I have eight airline apps on my phone. Eight. One for every airline that has ever flown me somewhere, and at least one of them has a little red notification bubble on it right now that will not go away no matter what I tap. I don’t know what it wants, and I’m not sure it knows either. Now imagine that, but every app is part of how you get paid.
That’s the frustration I keep hearing from small business owners. I recently sat down with a farm owner who has her online store in one place, payments in another, bookkeeping in a third, and a handful of others filling the gaps. She doesn’t love any of them. What she wants is to be outside with her goats, not toggling between tabs trying to figure out why the numbers don’t match. Nobody sets out to build it this way. Every app made sense the day you added it. You needed to take cards at a market, so you got one. You needed a website, so you got another. Your accountant liked a third. Each choice was reasonable on its own. Together, they’re eight airline apps.
The smallest fix: make a list.
Not a new system, not a migration, just a list. Sit down with a coffee and write out every app or tool you use to run your business, along with:
What it actually does for you
What it costs each month
Who logs into it
The last time you really used it
…You could also download an app to do this all for you ;)
Most owners have never seen it all in one place, and that alone is clarifying. You’ll probably spot two apps doing the same job, one you forgot you’re still paying for, and one you only open because it has a red bubble on it. You don’t have to fix anything yet. The list is the business version of finally opening the app to see what it wants. If you want help making sense of yours, that’s exactly the kind of thing I do and I’d love to grab a coffee and take a look at your list.
As for me, I’m new enough that my own business login list is still short. I’d like to keep it that way. The airline apps, though, are staying. Because I might fly Ryanair again soon, so why delete it now?!
