Welcome, Friend!
I’ve rounded up my favorite resources for your business and website. I have tried everything I recommend here and am probably still using them! As my business grows and changes, I will keep this as updated as possible for you.
Please note that many (if not all) of the links will be affiliate or referral links. This means I will get some sort of compensation or reward if you sign up for the service or make a purchase using my link. It doesn’t change your cost, and in some cases, may have a reward for you as well. I ONLY recommend products and services I have personally used.
Also important is the term “FREEMIUM”. This is a product or service that has a free tier for you to try before you buy. This free tier normally has very limited features in some way. Please read about all the differences at each price point to make an educated decision on where you will start with that product/service.
My Current Top 5 Tools
- WordPress – Kinda goes without saying. The dot com is okay if you are totally broke, but get on the self-hosted asap! It’s the best way to build a website, which is one of only two assets you own online. Your social media could be shut down at any time for any reason, y’all.
- Trello – A million ways to organize your biz and life! Plan out how you plan to use it before you dive right in or it can become more DISorganazation than a help. I use it to plan content, hold important links, and so much more.
- Canva – My only graphics tool. The paid plan is well worth it! Just being able to use the resize function is a life and time saver!
- Tailwind – Posting to Pinterest in autopilot? Yes, please. I spend an hour or so once or twice a week and can plan out for months if I really wanted to.
- DollarEighty Chrome Extension – This is new to me but boy is it awesome! you add your hashtag targets and can comment either in a window that is not IG or have it as a widget inside a tab with IG open. You can go for the full buck 80 or do you boo. You can also target locations and accounts.
Other Biz Tools and Services
Other assorted tools I use in my Biz.
- HoneyBook — HoneyBook CRM is taking the place of Acuity and Square Up plus much more in my Biz. Don’t get me wrong! I love those services, but I am readyto consolidate and automate. This is where HoneyBook shines! Check them out for giving your people the best onboarding experience and getting more time in your day instead of Frankensteining multiple applications together! My link will give your 20% off after your 7 Day trial on all plans including the starter plan!
- Acuity Scheduling. Stop the email back and forth. Pick when you are available, set how long your service lasts. Send a link and your client picks a time that works for them. Simple.
- SquareUp. Scheduling, Payment Processing, Storefront, Payroll, And more. Some of the services have monthly fees but a lot of your basic ones don’t. If you use my link, we both get 1,000 in free processing for 180 days (IE they refund the processing fee, SCORE!)
- The Ivory Mix. This lady has amazing stock photos. There’s a free library you can check out for the cost of an email address. You’ll also get some eBooks and video trainings. Her paid trainings and stock photo service is out of this world and worth so much more than the cost! Go check her out. I know you won’t regret it.
WordPress Recomendations
Theme:
Neve — This theme is amazing It is BUILT to work with my only page-building tool recommendation. If you go pro, it comes with some site templates you can use for faster building. I am not a fan of these kinds of templates for myself, but I know many designers make them look completely custom and build out much faster with them. Click that link to go read all about Neve. You can grab the free version by searching it in your theme menu in the dashboard.
Page Builder (Drag And Drop Builder)
Elementor — This page builder has everything you need in the free version but being able to use global settings with the pro version is such a time saver for me. There are also a metric ass-ton of addons for this one. So if you don’t like the way Elementor does something, odds are high you can find exactly what you want. One small word of caution: Only get any extra add-ons that you absolutely need. Too many will slow down your site with unnecessary code.
Hosting
WP Engine — I only recommend one host and that is WP Engine. While I am an Agency Partner for them, I never recommend anything I am not 100% satisfied with!
I’ve been with them for over a year and have had amazing customer service– and they don’t see that I am a partner unless I bring it up!– every damned time. Their customer service can speak tech or break it down like your five years old. This is such a lost art.
You’ll also get access to Genesis child themes (the base theme is now open source and totally free), a CDN, SSL, and more included with every plan.
Using my link above will get you 2 months free with your first annual purchase. And please, always pay for at least one year of hosting at a time!
Legal Pages
Termageddon — I am also a partner agency with this service. Why?
Online free templates leave too much to chance.
Copy and pasting from someone else’s site is copyright infringement.
Not having one is dangerous.
All 3 leave you open to lawsuits.
Termageddon is a small price to pay to avoid large losses in a privacy or other suit in the future. They keep up with all the changes, send an email when you need to update your info, and give you the code needed to embed each of the policies into your site so that every update is automagically on the pages within seconds or less.
My link above will save you 10% on your purchase.
…Coming Soon — Necessary and Nice-To-Have Plugins, Courses, Books.
