Getting your business up and running has so many new experiences (as I like to call them) that you never expected. Therefore, you, as a small business owner, need to make sure any tools and time savers you use are the most helpful, efficient, and easy to learn. Here are some tools that have really made all the difference in keeping my business to run smoothly.
a way to sign electronically
Sending contracts is an unavoidable part of being in a small business. And when you don’t live near your clients, signing electronically is a must. As a small business owner however, you may not have the funds for a fancy electronic signature platform yet, especially if you’re only onboarding 2-3 clients monthly.
My current favorite tool is signwell.com. Electronic signatures are built into SignWell in an intuitive way that’s easy for everyone to use. It literally took me 5 minutes to figure out and then send it off to a client! You can even send up to 3 contracts monthly on their free plan.
a way to Stay organized
Whether that be in a daily planner or online planner, you HAVE to work out a system. You need a place to list all your ideas, project planning, team notes, and as a social media manager, I need a place to send video ideas.
The one you need most for online collaboration is notion.so. Trust me. You can share individual pages with collaborators so everyone can see their to-dos, link back to examples, and even leave notes for each other. You can even find free templates to make everything absolutely gorgeous or keep things simple and to the point. I love Notion so much, I even use it in my personal life to keep things organized.
a way to cope when things get stressful
Imposter syndrome is real! And being a business owner comes with so many stressors. When these come at you at once, you need a toolbox ready of stress relieving activities. It can be so easy to put yourself after your biz, but taking care of yourself is taking care of your business. Here are a few of my favorite tools to help cope with stress and fight that nasty imposter syndrome:
- Yoga or light stretching
- Going outside
- Meditation
- Have a hobby outside of work (like cooking!)
- Have dedicated time without your phone
- Read a book
- Put on some music and dance
No matter where you are in your business journey, make sure your toolbox is full. It would be unrealistic to expect that every tool emerges from one source. Take your time and find things that really work for you. It make take some trial and error (I know it did for me). Let me know if you have any other tools you found to be helpful!
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