer or my phone at any time is a huge help so that I can get side hustle work done wherever I am.
Asana.
If you're not already using Asana as your task manager and project management tool you need to start now. I have gotten a bunch of people to convert to Asana since I started using it last year and they all love it. You can keep track of your to-do list in Asana but it's so much more than that, you can create different projects within your account to plan specific projects. This is amazing because I can keep my projects and to-do list for this blog separate from my Etsy shop and my family to do list. I highly recommend switching to Asana, and the best part is that the free plan is all you need, no need to upgrade to their paid plans to start seeing the benefits.
Update - I’ve actually switched to using ClickUp since this post and I have an entire post dedicated to walking you through how I use it and why I love it!
Kindle.
I mentioned before that I'm an avid reader and this year, I challenged myself to start reading more non-fiction books focused on self-improvement. The Kindle app really helps with that goal. I can buy an ebook on Amazon and it goes straight to my Kindle library. If I add the Audible audiobook it also lets me seamlessly switch between reading and listening. I also love that you can bookmark pages and highlight or make notes on a page. I've started using the highlight feature a lot more in my non-fiction reading. It will also tell you how much time you have left in the book which never fails to make me feel a little bad about how slow of a reader I am. But I do like to try to race myself and get that time lower by picking up my reading pace.
Overcast.
I love podcasts because I can learn something new and interesting during a time or activity where normally I would just be zoning out. Listening to podcasts at random times throughout my day makes whatever mundane task I'm doing a lot more enjoyable and my favorite podcast app is Overcast. What I really love about Overcast is the smart speed. You can speed up whatever podcast you're listening to and Overcast knows where the pauses and silences are and speeds those up. So if you're not into speeding up the entire podcast and listening to what sounds like gerbils speaking, you can opt for Overcast to just speed up the silences. Speeding up the silences = more podcasts which you know I'm into! You can also create playlists of your favorite shows and easily subscribe to any podcast in iTunes.
Toggl.
You may remember that I'm a big fan of time tracking. I mentioned Toggl before in my post about why you should be tracking your time and of course, Toggl is also one of my favorite apps. When I'm out and about I really like to use Toggl to track my time on my phone because I feel like that's the time that I seem to "lose" on any given day. We don't really think about how much time we're spending on our commute or grocery shopping but after tracking your time, you may find that it's actually a lot more than you thought. Who knows, you may decide to make some changes or outsource some things (hello grocery delivery services) to gain more time in your week to focus on your side hustle.
Sell on Etsy.
The app for Etsy sellers is great because it lets me easily check the analytics on my shop, respond to user questions or product inquiries and generally see how my shop is doing. I don't usually use the app to add new listings to my shop because I try to batch upload them on my computer which saves me time, but in a pinch, you can totally add listings as well. For anyone running an Etsy shop I definitely recommend making use of this app to manage your shop when you're on the go.
And there you have it! My favorite iPhone apps. What are some of the apps you've been loving lately?
