One of the best tools for a business owner, in my opinion, is one of the most widely available tools. The tool I’m talking about is Google Calendar.
First of all, if you own a business, you need to have some sort of calendar system to keep track of appointments, things that need to be completed, etc. Google Calendar is the (almost) perfect resource for businesses. My only complaint with it is that online scheduling isn’t an option. I hope Google is working on adding that feature.
Here are my top 5 reasons why I think Google Calendar is an essential business tool:
5. It’s free. Free is a great thing, especially when the item provides so much value. All you need is a Gmail account (which is also free) to log in and set up a calendar.
4. It syncs with many other different calendars. You probably already use an online scheduling calendar for clients and chances are it syncs with Google calendars. Because of this, it’s easy to keep all of your appointments in one place especially if you keep your personal appointments on your Google Calendar, too. Google Calendar will then sync to your smart phone as well, so you can easily check your appointments even when you’re not at your computer.
3. It can be accessed anywhere you have an internet connection. I have several clients who use Outlook. They like the email and calendar. But unless they have those two things forwarding to a web based system, they can only access it when they are sitting at the computer where the program is loaded. With Google Calendar there’s no need for another calendar because you can access it anywhere you can get online, whether it’s your computer or the one at the library.
2. You can share a calendar with team members. I share many calendars with my different clients and the teams I’m a part of. It makes it easy to see what they have scheduled, if they’re in coaching sessions or not, what program is launching when or what interview is coming up. I can easily add any information I need to the calendar event and my client can access it easily in the event information.
You can share the calendars with team members and give them full access to add and delete events or just give them visual access. That way, every team member can see what’s coming up, but if it doesn’t involve them specifically, they can’t access the events.
1. You can create different calendars within your own business. I think this is the best feature. For example, you can create a program launch calendar, a social media calendar and a promotions calendar. You can make each calendar’s events a different color and you can see them all at once or just show the events for one calendar at a time. It helps to plan your launches and promotions accordingly without double booking or having to access different calendars for each area of your business.
Please comment below and let me know if you’re using Google Calendar and what your favorite feature is.