My Top 7 apps: Heather Baker of TopLine Comms

I’m back with another Top 7 apps post and this week we have CEO of TopLine Comms, Heather Baker.

TopLine Commsis a London-based integrated comms agency that helps businesses grow. In a not so small nutshell they’re a B2B PR agency, a specialist technology PR agency, a B2B content marketing agency, and a video company all wrapped into one. They also have a branch in Cape Town and the coolest office dog ever.

In addition to being co-founder and CEO of TopLine, Heather Baker is also the editor of two award-winning blogs, The B2B PR Blog and Small Business Heroes. For fun she enters events like Tough Mudder and makes her staff join her.

Let’s get on with Heather’s recommendations…

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My favourite apps aren’t all business-related, though they do go a long way to ensuring the smooth sailing of TopLine by keeping me grounded, focused, fit and perhaps most importantly, not lost

Fitbit It’s safe to say I’m something of a fitness fanatic and Fitbit definitely speaks to my competitive nature. I use the Charge HR and I love how the app works – it’s very visual and the fact that I’m able to compete with friends is a huge win. It’s not just for the hard-core though, whatever your training level Fitbit is an awesome way of keeping track of your fitness goals.

Meditation Studio I can spend an entire day laser-focused on a single project and yet following my breath for five minutes remains an insurmountable task. I persevered doggedly for years (I’m stubborn like that) before I came across Meditation Studio. Best find ever. As the guys at Meditation Studio so rightly say: the mind is complicated, but meditation doesn’t have to be.

Citymapper. All I have to do is say where I am, where I want go and how I plan on getting there, and Citymapper fills in the blanks. The end result is an easy to follow route map, with distance and estimated travel time. Awesome extras include things like bicycle hire points if you choose the cycle option, number of calories you’ll burn if you’re getting there on your own steam and approximate fare if you’re considering a taxi.

Receipt Bank This app has literally saved us hours every week. In short, it allows you the luxury of being pedantic about where your money goes without all the hassle that usually comes with maintaining a strict budget. We submit our receipts and invoices via the smartphone app and Receipt Bank extracts the key data and stores it along with the scanned bill – all of which is then uploaded into Xero, our accounting software. In terms of time saved the monthly fee is more than worth the price.

Day One Being CEO of a marketing agency is fun, but it comes with a price tag. Most notably your levels of privacy are greatly diminished, with your PA often knowing more than you do about your personal affairs. This is why I absolutely love the Day One journaling app. It allows me to unload my head in a private, non-judgemental space and make sense of my day. It’s not that I necessarily have any CIA-worthy secrets, it’s just nice to have something I don’t have to share. I love how user-friendly it is and that syncing between devices is ridiculously easy.

Strava is essential for runners. It has a bunch of cool things, like detailed training programmes, workout and race analysis (for the competitive OCD), real time segments (see previous parentheses comment) and a personalised heatmap so you can see how much ground you’ve covered (and brag about it). It’s the kind of app that’ll make you want to run even if you’re not a runner. Watch this and tell me I’m wrong.

Myfitnesspal I used to be of the opinion that I could justify cupcakes for lunch because I’d run a 10k before breakfast. When my trousers started shrinking I decided to rectify my errant ways and start tracking my food intake. Myfitnesspal has no shame and will happily remind me when dessert is not an option.

SkyGuide This is my favourite R&R app. If you’re fascinated by the heavens you’ll love SkyGuide. Instead of just standing there wondering if that light is a star or a planet, or worse, rushing inside to find your astronomy book and returning to an overcast sky, all you have to do is hold up your phone and all is revealed in an easy-to-understand and non-jargony way. One of my favourite functions is being able to travel back in time to see some of the amazing comets that have passed our way.

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Thanks to Heather for her list. I use Fitbit and challenge some friends and family with our step counts. We are all a bit competitive! Love the Sky Guide – will have to check that out too.

You can find out more about TopLine Comms on their website and on twitter.

If you’d like to contribute your Top 7 Apps or if you are the PR representing someone you’d like to see featured, everything you need to know about participating is right here.