7 Essential Small Business Tools for Productivity & Creativity
Fine Print: Some links in this post are affiliate links. This means that (at no extra cost to you) I may get a kickback for your purchase. Please know that I only promote products I absolutely love and regularly use!
We all run our businesses a little bit differently. So, I’m sharing a handful of online tools that have helped me start and grow my business. This tool belt of apps has made working from home more productive and more enjoyable. These can help any small business get organized, create seamless processes, and manage your projects well…things essential for growth.
01 ✴ squarespace
website builder
I’m sure this comes at no surprise to you, if you’ve been around a while. As a web designer, exclusively in Squarespace, I truly believe this is the best platform for small businesses. It’s easy peasy to use for anyone to edit and maintain their website, even if you are not tech savvy.
My clients have loved the user-friendly menus and drag and drop functionality. Squarespace has legit the best customer service I’ve ever seen (sorry chick-fa-la, you’re pretty great too), so if you ever get stuck there are videos, how to resources for everything, and live chat support that is quick and friendly.
You can also purchase and host your domain within Squarespace, having everything all in one place helps me sleep at night.
Squarespace has it all!
Bonus: I’m a Squarespace Circle Member, so my clients get 20% off their subscription the first year when I build and launch their websites, using my code HEYDANI10. It enables me to customize to provide all the bells and whistles for my clients. Use my affiliate link and get a 6 months free trail!
02 ✴ DUBSADO
CLIENT MANAGEMENT
My obsession with Dubsado is real — it keeps my business super duper organized. Completely customize with your brand anything from forms/templates, scheduling, proposals, contracts, client portals, automations and email templates, and more.
Streamlining my processes for projects and onboarding has been a game-changer and just feels so good. If you want to give it a try, you can use my code HEYDUBSADO for 20% off your first month or year with Dubsado.
03 ✴ MOYO STUDIO
stock MOCKUP IMAGERY
Finding beautiful stock photos can be a tough task, but not with Moyo Studio. They offer a membership program with unlimited access to stock images, mockups, and customizable scene creators that are brilliantly styled. The Moyo team is constantly improving their library with both timeless and on-trend aesthetics, so you’ll always have beautiful content to work with. Browse their shop in your free time and use my code HEYDANI15 for 15% off your first purchase.
04 ✴ asana
task management
Asana is my right hand gal, she’s my go-to for organizing my tasks daily. For someone who thrives off of organization and visuals, this was a must! What I love most is the variety of ways you can view your tasks or projects (by calendar, lists, boards, etc.) and I normally switch these out throughout the day depending on what makes most sense. Um, and it’s free.
05 ✴ CANVA
ONLINE DESIGN
If you run a creative business, you may already know of the lovely Canva tool. Canva is an online program that makes it easy, for any new or experienced designer, to design and publish virtually anything. There’s a free version, but as a brand designer the Canva Pro is great for custom fonts and colors, transparent backgrounds, and more.
I like using it for my social media graphics (and the Adobe Suite for everything else). Trust me: unless you’re an Adobe pro, you pretty much need Canva in your life as a creative entrepreneur (no ifs, ands, or butts).
06 ✴ GOOGLE DRIVE
PROJECT FOLDER & DOCUMENT SHARING
Nothing fancy here, but having shareable docs in the cloud has some benefits:
Organizes and secures my business docs and client files for backup.
Easy file-sharing, especially for large design files (instead of beefing up your inbox).
Quick mobile access to my Google Drive at any given time.
You can create presentations, spreadsheets, forms, guides, and more. The biggest perk of all for my small design business is the live collaboration with my clients. Collaboration is essential during the design process and Google Docs allows me to easily work on projects together in real-time (especially for writing copy).
Totally free with your google email account.
07 ✴ META BUSINESS SUITE
SOCIAL MEDIA PLANNING
Honestly, I didn’t think I’d like using this for content scheduling…but I’m so glad I gave it a shot. Easily manage your business Instagram and Facebook, by quickly checking notifications in one spot (eliminates hoping around apps), schedule posts, run ads, check insights, and more. Give Meta Business Suite a chance. Yep, this one’s free too.
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For more tips on how to increase your productivity, branding and website design and strategy, I invite you to join my newsletter. Let me know what tools you love in the comments below.
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