Sometimes it's nice to peek behind the curtain and see how somebody does things, no?
When I was a brand new business owner, I remember poking around to see which tools and systems other people were using, so I could see which ones I might want to use myself. If you're here, I expect you're probably doing that, yourself. (Kudos on doing your research!)
So here are the systems I use to keep Careergasm purring like a kitten. A couple of them are affiliate links, but most of them aren't. All of them are systems and tools I love using and recommend most to my business development clients.
Biz systems I use and love...
What it is: An all-in-one website / marketing / course / sales platform
Why I love it: Switching from my old rinky-dink website platform to Kartra was a GAME-CHANGER.
My website, videos, courses, payment systems, email system, and customer management systems used to be duct-taped together with a zillion different plug-ins and integrations. Now it's literally all in one place with Kartra and I don't know how the heck I managed things before.
Kartra is an investment compared to some of the smaller website builder platforms out there, but WOW it has been so worth it for me. I use their Silver program, but their Starter program is great if you're just starting out. There's a free 30-day trial.
What it is: A video platform for live workshops and live group calls
Why I love it: It's user-friendly. Not just for me, but more importantly, for my clients. They can live chat, post questions, and watch replays easily. And I can easily export videos when I want to.
If you've ever attended one of my free live workshops, you were using Crowdcast. I also use it for my live client calls for my group programs.
Once, I tried a different platform (*cough* webinarjam) and I just hated it because it was a terrible user experience for my attendees.
Crowdcast is better (and cheaper!) than anything else I've tried. There's a free 14-day trial.
What it is: A sales funnel process to make selling your course easier
Why I love it: I discovered Louise Henry when I switched my website platform to Kartra a couple of years ago, and honestly, thank god.
Louise is an excellent, thoughtful, calm, methodical teacher, and her step-by-step program helped me to automate my sales and email systems without having a nervous breakdown.
I've recommended her to some of my advanced biz development clients and they love her too.
Basically, just give her all of your money and thank me later. Her passive profit program is here, and also a free training about automating your sales process.
What it is: Easy graphic design software for branding
Why I love it: My website is super cute, right? That's largely because of Canva Pro. Those cute cartoon images you see sprinkled across my site are images I've adapted again and again with new shapes and speech bubbles in Canva to help me promote various things. Same for every image you see on my Freebies page.
I pay for the Pro version because it is easy to use, and saves me time with easy resizing, downloading, and a brand colour template.
What it is: Video conferencing platform that's better than Zoom
Why I love it: I use Whereby to host all of my 1-on-1 calls with clients. I love it because I'm not forever having to create individual call links and send them to clients. Clients can simply come to my branded Careergasm call link (a permanent one), knock at our designated time, and I'm there to welcome them in so we can begin our session.
Also? It's free. Which seems nuts to me, given how well it works. There is a paid version, but honestly you probably won't need it.
What it is: A domain registry and web hosting platform
Why I love it: I used Godaddy for domain registration for years, but Namecheap is better, cheaper (as the name suggests), and includes WHOIS domain privacy protection for free. It also includes free automatic SSL registration, which is important if you want to take payments from clients or customers on your website...which you probably do.
If that sounds like mumbo jumbo to you, basically they keep your contact info private, and you don't have to pay extra to keep your website secure.
What it is: Easy support to register your business with the government
Why I love it: This is the only tool I'm listing I haven't personally used, and only because it didn't exist back when I started my business. But MAN, I wish it did. Because, uh, government websites aren't always the easiest thing to navigate?
I recommend OWNR to my biz development clients because they make the tedious, overwhelming process of business registration easy. It's already dirt cheap, but you can save an extra 15% here.
What it is: Easy, affordable, financial planning stuff for small biz owners
Why I love it: I booked 1-on-1 financial planning with the founder, Shannon Lee Simmons, when I first started my company, and she helped me understand things so I felt like I actually knew WTF I was doing money-wise.
I've also had a ton of clients take their DIY financial courses like Tax Prep Party and Sole Prop School. Shannon also referred me to Tax Ma'am who has been doing my biz tax returns for a decade. Highly recommend both.
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