I've been running my business for around 4 months now and I already use a lot of apps and websites to make my life a little bit easier so I thought I would share below what I've been using and why. I will probably update this every so often as I change habits or discover new tools.
Social Media
I mainly use this to cut my Instagram stories videos to 15-second segments. It's super easy to use and if you pay the small fee your videos won't have any watermark on them.
I only use the free version of this to plan out my grid and my post. I love that there's a place-holder option for when I want to plan something but don't have a picture yet.
I use Tailwind to schedule Pinterest pins, I did sign up for the paid-for service to see if it will make a difference to the amount of traffic I get from Pinterest. I only did this recently and I need to make more of an effort with my Pinterest for it to make a difference I think. Nevertheless, I have found it easy to use and even though I don't have many pins I have increased my views.
I use it for my grid if I've run out of free uploads on Planoly. I also use it for editing pictures sometimes.
I create a lot of my blog pictures, the covers for my IGTV videos, and LinkedIn articles in Canva. It's fast and simple and I use it both on my phone and on my laptop.
I use this to put collages together for my #smallbusinessfriday feature on my Instagram stories. This is where I highlight a brand/business I like each week and give a bit more information about them. I usually save images from their websites or social media and put a little story together. I do this in Over rather than Canva as I find it easier to crop and re-size several images in the same slide in this app.
Snapseed (app)
I mainly use this to edit selfies. Make my skin look like I'm young again and not as grey and tired as it does in real life.
VSCO (app)
I edit most of my pictures on here, sometimes I use a combination of this and A Colour Story. I paid for this app so I have more filters and features.
Facetune2 (app)
Again, mainly for selfies and sometimes for videos too.
Retouch (app)
If I have something I need to remove from an image and I don't want to re-touch it in Photoshop I use this app.
Productivity
I planned out all of the chapters of my Beginners Guide to Wholesale here. I am a pen and paper kind of gal most of the time but did enjoy using it for a project like this. If I had another larger piece of content or something like a re-brand I would use this again.
When my to-do list gets too long it stresses me out. I found that if I put it in Trello and only put my most time-sensitive ones in my planner without a specific date, I tick things off when I have a few spare minutes and I don't get so overwhelmed.
I just started using it to track my time. I feel like I have a lot of things I would like to do and too little time and then I find myself getting lost in Instagram instead of doing what I was meant to do this is helping me avoid this.
Accounts
I raise all my invoices in Quickbooks and it's also linked to my bank account and PayPal. Works great to so far.
I use Mailchimp for my newsletter, I've set up an automated email for when someone signs up to my newsletter which goes out straight away with the password for my resource library. I've just figured out how to set up the sign-up form on my Wix website without using a paid-for service so if you're having the same problem let me know.
Communication
I use this for client calls, both audio and using video as I like the recording feature. Since I haven't hosted any longer group calls I only have the free version of this so far and I think it's a great program.
Sam Burgess from Small and Mighty Co uses this to communicate with all her Co's and now I use it for my clients too. This is for my 6 month clients so that they have a direct link to me during the working week (and often on the weekend too) for any questions that might come up in-between sessions.
Misc
I set up a shared folder for each of my clients where I can share templates, worksheets, and other information they need for our sessions.
English is my second language and I'm dyslexic so I have this installed on my computer to check my spelling and grammar. Again, I'm only using the free version but it does help even-though my writing is far from perfect.
This is a customer management system (CRM) and I use the free version. It's connected with my email host and allows me to track all my leads and contacts for my sales agency. When I contact a new shop it creates a record and I will make notes, log calls and set up tasks for when to get in touch next. If you want to start to wholesale I recommend that you start using a CRM system of some kind.
Insight Timer (app)
For meditations when I need to relax.
I'm not a business book reader but I find listening to them when I walk the dog or drive somewhere productive and a good use of my "free" time.
If you have any apps or websites that you love, please let me know.
If you're interested in working with me, send me an email to discover how I can help you. If you have any feedback or any topic you would like me to cover please also get in touch. I also share tips every week on my Instagram account.
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P.S. A couple of the links are referral or affiliate links (Planoly and Tailwind) so if you do click on them and sign-up I would receive a credit. No pressure at all, I didn't write this post to make referrals.