In my previous article, “The 3 Best (and Free) Sales Tools for Executives,” I highlighted productivity-enhancing tools for busy professionals. Today, let’s take it a step further and explore how these tools can work together to streamline your time management, elevate your efficiency, and simplify your life. If you’re a small business owner or leader, constantly feeling overwhelmed by tasks that don’t seem to end, the right combination of apps can make all the difference.
Ready to build your custom Central Flowspace with the best free small business apps? Let’s get started!
Why You Need To Create A Central Flowspace
For the independent entrepreneur or executive team leader, success requires more than hard work—it demands the focus, clarity, and consistency to lead. Your Central Flowspace is the operational hub where everything comes together. It may be just for you and include both your personal and business responsibilities. It may be for your team and only include professional projects. Eithery way, It’s the one place that ensures your daily activities align with long-term goals, saving you time and reducing stress.
Every Central Flowspace, we help create supports:
- Planning day-to-day tasks efficiently while keeping the team’s long-term vision front and center.
- Adapting quickly to changes without derailing your productivity.
- Building goal-oriented habits that stick even during your busiest moments.
- Automating repetitive tasks to free up more time for high-impact decisions.
- Sharing key information with stakeholders easily, ensuring everyone is on the same page.
Having a Control Flowspace, equipped with automation tools, ensures that your processes are streamlined and your team stays coordinated, without getting lost in the weeds. Whether you do it on your own or with our help, it’s always the right time to realign workflows and find better brandstrategies.
The right Central Flowspace can be as simple as a phone home screen or as robust as a project management software suite. It’s important to begin with the essential components– A calendar for tracking deadlines, a contact relationship manager for hurting leads, and a task manager for prioritizing projects– then build systems around those. These essential components can be set up individually or together and must be tested before a full commitment.
Even the free version of these tools can have tons of features so it’s important to start small and pace yourself. Leave plenty of time for setup and training, even for teams of one. Then begin with our #BeautifullyStrategic Executive + Team Training or create your own Central Flowspace using the following guide:
1. Make Time For Your Goals Using A Free Calendar
Even before going into business, we typically live our lives according to our calendars– regular hours ar work or school Monday-Friday, all day off weekends, and attending weekly or monthly events. They’re all on our calendar, even if that calendar is a mental one. So the first place we begin alignment is typically by getting our calendars automated and in order. This doesn’t mean we add everything, but we begin by adding our recurring priorities, project meetings, and schedule changes. For example, we may not need to schedule time for your morning routine, but we may want to start your day later so you have time for it.
There are plenty of free calendar options from the ones on our phones like an iCloud calendar to business calendars like Outlook. They all typically offer robust options for managing your schedule but my favorite for small teams just getting started is Google Calendar. It’s free, user-friendly, and integrates with almost everything but whichever you choose, you’ll want to:
- Block time for focused work, meetings, and personal routines.
- Sync with other apps like Asana, HubSpot, or Buffer (more below).
- Set automatic reminders for important deadlines and milestones.
- Share calendars with team members to improve collaboration and minimize confusion.
We may block an hour to work on your website or social media content. We may block off a single day each week for meetings. The goal is to block as much time as needed so nothing is scheduled ahead of important tasks and when things pop up, meetings and tasks and easily be rescheduled around what’s coming next. We even block extra time, because you can always give it up but you can’t get it back.
| Feature | Google Calendar | Outlook Calendar | iPhone/Android Calendar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | User-friendly | Seamlessly integrates with Microsoft apps | Pre-installed, simple to use |
| Sharing Options | Share with team members, set permissions | Excellent for enterprise teams | Limited sharing via third-party apps |
| Integrations | Syncs with most productivity tools | Strong integrations with Office 365 suite | Works well with Apple/Google ecosystems |
A #BeautifullyStrategic Executives Bonus Tip: If you know your goals, you can use your calendar to set milestone dates or map out an entire timeline. If you have multiple goals or work with a team, you may want to consider using a project management system (PMS). Some, such as Asana, are free with basic features.
If you choose a PMS, be sure to connect your calendar to it so you see your entire workflow in a single place. Use that place as your command center when planning the steps toward your goal.
2. Nurture Leads with A Free Client Relationship Manager
Client relationship managers (CRMs) allow you to customize the information you store about your contacts and your sales
Sales is any set of activities related to selling products a... More process while automating workflows and sharing it all with team members. You may also link this information to your project tasks, such as content creation, to create a custom company database to save time on salesSales is any set of activities related to selling products a... More activities. For example, you may want your assistant to tag contacts in your Instagram posts. Adding contacts to your CRM with a link to their Instagram profile or account name allows the assistant to access the handles when drafting captions. You can also choose to share select contacts instead of all contacts.
Today, some CRMs allow you to use basic automation features for free. Still, in general, integrations and automation can add up. I typically recommend starting with Zoho or Odoo but while HubSpot is not my favorite free CRM, it does allow you to integrate with your Google Calendar. Starting there if you’re on a tight budget because calendar integration saves a lot of time.
Unlike your phone or Google Contacts, CRMs make it easy to plan salesSales is any set of activities related to selling products a... More and other tasks around your contacts while organizing their information based on your individual business. You can link contact information, emails, birthdays, salesSales is any set of activities related to selling products a... More revenue, and a lot more. Just keep in mind the more you want to store, automate, customize, etc., the more the CRM may cost. So again, start small to be sure you only use what you need.
Once you know the information you want to collect (and using the default fields is fine), you can start entering your contacts. If you’re importing or automating data, be sure to prepare your files first. Once you do, you can automate emails, text messages, and more, or at least shorten your workflow with templates and salesSales is any set of activities related to selling products a... More funnels. For example, you can attach documents that autofill to Docusign for contract signing or you can simply collect contact information from your website. Just give your team plenty of time to learn features, get it set up, and plan your budget.
| Feature | HubSpot CRM | Zoho CRM | Odoo CRM |
|---|
| Contact Management | Unlimited contacts and up to 1 million records | Free plan for 3 users and up to 5,000 records | Unlimited contacts with the free plan |
| Customization | Limited customization in the free plan | Flexible salesSales is any set of activities related to selling products a... More automation and customization | Highly customizable with various modules |
| Pipeline Features | Visual dashboards for salesSales is any set of activities related to selling products a... More pipelines | Robust salesSales is any set of activities related to selling products a... More automation tools | Campaign management and recurrent billing |
| Integrations | Seamless with HubSpot suite and other tools | Extensive app ecosystem | Modules for added functionality |
Again, if you choose this route, be sure to integrate your calendar so you can automatically see your salesSales is any set of activities related to selling products a... More activity. Most integrations will allow you to link your calls, meetings, and other tasks to the contacts invited. Using this feature will provide quick and easy access to your notes, documents, and other linked resources. Imagine having everything from salesSales is any set of activities related to selling products a... More scripts to pet names just a touch away.
3. Align Project Tasks with Free Project Management Software
I geek out over tech so I’ve tried every project management tool I could find and Asana is by far my favorite. Simple, visually appealing, and free – it’s always my first recommendation. Exceptions to this include Notion for the right skillset, client relationship managers (CMS) and other apps offering internal project management systems (PMS). The best system is different for everyone team, so if it saves time, money, or is already in use, it’s likely worth testing before learning something new.
PMS systems should make it easier to break goals down into projects, organize the tasks in that project around a team, and manage team communication. They allow for quickly moving tasks to other teammates, new due dates, and new projects while automating a detailed history of updates. They also help refine workflows by linking tasks together to better identify priorities and bottlenecks. Plus, integrations like Zapier make it easy (and sometimes free) to automate related process, along with labels, custom fields, and internal workflows.
| Feature | Asana | Notion | Trello |
|---|
| Task Management | Robust features for tasks, subtasks, and dependencies | Highly customizable for notes, tasks, and databases | Simple and intuitive Kanban-style boards |
| Project Views | List, board, timeline, and calendar views | Kanban boards, calendars, lists, and galleries | Primarily Kanban; calendar view via Power-Ups |
| Collaboration | Real-time collaboration with team members | Real-time editing and sharing | Easy task assignment and commenting |
| Integrations | Integrates with Slack, Google Drive, etc. | Limited native integrations; uses Zapier | Power-Ups expand functionality |
When you’re ready, you can watch my quicktorial on how to integrate Asana and Google Calednar for free on YouTube. First, here’s what you can do with the two:
When You’re Ready to Add Free Social Media Tools
It can be hard, but we always encourage saving social media for last. While social can be a critical part of any brand strategy
A strategy is a customized process (or combination of proces... More, ensuring the day-to-day operational and salesSales is any set of activities related to selling products a... More tasks are covered first allows us to fully focus on marketing
Marketing is a series of steps used to achieve a sales goal.... More when the time comes. Again, there a plenty of tools to achieve this, including the scheduling features inside some social platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Still, my favorite free social planning app for small teams and independents is Buffer with Metricool coming in a close second.
Like many such apps, Buffer allows brand to:
- Schedule posts for platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
- Analyze post performance to refine your content strategyA strategy is a customized process (or combination of proces... More.
- Manage up to three social accounts with the free plan.
Alternatively, Metricool makes an excellent companion or standalone tool, especially when you need to manage more networks for free. Metricool offers:
- Advanced analytics for detailed performance insights.
- Integration with platforms like TikTok, Google My Business, and more.
- A free plan that includes multiple social accounts and analytics.
Feature Comparison:
| Feature | Buffer | Metricool |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduling | Simple, intuitive scheduling | Multi-platform scheduling |
| Analytics | Basic insights for free plan | Detailed performance metrics |
| Platforms | Up to 3 social accounts | Supports TikTok, Google My Business, etc. |
Both Buffer and Metricool help automate your posts and analyze your results, saving teams time and optimizing outreach. Embrace the freedom of having your content planned and scheduled for weeks in advance, all while keeping your audience engaged.
Get Help or Training with Free Small Business Apps?
I love a good project, especially when planning is a challenge. If you’re overwhelmed by managing all these moving parts on your own brand or project, join our #BeautifulyStrategic Executives Community where small business owners, executives, and leaders can exchange tips, ask questions, and get personalized advice.
Let’s build your dream Central Flowspace together and simplify your business operations so you can focus on what matters most—your growth.
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