What should I use for bookkeeping?
Best project management software?
Where do you order business cards?
What should I use for building a website?
It's AMAZING how often I see these questions pop up on online forums—the same exact questions a gazillion times a day. The first thing that astounds me is just how many people are launching new businesses every day—crazy, right?! But the second thing I find interesting is that people just want a dang answer.
They could spend time doing some quick research, but they'd rather just take a quick poll of a few peers and use that as the basis of their decision.
If you're in the same boat and you just need someone to help you make a decision, I'll tell you what I use*. Give it a whirl and let me know how it goes!
*NOTE: This doesn't mean it's the best or only solution. My goal is just to get you out of analysis paralysis and help you make a decision.
Finance & Legal
Quickbooks Self Employed- I started using this bookkeeping software at the advice of bookkeeping whiz, Megan Carter. I used to use Freshbooks (which I actually do love and recommend) but Quickbooks is easier to hand over to my accountant and has some reporting features that I really like.
Stripe- I take credit card payments online using Stripe. It's easy to set up and integrate and I've had no issues so far. At some point I may switch to a more robust option in hopes to bring the per transaction fee down a bit, but this is a great solution for now.
Legal Zoom- I used LegalZoom for setting up my LLC and found it quick, easy to use, and affordable. I work with an attorney on contracts and things that are more specific to my line of work, but for the initial LLC paperwork, LegalZoom was a breeze.
Client Communication:
Acuity- I schedule all of my meetings this way and it's literally saved me HOURS every week. I can't recommend it highly enough.
GSuite- I use Google for email, forms and questionnaires, client notes, spreadsheets and tracking documents, shared client documents, and my calendar (which integrates with Acuity). I love that everything is in one place and that I can access it anywhere. I can't imagine using anything else.
Hubspot- I use this free CRM (customer relationship management) tool to keep track of my clients and leads. I can create reminders for follow ups and notes about how our conversation went. It's a really robust tool, and while it might be overkill for simple client tracking (you can do similar things in a spreadsheet), I do love it to help me envision my sales funnel and get clear on projections.
Loom- I send lots of How-To or Feedback videos to clients, and I almost always just use Loom to do so. It's free and ridiculously simple to record a video of just you, just the screen, or both.
Zoom- For conference calls or video calls, I'll take Zoom over Skype (or any other service) any day. It seems much less buggy than the alternatives and the interface is easy to navigate. For $15 per month, it's worth it to me!
Branding and Marketing
SquareSpace- The main question I hear is "what should I use to build a website?" I used to use Wordpress for everything and still think it's an amazing platform. But for clients who are just getting started, I think SquareSpace is more user friendly. If you don't need a complex online store, start with SquareSpace. You can always upgrade to something else down the line, but this is where I recommend starting.
Later- I use this tool to schedule Instagram posts a couple weeks in advance. I schedule Facebook post using their own scheduling tool, but for Instagram I love Later so I can see what my feed will look like. If you want to schedule Facebook and Instagram in one place, try Hootsuite.
Mail Chimp- There are a lot of email marketing platforms, but if you're new and not sure where to start, MailChimp is the answer. I think people get ahead of themselves with complex and expensive platforms before they need them, so if you're just sending basic welcome sequence emails and weekly newsletters, I'd recommend starting here.
Moo- Their print products (business cards, flyers, postcards, greeting cards, etc.) are top-notch, but their customer service is even better. I've had nothing but great experiences with them!
Unsplash- If you need stock photography, I always recommend checking out Unsplash first. Gorgeous imagery for free! A lot of people use it, so the drawback is you'll see the images elsewhere, but it's still better than crappy photography or nothing at all!
Adobe Creative Suite- I learned Adobe Illustrator years ago and love being able to use the entire creative suite for my branding and design work. But if you haven't done much design in the past, just start with Canva until you can hire a designer (or just bite the bullet and do it now!).
Organizing/Project Management
Asana- Again, lots of options as far as project management goes, but I love Asana because you can choose to organize things how you prefer to see them, either as a list or on a board. I can assign project to other people, give tasks due dates, and organize projects into as many baby steps as I want to. Plus, it's free!
Dropbox- All of my files and photographs live in Dropbox. It's easy to send the links of huge files to other people or just invite them to share the folder with you if they also need to access it. I've been using it for years and now pay for the upgraded version so don't have to worry about storage space.
What am I forgetting? Do you have other tools you just love? Let me know in the comments! I may have to add to this list as other things pop up, but it's certainly plenty to get you started.