5 Business Tools I Can’t Live Without
I will be the first to admit that I am a bit of a nerd for organization.
I love a list. Notebooks get me going. A good CRM makes me giddy.
Finding the best tools for business, and for my clients, is really important to me. I want to enjoy the process, and make it super easy for those working with me.
So here are my top five business tools that I cannot live without.
I use so many different elements of the Google workspace Every. Single. Day! First, there’s Gmail. A bit of a no-brainer, but seriously something that my business would fall apart without. I have folders upon folders, organizing different email threads. I love that I can schedule emails, and they send even when I’m away from my phone or laptop.
Next up – Google Calendar. My entire life is in my Google Calendar, so to say I would be lost without it is an understatement. I have the app on my phone, and I am logged into my three different Google accounts (work, university and personal) which allows for all three calendars to show up in one space. Life changing.
And finally, the Google Drive concept. I have been using Google Drive for the guts of 10 years (so basically since it first launched) and I adore it. I use the different tools within it (Docs, Slides, Forms) all the time, and the sharing capability makes life so much easier with clients. It’s a must-have for me.
If there was any tool that changed the game in my business, it was definitely Calendly. You know the struggle as well as I do when it comes to booking multiple calls with multiple people. I used to have to present a variety of options to Client A, wait for their response, then present the remaining options to Client B, and so on.
This method of booking was 1) a waste of my time, 2) not fair to clients who always booked in quickly, and 3) a mess to keep track of.
When I switched to Calendly, this whole headache went away.
I love that I can set multiple availability calendars for myself and that I can edit certain days. I love that I can build in a questionnaire/intake form right into the booking process. I love that when the appointments are booked, it syncs with my Google Calendar perfectly, as well as Google Meets, so my clients don’t have to do anything.
I would highly recommend this tool to anyone who is booking more than one meeting a week. It is so so worth it.
If you’ve heard about how amazing Canva is once, you’ve heard it a million times, so I won’t bore you with the details.
It’s a seriously cool tool to have. With a bit of time and effort, you (or I, if you want to hand off content creation to someone else) can create some really beautiful graphics that don’t look cookie cutter.
Some of their newer features that I have been loving are the Smartmockups, which I used for this blog post, as well as the ability to have multiple brand kits – such a game changer if you own multiple businesses, or are an SMM.
I have become such a “hype woman” for Squarespace as of late, but it’s because I really do love it. Squarespace is the platform I used to build my own website…yes, this one you’re on right now. I have also used it to build a client website, and am about to start on another.
I really enjoy how easy it is to create beautiful websites, whether you stick pretty closely to a template, or go off on your own adventure. I also love that when I created a site for a client in the past, it was super easy for her to navigate things on her own to make minor changes.
Their built-in blogging feature is a big selling point for me, but I also know people who use it for the commerce aspect and love it.
If you’re wanting to redo your website, or create one for the first time, and are interested in working together, message me. I haven’t officially added this service to my A La Carte yet, but it’s coming.
And finally, last but not least, Honeybook. I have to admit, I have yet to fully explore Honeybook, and use it to its fullest potential, but I can confidently recommend it for invoicing.
I needed a way to invoice my international clients and let them pay in a super easy way, and Honeybook serves that purpose.
Now that they have added Smart Files too, it makes the invoicing process (and automating it) a breeze.
As I explore this platform more, I will report back.
So there you have it, five different business tools I cannot live without. I don’t expect this list to change all that much…if anything I hope to just add to it.
**Canva Pro and Honeybook links are affiliate links. This means that if you choose to sign up for these programs via my link, I receive compensation, at no additional cost to you.
