Essential Business Tools I’m Thankful For (And Why You’ll Love Them, Too
There’s so many tools business owners use. Sometimes we use tools we like, don’t like, and some just sit there. I want to share with you the tools that I am thankful for in business. These are things that I use almost every day, if not every day. I love hearing about people’s tech stacks and if you’re new to business, that is the jargony term. I think that people talk about just all the different tools they use and typically how they work together.
In my personal life, when I find a new app, I end up telling everyone about it. I’ll say and ask things like, “Did you know about this app?” “It saves me time and money.” “It does this, or it’s this cool thing, or it sets these reminders.” I’m always trying to find those hacks.
The one that you have probably heard me talk about if you’ve been following me on Instagram, is the Fetch Rewards app. I’m always scanning my receipts so that I get points because you can turn those points into gift cards. Go get Fetch Rewards if you haven’t already for your personal life.
I find it really fascinating and I usually learn something or go try out different tools and resources that other business owners are using. I hope that you get a little inspiration from this and maybe try some new business tools out.
The first tool that I am thankful for in business is my email service provider Flodesk.
As someone who is not a designer, that is not my strength. I just do not really get it. Flodesk gives you the capability to send pretty emails. They have easy templates, they have some automations and they also have some analytics. So, some more numbers that you can look at. It is really great when you’re starting out. I’m still using Flodesk and it just helps make it less intimidating and you can make your emails look pretty and professional, but pretty quickly and easily.
Also it’s really affordable. A lot of the other email service providers charge by how many subscribers you have on your lists. I feel like this is just a very low cost amount thatFlodesk is, but you also get a really good product. They definitely have some cons, which I’m not really going to get fully into. Remember, do your research beforehand. Go check it out if you are interested in starting to really ramp up your email marketing and start sending emails and creating that email list.
The second tool that I’m thankful for in my business is Clickup.
This is where I keep all of my tasks and can manage them from there. I like it. I started out using Asana and it was fine, but I like Clickup a lot more. It is just more how my brain works. I love that you can put things in a calendar view and see all of your tasks color coded that way. Sounds so nerdy, I feel like, but it’s so helpful to just be able to glance and look at ‘okay, this is a client day, this is heavy marketing, or a podcast day.
You can see and track those types of things. You can also keep lists, you can do tasks, and you can do reminders. There is also a feature to assign different people on your team, different tasks, but still see an overview of everything that’s happening. So it is so customizable.
Another cool thing that I really use in there is mind mapping. When I just need to brain dump something or kind of create a workflow, or figure out how the pieces flow together, you can put all of that in one spot and not have it in random journals. I used to do this and then lose that piece of paper. The ability to have everything in one place.
That’s where I track all of my Instagram marketing, my podcast stuff, client projects, all of those things can be in one place and it helps me stay on track. It helps me stay on track and keep things from falling through cracks.
The one thing I will say about it is it’s a little robust. I would definitely recommend having someone help you set it up or just giving you the basic tutorials about it, because it is overwhelming to start out with. I did have a person set it all up for me, which was really helpful because now I’m able to create things on my own just fine. Having to start from scratch with a new tool like that would be really intimidating, at least to me.
The third tool I am thankful for is QuickBooks Online.
Partly this is just selfishly because it has provided me with this opportunity to serve business owners because of the system itself. But it is the go-to for organizing your finances, tracking your income and expenses, creating clear reports, all of those things.
It is still, in my opinion, the best product on the market. Does it have its flukes? Absolutely. But it is still the best price for what you get from it. I love that it automates transactions and it’s trying to use more AI features to help you make those automations even better. The ability to integrate with other platforms is really helpful to simplify your bookkeeping and to have it easily available to run a report. That way you can assess how your business is doing.
If you are ready to set up and start using QuickBooks, then definitely reach out to me. Send me an email and I will help you out.
The fourth tool that I use almost every day that I love in business is Voxer.
You may not be as familiar with this, but this is a walkie talkie app. Instead of sending someone a voice message and having it cut you off after a minute, like Instagram, you can send up to a 10 minute long or a 15 minute long. Voice message.
It makes it really easy to send a voice message to business friends, potentially clients, if you’re a coach or that type of business owner. It’s great for quick check-ins or just when you need to hash out with a friend or a fellow business owner, something that’s just too much to text.
If you couldn’t tell already I like to just talk it out. It is so much simpler than doing a million voice memos back and forth. I love the Voxer app. You can do group chats, too. It is really helpful for me to communicate with business friends and coaches that I’ve had in the past, back and forth.
One more thing I love about it is that I just use the free version. It is an excellent app that you don’t have to pay for. You can upgrade to the pro level to have a few more upgrades but I have been a user for a few years and I’ve still never upgraded. I’m still just using it for free.
The fifth tool that I have been using more and more in my business is ChatGPT.
If you’re not familiar, this is an AI tool. It is also free. You can upgrade to paid versions but I’m still using the free version. It is honestly so helpful now. It also has its negatives, but if you just need some help with getting your juices flowing, a skeleton of an outline, titles for things, or phrases it is really helpful. It’s funny, there was a prompt going around about asking Chat GPT to create a picture of what your life looks like. It was so detailed that it included three drinks on my desk.
It is a tool that I’m using more and more. Like I said, it just helps me get those things flowing. Now I do always go back and tweak it because like, if I hear certain phrases, I can tell that it’s just straight AI. But it just helps me have that base so that I don’t feel like I have to create from scratch and from zero everything.
I’ve actually been using it for podcast outlines and for titles. It has helped me write the base of job descriptions and sales pages. So if you aren’t able to hire a copywriter at this point in your business, it is a great tool. Like I said, just to get started. I would not recommend copying and pasting every single word directly, but it is a really great starting place, which is so helpful to give you the starting point for those things that you need.
Business tools I’m using – Flodesk, Clickup, QuickBooks, Voxer, and ChatGPT.
I would love to hear from you. What business tools am I missing? What tools are there that I might not know about that I should know about? Let me know. Reach out. I would love to hear from you.
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