How the Right Business Tools Can Maximize Your Efficiency and Impact
Over the most recent break my husband cracked out his trusty tool box to finally hang our wedding frame in our bedroom. We’ve only lived here for 15 months. Better late than never.
It’s not like we didn’t have the tools at our disposal. We just didn’t have the motivation to make that a priority.
And once we got the measurements right and the perfect height to not be too high or too low, we regretfully realized… we actually didn’t have the right tools.
We had what worked for something else we had hung but the backing of this custom frame needed something else entirely.
And so off to Home Depot he ran so we could get it done. The motivation to get the job done slowly leeching from our body. Not having the right tool extended this project not only a few hours but we are still staring at that frame propped up on the floor to this day.
Having the right tool in life and business helps you become more efficient which can maximize your impact. The impact you have on your clients and customers could be hindered just by not having the right tool.
Each business owner has their own needs and software preferences to support their business. For example, a photographer is going to need much different software for album hosting and editing than someone who creates digital products they sell on Etsy or a 1-on-1 business strategy consultant.
While we can’t give you the *exact* tools you might need for your niche specific offering we do have some suggestions that helped us starting as a one-woman show in 2018 to our team of 6 that is spread across the United States from sea to shining sea.
Below you can find how we use these tools and how it maximized our efficiency and helped expand our impact.
TECH TOOLS FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS
Zoom
This is the FIRST tech tool I purchased back in 2018 when G&G wasn’t even a thing. It was a passion project and teacher Instagram account (any @agteacherhowtos OG’s here?!). I started hosting free professional development sessions for teachers using Zoom before it was cool. This tech tool allowed me to connect with teachers across the country with ease and in those Zoom rooms are where I met some of my best friends and came up with many ideas that are now a part of our G&G life everyday.
If you have lived under a rock since 2020, here is a quick summary of what it is. Zoom is a video conferencing platform that allows you to host virtual meetings, webinars, or calls. People commonly use it for one-on-one client sessions, team meetings, or online events like workshops and courses.
Investment: Free for meetings up to 40 minutes with basic features; paid plans start at $14.99/month for unlimited meeting lengths and additional hosting options. At G&G we also add on storage since we record a lot for our business and add on Large Meeting options during Germinate.
How to maximize Zoom as a small business owner:
1. Webinars and Workshops: Host live sessions to engage with potential clients or students, offering free or paid value-driven content. This is a very low cost way to get connected with your ideal client
2. Client Onboarding: Personalize onboarding calls to walk clients through your process or expectations. We absolutely love doing discovery calls and project calls with clients on Zoom.
3. Recording Content: Record coaching sessions, lessons, or presentations for repurposing into courses or marketing materials. We record everything from screenshares for teammates to project review summaries for clients. You can record straight to your computer or on the Zoom Cloud.
4. Office Hours: Offer weekly Q&A sessions for students or clients to build community and support. I’m currently writing this blog during The Break Room (our free monthly entrepreneur connection call). We just set up a recurring meeting so our Break Room members can use the same link all year long!
Canva
If you have seen anything pretty from G&G I can guarantee you two things. 1. It was created by our incomparable Creative Director Laura and 2. It was done on Canva.
Canva is an easy-to-use graphic design platform for creating professional-quality visuals without needing design experience. It’s often used to make social media graphics, presentations, flyers, and even videos. We truly use Canva fo so much of our business. From PD certificates, social media images, infographics, splash pages, lead magnets, proposals and so much more.
Investment: Free for basic templates and tools; paid plans start at $12.99/month for access to premium features, templates, and brand kits.
How to maximize Canva as a small business owner:
1. Social Media Content: Quickly create branded templates for Instagram posts, Facebook ads, or Pinterest pins. You can now schedule directly from Canva to your socials without needing an outside service (HUGE WIN)!
2. Workbooks and Guides: Design attractive PDFs for courses, coaching programs, or free lead magnets. Laura has created items like students workbooks, entire brand guides and lead magnets and free resources galore!
3. Website Graphics: Create cohesive graphics to make your website visually appealing and consistent with your brand. We use Canva to help make our website and course portal fit our brand with backgrounds and splash pages.
4. Collaborative Design: Share designs with a VA or team member for edits and approvals in real-time. Laura LOVES this feature for the team and our clients to provide her feedback as she is designing. And no you don’t have to give your client the password, you can just share a viewable link
Google Workspace
I am a Google girly through and through. With an online business it was essential to me to have file sharing that was easily accessible and user friendly for our growing team. And believe I have been through all of the platforms and Google Workplace is superior. Google Workplace is a collection of productivity tools like Gmail, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Calendar that make collaboration and organization simple.
Investment: Free for personal use with a Gmail account; paid plans for businesses start at $6/user/month for custom email domains and additional storage (This is how you can have “professional” emails using your domain)
How to maximize Google Workspace as a small business owner:
1. Drive for File Management: Organize files by project, client, or course for easy access and sharing. One of our goals this quarter is to redo our folder hierarchy because we have YEARS of content in our drive.
2. Docs for Content Drafts: Draft and share blog posts, course content, or proposals with collaborators for seamless edits. From team meeting agenda, conference schedules, speaker applications, statements of work and more. We do it all through Google. We really love the editing and suggestion versions to edit and collaborate on documents as a team.
3. Forms for Feedback: Use Google Forms to gather client or student feedback, run surveys, or collect leads. We use forms for applications for our annual conference and event evaluations.
4. Calendar for Scheduling: Sync personal and business calendars to streamline appointments, deadlines, and meetings. This is how we schedule teammates workloads and meetings since we are all part time and throughout 3 time zones!
Slack
At a certain point in the business our team was just using text messages. And we realized that we needed a boundary from work and life. So we decided to start using Slack to separate the texts about our children doing silly things and highly urgent work texts.
Slack is a messaging platform that centralizes communication by creating channels for different projects, topics, or teams. It’s typically used to streamline communication and reduce the need for long email threads.
Investment: Free for small teams with limited message history; paid plans start at $7.25/user/month for features like unlimited message history and app integrations. We personally use the free version and it has worked great!
How to maximize Slack as a small business owner:
1. Team & Client Communication: Create private channels for each client to keep project discussions centralized. You can create private channel specific to certain teams or projects all in Slack!
2. Community Engagement: Build small communities or masterminds with group channels to encourage peer support. We haven’t used this at G&G but my writers community does our fearless lead Natty Davis uses it for community reminders, member shout outs, and more.
3. Team Collaboration: Share quick updates, files, or links with your VA, designer, or marketing team. As I have been writing this blog our Operations Director slacked about the HIGH interest in our latest lead magnet and I sent a new idea for our next one to her!
4. Integrations: Connect Slack to tools like Asana or Google Calendar to automate notifications and task updates. We are looking into linking Asana (see below) to Slack to help streamline project communications this year. We will report back!
Honorable Mentions
I call these honorable mentions because these are softwares that we didn’t implement until we worked as a team. I truly think you can start a business with Gmail and a dream (and maybe Zoom. The rest is extra as you begin to grow and add to your team (if that is what you choose). These three tools are used everyday for our team and has helped us scale to the place where we can comfortably run our two businesses.
Asana
We *just* recently added Asana to our toolbox. Specifically because we moved from having one massive project a year to multiple. Asana allows the entire team to take ownership over their specialized skills to help get all of our projects to the finish line. Asana is a project management tool that helps you organize and keep track of tasks and projects in one place. It’s typically used to manage workflows, collaborate with teams, and ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
Investment: Free for basic use with limited features; paid plans start at $10.99/user/month for advanced tools like timeline views and automations.
How to maximize Asana as a small business owner:
1. Content Creation Workflow: Map out content pipelines for blogs, videos, or course modules with due dates, subtasks, and assignees to stay consistent.
2. Client Management: Use templates to onboard clients, track deliverables, and organize client communications.
3. Goal Tracking: Break down quarterly or annual business goals into actionable tasks with progress tracking.
4. Recurring Tasks: Automate repetitive tasks like weekly social media planning or invoice reminders.
Squarespace
G&G didn’t have an actual domain until 2021. Yes, multiple years without our own space on the internet. We flew by the seat of our pants on Instagram. After connecting with former website designer and current copywriter extraordinaire Nicole Burdick, we finally have two impeccable corners of the internet for Education and Consulting.
Squarespace is a website-building platform that allows you to create a professional-looking site without needing coding skills. It’s often used to host portfolios, blogs, e-commerce stores, or service-based business websites.
Investment: Paid plans start at $16/month, with higher tiers for e-commerce functionality and advanced analytics.
How to maximize Squarespace as a small business owner:
1. Portfolio Website: Showcase your services, testimonials, and past projects with a clean, visually appealing layout.
2. E-commerce: Sell physical or digital products directly from your website with built-in payment processing and inventory management. We just added digital products to our website and has increased our email list more than ANY other marketing effort!
3. Course Hosting: Use member areas to offer gated content like online courses, workbooks, or training videos. We haven’t used this YET but have suggested this option to many clients who are looking for a one stop shop for websites, emails and their courses.
4. SEO Features: Optimize pages with meta descriptions, keywords, and easy navigation to improve search engine rankings. Ok, I admit that this is an area we have room for growth. But it is nice to know it is ready for us when we are!
Another new addition to our marketing strategy is Pinterest. As Hannah and I decided we didn’t want to rely on social media for consulting we decided to try Pinterest with help from Sarah Burk.
Pinterest is a visual search engine where users discover ideas, products, and services through pins and boards. It’s commonly used to drive website traffic, build brand awareness, and share visually appealing content.
Investment: Free to use; optional paid advertising campaigns start at a budget you set, making it flexible for any business size.
How to maximize Pinterest as a small business owner:
1. Content Marketing: Share blog posts, free resources, or courses through eye-catching pins that link back to your website. This is the area we are focusing at the moment and it is crazy how one piece of content we wrote last year is gaining momentum months after we hit publish!
2. Brand Awareness: Create boards that reflect your brand’s style, offerings, and expertise to attract your ideal audience.
3. Sales Funnels: Use Pinterest ads to promote lead magnets or products, targeting users based on interests and demographics.
4. Collaborative Boards: Partner with other creators or brands to expand your reach and share audiences.
Now, I understand that this is a lot if you are just starting out. You might not even know what the next right step for you is. We totally get it, we have been there. And through a lot of trial and a lot of error we have found what works for us now. KNOWING FULL WELL that it will probably change soon. The one constant in business is change and knowing that is half the battle.
If you are looking to figure out what you should focus on next, maybe it's the start of a quarter or you just have a passion you want to pursue. I highly recommend checking out these resources and blogs to get you started…
Replay of the Quarterly Planning Workshop
How to Create an Effective Quarterly Plan for Your Business
Four Way to Make your Masterclass/Workshop ACTUALLY help people learn
