5 Must-Have Tools to Grow Your Business

When most of us start a wellness business as a solo-preneur, we wear ALL the hats—owner, manager, therapist, graphic designer to name a few. We take on this responsibility initially for many reasons: survival mode, a limited budget, lack of knowledge or resources. However, the goal is to one day have our business running smoothly, even on auto-pilot. We’ll hire out help for task we don’t love or aren’t great at—accounting, web, graphic design, social media, etc.

Sidenote: If this is not your goal in the long-term, you might want to rethink why you are creating a business in the first place.

There are a few pivotal moments where decisions need to be made on how to invest your time and energy that are key to ensure your business moves out of survival mode. When you see there is a demand for your offerings and you decide right then and there you are ready to take your business to the next level, choosing the right tools and having the right systems in place will be a huge key to your success.

1. Canva / Graphic Design Tool

I started using Canva WAY before it became popular and can say hands down it is my go-to design editor tool when I need to quickly create a social media post or an event flyer (I know, my graphic designers are cringing, haha).

When you are at the beginning stages of creating a business, your budget for graphic design work is closer to $0 than what you desire: a complete branding toolkit so your brand stays consistent no matter the platform. Until you have a budget to hire out for this, try out DIY Way.

Canva has a free version to start or the Pro version for some excellent additional features.

2. Pinterest / Mood board

Think crowdsourcing meets those old, cut-out magazine collages. Pinterest is a creative professional’s dream. It allows you to constantly stay inspired and is the platform I use for each new client we bring on board to better understand their brand vision.

Co-creating a mood board by yourself or with a team can help you get more clear on what like and don’t like. It can be used as an inspirational hub for your branding, website, a storefront or designing your own yoga studio or retreat center. This is hugely important for any entrepreneur in the wellness space, and it’s free!

3. Freshbooks / Accounting Tool

Freshbooks is a complete accounting tool for small businesses that I can’t recommend highly enough for account management. It can send invoices, track time, manage receipts, expenses, and accept credit cards payments. My three favorite features: 1. you can customize your invoices with your brand 2. you can time-track for projects and 3. it handles billing in multiple currencies.

Try out FreshBooks for 30-day free-trial.

4. Flodesk / Email Marketing Platform

I just started using Flodesk and can honestly say, it’s been a breath of fresh air compared to the half a dozen other email marketing platforms I’ve used in the past. The drag-and-drop email creation tool is fool-proof for creating stunningly branded emails. I’m talking design agency level, not mom-and-pop DIY style!

Flodesk is charging a flat rate per month of $19/month with unlimited emails and subscribers. Literally no restrictions whatsoever. If your list is quite large, you can save $hundreds a month! And I have to say, I love supporting another female-owned start-up business.

Try out my unique link to get 50% off after your 30-day free trial!

5. Google Drive / Cloud Storage

This is not a new tool or platform by any means but I also don’t think business owners take advantage of all the free storage possible on the cloud. I use this for sharing files internally and with all of my clients. You can also use it for feedback which can drastically reduce the amount of emails cluttering your inbox!

I can’t tell you how many times they’ve come back to me months later and asked for a variation of their logo. Instead of going and digging in my local files, I simply point them to their google drive folder where everything is saved and organized.

Take the time to set-up the right systems now and I promise you, you’ll save yourself tons of time in the future because your business literally will start working for you (not you working for the business).

Even though I am not a super routine business owner, I LOVE systems and how they can transform how I work. Isn’t the whole point of working for ourselves to work less, get paid more and have more free time to travel and maybe go to a yoga class?

BONUS: And if you are just in the beginning stages of creating your wellness business and are thinking about creating a website, read next our ‘7 Things to Consider for your Wellness Website’.

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