We know a lot goes into creating, sustaining, and building a business. Luckily, living in and surpassing the digital age has allowed for the introduction and immersion of a lot of great platforms to make your life — professional, that is — easier.
We've put together a list of our favorite must-have tools for small business owners to improve day-to-day business operations and create healthier business practices.
Loom
Loom is an essential tool for hybrid workspaces, that brings video messaging to over 14 million users across 200,000 companies. Easily record quick videos of your screen and camera to send to employees or clients. With nothing to schedule and nothing to type, Loom has eliminated the hassle and monotony that comes with most live presentations and conference calls. It is for small business owners looking to communicate more efficiently, effectively, and personally, internally and externally. Thankfully.
Pricing: FREE - $- depending on team integration
Creative Market
While Creative Market tends to be a resource for our design folks, it is still a great tool for designing mockups, crafting presentations, finding fonts, and finding inspiration. As a member, you also become a part of the creative marketplace, where you can either sell your digital assets or hire a designer for your branding needs.
Pricing: varies per resource
Honeybook
Honeybook is one of THE go-to tools for small business owners, that provides "everything your business needs to get it done." From contracts and client booking, to email automation, questionnaires, and secure payments, oh my! This all-in-one platform is a project management goddess that thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs use to grow their business.
p.s. Honeybook seamlessly works with tools you are already using on a daily basis like Gmail, Zoom, Google Calendar, and more.
Pricing: $9 - $39 per month, or $390 per year
"HoneyBook is a program that has been amazing. I was lost when it came to contracts and project management. My stress has been put at ease with HoneyBook."
— Kelsey Willaby, Willaby Designs
Calendly
Calendly is a free online appointment scheduling software that is synched up with your calendar and set availability preferences. Clients select an open time block from your custom Calendly link, that is then automatically updated on your calendar. No more back-and-forth email chains trying to find a time to meet while catering to different time zones.
Pricing: FREE - $16 per month
Envato Elements
Envato Elements is similar to Creative Market as a great design resource for fonts and mockups, but they also give you access to unlimited stock images, videos, and audios, great for any creative project for any user at any skill level. Additionally, Envato's online blog and public forum provides tips, tricks, templates, and tutorials on topics including:
- Purchases and Subscriptions
- Web and Code
- Graphic Design
- Licensing
- and more
You can learn from Envato staffed professionals, as well collaborate with other authors and designers.
Pricing: $33 - $198 per month
Quickbooks
Quickbooks is the #1 accounting tool for small businesses. It allows you to create and track invoices, keep track of bills and expenses, print financial statements, run employee payroll, track inventory, simplify taxes, scan receipts, and accept online payments. It makes bookkeeping for your small business easier so that you can spend less time worrying about your finances, and more time enjoying what your money can do for you.
Pricing: $7.50 - $349.99 per month
Related Reading: 11 Podcasts for Entrepreneurs and CEOs
Notion
Similar to Honeybook, Notion is meant to serve as an all-in-one workspace. Condense documents, calendars, tasks, resources, events, and systems into one dashboard that can be accessed by your entire team. No more buildup of tabs, lost context, hours spent searching through email and slack conversations, or cross-platform training and repetition. Notion is the trusted sole network for teams at larger corporations like Pixar, The Wall Street Journal, Samsung, and Tinder, just to name a few.
Pricing: FREE - $- depending on team integration
Hotjar
Hotjar provides you with analytics on your customer behavior in an easy-to-digest way so that you can expose any website flaws and alter marketing efforts. You can understand how users interact on and experience your site, what they need, and how they feel through individual visit playbacks, pop-up surveys, and performance-based heatmaps. All of this is accomplished while upholding user privacy laws.
Pricing: FREE - $311 per month
If anyone can appreciate and understand all that goes into creating, sustaining, and building a small business, it's us. Talk to a lender about the must-have tools for small business owners and how we can help finance them today.
