If you ever booked an appointment with me do you know how easy it is to use Calendly! This tool saves me so much time—no more emailing or texting with prospects and clients back and forth trying to find a time for an appointment and then having to send a Zoom link or other details. I tell Calendly when I’m available and then it handles incoming bookings, from confirmations, meeting details, and even reminders! I love that I can customize all the notifications with my own words, links, and attachments.

Back when I was using a paper calendaring system, I double-booked an appointment slot and quickly turned to Calendly to help me make sure it never happens again. Now all of my Book-Me-by-the-Day offerings (as well as my free 15-minute consultation calls) are handled through this app. The system integrates with Stripe, so my clients pick the day that works with their schedule, pay a deposit in order to reserve their dedicated working time with me, then get the details about their day, all handled through Calendly automations.

Using CanvaPro is like having my own graphic designer. While there is a free version of Canva, I find that springing for the Pro version really makes the design process frictionless and makes my results even more satisfying. I use CanvaPro to create templates and thumbnails for Searchie, to create logos and website design accents, to create gorgeous downloads for my business or on behalf of my clients, and more. Canva lets anyone make pro-quality design elements—fast!

I use this free service to protect myself and my business online. It’s a cloud-based secure network. You can’t be too careful with your digital data! For Searchie users out there, if you’re wanting to have a custom domain on Searchie, they require you to use Cloudflare.

Between running my business and helping my clients improve their businesses, I’ve had experience using a wide array of email marketing services. And ConvertKit is hands-down my favorite. Why? First, ConvertKit gives you access to some advanced features, regardless of the size of your email list. Their pricing is simple and straightforward, including a free plan. It’s also incredibly easy to use, which is important—once you write your content, you want to get it out to your audience quickly and easily! Lastly, ConvertKit provides more support than most other providers.

Everyone who really knows me will tell you that I love FREE stuff! Hence, my admiration of all things Google! They make it super easy for me and my clients to share information back and forth easily. With Docs and Sheets in particular, we can work together live, tracking changes, making comments, and resolving tasks. With Drive, it’s simple to organize and share files, images, and whatnot. My hubby is a fan of GoDaddy for domains, but I prefer Google Domains because they keep their user interface clean… and they don’t try to upsell you something at every turn. The price is equivalent to other domain hosting, so it’s really a matter of preference.

Google Drive: Cloud Storage (Free) https://www.google.com/drive/

Google Docs: Online Document Creation and Sharing In Real-time (Free) https://www.google.com/drive/

Google Sheets: Online Spreadsheet Creation and Sharing In Real-time (Free) https://www.google.com/sheets/about/

Google Domains: Purchase and Manage Website Domains (Fees)
https://domains.google/

A few years ago I was just about ready to go on vacation and I was trying to load a book onto my iPad. I couldn’t get into my Apple account because I couldn’t remember my password. At the time I kept all of my passwords on a spreadsheet, protected with a password. Well, that didn’t do me a lot of good sitting in a lounge at the airport! That day, I made a promise to myself to remedy the situation by setting up some sort of password management tool so that I would never feel so frustrated again.

I did a lot of research and asked for password management tool recommendations from friends and business associates, and Keeper came highly recommended.

Membership.io (formerly Searchie) is a powerful, yet easy to use platform for hosting and effectively delivering your video and audio content. Deliver online courses or memberships that allow your clients to search keywords, download transcripts or other materials, and watch playlists of video content that fits their needs to a T. I love helping entrepreneurs use it to grow their business and delight their audience.

I’ll admit that Quickbooks really isn’t my favorite tool. In fact I really wouldn’t recommend it, but I’m being transparent here and telling you all the tech tools I rely on. The reason I use it is because hubby helps me with my books and he is a Quickbooks user. If he didn’t insist that we use QuickBooks, I wouldn’t use it.

I do like that I can send invoices electronically and that my clients can pay using credit card or ACH. Interestingly, few people seem to trust using ACH as a method of payment, and yet it’s less risky than using a credit card, I believe...and it doesn’t carry the same hefty fees...but I digress. Quickbooks’ reports are helpful. They give me a useful snapshot of my profit and loss and expenses.

The simplicity and functionality of Squarespace is unparalleled.

I personally use Squarespace and enjoy the results, and I find it an easy to use platform for creating websites for my clients.

I love that Squarespace provides a one-stop shop, from hosting a URL to online shop and blog capabilities. It’s easy to create clean, powerful websites without needing to know how to use code. Their support is top-notch and there’s no need to worry about plug-ins, security, or the green monster attacking your system because they take care of it all!

Oh, I need to mention here that I’m a Squarespace Circle designer. That means if you design a Squarespace website with me, you get special discounts and extended development time with the software while building. Ooh la la!

Stripe is an industry giant that integrates with Searchie and all the other apps I need it to. Choosing Stripe is a no-brainer for any entrepreneur that takes payments online!

Thrivecart makes it easy for your customers to buy, so you get fewer abandoned carts. This tool has many features that help you maximize your profits, such as add-on sales, pop up offers, trial offers, subscription sales, and more. And it integrates with the platforms you’re already using! You put so much time and work into your sales funnel… let Thrivecart help you get the payoff you’ve earned.

Typeform is an incredibly versatile tool that can benefit anyone looking to create engaging online forms, surveys, quizzes, assessments, and more. I can attest to its ease of use, customization options, and ability to capture valuable insights from respondents. I use it to collect feedback from clients.

You may be burned out on Zoom thanks to the pandemic, but even before the pandemic this was a game-changer for entrepreneurs. It allows me to easily work with clients no matter where in the world we’re based. As you may know, there is a free version, but I pay for the Pro version so I have more capabilities like recordings and the ability to hold group meetings for more than 40 minutes. I’ve also just installed the desktop version (with my new laptop!💖) and really like the user interface of that application much better than the web application. Give it a try if you haven’t already.