As a small business owner, do you sometimes feel like you are everywhere, doing everything but never really achieving much? Or do you spend countless hours on your computer but never seem to meet deadlines? Then it is time to consider getting some productivity apps. In this post, we are going to share with you one of our favourite productivity apps-Traqq. 

Let’s dive in.

Traqq is a time-tracking tool that also takes screenshots and videos. Time tracking is extremely important in this day and age of low attention spans and easy distractions. Their free version allows for 3 seats – or users.

But the best part is that all the premium features are available in the free version – the only restriction is with the number of users. As a small business in Zimbabwe where it is difficult to make international payments, or where you just don’t have the financial resources to pay for advanced time-tracking apps, then Traqq may just be the right app for you.

Traqq has a lot of features but here are our favourite ones:

• Full online/offline desktop time tracker. This means that you can track your work when you are offline and it will update when you get back online. Now, this is an important feature, especially if you are living in Zimbabwe where you can sometimes have power cuts (and therefore no internet) of up to 18 hours. So, with Traqq, you can confidently switch on your generator and continue tracking your productivity.

• App and website monitoring. Traqq keeps track of which websites and apps you are using and how long you are using them. This is a cool feature and is really a basic feature that is now available in most time-tracking apps.

• Mouse & keyboard activity tracking. You might want to use this feature with a little bit of salt, especially if your work is heavy on writing or designing, as you sometimes have to take the time to think. However, even when writing, there is an acceptable level of inactivity so tracking mouse and keyboard activity is a good way to prompt yourself to keep typing. 

• Automated desktop screenshots. We don’t know about you but that kitchki sound the app makes when it takes a screenshot is reassuring that you are doing work and are on the right track. On the other hand, if you wander and start watching cat videos, the kitchki sound will bring you back to work. However, if the sound is distracting, then you can easily turn it off and the app will take screenshots in the background. You can also opt to completely disable screenshots for everyone or for individual users. Screen video recording is also available.

• Notifications. Traqq uses the following notifications to help you – just in case you fall asleep:
  • ‘Gentle nudge’  if you have been inactive for 5 minutes. No more falling asleep on the computer
  • Notification if you forget to turn off the tracker. We once tried a time-tracker that would just keep going for days if you forgot to turn it off. At one point it logged 180 hours! If you do forget to turn off Traqq, it will stop tracking when your computer sleeps, which is really great.
  • Notification for every hour worked. This is really great if you need to get up and stretch every hour or if you want to ‘deep work’ for 2 hours. This hourly notification can help you in both scenarios.

• Detailed statistics. For a free time-tracking software, Traqq gives some really useful reports. Our favourite report is the productivity pie chart which shows you exactly how much time you have spent on a specific program or website. So, if you were wondering why you sat down to work for two hours but achieved very little? It could be because you spend the majority of that time on Facebook!

• Add manual time. So let’s say you forgot to start the time tracker, you have the option to add manual time. In addition, if some of your work is non-computer related e.g meetings or filming and photography, you can manually add this time and use it to produce invoices for your clients.

So, give time-tracking a try and see how your productivity as a small business will improve. You will be able to see which websites and apps you are wasting your time on or just come up with more efficient ways to manage your time. The activity level statistic may show you that you are most productive in the morning rather than the afternoon so you can schedule your 2 hours of ‘deep work’ for the morning and then have meetings in the afternoon.

Are you already using time-tracking software? Leave a comment below and let us know which one.

Reelnet Multimedia offers corporate video services for small businesses. Contact us today for a quote.