If you’re a small business owner or a solo entrepreneur running your business from home, you’re probably aware of lots of different websites and tools out there to help you work from your computer. Here are some of my favourite tools that I use to run my business.
Gsuite
For my email and calendar, I use Google’s Gsuite. Gsuite is Google for your business. You get a Gmail account with your business domain name, along with many other Google features. Calendar and email are the main things I use. I also especially love the Gmail and Google calendar apps for iPhone – the emails push through instantly, and the calendar will update with some cool looking icons depending on what the activity is!
Acuity Scheduling Tool
You have most likely heard of Calendly, which is another great scheduling tool. Acuity is basically the same but it has some extra features and a variety of price points. I have Acuity integrated on my website for booking a discovery call and Power Hour. It’s also handy just to send out a link if you’re going back and forth over email with someone trying to find a time to meet.
Zoom
Yes we all know about Zoom by now! It’s been a lifesaver for both business and personal lives over the last few months! I’ve tried out other video conferencing tools, but I just find Zoom to be the best, and the easiest to use.
Meet Edgar
MeetEdgar is a fantastic social media scheduling tool. While it isn’t the cheapest, I find it to be the easiest to use for what I need. I love their scheduling feature and the fact that you can create a number of different posts from one link to a blog or an article you’ve written. It’ll also re-post evergreen content for you, which is great when you’ve built up a good bank of posts. Also great for those days when you’re feeling uninspired as to what to write!
Last Pass
Last Pass is a lifesaver for anyone working remotely, specifically VAs. We often need access to clients’ login details for their various accounts. The most secure and easiest way to share this is via Last Pass. You can also add the plugin to your Chrome browser, and Last Pass will save any new passwords when you login to a website, or automatically fill in the login fields.
Asana
Asana is my project management tool of choice! I’ve tried out many different tools (there are soooo many out there). But I finally settled on this one and got on with learning how to use it properly. Once you learn how it works, and you find a system that works for you, you won’t be able to live without it I’m sure! I also use it with some clients in order for us to collaborate on tasks and projects easily.
Cloud Storage
As with project management tools, there are so many to choose from nowadays, and having tried quite a few, I’ve settled on OneDrive and Google Drive. Both because they’re included on the Microsoft and Gsuite subscriptions subsequently. Dropbox is another option, however it can work out more expensive when you have the others included with various subscriptions.
Loom
Loom is a screen and voice recording tool so that you can record tutorials or videos of something on your screen, while explaining it. I use this a lot if I need to help a client set up an account on a new website or application that they’ve never used before.
Canva
Canva is fantastic for creating graphics for social media, hundreds of different document templates, and designing your own. It’s relatively straightforward to use, and the free version is sufficient if you only need to design the odd thing here and there.
I hope this is helpful and that it has given you some ideas or inspiration to try out some new tools for your business. Don’t forget that if you feel you need extra help with getting things organised or finding the right tools to use, you can book a Get Organised Power Hour with me, or book a free discovery call to see if working with me as your VA could be right for you.