What tool should I use? Check em out →
I get this question all. the. time. And based on your techy-ness, budget, and industry, my answers differ. So I’ve created a quiz to give you my best recommendations for your “tech stack” (the system of tools that works together to build your business). Try it out! It’s absolutely free to use.
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Intuitive data collection and visualization
One of my favorite tools on the market because of its versatility. I’ve used this for creating lead generation tools, surveys, registrations, and payment forms. The sky is the limit with this tool as long as you know how to use it. $25-95/Month
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ConvertKit
If you’re an Independent Creator and/or trying to build a newsletter, ConvertKit really is amazing at setting up email sequences, drip campaigns, and overall building a newsletter business.
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All-in-one Website Builder
Having evolved over the years, Squarespace still proves one of the best tools for small businesses and nonprofits to manage their own web presence. $12-40/Month
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Client scheduling and booking
Get paid for your time. Good for organizing multiple staff, locations, or classes. It’s like Calendly on steroids. Starts at $14/Month.
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Single Page Website Builder
An exceptional tool for creating one-page sites for portfolios, online resumes, landing pages, or prototyping an idea. It integrates with many great tools and is perfect for the idea generator. Free-$39/Year.
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Email marketing and automation
Great for automated campaigns, drip emails, and an advanced CRM for larger teams. $29-$129/Month
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Small to midsize business bookkeeping
Great for maintaining healthy balance sheets and having someone you can go to with questions about government resources. $249-399/Year
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Invoicing, Payments, and Accounting
An excellent solution for those that need estimates, invoices, and integrated accounting (connected to your business account). Their (human) support is great! $15-50/Month
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Twitter threads and automation
A handy tool for those who are hyper-focused on building their twitter audience. Good for getting inspiration and automatically retweeting your best (most engaged) tweets.
$0-40/Month -
Simple selling online direct to your audience. Selling digital downloads
Best for artists and information providers. They excel at helping you sell digital downloads, licenses, and memberships with easy checkouts. 5-9% of Sales.
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Lite CRM (Client Relationship Manager)
Extremely powerful tool for managing clients and prospects, and pipelining projects making it easy to move people through different stages. Free - $49/User
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Benefits, HR, and Payroll Solution
Fantastic tool for automating payroll and benefits. Particularly good for those businesses structured as an LLC with an S Corp tax status (that was my use case). $39-$139/Month.
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Business and Tech Daily Newsletter
Brilliantly written and well-researched, this newsletter is one of the best free resources on the market.
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Business and Market Trends Research
A paid newsletter and community by The Hustle, Trends provides aggregated business news and research for the opportunist. This is my favorite “Business & Tech trends” newsletter. $299/Year.
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Tactiq
Automated transcriptions! Automatically save a transcript of every Google Meet or Zoom Meeting, save it in Drive and come back to it later for content ideas or to reference a meeting.
Websites & Marketing
Website Builder for non-techy: Squarespace
Websites for design and tech: Webflow
Landing page builder: Carrd
Email Marketing: ConvertKit
Marketing Automation: ActiveCampaign
Easiest for Creators: Gumroad
Design & Editing
Free and Easy Logo Creator: Squarespace.com/logo
Graphics and Social Posts: Canva
Mobile Video Editing (IOS): Splice
Mobile Graphic editing (IOS): Studio
Illustration (iPad): Procreate
Finances & Getting Paid
Invoicing & Accounting: Freshbooks
Payroll Solution: Gusto
Credit Card Processing: Stripe
Advanced Checkouts: Spiffy
Ecommerce: Squarespace Commerce
Bookkeeping: Bench
Managing Clients
CRM for Solopreneurs: Streak CRM
Event Creation: Luma
Scheduling Consultations: Calendly
Paid Scheduling with text reminders: Squarespace Scheduling
Surveys and Lead Qualification: Typeform
Books & Courses
Building Empathy: Love is the Business Plan
Digital Writing: Ship30for30
Building a Twitter Audience: Everyone can build a twitter audience
MVP Businesses: Small Bets
Business Trends: Trends
Digital Growth
SEO and Keyword Research: SERanking
Twitter growth tool: Hypefury
Twitter templates and analytics: Typeshare
App Marketplace: Appsumo ($10 off)