How I Use Technology to Keep My Small Business Running Smoothly

Dec 07, 2025 News

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by Arriana Mahase – Entrepreneur, STEMGuyana Advisor, Technologist

(Kaieteur News) – Running a small business in Guyana can get hectic quickly, especially when you’re balancing work, home life, and motherhood all at once. Over time, I realized that if I wanted things to run more smoothly, I needed proper systems, not more stress. Thankfully, with my background in computer science and the years I spent in robotics through STEMGuyana, technology has always been familiar ground for me.

Instead of wrestling with piles of paper, mental calculations, and a notebook that always seemed to disappear at the worst time, I started leaning into digital tools that could help me stay organized. Bit by bit, I’ve been shifting the business away from manual processes and into a more structured, efficient digital workflow. Here’s how that journey has unfolded so far.

QuickBooks: My Transition Away From Paper

When I first started the business, everything was handwritten. I kept notebooks filled with invoices, and customer balances. At first it felt manageable, but as the business grew, I found myself spending hours flipping through pages just to answer simple questions like who owed money, how much was outstanding, or when someone last made a payment. Sometimes I would repeat calculations several times just to ensure I didn’t make a mistake, and it became clear that the system wasn’t sustainable.

A few months ago, I finally decided it was time to modernize. After researching options that were affordable and flexible enough for a small business, I settled on QuickBooks. What I love most is the convenience. I can enter invoice details from anywhere, at home, on the road, or at the business, and everything updates automatically. Instead of juggling multiple books, I now have one clean dashboard that shows me every outstanding balance, the total amount owed to the business, and the entire payment history of each customer. It even lets me send invoices directly by email, which removes the extra step of writing them out on paper first.

The difference feels like night and day. I spend less time doing repetitive work and more time focusing on customers and planning for growth. And I haven’t even explored all the features yet, just the basic ones have already changed how I work.

Building My Own Attendance App With AI

One unique challenge in my business is that my employees don’t work fixed hours. Some might work a full day, others half day or quarter day, and many request partial payments throughout the week. Trying to keep track of all of this in a traditional attendance book quickly became confusing. I needed a system that could record exactly how much of the day someone worked, how much money they collected on that day and then calculate their final pay for the week by subtracting deductions. It was a lot to manage manually.

I searched for ready-made attendance or payroll apps, but none of them addressed the specific way we operate. Instead of settling for something that wasn’t a good fit, I decided to build my own solution. Using an AI software builder, paired with my coding background as a computer science graduate, I began designing an app tailored exactly to our workflow. It records each day’s attendance in portions, tracks midweek payments, calculates the total number of full and partial days worked, and automatically generates the final salary based on our day-rate system.

It’s not fully rolled out yet, but even in its testing stage, I can already see how much time it’s going to save. It removes the guesswork and lets me focus on managing people instead of managing numbers. One of the biggest lessons I learned in STEMGuyana is that if the perfect tool doesn’t exist, you can build it — and this app is the perfect example of that.

TickTick: Keeping My Life and Business Organized

With a business to run and a baby at home, my days are full before they even start. For a long time, I tried keeping everything in my head, which lasted until I forgot something important one too many times. TickTick has become the tool that holds everything together.

I use it to separate home tasks, business responsibilities, and personal goals while keeping them in one place where I can see the bigger picture. I plan my days and weeks inside the app, which helps me stay realistic about what I can actually accomplish. The calendar gives me a clear view of upcoming deadlines, meetings, or busy days. The notes section allows me to jot down ideas, important information, and anything else that pops into my head before I forget it. And the ability to organize tasks into lists makes everything easier to manage.

One of my favourite things about TickTick is how easy it is to adjust plans. If something changes, which happens often when you’re juggling motherhood and business, I can move tasks around without losing track of anything. Recurring tasks also help me stay on top of routine jobs in the business, so I don’t scramble at the end of the week or month.

Overall, TickTick has helped me feel less overwhelmed and more intentional with my time. It reminds me that good organization doesn’t have to be complicated.

Why Technology Matters for Small Businesses

A lot of small business owners feel intimidated by technology or think it’s only for large companies, but my experience has been the opposite. You don’t need expensive, complicated systems to see a real difference. Even simple tools, the right tools, can improve accuracy, reduce stress, and create a more professional experience for both you and your customers.

For me, using technology is not about being fancy. It’s about keeping things under control, saving time, and building a business that can grow without burning me out. My background in Computer Science and Robotics taught me to look at problems through the lens of systems and efficiency and bringing that mindset into my business has made a huge difference.

And honestly, this is just the beginning. There’s so much more I want to implement over time, and I’m excited to continue improving how my business operates.

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• Arriana Mahase, Entrepreneur, STEMGuyana, Technologist, technology

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