Over the past year, I have discovered numerous tools and resources that have helped save me time, streamline my processes, improve my client experience, and overall improve the quality of my business.
Here are some of my absolute favourite tools and resources that I use almost daily in my business. Be sure to let me know what your favourites are too! Enjoy x
Full Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Setting up systems and processes in your business from the beginning will not only benefit you but also give your clients a smoother, more professional service too. Dubsado is a business management tool that allows you to streamline your projects from start to finish. Right now I use it to create proposals, contracts, and forms. I love it because when I sign a new client it literally takes me 5 minutes to put together a super professional proposal! You can also create canned emails, questionnaires, workflows and so much more! One of the reasons I recommend Dubsado is because it truly is an all-in-one business management tool. You can integrate it with your email, calendar, and payment processors as well as use it to track financial goals and make income reports.
Click here to sign up and receive 20% off your first month or year!
Asana is my favorite project management tool because it’s super simple to use for both myself and my clients. I have separate boards for each of my services and each board lists out every milestone within a project. This allows me to stay on top of my work as well as keep my clients updated on where we are. When a task is finished I will tick it off to show that it has been completed. It’s also where I submit my designs for feedback and approval too.
I love Asana because it’s straightforward to use and allows all communication to be done in one place. Trust me, if you can keep communication out of your emails and DM’s you will make your life much easier! I can’t tell you how frustrating it can be trying to find a specific email with important info and having no idea when it was sent or where it could be 🙈 Use Asana, it’s FREE!
I also have a separate board for planning out my days and weeks so It’s really useful for that too!
Oh how I love Pinterest. I use Pinterest to gather inspiration for client projects during the initial Brand strategy stage of a project. For each project I’ll create a secret pinterest board and invite my clients to pin their visual inspiration for their Branding and Website. I love to encourage clients to do this as sometimes it can be hard to articulate in words exactly what they envision for their branding. Within a few days of pinning we’ll have a full board full of photography, illustrations, quotes, typography and color palettes that will serve as inspo for their Brand 😍
I also love to use Pinterest to make vision boards which you can read in a separate post here!
Creative Market is my favourite place to source graphic elements that I might not be able to create on my own. I love to purchase good quality fonts, procreate brushes and mock ups! Not just for designers, If you’re not confident with design it’s also a great place to purchase anything from social media templates to illustrations! You also support independent graphic designers too which I love!
Flodesk is an email marketing platform that allows you to send beautifully branded emails. The reason I love using Flodesk is for its ease of use. It’s so easy to design beautiful emails, create new workflows and build your email list. It’s very easy to navigate and I recommend it for beginners.
My favorite place to source fonts is Typewolf. As much as I love Creative Market, its increased popularity means that a lot of the fonts quickly become overused! Not a bad thing but I love to try and source fonts for clients that are different, unique, and have a high-end feel. Whilst there are also some great, free font resources available too such as google fonts I firmly believe in investing in high-quality typography for Branding as you’ll use it again and again!
Coolors.co is my go to resource when I’m creating colour palette options for clients. Your Brand colours are one of the most important assets within your Branding so it’s important to get them right. I use coolors to mix and match colours as well as alter the shades and tones until I find the right combination. This can be a tedious process but It’s so worth it to have a colour palette you’re in love with!
Moyo Studios create some absolutely beautiful mockups for designers to showcase their design work in a realistic set up. I love to include mock ups in my client projects as it helps them to visualize how their branding will eventually look on a business card or on a podcast cover (for example)
I have recently discovered the power of loom and I’m obsessed! When submitting my designs to clients I always talk them through my thought process when it comes to designing which used to be in the form of writing. This used to take me ages to write out until a client of mine recently sent me feedback for one of her designs using a loom video. I’ve been hooked ever since! Not only is it a great way of explaining my designs and giving feedback but it’s helpful for my clients to see and hear me talk about their designs whilst they’re pulled up on the screen in front of them. Now it takes me 2-5 minutes to record myself instead of spending 20-35 minutes writing. It’s a game changer seriously!
Ever since I discovered Showit a year and a half ago I’ve been hooked ever since. Showit is hands down my favourite website building platform for small businesses looking to maximise their online presence. Its level of customisation is unmatched and its ease of use make it the best option for both designers and clients alike.
It can sometimes be hard to source good quality stock photos but in my opinion Pexels is my favourite place (besides unsplash) to find photography and videos. I love to find on-brand backgrounds and textures for my clients website and graphics and this is usually my go to place when sourcing those. I also use it to find images for my website templates which is also useful! It’s also a great resource for finding video stock footage.
I use Keynote to create presentations for clients and It’s a great tool for creating templates that I can use over and over again. Keynote allows me to create on-brand presentations that are quick and easy to use!