We creatives gotta stick
When running a creative biz, you need tools at the ready to streamline your process and make life easier. These are some of my FAVORITE tools and resources I have used as a small business owner!
Some of these links will give you a discount if you find you want to purchase any of these services/tools…etc. and I'll get a little something for sharing it with you. No pressure, but always want to be open about that! I never share anything I don't actually love. 😊
Hope this helps!
together.
👥 Honeybook
Honeybook is what I have used as my CRM (Client Relationship Management system) since day 1. I use Honeybook to embed an inquiry form on my website, and once someone fills out that form, they are entered into a pipeline. From there I will use Honeybook to communicate with that prospective client through email (Honeybook will sync up to your email account) and then once they book they can pay their deposit easily and agree to the auto-pay schedule (love this feature!).
You can setup workflows and automations, access financial reports, and lots of other helpful information!
If you want to try it out, you can get 50% off your first year.
get 50% off
🖥️ Showit
Showit is where I build all of my websites. It’s a custom website builder loved by designers and non-designers alike. There is TOTAL creative freedom, which I’m all about.
Showit even works with e-commerce platforms like Shopify so you can sell products online. It also uses Wordpress as the engine to it’s blogging feature and the two go together like 🥜 and 🍇.
Not to mention their customer support is top notch.
If you are a current website client and haven’t gotten your subscription to Showit yet, you can get a free month by clicking the link below and entering code "WONDER"!
get a free month
✔️ Notion
I have tried MANY project management softwares and the thing that kept holding me back was not having everything I wanted in one platform. There were aspects I loved about Asana, Basecamp and Trello…but they still weren’t scratching the itch for me.
Notion is often referred to as a “second brain”. It is incredible at organizing information that can be very custom, or very simple.
And the end of the day, choose a project management system that works for YOU. So if Trello or Asana is your jam…stick with it. If you want something that’s a bit more custom to fit your unique needs and are a bit of an organization + details-loving nerd…maybe try Notion! 🤓
sign up
💬 Slack
I love Slack for instant messaging in the workplace! Goodbye endless emails. Goodbye searching through pages and pages just to find a file that was sent 3 months ago that you forgot to save.
Slack allows you to organize conversations by channels, direct message, search for files within specific channels and across the whole workspace, send voice memos, and (this is a big one) AVOID clients/coworkers from texting you when you are unavailable! It allows you to be accessible for those conversations, but with boundaries. There’s a mobile and desktop app so you can keep everything synced up. 10/10 recommend for small businesses with teams!
sign up
🎨 Canva
I am a professional designer and I LOVE Canva so so much. Why?
Because most of my clients are NOT professional designers. They do not know how to work Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator. So my goal is to create brand assets that are beautifully and impeccably designed in those professional tools, and then set you up for success so you can actually USE them with tools that work for you!
P.S. My entire design career started by using Canva. 🤫
sign up
🎙️ Libsyn
Libsyn is the platform I use to host and distrubute my podcast! It’s very easy to upload, edit, and publish episodes. They also handle distributing to various platforms like Amazon, Google, Spotify…etc.
There are tons of options out there for podcast platforms like this, but this is the one I happened to land on and if you want to try it, you can get 2 months free with code "WONDER1"!
