Several people have asked what I use to create content and run my consulting business so I thought it'd be good to have a centralized location list everything I use.

everything I use to run my business (and life):

Email & SMS Marketing - Active Campaign

I have used almost every email service provider out there. All the way from MailChimp to Infusionsoft. Active Campaign is by far the best bang for your buck. You can start simple and build out complex automations once you build a list. You're always welcome to try some of the other players in the industry like Aweber, MailChimp, Constant Contact, or a variety of others... I'm telling you Active Campaign blows them out of the water.

Email Capture - Privy.com

This is a bit advanced but well worth learning. Privy enables you to set triggers for email captures based on a person's actions. It allows you to customize your messaging based on the individual.... oh, and it's similar to MailChimp in a sense it's free to signup and use. They assume (correctly) you'll be so in love by the time you get to the paid threshold that you'll keep using them.

Online Course - Thinkific

You can use either Thinkific or Teachable. They are 99% the same thing. I run my courses through Thinkific, but there wasn't a significant deciding factor for why I chose it over Teachable.

Client Scheduling - Acuity Scheduling

Think personal assistant to help manage your scheduling, online payments, email reminders, and you can also keep notes on appointments/clients. I had a friend who used Google Calendar, text, and footnotes to manage appointments. She finally switched and thanked me about 100 times because of all the time that was freed up.

Project Management - ClickUp

I'm usually juggling more projects than is mentally healthy, which is why I have to use software to keep track of it all. I used Asana for years until I came across ClickUp. Similar to Active Campaign for email, ClickUp is a free (or $5/month) tool that helps you manage as many projects as you can think of. They also roll out updates regularly. It's one of my personal favorite software I use... maybe because it helps me keep my sanity? :-)

Accounting - Quickbooks

Quickbooks is the industry standard when it comes to business accounting. It's designed to scale effortlessly as you grow. You can easily connect bank account, pull reports, do tax prep, add employee accounts, and the list goes on. Use the link above and get 50% off your first six months!

Website Notifications - Hello Bar

Have you ever landed on a site and seen a bar at the top or bottom of the page promoting something? If so, more than likely they were using Hello Bar. It's a simple tool that enables the ability to do custom messaging if you're running a promotion or launching a new product.

Automated Postcards - Post Pilot

You might say postcards are old school, and you'd be right. The thing I've learned is sometimes old school works better than expected. With Post Pilot, you can send a thank-you postcard to a client or someone who purchases your course. That small act makes a more significant impact than you may realize.

Analytics - Glew.io

You can always use Google Analytics, which is free, but Glew can be your "one-stop-shop" for analytics. You can plug in multiple sources of data (website, course, eCommerce, etc.), and it will give you a clear picture. It saves you from having to jump into three/four sources and try to piece together what's going on. It's a huge time saver.

Low cost Gigs - Fiverr.com

I've been using Fiverr to make my brand look waaay more put together than most perceive. You can get literally anything done. Need a logo? Need content written? Need a business plan? Need Facebook ads? Need a compliment? Really.. there's really a gig where you can pay $5 for compliments. Lol, Bottom line is you can create a great looking brand for less than $500.

Social Proof - Proof App

This is a small but effective tool for boosting your conversion rate. It's a well-known fact people are more prone to purchase something when they see others are too. Proof elegantly displays the social signals throughout your site to build trust when it's time to ask for the sale.

Writing - Bear App

Find what works for you when it comes to writing. I've tried things like Apple Notes, Google Docs, or Evernote but landed on Bear. The most significant difference is how it uses tags to manage things. You can add a tag within your content, and it'll automatically create a folder/section. I use it to maintain my blog posts, course content, book content, etc. Oh, and it's free. :)

Other Products I Can't Live Without:

Stash Invest

This is an app I use for managing retirement/investing and have a debit card with. The cool thing about the debit card is all purchases made give you "stocks back," the equivalent of cashback, but purchasing stocks. So when I buy from Amazon, I get free Amazon stock!

Robinhood

This is another investing app. It's similar to Stash but geared towards people who have some experience with investing. The beautiful thing is it has zero transaction fees.

Every Dollar

I don't like budgeting for several reasons, but the biggest is I usually spend too much time trying to figure out a software than I have the patience for. I get discouraged, give up, and look for another one. This is by far the easiest budgeting app/service I've ever used. It's the brainchild of Dave Ramsey's organization, and they have done a great job creating something easy to understand and use.

I only list products I personally use and believe in 100%. That said, some software listed gives me a small commission if you sign up for any of these products through the links listed.