Setting up my business has come with the need for me to be more organised than I usually am. I work with different clients who all have different needs and I needed a way to streamline everything especially in the early stages before I have many clients. I did my research and tried and tested a few systems to find out what works for me. Thankfully the testing phase didn’t take long as some of the top tools for organising my business are easy to use or I’ve used previously.
Below is a list of what I’m using now and why I love them.
Google Apps 🧰
Google Keep – for taking notes while on the move. I get to colour-code my different notes and can sync them with Google Docs.
Google Forms- for enquiries before booking discovery calls. This is a great way to collect information before a meeting. If you’re interested in one of my services check out my forms linked below.
Calendar- for appointments and events.
Jamboard – is an interactive whiteboard system which I use brainstorming and goal mapping. It was recommended by my business coach Leigh Wallett.
Related post: 6 Tips on How to be An Organised Entrepreneur
Voicerecorderlite– is a voice recording app. I mainly use it for recording while I’m on the go or coaching calls to reference when creating client notes. I love that I can organise my recordings and save them to Dropbox.
Communication 📩
Zoom– is a cloud-based video conferencing service. I love that it integrates with my Google calendar and Appointlet. The downside, it chows data. #Datamustfall
Appointlet– is a meeting scheduling software. I use this for booking calls. It saves me the headache of going back and forth with a client to choose a date when we are both free. I send the link of my calendar which shows them when I’m available and they get to pick a date that they are free as well.
I love that it has different meeting types and I can know what a person is looking for and be able to prepare for the call. Feel free to book here
Graphics 📸
Canva– is a graphic design platform, which I use for creating beautiful slides, email banners, Instagram highlight covers, Pinterest pins and so much more. It’s very extensive and makes it easy for me to do some basic graphic design. Props to graphics designers, designing can be tough.
Planoly – is the best Instagram scheduling software I’ve found so far. It allows me to create posts and auto-schedule them. I love being able to get a view of what my IG grid will look like.
Project Management 📋
Trello– is a visual tool for organizing your work. This is great for project management and collaborating with clients. They get to see the progress I’m making with their tasks.
Marketing 📠
Mailchimp– is a marketing automation platform and email marketing service. I use it for email marketing mostly. I haven’t used this to the fullest as I’ve only sent out two newsletters this year.
Time ⏲️
Clockify– is a time tracking software. I love that I can track the time I’m working on a project and send a detailed report to my clients.
Marinara: Pomodoro® Assistant– this extension has a timer to break down work into intervals. I use it to measure how long it will take for me to finish a task so I can charge clients correctly. I also enjoy the break notifications it sends on the screen. Sometimes I get too bogged down in my work that I forget to take breaks.
NB: I’m currently using all the free versions of these apps and softwares.
I will be testing out a few CRMs over the next few months. My top choices so far are Honeybooks, ClickUp, Toggl and Hubspot.
Comment below, what tools do you use in your business?
Thanks for reading, see you in the next post!
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