Must-Have Tools for Small Business Owners

Thanks so much to guest blogger Sydney Cruise for this informative article with tons of tools you can use in your business.  Ms. Crusie is the Owner of Modern Luxe Creative carefully crafted brands and websites that turn heads

If you’re a small business owner, I’m sure you’ve learned the importance of having the right tools at your disposal. I’ve tested a variety of resources designed for the small business owner, that promise to increase your income, make your life easier, and a handful of other too-good-to-be-true promises.

While quite a few of these tools are a waste of time and money, today I wanted to share my list with you of must-have tools for small business owners. These are tools I love and use myself, and I can honestly say they have made a world of difference for my business.

Regardless of whether you sell services or products, you need a newsletter. Newsletters have one of the highest return-on-investment rates of any marketing tactic, so if you don’t have one yet, start now! After using Mailchimp for almost five years, I recently made the switch to ConvertKit and haven’t looked back since. ConvertKit is the best email marketing platform there is, period. They offer so many features and integrations that make growing and monetizing your email list a walk in the park. Plus, they’re currently hosting their Christmas in July sale, so you can try one month free if you sign up by July 31st at midnight.

Tailwind is my favorite social media scheduling tool. Regardless of your niche, I highly recommend focusing on Pinterest to build your audience and traffic because it’s not just a social media platform – it’s a visual search engine. Tailwind offers features to help you build your audience and traffic by growing your Pinterest account. Their features integrate with both Pinterest and Instagram and include scheduling, organizing, hashtag research, and more. They’re trusted by over 100,000 brands, and they also offer a free trial, so give it a try!

On a side note, if you’re new to Pinterest or need help optimizing your strategy, I highly recommend the e-course, Pinfinite Growth.

Formerly known as Google Apps, G-Suite offers an intelligent suite of apps to help you succeed. Including business email, video conferencing, online storage, file sharing, security, and much more, G-Suite makes growing your business and working with a team absolutely easy and seamless. G-Suite is especially useful for those on the Squarespace platform so you can integrate your email to your domain. Instead of usingbusiness@gmail.com, you can look professional with an email such asyourname@yourdomain.com. Visit G-Suite and explore all of the options.

Grammarly is the ultimate tool to help you become a better writer, and it’s one of my favorites! If you truly want your website or blog to be professional, your writing needs to be flawless. Grammarly checks your writing for you as you write, correcting grammar and spelling errors, suggesting vocabulary changes, and alerting you of plagiarism. You can try Grammarly for free and start checking your website, blog posts, newsletters, social media posts, and more.

It’s no wonder why Freshbooks is the most popular accounting tool among small business owners. It’s incredibly easy-to-use, full of helpful features, and it’s affordable compared to other options. Send invoices, accept payments, track expenses and keep all of your finances in one place with this simple platform. Freshbooks also offers a free trial, so give it a try and see what you think!

What are some of your favorite business tools you can’t live without?