Blimey, being an entrepreneur is busy! I connected with a new business woman, and once I’d told her all the things I did, running my own business, marketing for other businesses, running the First Tuesday and Blue Stockings Networks, Nottingham Soup and being a mummy, she had no idea how I managed to fit it all in!
Sometimes I’m not so sure either. But I know I wouldn’t be half as happy as debbiedooodah if I didn’t have all the side projects going that help me support the business community in Nottingham!
So how do I all manage it?
I don’t, sometimes things slide (if you’ve ever emailed me, you’ll know that email is my Achilles heel!), but day to day I plan my day out (every 15 minutes) and when I’m really pressed for time I set a 15 minute timer for every task making me super productive.
There are also a few tools I use to help me along the way.
Without all this amazing tech I wouldn’t be able to do all the things I do - like run Notts Soup – where we raised £340.89 with 68 people coming along to the first night and donating it all the Hilary Wellington who runs Dementia Support Groups across the county.
Here's the 17 Tools that help me run my business smoothly!
Google Calendar – I wouldn’t be anywhere without google calendar on my phone and laptop. Plus if I add addresses to my appointments google contacts me when I need to leave the house and gives me the route so I can get there in my car!
Calendly – I book all my client appointments through this. I talks to my google calendar and means there is no tooing and froing with emails looking for slots we can both do. I use the paid version which means I have several types of meetings set up (20 minute discovery call, through to 3 hour reviews). But there is a free version if you just have one type of session.
Squarespace – I love it! So much easier to use than wordpress, gorgeous, intuitive, easy to navigate and simple to use. I love that the people at squarespace get back to me with answers really quickly and that I can use coding if I want to.
Google Analytics – Also feel a little geeky about google analytics. Let’s me know how people use my website, where they come from, what their interests are and many more things. Gives me so much insight into how my whole online marketing strategy is working.
Google Trends – Lets me know what people are searching for and give me trends based on time of year.
Answer the public – lets me know what searches people are doing on any given topic.
Wave – sends all my invoices and gives me a lovely 2 year graph so I can see how my business is doing at a glance.
Buffer – saves me so much time generating content for social media channels (just don’t use it for Facebook; you’ll see your organic reach reduce). Lets me share content from the web to multiple platforms and gives me analytics on what content gets the best results. There is a free version, but I use the paid.
Tweetdeck – enables me to keep an eye on my twitter lists, hashtags and conversations on twitter.
Audiense – sends out automated tweets to new followers and lets me see who isn’t following me back on twitter and Instagram. Gives me insight into the demographic of my audience and lets me know when my audience is on twitter. There is a free version, but I use the paid.
Tweetreach – brilliant insights into any hashtag campaign you’ve run.
Tweetbeam - brilliant for events and broadcasting a hashtag conversation
Canva - brilliant design tool for creating arresting graphics for social media
Pexels - gorgeous images
Phonto - an app that helps me create quick images
Insights within Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin, Twitter and Instagram – lets me know what’s working and what’s not.
Active Campaign - for website popup boxes and email marketing
There you go, I may have left some off – but these are the ones I use on a weekly basis!
If you'd like to learn how to be more productive and save time promoting your business online I'd love to hear from you! Get in touch!
Thanks to Andrew Greenstreet Photography for taking this awesome picture at #nottssoup!
