My Favorite Business Tools for Entrepreneurs
Hey there! Running a business is no walk in the park, am I right? That's why it's crucial to have top-notch business tools at your fingertips that allow you to work smarter, not harder. Because let's face it, time is money and who wouldn't want to save both?
But we know that sifting through the sea of options can be downright overwhelming and leave you feeling lost. And just because your buddy swears by a certain tool, doesn't mean it's the right fit for you. That's why it's all about finding a tool that jives with your brain, that speaks your language. So why not give a few a try and see what clicks? Trust us, the right tool can make all the difference!
So here are my favorite tools, in no particular order. Maybe give a few of them a try.
p.s. If you would rather watch or listen, scroll to the bottom!
NOTE: **This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you choose to click through and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you.**
AddEvent
(FREE!) Click Here
We make it easy to share your events and calendars using our amazing. add-to-calendar buttons, beautiful embeddable widgets, RSVP, and subscriber tools.
Aftershoot
(PAID!) Click Here
I know you may be thinking what - why are you sharing this??!! Well, I've been a professional photographer since 2009 and launched my Pinterest Marketing business in 2018. Without Aftershoot, I would never have time to run a second business.
BIGVu
(FREE!) Click Here
Be concise, record with a teleprompter. Make your videos straight-to-point, read your script scrolling down the screen. Add automatic subtitles, your logo and colors.
Connect with your audience on social media, your vlog, emails or chat messages. Plus create 10x More Videos with AI. Script, Shoot, Edit, Style and Share Videos faster than ever!
Canva
(FREE!) Click Here
This simple and amazing content creation site will help you to create all kinds of images, presentations, posters, infographics, social media images and anything you can think of. There is a free version or you can pay $12.99 per month for the pro version.
ChatGPT
(FREE!) Click Here
Simply put, ChatGPT by OpenAi. It is a sibling model to InstructGPT, which is trained to follow an instruction in a prompt and provide a detailed response. I've been using it since it lauched in November 2022 and February I started paying $20 because its so much faster and I never have a problem getting in.
I use it for blogs, client emails, newsletters, creating titles for blogs and Youtube video, TikTok scripts, and Instagram reels (different). I'm telling you this is incredible. Here's a video on how I use it with tips and warnings to ensure you are using it correctly.
ConvertKit
(FREE! + Paid) Click Here
ConvertKit simplifies email marketing by combining powerful automation with an easy-to-use interface and it looks pretty also!
Descript
(Free+Paid) Click Here
There’s a new way to make videos and podcasts. A good way. Descript is the simple, powerful, and fun way to edit. One tool for your full workflow. Descript is the only tool you need to write, record, transcribe, edit, collaborate, and share your videos and podcasts.
Instead of a timeline type of editing, when you have a video it pulls a script. Delete a word and the video is editing. It is insanely cool, easy and makes it so easy to be consistent with creating videos.
Listen to my podcast about it here and I'm sharing a video soon!
Dropbox
(PAID!) Click Here
Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, US that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and client software.
Élevae Visuals
(PAID!) Click Here
Élevae Visuals (formerly Social Squares) is my FAVORITE and exclusive stock photo + video company. They work primarily with female entrepreneurs from all types of businesses. Their subscription provides a gallery of over 6k images that are so perfect for social media, websites, and anywhere. They are bright, come in a variety of colors that you can search for, and fit most brands. They don’t just provide a gallery of images, they also offer captions and marketing tips monthly from amazing experts (I am a contributor) and an amazing community of smart women running all kinds of businesses that you can chat with in their private Facebook community. I always say, run, don't walk to sign up so you can put a brand forward that will book clients.
evmux
(Free) Click Here
Evmux has a ton of great features including multistreaming, ISO video recording, multiple guests and a dedicated green room for speakers. Whether you want live stream software for Facebook Live, YouTube Live, LinkedIn Live or Twitch – Evmux has you covered. There's even a workaround so you can go live on TikTok too (although I haven't used it yet). Create professional recorded and LIVE content all from your browser! This is what I used for Creative Marketing Summit with recorded content and live streaming at the same time.
FG Funnels
(PAID!) Click Here
Best gift I game to my business! Every year I give my business a gift. It’s typically at the end of the year (for tax purposes). Two years ago it was FG Funnels.
FG Funnels was founded by Julie Stoian and Cathy Olson in late 2020. A little note: Julie was actually the former VP of ClickFunnels. The platform rivals ClickFunnels, and is similar to all in one platforms like BuilderAll and Kartra.
The system helps you build high-converting sales funnels and campaigns quickly by automating tedious tasks like creating professional-looking landing pages, sending the right follow-up emails after a purchase is made, creating a landing page for lead magnets and automatically sends nurturing campaigns, or handling onboarding new course or membership members. You can use it for forms for high ticket items like coaching or VIP days, which turns into purchasing them, and onboarding them.
Basically FG Funnels is designed to replace most of your tools like ConvertKit, Acuity and Thinkific (MONEY SAVED!). It includes features like a funnel builder, email marketing, has a membership where you can share affiliate links, it has texting. I'm telling you this CRM is my dream come true in terms of how it works and the price tag. Don't wait as this baby is gonna be right up there with Kajabi soon!
FocusKeeper
(FREE!) Click Here
Focus Keeper helps you keep your productivity high avoiding burnout using the timer. Work with time. Not against it. You can add tasks in there and see a graph of your time. They believe you should work 25 mins then 5 min break, repeat, repeat, repeat then a longer break. omodoro Technique, also known as the tomato timer technique or just 25 minute timer technique refers to a popular time management hack that breaks your work time into blocks of 25 minutes for maximum focus and productivity, allowing 5 minutes breaks in between sessions.
GoodNotes
(PAID!) Click Here
It’s an amazing software I use on my ipad to handwrite notes and also open and read workbooks or other PDF’s.
Google Workspace
(PAID!) Click Here
Similar to G Suite, all Google Workspace plans provide a custom email for your business and include collaboration tools like Gmail, Calendar, Meet, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, and more. For additional details, visit our plans and pricing page.
Instacart
(PAID!) Click Here
Instacart is an American delivery company that operates a grocery delivery and pick-up service in the United States and Canada. The company offers its services via a website and mobile app. The service allows customers to order groceries from participating retailers with the shopping being done by a personal shopper for you to pick up or they deliver. This has saved me HOURS of time, energy, and effort (as well as gas) and it's my favorite hack to saving time.
LastPass
(FREE! + Paid) Click Here
Password Management from Anywhere. I not only use this for my business but also for my personal
Loom
(FREE!) Click Here
How to Screen Record With Loom. Loom is the best screen recorder for Chrome, Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. It’s quick to install, easy to use, and free. I use it to help train my VA and to show my clients and potential clients how to do something.
Otter.ai
(FREE!) Click Here
Automated note taking. Still manually taking notes? Generate rich notes for meetings, interviews, lectures, and other important voice conversations with Otter, your AI-powered assistant.
Pin Generator
(FREE Trial!) Click Here
Creating pins used to take forever. We have reduced this to seconds. Create pins by grabbing images and data from any website and turn on autopilot. I just started using this and I'm blown away -- check it out for free!
Pin Inspector
(FREE!) Click Here
Pin Inspector Pin Inspector is the world's first Pinterest content research desktop software with 6 powerful built-in tools for easily uncovering hidden high-converting posts, videos, boards, pinners, ads and top trending searches from the massively popular social media network! Use coupon code: PIN20 at checkout for $20 off
Disclaimer: As it’s not an “approved” pinterest tool, I don’t link it to my Pinterest specifically just in case.
Stripe
(PAID!) Click Here
Payments infrastructure for the internet. Millions of companies of all sizes—from startups to Fortune 500s—use Stripe’s software and APIs to accept payments, send payouts, and manage their businesses online.
Tailwind
(FREE!) Click Here
(for Pinterest and IG automation): Save time scheduling to Pinterest and Instagram, post at the best times for engagement, grow together with Communities, get more actionable analytics. I have been using Tailwind since February of 2018 and still tried all the competitors. Hands down it's the best social media third party platform.
It posts to Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook and it saves me so much time with its tool. I love Tailwind Create and Ghostwriter. I can do away with chatGPT and Canva because of them, but I use them for other things so not just yet.
Full discloser, I help Tailwind with education so it is truly a favorite tool I believe in!
Tango
(FREE!) Click Here
Voxer
(FREE!) Click Here
Voxer is a Walkie Talkie messaging app for your smartphone with live voice (like a PTT walkie talkie), text, photo and location sharing. I use Voxer daily. I use it to communicate effectively and easily with my VA as it’s so much easier to talk than to text. And, I use it for all of my clients for my Pinterest Strategy Academy, VIP Days, and Agency clients. But also my female networking and coaching groups!
World Time Buddy
(FREE) Click Here
World Time Buddy is a popular visual time converter, scheduler, and world clock. Millions of people across the globe rely on our app and website to schedule meetings and events. This is the easiest to use, yet advanced, world clock app for dealing with time across multiple time zones!
Wordpress
(FREE + PAID!) Click Here
You may already be familiar with WordPress. This famous website platform boasts of providing 28% of all the websites on the globe. That’s a lot of sites! These websites are relatively easy to design, but many business owners hire a web designer to set everything up. I did mine myself with the help of Divi Plugin. Adding content and images is really easy; very similar to Microsoft Word.
Zoom
(FREE!) Click Here
You can conduct online meetings and share screens with your clients. There is a free option with limited features and Pro plans. You can do webinars also. Zoom is kinda a staple since 2020. It's a no brainer!
Summary
I hope all my favorite business tools for female entrepreneurs was super helpful. Reminder -- try a few in each niche and pick the one that works best for how you like to work and how your brain works (i.e. what comes easiest to you to intuitively learn a system).
Don't Forget To Pin It!!
