Check out these ideas for on-the-go small business owners and entrepreneurs on how to stay organized and efficient while traveling this summer, or any time, including apps and scheduling tools.

Time and Task Management Tools for Small Business Owners

Among the most cited task-organizer apps is Todoist, a streamlined digital to-do list that can be tailored to fit your workflow.

“You can use it to add tasks, break them into subtasks and stay accountable with reminders, " says a post by the online publishing network Small Business Xchange. “Its intuitive interface makes organizing projects stress-free, allowing you to focus on execution, not logistics.”

“Omnifocus acts as a second brain, allowing you to capture and organize all of your activities in a powerful and easy-to-maintain system,” says the company’s product page.

For help with email overload, take a look at Inbox When Ready, a browser extension designed to help manage emails so you can reduce notifications and distractions. “Access what you need without being pulled into an endless loop of notifications,” says the Small Business XChange article.

There’s also Front, a multi-channel inbox that organizes and routes email accounts, and manages multi-channel messaging.

“It acts as a collaborative workspace where multiple people can manage, assign, and reply to emails from a single dashboard, replacing the need to forward or CC teammates,” according to Front.

And check out Notion, described as an all-in-one planning tool for individuals and teams that lets you combine scheduling, notes, and task organization in one place.

“It works well for local business owners who need calendar blocking, recurring schedules, meeting coordination, project visibility or synced planning across devices,” explains a website post by visual task management platform Tasa.

And for entrepreneurs looking for insights into their productivity drains, there’s RescueTime, which tracks how you spend your time daily.

“Some of the biggest hidden time drains include repeating instructions to staff due to unclear responsibilities, checking if work was completed, fixing avoidable mistakes, inconsistent work quality,” says the Tasa blog. “Over time, these small interruptions consume hours every week.”

Tasa’s platform helps local business owners, particularly those whose workers may have language or reading barriers, using picture-based checklists, AI translation, visual task instructions, photo confirmation, recurring operational workflows and real-time task tracking.

“Instead of explaining it several times over and over again, we use pictures, colors and a simplified user interface to make it easy for everyone to understand and follow work,” the company says.

“This way we drastically reduce the time spent by managers and owners, while empowering the staff to collaborate more, which leads to higher satisfaction.”

AI‑Powered Note‑Taking Apps

Apps like Microsoft’s OneNote, Apple’s Notes and GoogleKeep, can also help with time management and productivity, by keeping your notes digitally organized whether you’re traveling or at your office.

OneNote can be integrated with office software like Outlook, and can do voice transcriptions and transfer audio recordings for transcription. There’s also the AI-powered Copilot, which can be used in OneNote as your “notetaking partner,” says Microsoft.

Google also offers NotebookLM, an AI-powered research assistant and “thinking partner.”

Apple says “Notes is the best place to jot down quick thoughts or to save longer notes filled with checklists, images, web links, scanned documents, handwritten notes or sketches.”

How Custom ChatGPT Tools Improve Productivity

Entrepreneur and business consultant Jill Wise recommends customizing ChatGPT to help with time management and productivity.

“A Custom GPT is a version of ChatGPT you can train, tweak, and personalize to follow your workflows and use your voice,” she writes in a blog on her website. 

While the default ChatGPT offers generalized suggestions, a customized version can be built and trained on context, and specially designed to fit into your workflows. 

“A Custom GPT understands your specific context, goals, and how you like to work. You tell it what to do, how to do it, and what matters most. Then it remembers.

“Think of it as your own AI assistant—one that knows your business and remembers the nuance and details you give it. So it only gets better with time. Just like a human team member would, but freeing up space for you and your human team to focus on more impactful work.”

Automated Software and Tools

There’s also a wide range of automation and scheduling software, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which can help organize customer data and send emails.

Other popular automation software include social media scheduling tools, such as Sprout Social, CoSchedule and Feedly, which lets you plan, create and publish content across multiple social media platforms from a single dashboard.

“Social media scheduling tools streamline repetitive tasks,” explains Sprout Social in a recent blog, which recommends Loomly for small businesses and growing brands, and Buffer for solo entrepreneurs.

“They enhance overall social media management processes and provide users of these tools more time for content creation and real-time engagement.”

For more tips, see 3 Ways AI Tools Help Small Businesses Save Time, Boost Marketing, and Smarter and Tech Platforms That Can Help Boost Growth.