Creative Business Management Tools

The "solopreneur" struggle is real! All the things  you have to manage and keep track of, all on your own. For example, client inquiries, follow-ups, booking, invoices, etc. How are you doing it?

As a former program manager at an entertainment company, I had to manage multiple teams and projects. In order to keep my sanity I created processes to help me stay on track of all the deadlines, tasks, and resources involved. Lucky for corporations, they have loads of money to purchase expensive software and online tool licenses to help with that. As an entrepreneur, we often have to juggle between client management, accounting, and marketing, but we can't afford those pricey softwares to help us, especially if you're just starting out.

Over the years, I've tried many online tools and couldn't find one that I liked. Then it dawned on me that my problem was not the tools I use, it's that I needed to implement a tried-and-true process in order to streamline the tasks and run my business more efficiently. Once I have the process in place, finding the right tool to customize was so much easier.

Here are some tools to help you run your creative business. Many of these have a free version or a trial period. It doesn't hurt to try them out. BUT, you have to actually put time into testing the tool that work best for your business.

Customer/Client Relation Management Tools:
Tave
Honeybook
17Hats

Project/Task Management Tools:
Asana
BaseCamp
Dubsado
Trello

Event Management Tools:
AllSeated
AislePlanner
PlanningPod

Graphic and Design Tools and Resources:
Canva
PicMonkey
HTML Color Code
LunaPic
Creative Market
daFont
Adobe Creative Suite

Tracking Tools:
MileIQ
MyHours
Expensify

Accounting:
QuickBooks
FreshBooks
Wave Accounting

Payment/Credit Card
Stripe
Square
Authorize.net
PayPal

Cloud Storage/File Sharing:
G-Suite (Google Drive, Doc, Sheet, Slide, Forms)
DropBox
iCloud Drive

Chrome/Gmail Plug-in's:
Boomerang - Schedule to send or retrieve your email
Sortd - Sort your emails into to-do lists
Pocket - Save web articles for later

If you have your process down pat, then give these tools a try! Let me know what works for you and why. If you're having a hard time finding the right tool, you probably need to figure out your process first. I'd love to help! From setting business rules, to perfecting your workflow, together we will review what works now, what can be improved, and find the most efficient way to work smarter not harder!