As we here at Fetch Media are trying to grow our small business, I’m reminded of all the small (free) tools I use every day to keep things running. They are total game changers for me so I thought I would share a couple to see if they may help you too!

• Asana: This is the best free project management and team collaboration tool for me. I’ve tried more pared down ones like Trello and more complex ones, like Podio but I always come back to Asana. Kristi and I often work halfway across the country from each other, so keeping on the same page is key. Asana lets us set up projects, manage client tasks and be mindful of deadlines. You can assign tasks out to others, view your deadlines in a calendar view – even sync the calendar to your existing one. I also like that I can attach files or even something on my Google Drive to tasks to keep everything in one place. It also has a great iPhone app that lets me take care of things on the go.

• Slack: If you’re after a quick chat program to keep your team connected, Slack works for me. You can set up private groups, channels, public groups or message one-to-one. It has a lot of integrations if you need them but a simple interface that is user-friendly. Plus, it fits in my budget, which for these types of tools is $0.

• IFTTT: The last one I’ll mention today is IFTTT. It stands for If This Then That, which explains exactly what it does. It let’s you build “Recipes” that tell all the digital things in your life to work together. So for example, IF THIS > I take a photo on my iPhone THEN THAT > automatically back it up to my Dropbox account. This tool may be a bit beyond what the average person thinks they need, but if you like automating things and tinkering with the way things can work together, it may just be the best thing you find all year. It can really save you time if you can replace some of the things you do manually between online accounts, apps and more. Read more about it at IFTTT.com

I hope you find some of these free online apps useful for your business, we sure have. Feel free to leave a comment about what free tools save you time or headaches, I’d love to hear about them!