Offices are closing around the world and people are working from home. However, that doesn’t mean that things need to slow down. We are currently living in the most technologically advanced time in history and there are a number of resources that can help your business continue to thrive.
Mike Dragosavich is the Owner and Founder of Spotlight. As a serial entrepreneur, he is always looking for new ways to improve his business processes, making him the perfect person to give insight on some great tools to use in this time of working from home.
1. Poster My Wall
Thousands of Templates for creating quick graphics to update your customers or sales sheets.
From Mike: You probably heard of Canva. I would recommend that as well. But Poster My Wall is another really great software that is very affordable and efficient when finding quick templates to design for your company. These templates can be Covid-19 updates, flyers, etc. Super easy to use and it does have video templates as well!)
2. TINYpulse
From Mike: Tinypulse is a company that has some ties to Fargo so I would recommend looking into it if you are looking for software to help collect feedback and engagement from your team while working remotely. This is becoming the new norm in 1 on 1’s and performance reviews. They also allow for more “anonymous” feedback which is always hard to come by.
3. Upstream – Troy White
From Mike: Troy White from Upstream has provided our team with sessions to help our leadership along with our team learn how to control our professional mindset better.
Reach out to troy to see if upstream is a good service for yourself or to provide your team. Troy and I have a 1 on 1 conversation every week and we work through his Upstream program and train my brain to become a better leader and understand the scientific psyche around my path for success.
4. PandaDoc.com
From Mike: To help make proposals look like presentations. We have used PandaDoc for years. We love it for presentations and proposals. It allows you to create a “content library” so you have all your assets ready to build out a pitch deck or proposal. It also allows you to send your proposals to prospects and they can sign them electronically. I even embed video and other files in the presentation.
5. Fargo, ND Small Business Coronavirus Support Group On LinkedIn
From Mike: I started this group on LinkedIn to create a common place for Fargo and ND business owners and professionals to share resources around the pandemic. Most of the resources are around remote workforce tips and tools. Request to join this group and follow along and contribute.
6. Soapbox
From Mike: When working remotely we need to put together sales presentations. I have used this tool to make my screen recording look more professional. I can walk a person through a PowerPoint and send it to them in their email using soapbox.
7. Lucidchart
From Mike: We use this all the time. It allows visionaries like myself to create flow charts to showcase our corporate structure, road map of a project, org chart and more. I love Lucidchart and it integrates with so many tools. Great way to show your remote team exactly a map of what your vision is for something.
8. Airtable.com
From Mike: I have been using Airtable for five years. It’s a nice complement to Xcel or Sheets when you need to do more and have more collaboration. It’s super easy for anyone to use and it’s great for presentations because the data looks way better and there are many more options to embed photos, checklists and different views of your data.
9. Screencastify
From Mike: I use Screencastify almost daily. It has a convenient google chrome extension that allows me to record my screen and save as an mp4 or gif. It also has a quick editor to crop or trim the video. I use this when trying to show my team how to use a part of our software or show a prospect a section of a website.
10. Spotlight.Sales
From Mike: If you are a b2b company and working remotely, you may need more interactive video presentations and graphics. At Spotlight, we launched a service called Spotlight.sales. We work with your team remotely and help build a ton of marketing and sales assets to enable your sales efforts better in the digital environment.
Email me if you would like me to send you some examples; [email protected]
11. Producthunt.com
From Mike: I go to producthunt.com every day. It’s a site that updates daily with different software products that are on the market. It gives me insight into these products and it has a forum under each product where people give their opinions on them. You can filter by topic or collection. Try going to Product Hunt and then hit “topic” in the navigation. I love the PRODUCTIVITY topic. So many resources!
Bonus Resources
Product Hunt Founder Club producthunt.com/founder-club/benefits
12. bill.com
From Mike: We have been using bill.com for years and we work with our accounting firm with it. We pay our bills through it, manage our receipts, run AP reports and it integrates with our Quickbooks Online. I have an app and all bills have to be approved by myself and our department managers. I can approve or question bills from anywhere on my phone and it’s super easy.
