5 Things My Business Can't Live Without
Who doesn't love when a business owner shares all their secrets? I'm going to share five things my business absolutely can't live without, aside from the obvious Jinx. From productivity software, to an accountant, to things on my computer that just make my life a heck of a lot easier. I believe that in business, we shouldn't be sacrificing our time when there's things that exist to make our lives a lot easier. Here are my five go-to things that my small business uses on a daily basis that have absolutely contributed to me running a six figure business today.
Dubsado: My CRM, My Project Management System, My Everything
Honestly, what doesn't it do? If you've been in my universe for awhile, you know that I love Dubsado. I even have an online course based entirely on setting up Dubsado to help you run your business (which you can check out here). Dubsado ensures that I rock a solid customer experience for each and every customer. My clients are able to get consistent communication from me and I rarely drop the ball thanks to this small but mighty platform. I also spend a lot less time in my inbox! This helps me live a more organized life and I'm not double checking everything all the time. Haven’t tried Dubsado yet? You can sign up here and use it with your first three clients for free (with no time limit).
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My Accountant/Bookkeeper
Ok, this one I don’t use daily. But a lot of people don't believe me when I talk about how much I love my accountant/bookkeeper. I recommend Kevin Jensen if you are in Calgary, but honestly, if you can find an accountant/bookkeeper, you trust with your business, that is all you need. You're way ahead of the game. I’ve talked about it before, but I really value running a responsible and legal business. So this was one of the first investments I made and I'm so grateful. I run everything by him: from big decisions, like whether or not I should incorporate (I did by the way) to whether I should invest in a new studio (which I did too) - stay in the loop on Instagram).
Especially if you're not necessarily a numbers person, like so many of us creative folks are, outsource your weaknesses. It's not that I can't do it. I just know I won't do it. Making sure that you run a business that's actually profitable and giving you the life that you want is SO important so if you aren’t going to keep track of your numbers, this is something you’re going to want to invest in too!
Dropbox
This is kind of a random one, but it makes my files easy to share with both my editor and my coaching clients. As a busy business owner, having one cloud-based storage system that I can access from wherever I am is so important. There is nothing worse than stressing out because you can't respond to an email because the document that they need is saved on your computer. I am so glad that no longer happens to me. It's 2021 and there's really no excuse to not save the most important things in the cloud. And Dropbox is my cloud of choice (do they call it that? technical terms are not important here haha!).
Adobe Suite
As a photographer, this is a more common one, but I specifically love Lightroom and Photoshop for all of my photo editing needs. Even if you're not a professional photographer, it will only take an extra couple of minutes to edit your photos so that they look more professional, clean, and consistently on brand. Do this before you post your next photo on Instagram. Lightroom is super easy to use and if you are just using it for photos on your phone, the app is free. Although not as easy to use, with some practice, Photoshop can be incredibly effective for some more technical editing - like deleting people in the background of photos of a busy street because that’s not the look you wanted in your branding photos.
Squarespace Websites
I have been with Squarespace for a while. One of the reasons I love them so much is because their websites are beautiful. But more importantly, they're easy to edit. I love having options with Squarespace so when I want to throw up a new landing page or sales page for a new offer - I can get it done in an afternoon. It’s easy to customizing Squarespace to match my brand, which is pretty much all I want in a website. I don't believe we need to get too fancy. Simple and well done is always better than something too fancy and messy. There’s always a shiny new platform out there, but Squarespace is my tried and true and gives me everything I need as a small business owner.
Business Tools that Make You More Productive (+ Quite Frankly, better at your job!)
Next, I would love to continue the conversation over on Instagram. Do you agree with these five? Is there anything that you prefer over what I've listed here or is there something that you're going to implement in your own business now that I've spilled the tea? Make sure to DM me and ask to be part of my secret stories where I always break down the exclusive behind the business scoop. In the meantime, if you have any questions about how I run my business as a Calgary branding photographer, you can check on my packages here or sign at the wait for the waitlist for my next mastermind here.