12 amazing tools for running your creative business from home
*this post contains affiliate links which means I may receive a small commission for any purchases you make at no additional cost to you. Affiliate links are denoted by an *.
I am all for using tools that make my home based creative business more efficient and more enjoyable and I have found some great ones that make things run a lot better in my creative business of designing websites. Note that these tools are NOT just for web designers though! They are useful to anyone running an online business!
1/ Dubsado* (save 20% off your first year or month with this affiliate link)
Oh what would I do without Dubsado to keep my business ultra organized?? Dubsado is a client management tool that allows me to keep track of inquiries and automatically send a link to the built in scheduler to set up appointments with inquiries and existing clients. I can accept payments, have payment schedules, send contracts, questionnaires and so much more. I love how I can have everything match the branding of my website. I recently updated my proposal and love how it turned out as well! You can read more about how I use Dubsado in my business in this post.
Google Chrome is my web browser of choice for being able to analyze websites and debug them. With the Chrome inspector tool I am able to get specific on applying styling to certain sections of a website. The other reason I love using Chrome is because of all the Chrome Extensions that save me so much time.
For example, I use 1Password and there is an extension that automatically fills in my userid and password when I load a password protected page.
There are an amazing number of chrome extensions available for productivity, or just plain fun. You can find them in the Google Chrome Store here.
3/ Google Drive
Google Drive is my preferred storage method for client files and sharing files. You are given a large amount of space on Google Drive, but you also have the option to purchase additional storage for which you are charged monthly.
I use Google Docs for collecting content for client’s website pages and I love how interactive it is. I can just type a question on the document and they will get notified and can respond directly there.
The auto saving feature is awesome as well! No more lost content.
We can both make adjustments to the document in real time as well and see a revision history.
There are even templates that Google provides to get you started with a beautiful looking document that is easy to update.
If you are in need of a spreadsheet, you can use Google Sheets, or you can use Google Slides for a presentation. Google Forms allows you to create a questionnaire. All of these options have templates to get you started as well.
I also make use of the Google Back up and Sync to allow me to access the content on any of my devices and update it automatically on each device. I have the option to only store files on the cloud or to download them to my device and I can alter the settings by device. I love this as I end up with a ton of client files and I would not have room on my hard drive for all of them. I just download the current client files I need and leave the rest in the cloud where I can access them anytime I need them.
Looking for even more resources?? Check out my list of recommended resources for stock photography, mockups, icons, color tools, image compression tools and more!
4/ Flodesk *
As a previous Mailchimp user for my email list, I ALWAYS dreaded sending out a newsletter to my list as I found Mailchimp so awkward and confusing to use. Yes, it is free up to a certain number, but there were limiting things about it. Segmenting was so hard and I found it confusing as you were only allowed one list on the free plan. It took me forever to find things and to do the simplest things and I just decided I did not need to deal with that anymore.
Flodesk is a newer email provider with a wonderful user experience. Their emails are pretty and it is INTUITIVE to use. It is so easy to set up workflow as it is all visually based. I was so happy to get off Mailchimp and switch to Flodesk. They have a flat rate as well no matter how many subscribers you have or how many emails you send. This appealed to me as well. I don’t want have to worry about my numbers getting too high and costing me more money or feel like I am restricted in the amount of emails I can send.
Flodesk is a flat $38USD a month, but if you use my affiliate link you can get it for $19USD a month forever!!!! Simple pricing makes it appealing :)
5/ Adobe
I use the Adobe Creative Suite pretty much everyday in my business. Whether it is creating graphics or editing images in Photoshop, or creating icons in Illustrator or using Adobe Bridge to organize and categorize all my photos and graphics.
6/ Evernote
I have an ever increasing library of notes and code snippets which I store in Evernote. I add tags to these notes so that I can search for appropriate items when I need them. I create folders as well to organize items by content type.
One way I find it so helpful is for remembering all the courses I have signed up for. I have a folder of Courses that have the URL to log in as well as the password. Sometimes I forget i have signed up for something until I see it in there :). It’s so nice to have it all organized in one place.
I also have a folder for Squarespace code snippets that is mammoth in size. I can quickly look up some code I have used before or figured out already to save me time on projects going forward.
7/ Pocket
For those times that you come across an article or tutorial that you want to save for later, pocket is the answer! Once you have an account and are logged in, you can use the pocket chrome extension to save the currently loaded page to your pocket library. Add a tag to make it easier to find later!
8/ Pinterest
I love using Pinterest for both personal and business inspiration. For my business, I capture ideas for fonts I may want to use on client projects, color inspiration for web design projects and web design layout inspiration.
I send my clients to these boards when they are looking for ideas too. I have my web design layouts organized by type of business so for instance, a photographer is able to go to a specific board to see some photography website ideas easily. Just remember - whenever gathering inspiration you never want to copy anything outright! You are only looking for ideas for partial things you may want to implement or use as a base for a new idea.
9/ Squarespace
I pretty much “live” in Squarespace everyday! This is where I build all my client sites because it is such a wonderful web design platform that is easy use and easy for my clients to update. They love how intuitive it is to use as a web platform with it’s menus and drag and drop functionality. Besides, it is ultra secure and Squarepace handles all the updates which makes it a breeze for having a website in Squarespace - no plugins or software updates to worry about!
10/ Loom
A picture is worth a thousand words, but a video is worth a million! Loom is an amazing platform which allows you to easily record videos of yourself, yourself and your screen or just your screen. I use it pretty much everyday to share updates with clients on design changes I have made. It is so easy to walk through a website and record mouse clicks to show them what I mean. I use it to record all the custom training videos that I provide for my web design clients at the end of the project too.
Loom has a free plan that is perfect for many people, but since I record SO many videos, I purchased the pro plan which also allows for higher quality recording. Their plans are so affordable though!
Looking for even more resources?? Check out my list of recommended resources for stock photography, mockups, icons, color tools, image compression tools and more!
11/ Whereby
I have regular video meetings with potential clients and with web design clients and I wanted something that was so simple to use and that clients would not have to download an app for. Whereby has been the perfect solution. Once you sign up you create your own “room” and then all you do is send someone the link to the room to meet in. Using my scheduler on Dubsado, we arrange a time and I include my Whereby link. Since it is a web application there are no security issues either.
You can have up to 4 people in a room on the free plan. There is a chat window where you can share links or chat if the microphone is off. There is an option to turn the video on or off as well as the microphone. If you want to record the screen you will need to sign up for the paid plan or if you need more than 4 people in a room.
One thing I have noticed is that the microphone seems to be glitchy when used on a Safari browser, but when we use Chrome there are no issues.
12/ Toggl
When I am working on client projects I always track my time. For this I use Toggl which is a web application that has a free and paid plan. I have only ever used the free plan and find it does everything I need.
I am able to separate my work out by projects and clients and then run reports by date range to see how much time I have spent by project.
And there you have it! My 12 favorite tools for running a creative business from home! What are some tools you love? Let me know in the comments below :)