From time to time I discover a new trick, app, or system that solves some small frustration or issue I’ve been dealing with, and it just makes me so happy I have to share. The following discoveries I’ve made aren’t really about solving big issues, but rather help with those little things that streamline your day and bring a little delight and ease to your business.

Toby

The problem it solves:

This free app helps you tame the tab overwhelm. You know when you have 5 million (roughly) tabs open, but you don’t want to close them because they all act as little thought bookmarks? Toby allows you to basically organize all of those little tabs in one place so you can FOCUS on just whatever you need to for the moment.

How I use it:

One of the things I love is opening Toby and just dragging my current tabs into the proper categories to minimize the tab overwhelm. Everything is right where I need it when I’m ready for it. Plus, I can toggle the categories open and closed so that when I’m not looking at a certain category, the tabs won’t distract me. Bliss!

So far, I’ve created the following categories:

• Daily

• Financial

• Business Operations

• Tracking and Planning

• Wish List

• Listen

• Read

• Sparks

I also have a category for each of my clients, so when it’s time to work on their stuff, I can quickly access all of the things I need (their websites, a Google Doc, their social media channels, my notes from our sessions, etc.)

Bonjoro

The problem it solves:

Bonjoro is basically a video messaging so you can send personalized messages to people who have signed up for one of your emails, purchased something from you, joined a workshop, whatever. There wasn’t a big “problem” I needed to solve here, per say, but I do always reach out to new subscribers via email…and just didn’t get much traction. I think they just assumed it was another automated email (even though it wasn’t).

Instead, when I send a Bonjoro and actually say their name they KNOW it’s just for them so the response rate has gone up dramatically. When I first tested it out, I thought “whelp, this is either really creepy or really cool” but so far I’ve received some really positive feedback.

How I use it:

I simply set up a trigger so that anytime someone signs up for my email list), Bonjoro reminds me to send them a message. I jump on and record a quick, personalized message for them and send it off.

So far, the response has been pretty great! One guy then signed up for a call and said “whatever you do, keep doing those videos. I loved it!”

At this point my business is all about personal connections, so it makes making those touch points a little more streamlined.

Later

Problem it solves:

Later is an Instagram post scheduling app. This isn’t a new discovery, but I was recently reminded of how much I love it because when things are busy, I know I can still create a consistent presence on the ‘gram. Since I use Instagram stories for the spontaneous stuff, I like to spend a little time putting together more thoughtful, balanced posts. Later helps!

How I use it:

I spend an hour or two planning out posts for the next several weeks and then I’m done with it! I can figure out what I want to share, type it out with an actual keyboard (instead of big fingers on a tiny phone keyboard), and schedule it in advance. I love that I can drag and drop posts and see the preview ahead of time. Plus, you can upload a bunch of photos at one time and then they’re ready to go whenever you actually can spend the time to think about what you want to say. In combination with Canva, Later is a dream!

P.S. Freaked out by tech in general? Read this. For a list of a whole bunch of tools I use daily, check this out.

P.P. S. Want a Bonjoro from me? Sign up for my newsletter (below) and you’ll get one soon!