Wow can you believe that we have just 11 weeks to go until we not only wrap up 2019? But we also wrap a decadeeeeee! Say what?
We are heading into a new decade and I’m sooo excited, however it’s not only exciting, it’s also a a tiny bit scary! Scary because life is moving so fast and so we totally need to get serious about our amazing goals and dreams or we’ll just keep staying in the same old boring place wishing for change.
So today I want to challenge you to re-ignite your passions and your creativity so that you can truly achieve more AMAZING things before the year is over.
With that being said, I have something juicy for you in today’s blog post…as I’m sharing my list of ‘10 Tools, Apps and Resources that I use to Run my Business’. And I think you might just LOVE this list.
This is perfect for you if you are super noisy or if you are even just curious to see how another BOSS BABE does things in her biz-world.
So here we go:
1) Calendly:
Calendly is a calendar scheduling tool that I use in my business to schedule all of my calls with my Coaching clients, calls with potential clients as interviews. So basically I send them the link and they book in Coachijg Calls, Strategy Sessions, Interviews, Catch up Calls etc. There are many calendar tools out there such as Acuity and Vcity, but I’ve found this to be the most effective for me as it’s easy to use, clear and it saves me so much time and it helps me to stay organised as I know exactly what calls I have each day. I definitely recommend that you try it out or find a scheduling tool that you like in your business as there’s nothing more annoying that trying to find a time that works with back and forth emails. Simply send over your calendar link to simplify your life.
2) Squarespace:
Squarespace is the platform that I use for my website and the blog that you are reading now yay! I love square space as it gives me a professional, chic, clean and attractive website and there are so many templates to choose from so you literally don’t have to have a website that looks like mine 🙂 it’s so easy to use with drag and drop features, embedding features, and HTML options. What what I love about it the most is this ‘it’s mobile friendly’. I used to use Moon fruit and it was good but not mobile friendly so this held me back from having a professional looking business back website which is why I’m glad I made the switch. I’ve also tried other platforms like WordPress.com, Wix and Weebly and some of the features were great but just not as effective as Squarespace in my opinion. But be sure to do your own research and test out website builders for yourself. Squarespace have a 14 day trial, and if you are ready for an upgrade you can choose to pay monthly or in full for their paid website features.
3) Audible:
Audible is a great platform that allows you to download audio books on a monthly membership plan as you also have the option to buy books directly if you don’t have enough credits or if you just want to. This is one of my favourite apps to use daily! I don’t download books daily but I listen to different books every week and often at least a chapter or two of a book each day. Some of the books that I’ve revently downloaded over the last month or so include ‘Everything us Figureoitable’ (Marie Forleo) and Dare to Lead (Brene Brown) and Super fans by Pat Flynn. If you aren’t reading books or listening to books you are truly missing out on a chance to upgrade your mindset. Now I’m not saying everything out there obviously use wisdom and pray for guidance…but there is a reason why they say that ‘Leaders are readers’ And it’s not a coincidence that most wealthy people have a library of books in their home. What I’m trying to say is ‘Reading can make you rich honey’, rich with knowledge, rich with ideas and rich financially (if you implement a lot of what you learn).
4) Facebook
I definitely think that Facebook is the platform that has allowed me to grow my business the most on Social Media out of every other platform. For instance I’ve been able to open and build a Facebook group of fabulous from 25 countries are part of my community, I’ve have (or I’ve had) several all other thriving FB groups that have allowed me to serve my clients and grow my audience. Also I’m in several FB groups for women entrepreneurs with thousands of my ideal clients right there in front of me which is gold I’m itself as all I need to do is show up and be visible and add value and the right clients will find me or connect with me. I’ve also been able to create and grow an audience of over 6K+ (of friends/fans through my personal and public page). And I guess my favourite feature is the live streaming feature which literally changed the way that I show up online. Prior to FB live streaming says, I always focused on creating professional videos then uploading them to YouTube, Instagram& FB and as much as I love making HD videos, I also found it to be a but tiring as you’d have to edit them and sometimes uploading them takes an hour. Now I can go live anytime I want. If you’ve never used Facebook and there many features grow your business (which also includes tools like Facebook ads) ask yourself why? As you can literally grow your income by hundreds or thousands…if you learn how to leverage Facebook effectively.
5) Instagram:
I love Instagram so much, it’s one of my favourite places to be on social media, the thing that I love the most is ‘Instagram Stories’. It’s so fascinating to me and I also love IGTV. I was orginally a bit sceptical of Instagram stories when it first came out…because I felt like it was just a replication of snap chat and I felt that snap chat had worked so hard to create something unique. I didn’t want to beytray snapchat, But I finally realised that I can have fun with both platforms. Since then I’ve fully fallen in love with Instagram stories and I use it almost daily to grow my audience and my business, I now have hundreds of views a day, sometimes up to 500+ and amazes me because I only have a following of 1,7k so it doesn’t really make any sense but I’m not complaining I’m celebrating. As I remember only having a maximum of 40 views about a year ago and now it’s hundreds of views a day. In regards to sales in my business I have definitely had a few women that I’ve signed up to work with me via Instagram (whether that’s signing up to a one off session or signing up to one of my courses or packages) but I wouldn’t say that Instagram is as effective as Facebook in regards to attracting sales/high paying clients, it’s mainly a great platform to create connection and relationships and create that know, like and trust factor. but that’s just my opinion, as some business owners in FB communities have said that this is their number one platform for sales.
6) Dubsado:
This is so great for drafting proposals to send to potential clients that are interested in signing up to your packages and programmes. I love using Dubsado as it’s such a professional, clean workstation. They have lots of templates, samples and drafts created for you to tweak/re-design and use. You can create invoices, work-flows, schedule things into your calendar, create sales pages and grow your list using this platform. I would say that this a great tool to use if you‘d like to take your business to the next level as some of the features are a lil advanced (but in a good way).
7) Zoom:
Zoom is one of the best tools that I use in my business, it’s a video conference platform that allows you to set up calls, meetings, webinars and presentations with clients, potential clients, colleagues, etc. I often use zoom for all of my client calls, strategy sessions and I use it to host paid free or paid masterclasses. They have paid and free features. If you are hosting a class of only 100 people then you can use the free version which gives you up to 40 minutes for free. Anything more than this consider the pro option, business option or the enterprise option.
8) Google Sheets:
My work as a Publicist means that I have to be very organised with my clients information, progress and pitches. So I love to create a spreadsheet for each client using GoogleSheets band keep them up to date with all pitches that I make, I let them know what each media source needs from them and let them know what we are focusing on each week etc. I also love to use google sheets to track my income and to create lists i.e. a list of content ideas.
9) Voxer is a walky talkie app that allows me to keep in touch with my clients using Voxer notes (voice notes) and texts. You can also use other features like sending gifs or images. And best of all it’s a place that’s completely away from all of the noise on other social media sites which are usually flooded with hundreds or thousands of people on your list. With FB the voice note feature is limited, you can only send a voice note for 60 seconds then you have to send another one and another one of you have plenty to say but with Voxer you can send one very long note if you wish to. They have a free feature and paid features. Totally try this app if you haven’t started using it yet.
10) InShot:
InShot is a photo and video editing software that I mainly use to edit my videos for social media. I usually create video clips on my Instagram stories or using my iPhone then I go ahead and use InShot to edit or merge the video clips (into one video) and then add all finished touches. It’s has great features which includes being able to crop your video clips, rotate, add special effects, add music, add text, change the format, add background colour etc. This is perfect for your Instagram page, IGTV, Instagram stories (with Snapchat you have to keep the size short and sweet). The only time I wouldn’t use this app is if I’m making professional videos for YouTube, Vimeo or for my courses. For professional videos I’d use the software called Corel to edit my videos and sometimes, iMovie. Other great softwares to use are Adobe and the legendary Final Cut Pro.
And there you have it,
I just let you know ‘10 Tools, Apps and Resources that I Use to Run my Business’.
DISCLAIMER: just to let you know I’m not an affiliate for any of these tools or apps at this current moment…but I surely would like to become an affiliate for a least a couple of them in the near future.
Now I’d LOVE to hear from you!
What tools and apps or resources do you use to build and grow your business? Drop me a comment below or totally DM me on Instagram.
Many blessings
Queen
P.s. Fabulous boss ladies are signing up for my course the PR and Media Bundle from various cities and states across the world and they are claiming their place in the MEDIA and attracting GOOD PR for their brands. If you’re looking for a course to work wonders in your life (well at least to help you get ready for an abundance of media opportunities) then totally invest in the PR and Media Bundle today. I truly believe that it will be one of your best investments as your business needs consistent visibility, media attention and publicity or you’ll end up with feast and famine, dry seasons, issues with crickets and a lack of sales and clients. Having had over 300 Media opportunities in my life (from TV interviews to magazine features) I’m here to share with you how you can go out there and have the same opportunities or MORE in my course!
