Business Tools
Here are the tools we use (or have used) to run, grow & automate (elements) of our business.
Clickfunnels (14 day free trial)
This software gives you everything you need to create Sales Funnels and landing pages.
You can collect email addresses, piece web pages together and create entire sales funnels from start to finish. You don’t even have to use your own website as they host the web pages for you on their servers.
Clickfunnels also give you ‘Sales Funnel Templates’ so you can upload their existing, high converting sales funnels to your account; All you need to do is add your lead magnet / offer details and that’s it. Simple!
Clickfunnels is very ease to use as it has been created to make things easy for business owners and entrepreneurs who don’t want to pay web developers loads of money to build sales funnels for them.A big bonus is that you can also take payment for products/services without having to purchase expensive shopping cart software on top! Their support is also excellent if you ever have any problems / questions..
Thumbs up from us!
Thrive is the product we currently use. It is basically a collection of website plugins for WordPress (you use their products on your own website). Their tools are great for collecting email addresses, building sales funnels pages and they are also very affordable. Probably not as easy to use as Clickfunnels but they are a more affordable alternative and can be customized more.
You just need to remember that these are tools you use on your own website so you need to have that framework in place first (hosting etc.).
If you are interested in Thrive we would recommend going for their annual membership as it by far the most affordable way to use their products as they have so many great tools available which you will likely use in the future.
With the membership you also get access to a load of WordPress website themes which you can use on your website.
We use one for ours!
We have had a few issues with website hosting providers in the past. We have tried Bluehost and GoDaddy and have not really liked either of them mainly because their support isn’t great.
Let’s be honest – most website hosting providers are pretty similar – they ensure your website works and that is about it.
But..
The key difference we have found is the customer service and level of support you get. We use WPX and love them because there is ALWAYS someone online available to talk to you and to help you resolve any issues / questions you have.
All the questions we have had have been answered on the spot where with other website hosting providers you can end up waiting days for a response.
WPX are so helpful and super friendly. Plus our websites run fast, effectively & securely!
ActiveCampaign (14 day free trial)
We have used a few email service providers in our time but we can’t see ourselves using any but ActiveCampaign now. It caters for beginners to more advanced users and everyone in between. You can create amazing email automatons basic on user behaviour and beautiful emails. Plus, ActiveCampaign is supper affordable as well.
You can do email blast campaigns or create evergreen automations which you build once and each time a new lead comes into your system, they will be go through the same series of emails as previous leads (evergreen e-newsletters work well here so that nobody misses any of your content..).
You can use tagging to create a detailed picture of your leads and what they are interested in which is amazingly helpful if you want to see which leads are really engaged with what you have to say. ActiveCampaign also integrates with other software really well as it is one of the most respected email service providers around; so they are always top of the list for new software companies when they are looking to create integrations.
ActiveCampaign are the best; we wouldn’t use anything else..
For short videos or tutorials there is a free video software called Loom which is pretty good. Video is an amazing communication tool and Loom gives you what you need to record short videos and to distribute them. You can send people to your videos which sit on their website in your free account. It’s a winner and it’s free!
If you want to be able to edit and create more advanced videos with captions etc. Then Camtasia is a solid investment. We use it, and it is pretty reliable and easy to use.
We use Camtasia when we create detailed tutorials for social media and for online courses. You can string different videos together to avoid having to record everything in one go; you can remove mistakes or elements you don’t like.. It does everything you need really.
The Logitech C920 webcam is brilliant, and really affordable. It creates HD footage and crystal clear images. It is also one of the cheapest options out there. No wonder it is so popular; you don’t need anything else!
The Audio-Technica AT2020USB PLUS USB Microphone isn’t the cheapest ones out there, but we use it and it is great. We have never used a different microphone so it is hard for us to compare it to others. But what we can say is that we have never had any problems with it. It has always worked really well and the audio that comes out is always crystal clear..
We have used a few webinar software solutions and Zoom is a good option. None of them are faultless but Zoom is good for creating small, intimate workshop environments.
You can interact with attendees really easily and the software is set up in away that it is really easy to engage with people and not break the flow of the presentation.
It does lack some of the sales features that WebinarJam offers (for example you can have a buy button pop up for attendees to buy your service which is cool..) but overall Zoom is a good option.
Webinar Software – Webinar Jam ($1 Trial)
The main strength of Webinar Jam is the features you can use during presentations. You can have buttons pop up with resources (like worksheets etc.) which attendees can easily access. You can also have ‘Buy Now’ buttons pop up which take people to sales pages where people can purchase your services. Or if you sell high ticket services you can link people to a consultation booking form on your website to arrange a time to talk to you further.
I think Webinar Jam is a good option because of those features; luckily you can try it for $1 by pressing the button below!
Calendly is an online calendar we use to allow clients and potential clients to find a time to talk with us which suits their schedule.
It’s saved a lot of back and forth arrangements to book meetings and increased the number of people we talk to on the phone because it’s quick and easy to book in.
There are lots of online calendar options out there but Calendly has everything you need. The free option is probably going to have enough features for you and it is the one we currently use (although the paid version has some cool features which are drawing us in!).
For us it’s a must and our no 1 source of lead generation and business development.
It helps us to target and tailor our approach quickly and effectively giving us insight and access to stats to make us the best we can be for our audience.
LinkedIn premium effectively gives you licence to use LinkedIn for lead generation as LinkedIn will limit your activity on the free version.
If you are serious about growing your business and see LinkedIn as a good way of getting high value leads & sales (which you should do!) then LinkedIn premium is going to play a pretty part of that!
