Choosing a project management tool as a small business can be quite challenging. The tool should be able to grow with you and integrate into other systems. Especially with remote team members, you need to make sure everyone is on the same page and that you have the ability to take a snapshot quickly of the progress of each project. For a long time, we used Google Spreadsheets to keep track of contractor activities, but soon found this to be too much of a nightmare as we grew. We’ve discovered Asana and Trello to be incredible resources for us and our client teams with whom we are working.

Though we all wish Salesforce was within our budget, Trello and Asana both have free platforms that you can utilize as you are just starting out. This blog compares the free versions of Asana and Trello to help make your project management app selection process easier as you are starting out with your business. 

A little background on Asana

Asana is a popular task management app that strives to manage team’s internal coordination. It has a simplistic UI design with the following features:

Asana for Task List and Project Management

Tasks: Tasks are the items that you need to complete or remember. They are organized into three groups: Today, Upcoming, and later. Each task can:

  • be assigned to one individual, but the task can be saved to multiple Projects. So, if two projects rely on the completion of a single task, you would include this on each.
  • have subtasks that relate to the main task
  • include tags for each sorting and organization
  • have set due dates including recurring due dates
  • have comments and descriptions making it easy to specifically communicate regarding one item.

Projects: Projects are made of all the tasks within one project. You can separate the tasks out into different Sections within the Project. The free version of Asana allows you to create 3 Projects. You can either view the tasks within a project as a Bullet Point checklist or using the Kanban system, which utilizes board to display the information.

Organizations or Teams: These are the divisions within Asana. An organization is everyone with a set business email address and then they can be broken out into teams. Within the free platform, you belong to one team, but can also have a personal workspace.

Drawbacks of Asana

Though Asana is a simplistic, it can be difficult to sort through which tasks are due when, specifically with recurring tasks. The future iterations of a task do not appear on your list or calendar until the current iteration is complete. Additionally, the integrations with other applications typically only works with the paid version. Lastly, sub-tasks can be difficult to work with as they can lose their connection to the parent task. For many projects, we’ve moved these subtasks to parent tasks and just named them to make it clear they belong grouped together.

A little background on Trello

Unlike Asana, Trello is a task management app that only uses the Kanban system to organize projects. It is much like using sticky notes on a white board to create a visual display of upcoming, in process, and completed tasks.

Trello for Kanban Project Management

Some features of Trello:

Board: A board is a process in development or a project underway. It is made up of Lists and Cards.

List: A list is a way to divide a board into different categories. These appear as a vertical stream of cards. We typically use each list as a step in the development process including lists for work in progress, needing approval, and complete.

Cards: Cards divide a list into the specific items that need to be completed. These can be made of checklists, uploads, descriptions, notes, and comments, and can link to documents and images. For each card you can:

  • add members
  • use labels for organization
  • create checklists
  • assign due dates (not recurring)
  • subscribe, copy, and archive.
  • move the card from one list to another until it reaches completion.

Drawbacks of Trello

Though I love the simplistic feel of Trello and how easy it is to visualize your progress, it does become a little messy once you have multiple cards, lists, and boards. When multiple people are assigned to numerous cards, you may lose track of an item that is your responsibility to complete. Lastly, our team has a lot of recurring tasks, making Trello inefficient for us to use as a management system.

Final Thoughts

I personally like both Asana and Trello, however we do utilize Asana for managing our own tasks and those for our contractors. This is because you can view items as a list, as calendar due dates, and as boards. Trello really only allows you to view the items through the boards (the Kanban system). Yes it’s great that you can move items between boards easily, but at the same time having that calendar functionality to see when a project is coming up and the ability to see a chart of the progression of a task is a great asset to have for your team. Also, we utilize the recurring due date function within Asana. 

Either free platform will work for a small team to manage their tasks and I highly recommend checking them both out. Be sure to let us know which you decide to use for your business!

Asana vs Trello | Business management with Asana | Business management with Trello | How to use Trello for business | Use Asana for business | Project management tools | how to manage projects | Free software project management | Tools to make business easy | Project management tools for small business - Trello vs Asana

Asana vs Trello | Business management with Asana | Business management with Trello | How to use Trello for business | Use Asana for business | Project management tools | how to manage projects | Free software project management | Tools to make business easy | Project management tools for small business - Trello vs Asana

Asana vs Trello | Business management with Asana | Business management with Trello | How to use Trello for business | Use Asana for business | Project management tools | how to manage projects | Free software project management | Tools to make business easy | Project management tools for small business - Trello vs Asana

Let’s face it, coming up with blog topics is difficult even for the most creative writer. This blog post covers 25 blog post ideas for your business!

  1. Your story and the story of the business: This personal information draws readers in a helps to put a face to your business. Through being authentic, you can help to build lasting relationships with clients and prospects.
  2. Provide look into the behind-the-scenes of your business: Are there any projects you are working on? How about any insights into how you structure your day? A post like this, again, shows your personal side, but also works to teach others with less experience how they can manage their time more effectively.
  3. Feature one of your services or products: Your services and product pages can only share so much about the specific product or service. Use your blog as an avenue to dig deeper.
  4. Dive down deep into your values: Business nowadays is all about showing your authentic self. Your values help others to truly understand your why and what it will be like to work with you.
  5. Feature an interview with a professional in your industry: Not only will this be educational for your readers, but you can also benefit from connecting with another professional in your industry. LinkedIn can provide a great first touch for these interviews.
  6. Compare two apps or pieces of software that you use: If you are like most business owners I know, you have tried a hanndful of apps from tools to schedule social media posts to CRMS, accounting software, and more. Highlight the pro’s and con’s of two different apps for your readers.
  7. Write an informational post about a service you offer: Rather than just featuring a service, provide a case study and what people can expect from using your services.
  8. Create a checklist for how a reader could implement a service you offer: With so much free information online, it is okay to give away some information about how you do business. This checklist should be pretty robust, but doesn’t need to include EVERYTHING you do for your clients. An example is with our Blogging eBook.
  9. Review a book about your industry that you recently read: Book reviews show that you want to stay on top of industry trends. It not only provides a resource for your clients to learn more, but dives into some of the interests you have within your business.
  10. Explain a misconception in your industry: Everyone likes myth buster posts! Take the time to explain a misconception you often hear from your clients and the truth that you have seen.
  11. Answer the top 3 questions you receive from clients: We all receive questions from our clients and prospects. Though a FAQ page can answer many of these questions, you can also write longer answers in blog posts!
  12. Share a free resource: PDF’s can create an incredible way to capture someone’s contact information. Using PowerPoint, you can create a hig quality pdf for the download.
  13. Explain the secrets to your business:
  14. Identify your ideal client and tell their story
  15. Interview one of your mentors about what makes them so successful
  16. Share a testimonial
  17. Feature another service
  18. Create an infographic
  19. Explain a misconception in your industry
  20. Highlight important events in your business
  21. Feature one of your employees/teammates/contractors
  22. Tell a story about your background and history
  23. Share your brand mission
  24. Explain the meaning behind your name
  25. Write a blog post listing topics to write about 🙂

25 blog topics for your business

Most business owners use social media to connect with current and potential customers. After all, it’s free, and people are already using it. So why not take advantage of it, right? But with so many businesses vying for people’s attention, posting updates every now and then is no longer enough to maintain an active Facebook page.

Making small changes on what and how you post can help boost your page engagement.

Here are 4 ways to skyrocket your Facebook engagement.

Share something funny

People use social media for entertainment. Many of them would log in to their social media accounts during their lunch break or after office to de-stress. Sharing something funny with your Facebook fans will help lighten up their mood. Go ahead and give people a good giggle.

Boost your best posts

So you have just recently published a new blog post. You share it on Facebook to spark some engagement and drive traffic to your website. Sure, it will work. But if you’re looking to reach a wide range of audience, then we suggest that you boost that post.  You don’t need to spend a huge sum of money in order to get that post in front of your target audience. Just give it a modest boost of $25, target your audience and you’ll see a tremendous increase in likes, comments and shares. Plus, traffic to your blog or website will also increase.

Timing is essential

More than half of the American adult population are active on Facebook. Given the number of people that post every minute, your posts would be buried in a very short span of time. As such, you want to make sure you that you post when your fans are online. There are several online tools that allow you to schedule your post, so you don’t have to wait for a specific time before posting something on your page.

Ask a question

One of the easiest ways to start a conversation with your fans is to ask them a question. If you own a restaurant, you can ask them what food they usually order when they visit your place. Another option would be to ask what they want you to add on your menu. Find a way to leverage in people’s needs or interest.

Having a business website offers a lot of advantages. For one, it makes it easier for potential customers to find you. A clean, professional website gives people an impression that your business is doing well. Once you gain their trust, you can easily turn visitors into paying customers.

The problem is that most business owners tend not to consider setting up a business website because they think it is a complicated process and will require a lot of money. Luckily, there are several website builders available in the market that makes the process a lot easier. WordPress is one of them. With WordPress, designing and launching a website is a breeze.

Still not convinced? This blog post will help you make an informed decision on why you should use WordPress to power your website with WordPress.

Grow your site as your business grows

WordPress started out as a blogging platform. Today, it has evolved into a dynamic content management system. You can add unlimited amount of blogs, photos, posts and pages to your site. You can even add some plug-ins to extend and expand the functionality of your site.

Easy to use

For those who are looking for an easy way to set up a business website, WordPress would be a great place to start. It is one of the most popular website builders, and is extremely easy to use. In fact, you can build your website in under an hour. No coding required. Plus, they have thousands and thousands of free themes, which you can use to change the look of your website. Now, all you need to do is to add your content. It’s that simple.

Search engine optimization

Search engine loves WordPress websites. Even before you add plug-ins into your site, WordPress has already done the hardwork to ensure that your website gets crawled. This will give you headstart in ranking your website.

But please don’t expect your website to land on the first page of Google just because you have WordPress website. Of course, you also need to put in some effort to increase your search engine ranking.

Save money

A lot of small business owners are hesitant to build a business website because they think it’s expensive. But the truth is you don’t need to spend a lot of money to set up a website. In fact, you can set up a WordPress website for free. The only real cost is domain and web hosting.

Since WordPress is easy to use, you can easily make simple updates to your site yourself. You no longer have to pay your web designer to add new blog posts or new pages. Thus, allowing you to save money in the long run.

 

What books have you read recently?

Business owners benefit from reading great business books, here is my list of business books to be sure to read. (Please note, this blog contains affiliate links).

1. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Author: Stephen R. Covey

One of the most inspiring and impactful books ever written, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has captivated readers for 25 years. It has transformed the lives of Presidents and CEOs, educators and parents— in short, millions of people of all ages and occupations.

4.5 of 5 Stars (4,534 Reviews)

Read more about The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Personal Workbook

2. From Good to Great

Author: Jim Collins

The Challenge:

Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning.

But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice.

The Study:

For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great?

4.5 of 5 Stars (2,128 Reviews)

Read more about Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t

3. Rich Dad Poor Dad

Author: Robert T. Kiyosaki

Rich Dad Poor Dad, the #1 Personal Finance book of all time, tells the story of Robert Kiyosaki and his two dads—his real father and the father of his best friend, his rich dad—and the ways in which both men shaped his thoughts about money and investing. The book explodes the myth that you need to earn a high income to be rich and explains the difference between working for money and having your money work for you.

4.5 of 5 Stars (6,013 Reviews)

Read more about Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!

4. Raving Fans

Author: Ken Blanchard & Sheldon Bowles

“Your customers are only satisfied because their expectations are so low and because no one else is doing better. Just having satisfied customers isn’t good enough anymore. If you really want a booming business, you have to create Raving Fans.”

This, in a nutshell, is the advice given to a new Area Manager on his first day–in an extraordinary business book that will help everyone, in every kind of organization or business, deliver stunning customer service and achieve miraculous bottom-line results.

4.5 of 5 Stars (368 Reviews)

Read more about Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service

5. Built to Last

Author: Jim Collins & Jerry Porras

Drawing upon a six-year research project at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras took eighteen truly exceptional and long-lasting companies and studied each in direct comparison to one of its top competitors. They examined the companies from their very beginnings to the present day — as start-ups, as midsize companies, and as large corporations. Throughout, the authors asked: “What makes the truly exceptional companies different from the comparison companies and what were the common practices these enduringly great companies followed throughout their history?”

4.5 of 5 Stars (359 Reviews)

Read more about Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (Harper Business Essentials)

6. The 4-Hour Workweek

Author: Timothy Ferriss

Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan–there is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing high-end world travel, or earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, The 4-Hour Workweek is the blueprint.

This step-by-step guide to luxury lifestyle design teaches:

  • How Tim went from $40,000 per year and 80 hours per week to $40,000 per month and 4 hours per week
  • How to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you want
  • How blue-chip escape artists travel the world without quitting their jobs
  • How to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of a forgotten Italian economist
  • How to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and frequent “mini-retirements”

4.5 of 5 Stars (4,818 Reviews)

Read more about The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

7. Speak and Get Results

Author: Sandy Linver

We’ve all known the “naturals”– people who can get up to speak in any business situation and make something happen. They get the budget approved, win the big account, get the group’s support at the weekly staff meeting. When the “naturals” finish speaking people believe– and act.

Now fully revised and updated, “Speak and Get Results” helps you to be a natural– helps you to get the results you want, by teaching you how to:

  • motivate your listeners to reach your result
  • choose an opening that targets your ideas
  • design visuals that support you, not sabotage you
  • use your body and your voice to express your energy, authority, and commitment
  • handle tough Q & A sessions, audience resistance, and even surprise media encounters

4.7 of 5 Stars (6 Reviews)

Read more about Speak and Get Results: Complete Guide to Speeches & Presentations Work Bus

Must Read Business Book - What books have you read recently? Business owners benefit from reading great business books, here is my list of business books to be sure to read.

*Article contains affiliate links.

LinkedIn is one of my favorite places to share content. Of Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn is the best social network for lead generation with a conversion rate of 2.74%.* It also tends to direct the most traffic to B2B (and B2C) websites even though there is fewer interactions with specific posts.

I recommend using LinkedIn a few different ways for your business.

Add:

Add connections who are prospects AND referral partners. Don’t hesitate to reach out to your dream connections, just be sure to write a personal note about why you would like to connect with them.

Join:

Join groups that include your prospects AND those made of folks within your industry.

Share:

Share your blog posts to your personal profile, your business profile, groups you are a part of, and as an Article.

Ask:

Ask questions of folks within your industry. Many people are afraid this will make them look inexperienced, but why not learn from someone who has already been through the same or a similar experience!

Export:

Export your connections and invite them to join your email list. You can also add these emails to a custom audience in Facebook ads as a way to broaden your reach.

While you are using LinkedIn, think of it like a networking group or coworking space. You want to put your best foot forward and still be authentic. Sharing, commenting, and asking questions can help you to stand out as an influencer in your industry.

LinkedIn is also a space where you can connect with the “untouchables”.

Brainstorm a list of the top 5 to 10 individuals that you admire or have changed your industry and put together a personal note for each of them.

For these messages, start by explaining how you found them and what you have in common. It is okay if you are straightforward and say you were doing research and came across their profile. Then lead into why you would like to connect. By being transparent you can overcome many initial apprehensions an individual may have. Lastly, ask for the connection or the next step.

As long as you get to the point quickly for why you are writing and don’t expect someone to give, give, give, without knowing you or getting anything in return, we’ve had great success building networks on LinkedIn with the big game changers in industries.

How to stand out on LinkedIn: Of Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn is the best social network for lead generation with a conversion rate of 2.74%.* It also tends to direct the most traffic to B2B (and B2C) websites even though there is fewer interactions with specific posts.

*Hubspot

Are you a part of a networking group? How did you decide on which one to join? 

I personally hate the concept of networking groups because of the notion that you attend these meetings to sell yourself and your services. Too frequently I’ve arrived at a leads group with one too many sales guy personas – you know the type, leans back in their chair, disregards your needs, and goes on about how they are the best of the best? Yea, I see one of those and run for the hills. 

How do you find a group that focuses on relationships? 

If you have the time and personality, absolutely start one yourself. Build your tribe from the ground up while focusing on the success of others. Or, if you are more of an introvert, set out to attend different groups in your area until you find one that feels right. 

A client first introduced me to the BNI group I’ve taken leadership roles in and immediately I got the sense that this group was different.  From the conscious disregard of some BNI policies to the personal friendships that have blossomed, this networking group has turned into one of the lifelines of my business! 

Other groups I’ve been a part of didn’t quite feel authentic or never lead to true business being passed.

What does it take to get business from a RELATIONSHIP networking group?

Commitment. Hands down being committed to your networking group is the way to get business. For members within the group I share as much information as each individual needs (within reason) to excel at their marketing. Through doing this, some folks have jumped right into their social media profiles while other take one look at me and ask how much it will be for BIMS to manage their accounts.

The main goal of networking should be gaining access to members’ networks.

Within our group, typically 75% of the business passed is to outside referrals, which means we are introducing each other to people not in the group. Though many of the members have hired our team, we currently have a handful of 4th tier referrals (e.g. a referral from a member, passed a referral, who then introduced us to another business). Rather than the small project from the first referral being the end all be all, our team strives to exceed expectations so that our clients want to introduce us to the other business owners they know!

Have you started your own networking or MeetUp group or have you been constantly let down by groups filled with the typical salesman? I’d love to hear your experiences below!

Never join a networking group Are you a part of a networking group? How did you decide on which one to join?

P.S. If you are in Boulder, CO, come join us, Boulder BNI R.A.I.S.E., at 8:30 am on Thursdays!

As a small business owner, the last thing you want to be caught up in is a legal battle and additional expense for an image you, at the time, didn’t think twice about using. Even though it is alright to share posts others have made on social media in most circumstances (typically because sharing a post gives credit to the source and links directly back to the original post), you should not assume that every image you find online is okay to use for marketing or on your website.

Watch out, you could be sued.

How to Find Appropriate Images (For Free)

Luckily, there are a handful of sites with tremendous databases of high-quality, “royalty free” images. Additionally, Google has a search feature to sift through search results to find images that have been marked for commercial use. As long as you are grabbing the images from one of the below sites and giving credit where asked for, you should be in the clear!

Can you use that image? The top sources to find free images that are labeled for commercial reuse, free tools to edit images, and what to do if you get sued for using a copyright image online.

Pixabay

pixabay for free images

With over 920,00 free stock photos, illustrations, vectors, and VIDEOS, Pixabay comes in at the top of our list. Even for commercial applications, attribution isn’t required.

FoodiesFeed

FoodiesFeed top database for free images of food and beverages.

Food Blogger? Nutritionist? Just like food? This is the free image directory for you. With new images added frequently, FoodiesFeed offers a great selection of, you guessed it, food and beverage oriented photography.

Iso Republic

Iso Republic - Another great database of images offers images of architecture, food/drink, nature, people, urban, technology, textures, and other images. The wide variety is easy to sort and updated frequently.

Another great database of images offers images of architecture, food/drink, nature, people, urban, technology, textures, and other images. The wide variety is easy to sort and updated frequently.

Stokpic

Stokpic uploads new pictures every 2 weeks with a focus on lifestyle photography. These images are perfect for blogs and social media and the site is easy to navigate.

Stokpic uploads new pictures every 2 weeks with a focus on lifestyle photography. These images are perfect for blogs and social media and the site is easy to navigate.

Superfamous

The Superfamous database of images offers a vast variety of nature, landscape, and abstract images. These images are free to use for both personal and commercial purposes.

The Superfamous database of images offers a vast variety of nature, landscape, and abstract images. These images are free to use for both personal and commercial purposes.

Pin now and read later!

What Tools Can You Use to Add Text?

Adding text to images can also help make them pop. I used to tend to make templates in Adobe Photoshop, however, this was a little overkill for most situations. Now I use free tools that are available to anyone online. My go-t0 tools include:

Canva

Canva - empowering the world to design

Canva allows you to make streams for different image templates allowing you to easy copy a previous image to then adjust the background and text. Additionally, with Canva you have the ability to upload new fonts if your brand font isn’t a present and select your brand colors so you are sure to stay on point. Additionally, beyond social media sized images, you can create banners for blogs, ebooks, infographics, and more. Canva comes with free images, text layouts, and icons, but does offer the option to purchase some premium ones for $1.

Pablo by Buffer

Pablo by Buffer - An easy to use interface for creating image with text overlay and publishing directly through Buffer.

Buffer created Pablo as a way to make it easier to create images with text overlay. They offer a variety of different options you can control, such as filters and sizes, though much fewer than Canva. Pablo has free images you can use as backgrounds and various fonts preloaded. We use Buffer to schedule social media posts, so Pablo is a go-to choice for images with quotes that we wish to load directly to the client’s account.

What Happens When You Get an Email or Letter from Getty Images?

The goal should be to always use images that are released free of copyrights under Creative Commons, but at times everyone makes a mistake and overlooks using one image vs another. You may wake up one day to an email from Getty Images, for example, stating you owe $800+ for the use of a single image. My best advice here is Do Not ignore this notice.

Reach out to the sender and explain that you thought the image was royalty free and are incredibly sorry for utilizing it. Inform them that you have already removed it from the site (delete it from your image directory not just from the page it appears) and ask as politely as possible for them to work with you on the price of the violation.

Often they will come down in price depending on the number of copyright violations you have had. Just make sure you pay quickly and are more careful in the future!

The top sources to find free images that are labeled for commercial reuse, free tools to edit images, and what to do if you get sued for using a copyright image online.