Key Software Resource Banner
Adobe Creative Cloud
Adobe Creative Suite is a collection of graphic design, video editing, and web development software, and it is the #1 software of its kind. This has been the one designers, photographers and creative professionals have used for decades! It includes programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects, and more. You can create and edit images, graphics, videos, animations, and websites.
Canva
Canva came on the scene and disrupted the graphics game quickly, because it makes it easy for anyone to create visually appealing work without the need for professional design skills. It is not as robust in what it can do like the Adobe ones, but what most businesses need can be done through its features. The interface is user-friendly, and there are a bunch of templates, images, and design elements that can be used to create everything from social media posts and flyers to presentations and posters.
Bench
Bench is a bookkeeping and tax service for small business owners that pairs intuitive software with human bookkeepers. The platform gives you monthly financial statements and expense overviews to let you know what’s going on with your money. They then pair you with a bookkeeper you will be working with closely.
QuickBooks
QuickBooks is the go-to accounting software for most small business owners. It is a robust system where you can manage most financial transactions, like invoicing, expenses, payroll, and taxes. With QuickBooks, you can generate reports, track sales and profits, manage budgets, and more. It’s the one you’ll see most when people talk about finance softwares for small businesses, cuz it’s tried and true. They then pair you with a bookkeeper you will be working with closely.
Stripe
Stripe is a payment processing platform, where you can accept payments for everything from your merch store to courses to whatever else. With Stripe, you can easily set up an online store and start accepting payments through various channels, like credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and more.
Wise
Wise is a currency exchange software that allows you to pay people or transfer money all over the world easily and quickly, at low cost. It lets you effortlessly pay international invoices, vendors contractors, and employees with the real exchange rate, in 80 countries. With Wise Business, you can get local bank details for 10 different currencies.
Xero
Xero is a cloud-based accounting software that helps individuals and businesses manage their financial transactions and bookkeeping. It’s an up and coming alternative to QuickBooks that my CFO actually prefers over it. It does all the same things as QuickBooks and integrates with a variety of platforms to sync your financial transactions.
Bambee
Bambee is a platform that helps small businesses that don’t have the resources or expertise to handle human resource tasks in-house. Bambee offers a range of HR services like payroll, benefits administration, and compliance with employment laws, to help small business owners handle the administrative side of managing their employees (which can be a lot).
Gusto
Gusto is a comprehensive human resources platform that businesses can use to manage everything from payroll, benefits, and employee records. It is my favorite one, and one I’ve used for 5 years. Not only is the interface so easy to navigate, for admins and employees, but their offerings and features are so robust!
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation platform. It allows you to manage various aspects of your business and the audience you want to build. Its features include email marketing, sales tracking, and customer service.
FloDesk
FloDesk is a digital marketing service provider that’s built for creators, by creators. It exists to make connecting with your community intuitive, so beginners and experts can send newsletters to folks they want. Flodesk has made sending emails easy and less labor-intensive, and that’s one of its biggest perks.
MailChimp
Mailchimp is another email marketing platform that allows you to send email campaigns to your audience. You can use Mailchimp to create beautiful and professional-looking emails with its user-friendly drag-and-drop email builder, and you can also customize your email campaigns with images, links, and other elements. Mailchimp also provides analytics and reporting so you can track the success of your campaigns and see how your audience is engaging with your emails.
Postable
Postable is an online service that provides a simple and convenient way to commemorate milestones and send cards and letters to your network (colleagues, friends, family). It is really convenient for maintaining your address book, and that directory allows you to personalize cards with your own message, photos, and design elements. They will then print and send the card directly to the recipient.
TypeForm
Typeform creates interactive forms, surveys, quizzes, and other types of online assessments. So if you wanna survey folks, it’s a great platform for it. With Typeform, you can create a wide range of forms, including contact forms, feedback forms, event registration forms, and more. Typeform provides an intuitive drag-and-drop builder, so you can easily create custom forms without any coding or design skills.
ConvertKit
ConvertKit Placeholder.
Google Workspace
Google Suite is a collection of web-based productivity tools that includes email service (Gmail), cloud storage, scheduling, and applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and more, including Google Drive, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Calendar and more!
Microsoft Office / 365
Microsoft Office is still industry standard of productivity software. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Note. I use every single day. Outlook, not so much, because that is one thing I want them to overhaul. Now they’ve made it cloud-based too and you can grab multiple licenses so various members of your team can have access to it.
Rev
Rev is a professional audio transcription (speech-to-text) service that offers fast and affordable options to get your audio and video files transcribed by the largest marketplace of experienced transcribers—guaranteed to be 99% accurate. Most times, you will receive transcription of your files in less than 12 hours.
Scrivener
Scrivener is a writing software that is designed for long-form writing projects, like books, dissertations and scripts. It’s super robust but what I love about it is that it lets you think in pieces and spurts, and makes it easy to bring it all together. It provides a flexible and organized workspace for writers to create, structure, and revise their work. One of my favorite things about it is that it has a visual corkboard, where every card on it is a chapter or a scene.
Asana
Asana is a project and task management tool that helps teams organize and track their work. You can create projects, assign tasks, set deadlines, and communicate with your team members all in one place. Asana also provides tools for file sharing, collaboration, and reporting, so you can stay organized and informed about your work.
Basecamp
Basecamp is a project management tool that helps teams communicate, collaborate, and organize their work. It provides a central platform where you can store and share project information, assign tasks, discuss ideas, and track progress. With Basecamp, you can create to-do lists, set deadlines, and receive notifications when things are due or have been updated. It’s really easy to collaborate with others, and Basecamp is the one I use with my team, cuz I find it cleaner and is easier to use than Asana and the other platforms.
Monday.com
Monday.com is a project management tool that helps teams and individuals organize, track, and collaborate on their work. It provides features like task management, team communication, file sharing, and more in a single platform. With Monday.com, teams can easily visualize their work and prioritize tasks to achieve their goals more efficiently. That’s where I think it has an edge over Asana and Basecamp. It’s more visual.
Calendly
Calendly makes it easy for people to schedule appointments with you online, eliminating the back-and-forth emails and phone calls trying to coordinate a time and date that works for both parties. With Calendly, you simply set your availability and sync it with your calendar. When you share the link with others, they can go in and choose a time slot that works for them.
Dialpad Meetings
Dialpad Meetings is a video conferencing tool that allows people to have virtual meetings over the internet, if you don’t wanna get on zoom. It has the capabilities of Zoom, with video messaging, screen sharing etc. But I like to use it more as a conference line. There’s a number we can all call into, so no one has to connect someone else. And I love it for its ease of recording. You can set it to automatically record all calls, for easy reference.
Doodle
Doodle is an online scheduling tool that is awesome for coordinating group calls. When trying to wrangle more than 3 people, it’s just easier to create a poll with a list of dates and times that work for you, and then share it with others. Participants can then indicate their availability, and you can see at a glance when the most people are free. This makes it easy to find a time that works for everyone and schedule your meeting or event. Doodle is designed to save time and make scheduling more efficient and convenient.
Zoom
Zoom is a video conferencing tool that allows people to meet and collaborate over the internet. It has features like screen sharing, recording, and virtual backgrounds, making it a versatile platform for online meetings, webinars, and virtual events. I also like their webinar platform. At this point, we are all Zoom techies. What I love most about it is that it now has its own scheduling feature so you can create a meeting, sync with your own calendar and log on easily to go live.
Later
Later is a social media planning and scheduling tool that allows you to plan, organize, and schedule your content for platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. With Later, you can upload and preview your content, and then schedule your posts in advance so that it is automatically published at the right times for your audience. Later also has analytics and tracking features to help you understand the performance of your content, and provides insights and recommendations to help you improve your reach and engagement.
Planoly
Planoly is a social media planning and scheduling tool for businesses and individuals who want to plan, organize, and publish their content on Instagram. With Planoly, similar to Later, you can upload, view, and organize your content in a visual calendar, and schedule your posts in advance to ensure a consistent and cohesive presence on Instagram. Planoly also provides analytics and tracking features that help you understand how your content is performing, so you can make informed decisions about what to post and when.
Bit.ly
Bit.ly is a URL shortening service that takes long web addresses and turns them into short and easy-to-remember links. You go into the Bit.ly and you paste the long link. It will spit out a shorter link for you to use as you wish. So instead of dropping this link: https://awesomelyluvvie.com/2022/11/twitter-elon-musk.html, I can drop http://bit.ly/elonmirage.
If This Then That (IFTTT)
IFTTT stands for “If This Then That”, and it’s a platform that connects different apps and services together, allowing them to work together in new and innovative ways. With IFTTT, you can create “recipes” that automate simple tasks between apps, saving you time and effort between tedious tasks. So for example, you can set up an IFTTT recipe that connects your DropBox to your Instagram, so anytime you post on IG, it’s automatically saved to your DropBox. Or you can connect your Google Sheet to your phone’s contact list so that everytime you add a new contact, it updates your sheet.
Keeper
Keeper is a password management tool that helps you securely store and manage your passwords, sensitive information, and digital assets. And we’re all dealing with 67 million accounts, all of which are asking for “secure” passwords. How are we supposed to remember them all? We don’t. We let technology remember for us. That is why Keeper is one of my can’t go without apps.
Dropbox
Dropbox is a cloud storage service that allows you to store, access, and share your files from anywhere and any mobile device. It is my holy grail. You can upload your files to Dropbox, and then access them from your computer, tablet, or smartphone, or share them with others. Dropbox provides a simple and convenient way to keep your files organized, backed up, and accessible, no matter where you are. You can also use Dropbox to collaborate with others, by sharing folders and files with team members and commenting on each other’s work. Also, Dropbox provides features like version history, which allows you to see previous versions of your files and restore earlier versions if needed.
Box
Box is a cloud storage service that is designed to work seamlessly with your computer, providing you with access to all of your files from one centralized location. It’s a really good alternative to DropBox, with similar features. Box protects your content with built-in controls, from granular permissions to strong user authentication, so you get more peace of mind when you collaborate with Box.
Loom
Loom is a video communication tool that allows you to record and share videos with others, quickly and easily. It’s designed to help people communicate more effectively and efficiently, without the need for lengthy emails or in-person meetings. With Loom, you can record a video of your screen, webcam, or both, and then share it with others via a link. The videos can be used for a variety of purposes, like giving presentations, demonstrating how to use a software, providing feedback, or just recording your thoughts.
Slack
Slack is a communication tool that helps teams and organizations stay organized and connected. Slack has real-time messaging, file sharing, and the streamlining of workflow.You can create different channels for different topics, projects, or teams within your business, and then use these channels to communicate with your colleagues in an organized and searchable way. Slack integrates with a wide range of other tools and project management software too, making it easy to bring all of your work into one place.
WhatsApp
WhatsApp is a messaging app that allows you to send and receive messages, make voice and video calls, and share files with others. It’s available on mobile devices (iPhone and Android) as well as desktop computers. With WhatsApp, you can communicate with individuals and groups of people, either one-on-one or in a group chat. You can also make voice and video calls, either individually or with a group of people. Also, WhatsApp is known for its strong encryption, which helps to keep your conversations secure and private.
Bluehost
Bluehost is a web hosting company to house your website, and make your work accessible to the internet. They provides tools and services to help you build, manage, and grow your website, including 24/7 customer support, website builders, and security features to protect your website and its visitors. Bluehost offers a range of hosting plans, including shared hosting, VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting, and dedicated hosting.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy is a web services company that provides domain name registration, website building and hosting, online marketing and other related services. I’m a firm believer that everyone should have some surreal estate, and at the minimum, that is a URL of your name. And if you have any business, idea, campaign, go buy the URL to hold it down. Because that is a powerful piece of intellectual property. That’s where GoDaddy comes in.
SquareSpace
Squarespace is a website building platform that provides everything you need to create and host a professional-looking website, without requiring any technical knowledge or programming skills. With Squarespace, you can build a website for your business, personal blog, online store, or portfolio. It offers a range of templates and design tools to help you create a custom website that matches your style and brand. It also provides features like e-commerce functionality, hosting, and 24/7 customer support.
WordPress
Wordpress is a website builder and content management system. It’s used to create and manage websites, blogs, and online stores. WordPress provides users with a user-friendly interface to create, publish, and organize their content, like text, images, and videos. Also, it offers thousands of plugins and themes that can be used to add new features or change the design of a website with just a few clicks.
WordPress Engine
WP Engine is a managed WordPress hosting company that provides hosting services specifically for websites built using the WordPress platform. With WP Engine, you can host your WordPress website on their servers, which are specifically designed to handle the demands of WordPress websites. Also, WP Engine provides a number of features and tools to help you manage and grow your website, including 24/7 customer support, website backups, and access to a library of WordPress plugins and themes.
B-School by Marie Forleo
“B-School is a 6-week, interactive video-based training program that teaches smart, effective online marketing strategies to business owners who want more sales and more impact from their online presence.”
Digital Course Academy by Amy Porterfield
“The most comprehensive program for validating, creating, launching and selling your digital course.”
Course from Scratch by Danielle Leslie
“An 8-week online intensive that helps people create & launch their profitable & poppin’ online courses.”
First Step to Famous by Brand Builders Group
“This free short video course will teach you what the first steps are to build your personal brand, increase your influence and grow your income.”
Power Your Launch by Abu Afofanah
“Power Your Launch™ is an online marketing accelerator designed to help business owners who want to sell online by teaching them how to put together marketing campaigns to generate leads and increase sales.”
Site Design Rebecca Pollock
Development Alchemy+Aim