I am often asked by clients what tools I use to run my business, so I thought I’d share these with you.
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So it’s not the cheapest of software but I am a believer of paying for something that works for you. I love that I can email receipts and invoices into the system, connect it with my bank and reconcile the transactions and that it is so easy to use. It has a huge number of reports that allow me to assess how my business is doing and where I need to make changes. They also do a 30-day free trial.
Companies 1-9 people Try Moo and get 25% off your first order!
Companies 10+ people Try Moo and get an Account Manager, discounts & more
Why? I just love how simple it is to design your cards and the huge variety of printing options, and when they are delivered they come in a gorgeous box with a wax seal and ribbon – what’s not to love. Don’t use cheap services to make business cards, the quality of your cards needs to reflect the quality of your business and leave a lasting impression.
I wanted a simple booking system so people could book a call with me, without me needing to get involved, and I needed it to be linked to my diary so it shows people only available time slots. I also wanted it branded a little. You Can Book Me’s basic functions are enough for me to do this, as booking a discovery call is all I need people to be able to do but within the paid for plans, you can add booking reminders and more customised styling but for a small business, this is all I need.
I met Sara and Andy at a conference, and really liked them. A lot can be said by that. People buy people. I’d previously had experiences of call answering services and it had not been good. I have clients who use Face for Business so I have been on both ends of their service and can’t fault it. Contact me if you’d like an introduction and a 7-day free trial.
So it’s not the cheapest of software but I am a believer of paying for something that works for you. I love that I can email receipts and invoices into the system, connect it with my bank and reconcile the transactions and that it is so easy to use. It has a huge number of reports that allow me to assess how my business is doing and where I need to make changes. They also do a 30-day free trial.
Companies 1-9 people Try Moo and get 25% off your first order!
Companies 10+ people Try Moo and get an Account Manager, discounts & more
Why? I just love how simple it is to design your cards and the huge variety of printing options, and when they are delivered they come in a gorgeous box with a wax seal and ribbon – what’s not to love. Don’t use cheap services to make business cards, the quality of your cards needs to reflect the quality of your business and leave a lasting impression.
I wanted a simple booking system so people could book a call with me, without me needing to get involved, and I needed it to be linked to my diary so it shows people only available time slots. I also wanted it branded a little. You Can Book Me’s basic functions are enough for me to do this, as booking a discovery call is all I need people to be able to do but within the paid for plans, you can add booking reminders and more customised styling but for a small business, this is all I need.
I met Sara and Andy at a conference, and really liked them. A lot can be said by that. People buy people. I’d previously had experiences of call answering services and it had not been good. I have clients who use Face for Business so I have been on both ends of their service and can’t fault it. Contact me if you’d like an introduction and a 7-day free trial.
I started using Capsule on the free package but now find all the benefits of the really cost effective paid plan meet all my business’s needs for a CRM. You can read more about how I use it in our blog
For someone who is not creative the drag and drop designs and thousands of templates are a life saver for me when creating documents and social media images. It’s great for creatives too if you don’t want to pay out a lot for a design programme when you are starting out. I pay for Canva For Work as it gives extra tools such as resizing which I use a lot for social media posts and it also allows me to save my brand colours to use in my designs. They also offer a 30-day free trial.
I don’t send a huge number of contracts and Signable offers a pay as you go solution per document that you send. I also like that you can personalise the message and either use a template or upload a new document each time. It tracks the signature and time/date stamps it which is a great record.You can read more about Signable in our blog
I just love Google. For one I use an Android phone so it works seamlessly! I love all the tools that you get access to with Google. I run my emails through it and can very easily add and remove new accounts, store my documents in GDrive and share them with clients, have conference calls with Google Hangouts, and I also use Google Forms a lot for client surveys and other questionnaires. I also love the calendar function as that links straight into Google Hangouts if you need it to.
If you would like to get 20% off your first year of G Suite Basic or G Suite Business please contact me for a referral code.
I started using Capsule on the free package but now find all the benefits of the really cost effective paid plan meet all my business’s needs for a CRM. You can read more about how I use it in our blog
For someone who is not creative the drag and drop designs and thousands of templates are a life saver for me when creating documents and social media images. It’s great for creatives too if you don’t want to pay out a lot for a design programme when you are starting out. I pay for Canva For Work as it gives extra tools such as resizing which I use a lot for social media posts and it also allows me to save my brand colours to use in my designs. They also offer a 30-day free trial.
I don’t send a huge number of contracts and Signable offers a pay as you go solution per document that you send. I also like that you can personalise the message and either use a template or upload a new document each time. It tracks the signature and time/date stamps it which is a great record.You can read more about Signable in our blog
I just love Google. For one I use an Android phone so it works seamlessly! I love all the tools that you get access to with Google. I run my emails through it and can very easily add and remove new accounts, store my documents in GDrive and share them with clients, have conference calls with Google Hangouts, and I also use Google Forms a lot for client surveys and other questionnaires. I also love the calendar function as that links straight into Google Hangouts if you need it to.
If you would like to get 20% off your first year of G Suite Basic or G Suite Business please contact me for a referral code.
Sometimes free images don’t quite cut it or you are looking for something a bit different. Free sites are great but you often get better quality or a greater range if you pay a small amount. For other reasons to try Deposit Photos – read our blog
MailerLite is a really easy to use email marketing software, and its free package allows up to 1000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month. They have fantastic email tutorials and landing pages, subscribe forms and email automation is also included in the free plan.
I use Evernote to collaborate with one of my clients on projects, but I mainly use it to save notes from meetings so I can easily find them again, without having to search through notebooks. I also love the Chrome extension which allows you to save web pages direct to Evernote.
As my team grew, other project management systems I was using became cost prohibitive. Avaza is really well priced and offer project management, time tracking, reporting, resourcing as well as chat, invoicing and more so it made sense to switch. Their customer service is some of the best I have ever experienced for a software provider.
Sometimes free images don’t quite cut it or you are looking for something a bit different. Free sites are great but you often get better quality or a greater range if you pay a small amount. For other reasons to try Deposit Photos – read our blog
MailerLite is a really easy to use email marketing software, and its free package allows up to 1000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month. They have fantastic email tutorials and landing pages, subscribe forms and email automation is also included in the free plan.
I use Evernote to collaborate with one of my clients on projects, but I mainly use it to save notes from meetings so I can easily find them again, without having to search through notebooks. I also love the Chrome extension which allows you to save web pages direct to Evernote.
As my team grew, other project management systems I was using became cost prohibitive. Avaza is really well priced and offer project management, time tracking, reporting, resourcing as well as chat, invoicing and more so it made sense to switch. Their customer service is some of the best I have ever experienced for a software provider.
I wanted to use a system that would allow me to track the time against each project and also allow each of my team to track their time. Teamwork also allows me to give my clients access to the system to see the projects we are working on and how much time has been used on their retainer. I also use it for my work on my own business, to track my goals and actions.
I used the free Trello system to manage tasks with my clients before I moved to Teamwork. Trello is really versatile and allows you to set deadlines, track progress, attach documents amongst a million other things. I also love the easy drag and drop interface which allows me to keep a track of what I am working on.
Quick and simple scheduling of posts to social media. With SmarterQueue you can divide your content into types and schedule on different days, you can even set evergreen content to reschedule, meaning less time for you in scheduling. Read more about this in our blog and get an extended 30 day-free trial with our affiliate link
I wanted to use a system that would allow me to track the time against each project and also allow each of my team to track their time. Teamwork also allows me to give my clients access to the system to see the projects we are working on and how much time has been used on their retainer. I also use it for my work on my own business, to track my goals and actions.
I used the free Trello system to manage tasks with my clients before I moved to Teamwork. Trello is really versatile and allows you to set deadlines, track progress, attach documents amongst a million other things. I also love the easy drag and drop interface which allows me to keep a track of what I am working on.
Quizzes as lead magnets are really popular at the moment and are a great way to get people to sign up for your list. I’ve started using Interact for my quizzes and did my first one within a matter of minutes – they have tonnes of templates you can use, and you can completely personalise everything you do.
Quick and simple scheduling of posts to social media. With SmarterQueue you can divide your content into types and schedule on different days, you can even set evergreen content to reschedule, meaning less time for you in scheduling. Read more about this in our blog and get an extended 30 day-free trial with our affiliate link
Why? When you charge by the hour, you need to be able to track your time and I didn’t trust myself to write it down. I liked the Chrome extension too which reminds you to track, incase you forget. The free plan was great for me as I started growing my team.
Why? When you charge by the hour, you need to be able to track your time and I didn’t trust myself to write it down. I liked the Chrome extension too which reminds you to track, incase you forget. The free plan was great for me as I started growing my team.
