Two weeks ago, I shared some of my thoughts on balancing my role as a full-time teacher with that of a small business owner, and I was amazed at the feedback I received! It turns out a lot of us are trying to make things happen — which is awesome!!! 

Today, I wanted to continue with some tips by sharing  5 iPhone Apps I’ve used in the past few months to make balancing my many hats oh-so-much-more enjoyable :)

1. WordPress I absolutely love the WordPress app! I didn’t really start taking advantage of the app until a few months ago, but man do I use it all the time now :) It allows me to upload images, post content, check stats, and reply to comments — all from the convenience of my phone. There are a lot of different hosting sites out there, but I would definitely recommend WordPress again and again! This app is especially handy if you are out and about running errands — one time I wrote an entire blog post on my phone in the 30 minutes it took to get my oil changed! Talk about utilizing some wasted time :)

2. PASS I switched to PASS about 10 months ago and have never turned back! Not only do I love it for the ease of sharing high-resolution files with my clients and the absolutely gorgeous galleries it creates to display my photos, but I adore having all of those files at the tip of my fingers via the PASS app! Gone are the days of uploading a photo to Facebook, screen-shotting the image to my saved photos, and then uploading to Instagram. Now, I can choose from the entire session (as opposed to the few I upload to Facebook), transfer the photo of my choice to Insta directly from PASS, and the image is clearer too! It’s a win-win in my book :)

3. Gmail  I recently switched my work email to function with Gmail, and I have never been more thankful for the ease and simplicity of Google tools. Gmail allows me to:

• sort my inbox into folders,
• use a personal signature that links directly to important pages,
• create templates for those emails I find myself writing over and over again,
• star important conversations that I can revisit later
• utilize Boomerang to keep a hold of my office hours!

Plus,  it just looks clean :) Google knows what they’re doing! If you need help with organizing your inbox, I highly recommend this post by Katelyn James. It’s made a huge difference in my email organization and efficiency — I’m a big fan.

4. Google Drive If you’re not already using Google Drive with your clients, you should seriously check it out! I use both the Docs and Forms portions to create Wedding Day Timelines, share Family Shot Lists, and receive other general client information. It’s the BEST and makes client meetings so simple! I used to hate having meetings via the phone or Skype, but with Google Docs we can both still have the paper in front of us, and any change that is made is done to both our documents in real time! Plus it saves automatically, so that’s always a huge bonus :) I don’t use Forms as much, but it is helpful with creating Client Surveys and gathering information for my Senior Spotlight posts.

5. Phonto This app is sort of a silly one, but it has seriously changed my Instagram presence! I searched forever for a good FREE photo editing app that would allow me to use text, but the only ones I could find had limited options or kept their logo on the photo…noooo thank you! Enter Phonto :) Basically the Photoshop of apps, Phonto lets you layer text, add objects and images, and play around with opacity, styling, and design! I create almost all of my blog graphics with it (the photo above, Graham’s Valentines, and The Newsletter image to name a few) and then just upload it using my WordPress app. It’s nothing crazy fancy, but it definitely does the job!

Some other honorable mentions go to Instagram, Bloglovin’, Latergramme, and my USAA app — I use all of those on a fairly regular basis to run business right from my phone! Technology is pretty neat if you ask me :)

What about you? Any go-to apps that I didn’t mention here? Share below and let me know what I’m missing!!! Otherwise, have a beautiful Wednesday :)

Love love love,

Sami