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Tools, programs and resources that I think every creative entrepreneur needs
These are things that I have come across that I am obsessed with. I use them in my business and I tell everyone about who will listen. I am a nerd for programs and gadgets and LOVE to try anything and everything I hear about. So here goes!
1. TOGGL
Toggl is probably the tool I’ve used the longest in my business. When I first started my business, I was working as a Virtual Assistant (VA) and I needed a way to track my time. Now I literally track everything. No matter what I am doing (including right now) I track it. I feel like it’s always useful to know how long it takes me to do something in my business. I also like to see how many hours a day and a week I’m working since my time is so limited.
2. Honeybook
If you’re a service provider and you’re manually keeping track of your clients, it’s time for an upgrade. Honeybook is the perfect option for you if you’re interested in a CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) but not looking to get something too overly complicated. I use honeybook to collect potential leads, send proposals and contracts after disco calls, and invoice throughout my project. I also save my email templates so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel each project. It’s my hardest working tool after my website.
3. Green Geeks
This is my go-to hosting company. I’ve tried another popular name, but Green Geeks has so many positive attributes that I love. First, they’re green (duh) so with every website they plant a tree, there is a 300% green energy match to offset your carbon footprint, their customer service is great and super accessible (24/7 babyyy!) and of course everything is lightning fast. I love Green Geeks and always recommend it to folks looking for a host for their website.
4. Name Cheap
Name Cheap is a domain company that is the best prices I’ve seen for domains. Normally I am put off by businesses that claim to be the cheapest, but Name Cheap is so easy and user friendly and truly the cheapest. When it comes to a domain, there are so many sites that price gouge, but name cheap doesn’t and it’s super easy to transfer your domain to their service too. I never purchase domains for my clients, I think it’s something everyone should own themselves and namecheap is always my rec.
5. Clickup
Clickup is my latest favorite project management tool. I think I’ve tried them all at this point (to do lists are my love language) and I like that Clickup lets me use almost all the settings and options in their free version. I am sure at some point I’ll upgrade, but for now the free version has been more than enough. I love how specific and organized I can get with it!
6. Notion
Notion and I have a love/hate relationship. I used to be a big fan of bullet journaling (when I had more time) and I think Notion is a perfect digital bullet journal, but every time I try to use Notion I get a bit overwhelmed because it is SO customizable I often don’t know where to start. I do feel like eventually I will only use Notion for my project management, but for now it’s split between Clickup and Notion. Notion is great for note taking, so I keep my questionnaires on there and keep to do lists on Clickup. But man oh man you can make Notion look SO PRETTY! I envy those who have beautiful Notion layouts, they are always so satisfying.
7. Quickbooks
I feel like I could call myself a legit business owner once I started using quickbooks. I like it because it’s a pretty well known bookkeeping software, you can find plenty of tutorials online if you have any issues, and it makes tax prep so much easier than if you’re manually tracking everything. Big fan!
8. Mailerlite
I love mailerlite for email marketing. It’s free, it has a really robust tracking report and it’s easy to use! I always encourage all my clients to start collecting emails, even if they don’t have a newsletter or plan to start one in the near future. You’ll want a list already started when you do decide to start email marketing, and you’ll be so glad you went with Mailerlite.
9. Eye Dropper
Okay so this isn’t so much a tool, but more of a chrome extension but man I use it alllll the time! I add it to my chrome, and anytime I see a color I like, I can turn on the Eye Dropper and get the Hex Code for that color to save for whatever I want to use it for. I also have my brand colors saved in the program so anytime I am using something online that I need my brand colors for, I don’t have to go digging, they’re right there in my browser. Yaaass!
10. Go Full Screen
This is another chrome extension I use all the time. It takes full screenshots of my screen in one click. It’s super handy for websites because it’s hard to get a screenshot of the entire page, especially landing pages. This can also be useful for any information you need to save from a website, as it gives you the option to save it as a jpg or a pdf.
Bonus: Affinity
Affinity is an Adobe like product that (get this) you pay for once! For a biz on a budget, this is brilliant! Adobe products can add up fast with their subscription model, but Affinity’s one time payment keeps things affordable while giving you access to some really powerful design software. They have three different programs, Design, Photo and Publisher (Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign respectively). They are different of course, but the idea behind each is the same, and I haven’t found any issues using Affinity over Adobe, so I am a big fan!
What are your favorite tools? I always love to play with new tools and softwares people suggest!