5 must-have tools for your business
Want to know my recipe for success? Full disclosure: I haven’t quite perfected it, but if you’d seen me when I was mocking up university projects in my pajamas at 3 am twenty-five years ago, you’d agree that I’ve come a long way!
I would absolutely never have gotten to where I am today if not for my determination to understand visual communication and branding. I’d have fallen apart ten times over without my computer, my peers and the amazing colleagues I have worked with over the years that have helped me learn all the great short cuts to making everything just a bit easier. And I couldn't get through the daily grind without my digital tools and secrets.
Here is a list of the top 5 digital tools that I make my life so much easy as a business owner.
Adobe Acrobat Pro
I should let you know that as a professional designer, I am a bit biased in that I absolutely LOVE my Adobe products, so it may not come as a surprise that one of the first products I would recommend for any consultant or course creator is Adobe Acrobat Pro. I remember the days when I was purchasing Adobe products on a physical disk and trying to decide if I needed the entire product suite, or just one or two programs. Now making decisions on whether to invest in more premium products is so much easier with free trial periods and monthly subscriptions. And yes, you can find ways to edit PDF files for free online, but for a very small fee, you can combine pdfs, add and/or edit links and replace pages all in one program.
Canva Pro
I think this goes without saying that Canva is an incredible tool for any DIY designer. Not only are you able to design virtually ANYTHING on Canva, but the platform has an endless amount of photographs, icons and illustrations to choose from and you can create any type of social post from still Facebook ads to animated Instagram stories. Sure, there are limitations to what can be accomplished with video and recording but for a novice designer, this is a must. Again, I like to go the extra distance with my program purchases, so I use the Pro version. But again, if you are just starting out, the free Canva account still provides a number of great options.
Google Suite
I started using the full Google suite a few months ago and honestly, I don’t know what I was doing before this. I usually have 5-10 windows open during the day. I’m not going to sugar coat it, my desktop most likely looks like a confusing jumble to most people as I toggle through windows by the minute. Most of the time I have at least a few Google docs, a Google sheet, the calendar to set reminders and schedule meetings, Canva, Adobe Acrobat, and a few other design programs for my client work, all open at the same time. And as I jump from place to place constantly on my computer while jotting down important notes related to my business and random thoughts that pop into my head, I keep a digital record of everything that I find important in my documents, knowing that it’s stored on the cloud, can be downloaded if needed, and will be right where I left it when I need to go back. If I didn’t have this central place to store my important writing pieces, notes, time sheets for client projects and calendar appointments, I don’t know what I would do.
Online Marketing Made Easy and Two Weeks Notice by Amy Porterfield
It’s no secret to anyone that has started following me on social that I am a huge fan of Amy Porterfield. I have watched her live trainings, participated in her masterclasses and have taken a number of her digital courses. And one of my favourite resources from Amy is her podcast. Online Marketing Made Easy is how I was introduced to Amy and her community a few years ago and I still listen to the podcast on a regular basis. She provides an endless stream of inspiration, strategies and step-by-step instructions that a small business owner can easily take to level-up their online marketing game. I highly recommend listening but just make sure to have a pen and paper handy as the information is so valuable that you’ll want to jot down notes as you listen.
Better yet, if you’re a pen and paper kind of person like I am, who loves to take notes, highlight paragraphs, and doodle in margins, you will love Amy’s new book Two Weeks notice. This book was like years of business coaching packed into a few hundred pages and it NEEDS to be on your nightstand if you’re dreaming about starting an online business. You can pre-order a copy at: https://twoweeksnoticebook.com.
Asana
As someone who creates an endless to-do lists and has brainstorming notes on every piece of paper on her desk, late last year I was looking for a digital resource to help me with my project planning and I came across Asana in my research, along with a number of other project management tools that sounded really great as well. And now that I’ve been using it for the past few months, I would recommend the program to anyone looking for a digital task tracker and brainstorm tool. Right now I am using the free version of the program and it is a perfect way to keep track of larger tasks and action items, along with brainstorming sessions that will require action items a bit later on.
Although this is not a complete list of the tools that I use on a regular basis, it’s a great start for any small business owner looking to add a few productivity tools to their tool box so that they can work more efficiently and effectively. After all, life and business is busy enough as it is, why work harder when you can work smarter, am I right?