Behind the scenes: tools, products, and services to make magic happen.

Behind the scenes: every product and service I use to make magic happen.

Looking for free tools for your business? Click through for a roundup of the business tools, social media schedulers, and business platforms I swear by - both free and paid! #businesstools #businesstips

For some reason, I adore behind the scenes round-ups of the tools and programs and services people use to make their livelihoods work.  Thus, I rounded up my own list to share with you!  When in doubt, assume I’ve tried 3-7 versions of a thing before settling on the thing I’m recommending.  Brand new additions to the tech team are *not* included, as they haven’t been time-tested and I don’t want to steer you wrong.

Free programs and services

For writing: Open Office

When I’m drafting blog posts, working on anything business-related, or editing for ghostwriting clients, you’ll find me typing away in Open Office. Much like Microsoft Word, this software is free and does everything I need on ye olde MacBook.  (Sometimes I even downgrade and use TextEdit because I’m so committed to being distraction-free.)

For e-mail: Gmail

I love G-mail, adore all its features, and prefer to keep it simple.

For surveys: Google Docs

Google Docs is really easy to use for creating and keeping client surveys. I used to pay $39 a month for this service from Constant Contact, but Google Docs does the same thing for $0.00.

For stock photography: Unsplash

If I need a landscape photo or a hipster-friendly image for any reason, Unsplash helps me out at no cost.

For blogging: WordPress

This platform allows a world of design, templates, plug-ins, and technical goodness to live on top of it.  It’s one of the world’s best free things.

For keeping all my files in one place in the cloud: Dropbox

We both know those files aren’t organized, but they’re all there!  That counts for something, right?

For recording my podcast: Voice Memo

YAH I’m embarrassed, but I tried amping it up and making it more complicated and ‘going pro,’ and either way I got the same number of e-mails, comments, and downloads per episode, so I went with the way that feels most natural to me.  I also use…my phone’s built-in mic with the Voice Memo app that comes standard on every iPhone.

To further this confession: there are canned wine spritzers in my refrigerator at this moment.  YOU WILL NEVER BE FANCIER THAN ME.

For delivering my Fuck Yah Club goodies to peeps: a password-protected WordPress page.

Again, SO FANCY.  If you haven’t yet gotten access to all my book excerpts and a free copy of Change the World, Dammit!, now is the time!

For eliminating repetitive tasks and connecting bits and bobs automatically: Zapier

If you’re like, HOW WILL I POSSIBLY GET X TO TALK TO Y WITHOUT TEDIOUSLY DOING THIS JOB MANUALLY EVERY DAMN DAY — Zapier probably has the answer.  It connects apps, where apps are your teaching platform, your shopping cart, your e-mail list, and/or your social media accounts.  I use it to automatically connect those who purchase a class or coaching through Samcart with their Teachable login information.

For scheduling Instagram so that it’s not exclusively photos of my dog: Planoly

Since Instagram is mobile-only and I write exclusively on my laptop, not my phone, I schedule posts that make reference to my business in any capacity.  Planoly helps me do that with hashtag searches and all the bells and whistles you can imagine.

For all your photo editing and graphic design needs: Canva

Since I spent years learning Photoshop, it was tough to let it go — but Canva is faster, cuter, and easier to use.  (Frankly, I’m sad about all those wasted years mastering fiddly Photoshop tools!)

Worth-every-penny programs and services

ONGOING SHIZ

For getting rad travel deals to speaking gigs: Pomelo Travel

For $3 a month — THREE DOLLARS A MONTH — I get amazing flight deals to locations around the world.  This service has saved me over $800 on tickets this year alone.

For e-mail: Convertkit

Pricing varies greatly depending on the size of your list, so you only pay for what you need.  ConvertKit is also the only company I know of that will magically and wonderfully MIGRATE YOUR LIST for you, thus eliminating 84% of the dread associated with the techy side of having a list in the first place.  My open rate has skyrocketed since I switched e-mail companies, and it also plays nicely with SamCart and Teachable.

Related: 15 minutes to an e-mail list of your own.

For selling: SamCart 

::cue angelic voices and unicorns::

I switched to SamCart when my other shopping cart shit the bed and lost me about $13,000 in sales. The e-mails were going out, all NOW IS YOUR LAST CHANCE and registration is closing, and people were clicking, and the cart was all, NOPE I’M NOT WORKING.

I’m not gonna say this will take your business to the next level, ’cause we know that shit doesn’t exist, but it will take you to the Stop Beating Yourself About the Head Because Shopping Carts are So Complicated realm.  Which is nice.

SamCart allows me to have one-time and recurring products for sale, is downright beautiful, and lets me see who’s abandoned their cart to send follow-up nudges to those peeps.  It’s easy to set up and costs either $99 or $199 a month, depending on how many features you require.

⚡️Get your free 30-day trial of SamCart right here!

For connecting with peeps live: Zoom.

I caved and returned to this service after fancier services crashed, caved, or folded within a few months of popping up.  Used to host live coaching meetings and virtual breathwork classes for $14.99/month.

For submitting my work to literary publications and contests: Literistic

These lovely humans scour the internet for upcoming literary deadlines, then share a reasonable number of places to submit each month without being overwhelming.  IT’S A GODSEND.  There’s a free version, but the premium version is longer and well worth the additional few bucks.

For keeping my shit together: Breathwork

This simple exercise, completed once a week for about an hour, has kept my emotional foundation from crumbling in the face of my two dearest friends’ simultaneous divorces, a dear one’s mounting financial debt, the Trump administration’s daily insanity, and a frustrating business challenge or seven that’s gone down this year.

For hosting WordPress without fear of gremlins eating my website: Flywheel

Dedicated WordPress hosting, automatic backups, and killer customer service for $28 a month. Since I make my living exclusively from my website, this is my payment for peace of mind.

For backing up every single file on my computer: BackBlaze

$5 a month to back up my hard drive, which gives me the ability to both sleep at night and restore my every file within a few hours should disaster strike?  Yes, please!

For completing follow-up via e-mail: Boomerang

I use the Boomerang app for Gmail to both schedule messages in the future (of *course* I remembered to ask about that very specific thing 30 days from now!) and for keeping my inbox clear of client back and forth.  When a message boomerangs into my inbox, it gets my attention and I follow up with the human on the other end, easy peasy.  This rings in at $4.99 a month.

For hosting and publishing my podcast:  Pippa

There are free ways to publish and host your podcast, but this $25-per-month solution keeps That’s What She Said online, on time, and uploaded to the iTunes podcast app (plus Spotify!) like magic.  Easy interface, gorgeous analytics, and no downtime!

For class teaching: Teachable

It’s clean, intuitive, and allows for the clear organization of class curriculum at a reasonable $39 a month.  Currently hosts The Vault for my KK on Tap coaching clients.

ONE-TIME SHIZ

For editing iPhone photos: PicTapGo

A little Lights On + 400H and boom! Every photo you’ve ever seen on my Instagram.  $2.99.

For sorting photos quickly: Photo Mechanic

This one-trick pony loads, categorizes, and renames photos in a snap. I use it to cull and rename files.  One $150 purchase and you’re saved from slow-loading Adobe options forever.

Calling to the Deep book photo
For all my headshots: Alicia Bruce

Alicia Bruce, coaching alumni and artist extraordinaire, keeps my headshots updated annually and is responsible for the vast majority of images you see on this very website.  She’s basically a miracle worker and will squeal with delight if you suggest anything even remotely interesting for your photo shoot!

P.S.  Alicia is also responsible for the imagery on the covers of Introverts at Work and Calling to the Deep.  Pick up a book of them here!