Business owners already know how multi-talented you have to be to just keep things moving. Some of us are operating on one employee while running a household or taking care of children or trying to remember to eat three times a day with 4 hours of sleep. These are not terms to brag on - not in my opinion anyhow. I like being a business owner, I really like when things run smoothly or when my automation systems kick in, saving me time and brain energy all at once.

It’s a ton of apps out there that can shave time off of your workday or make your operations run smoother, but I’m only going to share a few here.

Quickbooks - I have it connected to my business banking and personal banking accounts and I use it to digitally save my receipts! It’s the easiest money tracker out there and for those who need invoicing options, you can do that in QB too! Quickbooks integrates to my payment processor as well as my CRM tool (17Hats) which means invoicing clients and accepting payments automatically gets tracked. Less stress for me, and my CPA is (mostly) satisfied.

Canva - As much as I understand the hate certain designers have on Canva, you can’t argue the value nor the easy learning curve. Canva allows you to design and create graphics, flyers, headers, and even logos (if that’s your jam!) There’s a desktop and mobile option so you can do you design work or tweak ongoing projects while on the go.

17Hats - Every single lead captured goes here. Depending on the request an automated email response will be sent out, a questionnaire, or even a calendar request. Within 17Hats, my clients actually have their own private portal where I keep any documents, invoices, receipts, and even links to the private galleries. It’s an amazingly robust tool, that’s a workhouse. Not the “sleekest” in appearance but that’s no big deal to me.