A guest post from Molly Gardner, Beth Z’s business manager.

Working for Beth, a lot of apps and tools come across my desk. The ones you see here are my favorite tools that I use in the office day in and day out. This is the technology that keeps Nerd Headquarters running smoothly and Beth on the road bringing new ideas your way.

1. Pomodoro One. My biggest priority (and struggle!) is staying focused. I use the Pomodoro One app to implement the Pomodoro technique – working for intervals of 25 minutes with a 5 minute break. This simple tomato at the corner of my browser keeps me on task.
2. Todoist. You’ve probably heard me mention Todoist before. Hands down, this is the tool I can’t live without. More than a To Do List, I manage my day, my projects and our clients using this life-changing system. It’s simple, it’s affordable and it works. For some other ideas on sharable list management, check out Beth’s latest community question.
3. Google Calendar. Using an online calendar system I trust gives me peace of mind and I’ve never had an issue with Google Calendar. It integrates seamlessly with several of my other favorites (TripIt, Todoist, and our CRM).
4. TripIt. Beth sometimes travels to 3 or 4 cities in a week. Using Tripit, I’m confident she won’t lose a hotel confirmation and she can stay on top of her flight changes. We utilize the notes field to give her a handy mobile place to see information on the upcoming event (she doesn’t have to rely on wifi to view these notes on her mobile app).
5. Wave. We use Wave for our office’s bookkeeping. I can create an invoice in less than a minute and our clients like the ability to pay via credit card and download an instant receipt.
6. Square. Wave does the trick for most large payments, but Square is a great way to create an easy-t0-use online store for Beth’s books, collectors cards and Beth-in-a-Box.
7. Fancy Hands. Cross your little tasks off the list by passing them onto the assistants at Fancy Hands. Someone is always ready to research the best product, make a doctor’s appointment or even upload business cards to your database.
8. Canva. I am not a designer, but I can whip up a professional-looking social media image or an email header in minutes using Canva. Their templates make anyone look like a pro and you can easily share your designs with your team for feedback and edits.
9. Dropbox. I keep everything in Dropbox. It is a safe way to store, organize and share your files online.
10. Tiny Scanner. Skip wrestling with your printer and scan a document from your mobile device using Tiny Scanner.
11. Proposify. Bonus Tool! We just started using Proposify at the beginning of the year, but so far, so good. Present your clients with a beautiful, branded online proposal. As an added plus, you’ll be notified when they view the document and when you win their business.