You’re bad to the fricken bone.

The type of lady that not only runs the show, but headlines the damn thing too.

Hands up for our designer bosy-lady!

But just because you’re a sister doing it for yourself … that doesn’t mean you have to do it BY yourself. Why not adopt a business sidekick (or two)?

Batman has Robin. Rocky has Bullwinkle. Holmes has Watson.

And I have … these 15 tools (that I couldn’t possibly run my design business without).

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1. ZOOM – I use zoom daily. It is the best video conference tool everrrr. Waaaay better than Skype.You can record your video meetings, you can chat with up to 50 people (awesome for webinars), share your screen & it is super reliable. Oh and its free!

2. Xero – Bookeeping is not my thang but XERO is so easy to use and actually gets me excited about reconciling my statements. I use it for invoicing and my accountant logins in each quarter and prepares my BAS from my file. Easy.

3. Loom – This is a chrome extension that is great to record quick tutorial videos for clients. You can record your screen with your voice over & include your face too if you like. 

4. Vimeo – is the ultimate video-sharing website to upload, share and view videos. All of my videos are stored on vimeo. 

5. Mailchimp – is a great email marketing service if you are starting out & are looking for an easy to use platform for list building, email marketing & integration.
 
6. Active campaign – I recently upgraded from Mailchimp to Active Campaign because I now have so many automations & sales funnels in place. Active campaign is waaay more complicated but man, it can do some cool stuff, like tag users and trigger automations without creating multiple lists. 

7. Asana – is  designed to help teams track their work. I use asana with all of my mentor students. It allows us to work together to create to-do lists and communicate easily. I love it!

8. Adobe creative cloud – i wouldn’t be a designer if i didn’t have an adobe subscription! Adobe creative cloud gives you access to a collection of software developed by Adobe for designers including, indesign, photoshop & illustrator. 

9. Creative market – I love creative market for buying cheap awesome fonts & mockup files. 

10. Deadline funnel – giving clients a deadline to buy is super effective! So add urgency to your marketing funnel and sell more in less time. Deadline funnel allows you to add animated countdowns to your landing pages, offers, upsells, and order forms. 

11. Dropbox – is a web-based file hosting service. I use dropbox daily to store & share files with my clients. It is essential.

12. Divi for WordPress – HAIL DIVI! The best tool I have ever found. The divi builder is a visual drag & drop page builder for any WordPress theme. All of my websites are built in divi and I also build my clients websites with divi. It is AMAZING & so sooo easy. 

13. Stocksy – I have a stocksy addiction. Stocksy is a stock photo library that is different  – the images are modern, creative & beautiful.

14. Lastpass – No more forgetting passwords – Easily access all passwords in a secure place!

15. Smarter Queue – saves you hours when scheduling your social updates, and makes sure your posts get noticed. Smarter Queue allows you to create a library of content for your social media accounts & posts them for you when scheduled.

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I also recommend these brilliant eCourses that have helped me learn & grown in my own business…..

Facebook Ads for Email List Building – Bianca McKenzie is my facebook ad guru! She has helped me nail my marketing with the power of facebook ads I highly recommend you soak up her knowledge.

Be the Boss of Web Development – Emma Kate is one of my mentor students and has taught me loads! She is the go-to woman for graphic designers wanting to learn web development and offer it as a service in their own design biz. 

*Some of the above links are my affiliates – I personally use and recommend each of these products.