As I’m sure you’ve seen, there are so many great tools out there that promise to make running your online business so much easier. However, it’s easy to find yourself getting lost in all of the choices. Today, I’m going to walk you through my top 5 choices that help me run my business (and my clients’ businesses) efficiently. As I’ve gone through the inside of the operations side of numerous businesses, I’ve seen the top tools that stand out time after time again as being a staple in an online business.
This would have to be the most important tool in my business. My PM (project management) tool keeps me from losing focus on the day to day tasks for myself and my clients. But it’s so much more than a to-do list… There are so many possibilities:
– Leads Tracking
– Checklists (on-boarding, launching, etc.)
– Organizing SOP’s
– Managing To Do’s (add due dates to add to your calendar)
– Client Management (CRM)
– Social Media Planning
– And the list goes on and on…
Those are just some of the things I utilize my PM tool for in my business. There really are endless possibilities. My personal go to is Trello– it’s easy to use with less of a learning curve for my clients, it’s versatile with its uses and has a really good free version. Some other PM tools that I like are Asana and Clickup.
From Docs to Sheets to slides, I love using the suite of Google tools. It has made collaboration so easy with “live” editing, commenting features and the ease of sharing files and folders. This has removed the need to email updated documents or having to download things first to edit them. I would have to say that Google Drive is definitely a staple in my business tool kit. Oh, and did I mention that the free version has quite a bit of storage space and plenty of features.
Do you use the same password on everything so that you can keep track? (btw security experts say this is a bad idea, someone gets 1 login, they get access to everything) Maybe you started using spreadsheets for keeping track of the countless logins… Well, that’s where LastPass comes in. It will remember your passwords, help you create more security friendly passwords and auto-fill them in for you, just make sure you get the browser extension for maximum use. Need to share a login with someone? You can easily and securely share your password seamlessly with a few clicks and an email address. Not to mention, this is another tool that has a pretty robust free version.
Now I sure do love Dubsado for so many reasons. It’s allowed me to really get a streamlined on-boarding process in order. Here are few of my favorite features:
1- Workflow Automations! Workflows allow your business to move forward without you being right there in the thick of it. Automate your invoicing, your onboarding, your lead captures… It’s downright dreamy.
2- Custom Branding. Dubsado allows you to customize with your colors and logo, plus it uses your actual website URL rather than Dubsado’s. This allows you to have a consistent, branded presence that your clients and leads can count on.
3- Online Forms & Contracts. You can send forms and contracts for clients to complete electronically. Even better?? The completed items are stored neatly in your client portal for easy access. No more digging through old Google Form spreadsheet responses.
This is an amazing graphics designing tool that has so much to offer. If you’ve got less of the creative side like me, they offer a ton of free templates to help you get started, which you can customize and make your own. I’ve used Canva to create social media graphics, worksheets, banners, welcome packets and so much more. It’s a pretty straight forward tool to use and I couldn’t imagine not having it in my business. AND this is another one that has a very useful free version.
There are quite a few other tools that I use in my business now, but these are the Top 5 that I feel every online business will benefit from using. They all have great free options too, although Dubasdo’s is limited to only 3 clients. These are tools that I use Every. Single. Day… and I could not run my business as efficiently or effectively without them.
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*Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are our my. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Read full privacy policy here.
Lynda is a Certified Online Business Manager and Systems Strategist. She loves working with her clients to eliminate the overwhelm and get back to loving their businesses by streamlining their business systems and processes.
Lynda was a stay at home mom to 3 kids under the age of 5 while being the right hand to her husband in his business. As they went on to school, she followed and began working at their elementary school while still helping her husband. When her children went on to middle and high school, she left the elementary school and began working as a VA to online entrepreneurs. This quickly transformed into more as she began noticing a consistent gap (which was something she excelled at) and began implementing the systems and processes in her clients businesses that they needed to help their days run more smoothly.
Lynda knew that she had finally found what she was meant to do- Make an impact in other business owners’ lives by getting them back hours in their week so they could have more time with their families and still have successful businesses.
Ready to start loving your business again? Get started by sign up for one of her super helpful free resources here.
