I have to tell ya…it was hard making this cut because I love me some tools. But when it comes down to it, these are the 10 tools I use EVERY day in my business and/or make my life so much easier. If any of these tools were “gone” – I’d be truly lost.
My list is not ranked in any particular order as they all have a place in my biz productivity heart. (and yes links with * are an referral/affiliate link.)
Top 10 biz tools for service providers:
Shift
Are you a google user with mulitple accounts? Tired of logging in or our or opening different brower windows to access all the google things?
Shift to your rescue. Allows you to add in your profile and shift between gmail, calendar and gdrive seemlessly for ALL your google accounts (or client accounts!). Wha? yes. really.
Sunsama
Task + calendar and so much more! It connects to all my other tools so I can see it all from Sunsama and track my time so I know how long it really takes me!
Knowing more about how I’m using my time each week makes me more aware of what is realistic. Which has made me a better planner – making sure the things I truely want to spend my time on are front and center.
Notion
I use Notion in so many ways! Internally to plan just about everything in my business and also as a client dashboard & collaboration space. And I’ve used it as a low lift way to deliver paid content.
It’s a fabulous tool that has so many uses.
Check out Notion*
Milanote
Ah…Milanote is my go to visual planning tool. It makes my brain happy to visualize my plans in a non linear way but at the same time as lists or documents. Yes I know, odd how it can be both!
I use this with my clients to process map AND document what the final soltution and all it’s connection points. This hands down one of the tools I use every day for myself and clients.
Dubsado
Every service provider should have a CRM system that “gets” them! LOL Dubsado has been my CRM of choice for many years now. It automates so much of my client wooing & fulfillment process that I can’t imagine not having it in my life.
✓ Scheduling
✓ Getting paid with a simple 3-steps in one form (Select Services via a proposal form, Contract, and auto generated Invoice).
✓ Workflows that trigger off lead/client actions – like scheduling an appointment or completing (or not completing) a form. This right here means I do not bottle neck my own client journey – ever. My Dubsado workflows funtion off the actions taken sending exactly as needed without me needing to lift a finger.
✓ Supports my client processes beyond the purchase point and allows me to customize and automate that client journey for each service I offer. Any way I desire!
*my code will give you 30% off your first year! (even applies during any sales – BF week is coming)
Boards
Boards is a simple but really handy tool that allows you to save your content, links, text you name it to “boards” you set up for anything you can dream up. Then access it’s mobile keyboard to select and paste that information in ALL the PLACES with just a tap.
Say goodbye to accidental typos or mis copies from another app to your post. Everything you save into a board is right at your fingertips!
Canva
I 
this tool so much. Which is something since I’m also a photographer and fully versed in adobe products + many other creative platforms. But Canva (pro) just wins because it’s SO f’ing EASY. It’s simple and intutive to create designs and experient with – just duplicate the design and change it up all in the same file! The Batch tool to automate creating designs with different content is such a time saver. + 
Magic in all the places – it truly makes designing fun again.
If you aren’t using this tool yet … go now !!
WordPress + Elementor
I’m a long time user of wordpress and I’ve used various page builders over the years but nothing is as easy as Elementor.
It just does what I need it to do. Drag and drop at it’s best. Plus any block or page I create that can be repurposed across pages can be make into a template – no need to start from scratch!
Building any type of page is super quick and simple. I love that if my sales pages are on my website I get the traffic and have complete control over my funnels without an additional expense.
Slack
Slack is my client communication hub! 100% recommend verses mananging clients via email conversations.
Slack allows me to create a private channel for my clients that we can chat back and forth via text, audio or video (limited to 5 mins – but it gets the job done).
AND …it automatically transcribes the audio and video!
Sharing files is as easy as drag and drop and it integrates with practically any tool you use.
Zight
My screen recorder of choice for unlimited recordings, gifs, etc. (formerly Cloudapp). I love this tool and was using it with Slack everyday. But with the Slack addition of 5 min video recording – I must admit that unless I need to make a longer video or gif I do not use this tool as much. But it’s still my list for this year because at $120 for the Pro level it gives me a decent feature set.
Loom is another tool that I’ve used in the past I find that it integrates with other platforms for native link or embedding. It is also offering AI generated subtiles as an add-on $150 yrly + AI add-on runs just under $200 yearly for 1 user. Still on the fence if swiching back would give me enough ROI for the additional cost. (Stay tuned!)
Zoom + Fathom
I couldn’t run my business without zoom and now that Fathom notetaker has come into my world the combo of the two is wonderful. I can record client meetings and easily provide a recording that is highlighted to the key points of the conversation – as well as an over all AI generated summary. I can manually highlight any point in the conversation after the fact prior to sending the link to my client. It’s saved countless hours in translating my chicken scratch hand notes – and now I don’t really NEED to take written notes – as I have the recording I can be more engaged in the flow of the conversation and just tap a button to highlight the important bits as we are chatting.
So I guess I cheated and really gave you too tools! opps
